Journal d'une saison de course moto / Diary of a motorbike racing season

In the Anglesey paddock, Wales

I am still desperately looking for a Road Racing aluminium fuel tank for my race bike. Cash waiting. Do get in touch if you can help...

First round, Donington Park GP Circuit

That is it, there is no going back. The '09 season is well and truely underway and Donington Park, the first round, is now behind us. I got there early on Friday morning for a quiet trackday (98dB max). Unfortunately it was very cold and the rain stayed with us for most of the day. Not your ideal day for testing really... Nevermind, that was good enough to remember which way goes the track.

In order to comply with the technical rules of the series, I had some new Pirelli Diablos fitted to the bike at the end of the day. I really should have had them fitted earlier, that would have allowed me to scrub them in before the qualifying session instead of during it. Anyway that's my excuse for the 11th time (in class) for the grid position. Must try harder.

Saturday afternoon, first race: for me it ended after less than 2 laps, when I lost a bolt for the gear change linkage as I was entering the Melbourne hairpin. Gutted I was, especially as I did look at the bolt just a few hours earlier wondering if I should not lock wire it... That was the first time I failed to finish a race not because of a crash. Well, the bike had never been so rapidly fixed, ready for the next race!

Sunday afternoon, second race: after 2 cloudy, rainy and generally dull days, the sun is out and shining in a way that is not very usual in England. Damn it, I did not take any sun cream with me. We were the really last ones to race during that meeting: 3/4 of the paddock was already home. Came the time for our race and we were told it was a 10 laps race, instead of the 8 planned originally. Sounds like that fitness training will come in handy did I think. Still 11th (in class) on the grid, I managed a good start and caught up with the overall top 10 at the entrance of Redgate. After 20 minutes of racing, I finally get the 5th position in class. That got me quite happy, even though I was still disappointed not to have finished the race on the day before.

Big thanks to:

Mike from MD racing, the engine is brilliant mate!
The KRR team for all their parts, help and advice. Even when they are not in the paddock, their help is priceless!
NickB for his help in the paddock. Even though we hate each other.
Craig for the hospitality and coffees. And the fuel.

I owe you all.

TODO list for next meeting:

Ride harder.
Get fitter.
Find better brakes.
Lose at least 5kgs on the bike (16 to go...)

Next races: Anglesey, Wales. Bring it on.

My DD09 in its garage, on Friday:

4 weeks before the first race...

... and the engine is finally back in the frame.

My 2009 Sponsor

Mike from MD Racing is my main sponsor for the 2009 season.
His help should allow me to make '09 my best race season of all. Amongst other things, Mike fully rebuilt my 583cc DesmoDue engine and setup geometry and suspensions of the bike.

New 2009 colours

Here is a first clue...

Tim Pritchard Photography

I really love Tim's work. Judge by yourself of the man's talent:

Tim originally took the picture at Cadwell Park in 2007. For all your photographic needs, Tim Pritchard Photography is the name to remember.

The DD9 rebuild has started...

Yes, the one on the lift table...

Watch this space!

Quoi de neuf sous le soleil Anglais?...

Pas grand chose.

Et comme �a fait presqu'un an que je n'ai pas post�, il me faudrait �crire 15 pages pour tout raconter. Mais bon j'ai un peu la flemme, alors en quelques points �a donne �a:

Une fin de saison 2007 d�cevante,
Retrait du championnat pour 2008 (oui, je boude... ;-)
Mais on va remettre �a en 2009.

Principaux enseignements tir�s de la saison 2007:

G�om�trie et suspensions d'une moto de course, il faut laisser �a aux pros,
Une moto comp�titive co�te de l'argent, la d�brouille ne suffit pas toujours.
Il faut continuer a s'entra�ner :-)

Ci-dessous, un extrait du classement final de la cat�gorie 600cc pour la saison derni�re:

Et les classements de mes 3 saisons de course: 2005, 2006 et 2007

Ce filtre � essence qui g�cha mon weekend...

Et voil�. Apr�s de longues heures d'investigation, je viens de mettre la main sur la raison de la panne de ma Ducati ST2. Ce weekend j'aurai d� rentrer en France pour voir famille et amis. Malheureusement je ne suis pas all� plus loin que 10 km avant Douvres. Il n'y avait aucune chance pour que je puisse r�parer la moto au bord de la route. Pour changer un filtre � essence sur la ST2, il faut:

avoir un filtre � essence neuf sur soi
et vidanger le r�servoir.

Bref. J'aurai appris pas mal de chose sur ma moto dans cette histoire. La raison de la panne est simple: le filtre � essence s'est l�g�rement ouvert � l'endroit o� il est originalement scell� (en haut � droite du filtre sur la photo). Et du coup une partie de l'essence sous pression venant de la pompe retournait dans le r�servoir (l'ensemble filtre + pompe � essence se trouve noy� dans le r�servoir). Et donc impossible d'apporter assez d'essence au moteur pour prendre plus de 5000 tr/mn.

Un grand merci � la liste Ducati ST sur Yahoo France, leur aide m'a permis d'�conomiser beaucoup de temps et d'argent, et surtout d'en apprendre pas mal sur ma belle.

PS: je viens juste de remarquer que la date (de fabrication?) apparaissant sur le filtre est le 05/05/1997. La moto �tant de 1998, il est facile d'imaginer que ce filtre n'a jamais �t� chang�. Alors qu'il doit �tre chang� une fois par an! Pas tr�s s�rieux de la part de l'ancien proprio tout �a...