Oschersleben 2023
Finally back racing again for the final round of the season.
During the gap a few things have occurred! The sidecar got completely stripped down, the frame re-welded on many of the joints, new shocks fitted, gearbox changed, brakes tweaked, electrics re-visited, and a whole load more!
Having arrived at Oschersleben nearly a day early due to the timings of boats a relaxed day was spent getting set up and ready for the meeting.
All too soon it was Friday, time for scrutineering which all went well and drivers briefing (which was very strange as the sidecar world championship was practicing in the background!).
Saturday rose with use being out in the morning, practice went OK there was something not right with the outfit, so for Qualifying 1 Mark swapped one of the front shocks and dropped the ride height back down. Things where still not great after a couple of laps, Mark noticed that the headstock bearing was just catching slightly so these were removed, re-packed and spacered, and the new shocks put back on. The few laps that where managed in the session all seemed OK, and it felt like we had our bike not a bucking bronco back.
For Race 1 it was clear something wasn’t right again after a few laps suddenly the steering went heavy, times slowed and the sidecar misbehaved again. After the prize giving all seemed better again, so the assumption was made that the spacing on the headstock needed checking and changing again for race 2.
This worked very well, with the sidecar behaving wonderfully for 5 laps. Sadly it was an 8 lap race, with the final 3 laps being a fight between a misbehaving sidecar and crew. We thrashed out a 7th place finish in our class somehow.
For the season we got 8th in class overall.
Now just to work out the winter works… First thing will be to replace the headstock bearing with taper bearings (which was on the to do list) and look at changing the ratio on 1st gear so that we can pull away from the line.
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Chimay 2023
Words don’t often struggle to come to paper, but sometime things are hard. Whilst not people we knew Eddy Atisy and Eric Delrez both sadly lost there lives (in separate incidents) in solo races at Chimay. I have to say a huge thank you as always to the marshals and support staff who ensure that we can have fun out on track.
Trying to create some kind of upbeat report is always hard after a weekend like that, but I shall attempt to.
Friday started with the surprise of a huge grid 25 sidecars by our count. This gave us a problem as we could not be our usual last place, and had a great timed session with one of the other BMW sidecars, with us both dragging us along faster and faster! We had some interesting discoveries, that our power was not as down as we felt and that our gearing was about right. We spent a lot of time learning what on paper looked to be a very simple road circuit.
On Saturday for practice 2, something wasn’t quite right, and with a determined effort we managed to push ourselves beyond our abilities, resulting in having to lift the sidecar out of the gravel. The 17th on the grid secured from Fridays time.
The clean up operation did not take too long, and no lasting damage appeared to be done.
With the crazy early 9:20 start time (Having had an evening and lunchtime practice) with the sounds of the band from the previous night ringing in our ears we went out for race 1. Still no certain if we had damaged anything in the excursion the previous day. The start went awful (new lower first gear is still being machined to give us a chance) with us dropping back a few places, but then making them back again during the race. Sadly the slow start meant that we did not get to the back of the same group, and it was clear something was still upset on the bike with a lack of pull and quite a bit of ‘grumpy engine’….. Still we finished 16th.
The sidecar was checked again, and the decision made to change the brake pads and clean up the brake caliper as it seemed to have a slight stick. With some discussion of some different start tactics to actually use less grip on the rear wheel intended to be tried. Unfortunately the incidents mentioned already meant that we did not get to try these, and it was a quite reflective drive back home.
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Camathias Cup East Fortune
To this years ‘home round’ for us, just the 315 miles! (OK there is one round closer but we cannot make that one). With the SatNav set North we set off (we won’t mention the 2 hours stationary on the A1M due to the road being closed).
As we pulled into East Fortune, not really knowing what to expect we found a lovely traditional British circuit. Based on an old airfield, but with some benefits over many other circuits (well we could plug in for a start!).
So what had changed since Assen. A complete brake rebuild or 2, new helmets to bring us up to the latest specs, a complete rebuild of the sidecar, adjustments to the engine and Marks usual bits and pieces!
First practice at East Fortune was interesting…. as it was only then that Graeme noticed that they had forgotten to bring something with them…. yep one of the grab bars was missing! The thought had been about removing it as it was not used much…. this turned out to not be the case! Some care on the first practice to avoid Mark wondering what was going on, the explanation for the second practice, and the use of the driver as a climbing frame helped to improve the lap times.
Pretty soon it was Race 1 of the sidecars which also included the Camathias cup. With confusion at our first race start that the sidecar didn’t pull strong in first! Turns out 1st is a bit too high geared. we performed our usual outstanding and finished just 1 lap down, but still learning about the bike. Race 2 (That’s right 4 sessions in 1 day!) went in a similar manor with a bit of a better start by trying to let the clutch and rear wheel slip….
Sunday dawned with 4 races due on the day! The races were all shortened with the threat of thunderstorms in the afternoon (they did happen literally as we drove out the circuit!). The first race of the day went well, with the team confused by the lack of sidecars on the grid, maybe a few too many sidecars had hangovers from the Saturday night hospitality! We finished last again, but much closer to the main field, including a very brief dice.
The Camathias Cup followed not much later, again a smaller group of sidecars, a brief try to hang on the back of the pack for about 2 laps before the minor errors of going beyond our abilities crept in and the pack slipped away.
Race 3 followed straight after, unfortunately we where still changing brake pads with our experimental brake compounds when called to the grid. This gave us the chance to view the other outfits lines, and to learn from the side!
Race 4 of the Bob Mac Cup was soon on us, with the timings all compressed due to the upcoming storm! We went for it off the line, and got concerned after the 3rd lap as something was hitting the visors, soon we both realised it was rain not oil so kept going at pace, we missed our unofficial goal of not getting lapped by about 200 yards! The amount learnt, the improvement made over getting through chicanes will hopefully help us for the next round.
With some research to do on the gearbox, and if you see us remind us to take the grab handle! Schleiz is in 2 weeks, and Chimay the week after
To go next to the DNF from Assen we now have a 3rd in class.
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Pre-season Testing Val De Vienne
Being as crazy as we are we have finally managed to go testing at Val De Vienne. A mere 1000kms from here!
Things went well with arriving early for the boat to Dieppe.
Some 8 hours after disembarkment we had finally arrived!
Having decided to go testing half way down France to get the good weather, we of course woke up to some serious rain!
But just before our first session it was nearly dry. We went out for a brief explore of the circuit and sidecar having not ridden it in anger. We can both confess to it feeling completely different from the F1 and F2 of the past!
By about the third session we roughly had the hang of it and worked out that Mark as driver had to lean a lot more, and Graeme was getting his head round leaning out the front! We must have been getting the idea better as we came in with steaming brakes! A brief investigation was held and they were found to be just bedding in. The fourth and fifth sessions saw some dramatic improvement in time as we both got more used to how to ride the beast! We both were very shocked by the punch out of the corners as long as the little 1971 BMW 750 was kept buzzing!
Numerous small improvements for comfort and accessibility of the controls where made, with the gear linkage and brake linkage being adjusted to suit Marks boots, then adjusted again when he changed boots!
At the end of Day 1 we were happy with the knowledge gained, learnt a lot about the sidecar, found a few faults and bits that need adjusting so a success.
Day 2 woke to more rain. The first session went very strange with the bike developing a misfire. Much head scratching, changing of plugs, coils etc followed. The issue was found to be a partially clogged jet, with one carb rebuilt before the second and the other before the thirds sessions of the day.
For the fourth session the sun just about broke through, and we pushed hard to get our fastest time of the test. The fifth session was interesting with intermittent showers resulting in a great deal of exploration of the stability in a slide of the sidecar, Graeme making the discovery that wet gloves and wet bars make for a near front exit of the outfit! Mark also discovering that the handle bar grip glue was water soluable!
Over all a great fun test with a lot learnt.
Items for the next test:
- Graeme to buy some new boots after his 15 year old pair cried enough
- Mark to buy some new boots after his 15 year old pair cried enough
- A minor weld to the frame due to a bit cracking
- Wash out the fuel tank, and replace the fuel lines to try to reduce the chance of more dirt in the carb
- Finish working out how to ride it!
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2023 Plans
For 2023 we are planning to run quite a few rounds of the Camathias Cup (probably not all rounds). This is partly due to the costs involved and that we are planning a full campaign in 2024.
We will be running a Rennsportish chassis, and a BMW 75/5 engine in the sub 750cc class.
As always anyone who is interested in sponsoring anything we would be very grateful for that as it would enable us to develop our plans better.
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