My half arsed F400 nc30

This section is reserved for members on the SITE SUPPORTERS group only. Each supporter can post pics of their bikes for all to view. Standard members can read and reply, but the post author has full control over his thread and can edit, delete & lock at will
User avatar
28hodge
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Reactions:
Posts: 1204
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 4:26 pm
Bike owned: nc30 (track) Yam YZ250 (MX)2st
Location: Kendal, Cumbria, Northwest
Re: My half arsed F400 nc30

Post by 28hodge » Sun Mar 27, 2016 10:37 am

GeeTee wrote:we were watching you from the hospitality suite on main straight, got some complimentary tickets. Glad to be in the warm eating cake and drinking tea, as it was freezing outside. Sorry the filter caused you hassle - just a pattern one I had never run on my bike. New paintjob looks ace and great videos 8-)
Haha I was only pulling ya leg, I think the cold air played as much of a role in the jetting probs as the filter. That and the fact my old filter must have been pretty dirty.

User avatar
28hodge
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Reactions:
Posts: 1204
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 4:26 pm
Bike owned: nc30 (track) Yam YZ250 (MX)2st
Location: Kendal, Cumbria, Northwest
Re: My half arsed F400 nc30

Post by 28hodge » Thu Mar 31, 2016 12:19 pm

I was tempted to fit a RamAir set up that I have gotten hold of over winter on Saturday night, it’s the full snorkel and letterbox type that I need to cut into the front upper fairing, however I would need to fit the fuel pump etc etc and then guess a jetting setting, at a guess somewhere between current and the open HRC carbs, it came with a lot of jets between 140 and 160. I think the RamAir setup is one of the original systems put together by Chris at Dynopro, and used by royster a long time ago.

But as it has the snorkel I'd need to drop the top rad a little and also wouldn't be able to use my headstock paddock stand. In the end I left it alone and went for a warm shower and some beers. Deciding cocking around with Carbs on Sunday sounds too much like hard work if I get the jetting guess wrong.

So once again I went to bed with ice on the outside, and inside, of the van!!
Living the dream!

Anyway we survived the night, but had a shower first thing to warm up. then sat around and waited for the first race of the day.

Race 3


User avatar
28hodge
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Reactions:
Posts: 1204
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 4:26 pm
Bike owned: nc30 (track) Yam YZ250 (MX)2st
Location: Kendal, Cumbria, Northwest
Re: My half arsed F400 nc30

Post by 28hodge » Thu Mar 31, 2016 12:39 pm

Race 3

Not a great start, it was also really cold still so felt a bit hesitant until the tyres had a lap in them, even more so when heading into graham hill on lap one the back end slithers around like buggery and is all over the shop as I come back a gear for Graham Hill!

This is then highlighted to a greater extent as Darren Corkett is dumped on his ear as he does a full 360, the bike didn’t even look to try and grip as he spun round!! And once again I am unnerved by an odd crash on seemingly cold tyres.
That and missing fecking gears again, I got passed down the start finish due to not being able to shift up when I wanted and then miss a gear exiting graham hill when I could have gotten back passed Elwyn.

This lets the KR1S of Mark taylor past me which matters more as it is a sub64 bike (the crasher from paddock one lap 1 of race 2 yesterday) and Scott on the black TZR ducks under me into Clearways, so I let go of the brakes and get back underneath him, thankfully, this gee's me up and I get my act together, nip past the full power Elwyn into graham hill and set off after the KR1S of Mark Taylor.

Mark has a little more pace than me but drags me along and keeps me out of trouble, until I hit the lappers, in the worst places possible, granted nowhere on Brands Indy is ideal to catch them, but they hold me up massively, I lose between 1.000 and 1.200 on the laps I get held up by them. Ultimately this lets Elywn on his full power ZXR sneak past me on the run to the line, which is annoying, but he is full power so not as annoying as it would have been if it was a sub bike.

I was reasonably happy with the ride but again felt like the lap times didn’t reflect this, I felt sure that I would have better my previous PB from 2015 of a 55.228, in my head I wanted to nick into the 54's this year what with the new shock and new tyres, however I only did a 55.965.

Also the opening 4 laps are poor really only being mid 56's, I'm not sure if it’s the weather affecting grip or the surface isn’t as good, (Kieran thinks the surface is worse than it was last year) but despite feeling like I am riding better and certainly braking less into Surtees and Clearways, but the laptime just isn't happening.

User avatar
28hodge
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Reactions:
Posts: 1204
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 4:26 pm
Bike owned: nc30 (track) Yam YZ250 (MX)2st
Location: Kendal, Cumbria, Northwest
Re: My half arsed F400 nc30

Post by 28hodge » Tue Apr 05, 2016 2:31 pm

Race 4


User avatar
28hodge
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Reactions:
Posts: 1204
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 4:26 pm
Bike owned: nc30 (track) Yam YZ250 (MX)2st
Location: Kendal, Cumbria, Northwest
Re: My half arsed F400 nc30

Post by 28hodge » Tue Apr 05, 2016 2:34 pm

Its cold, really cold, I have got to say though the race organization has been mega all weekend and we haven’t been held long at any point allowing the tyres to cool. Parc ferme to dummy grid to live grid has all been really slick. Nobody wants to see 40 riders heading into turn 1 on cold tyres on lap one!!

I am having a bit of a can’t be arsed moment leading into race 4, now normally this is ok and once I get going I seem to snap out of it and often have a good ride, not this time though. I just ride a bit poor in the early laps again, I got stuck behind slower riders and rather than getting past and getting on with it, I sorta just reduce to their pace.

I kinda snap out of it and get back to the group in front of me by just stringing 2 good laps together, lap 5 and 6 I take nearly 1sec outta my laptimes, they drop from pretty poor mid 56’s to more reasonable mid 55’s.

But then get a bit snarled up with a full power f400 and they slip to mid 56’s again until, after a dummy run or two, I manage to get past. But by this time it’s too late, and the 3 sub64 bikes in front have gone.

So I accept my result and stay steady to the chequered flag, although a back marker causes me some grief and I nearly get nicked on the line again but manage to hold them off.

I end up 8th best lap of a 55.610 which is actually the best of the weekend, and what I should have been doing as a minimum all race, so it just goes to show how hard it is to pick your pace back up if you get held up at the start of a race.

This also marks a significant point for me, this is the first time I have left a meeting having not bettered my PB laptime from previous years. I beat my PB from the opening brands Indy round of 2015, which was the first time I had ridden the Indy circuit when I managed a 56.282, but I had not bettered my 55.228 from the final Brands Indy round of 2015.

Not sure how to take this, by rights I should have been quicker, the bike had new tyres for the first time ever, rather than 4 race old scrubs, and it had a full pukka race shock, but also it was essentially very different to the bike I had ridden for the past 3 years, the tyre profile is different and the shock needs getting used to. Also my PB was set at the end of a season of riding so being within 0.400 of it in round 1 is kinda encouraging, especially given the temps.

Dunno :?

User avatar
28hodge
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Reactions:
Posts: 1204
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 4:26 pm
Bike owned: nc30 (track) Yam YZ250 (MX)2st
Location: Kendal, Cumbria, Northwest
Re: My half arsed F400 nc30

Post by 28hodge » Sat Aug 06, 2016 7:32 pm

I have massively neglected this thread, but I have had good reason too -

So back to April, and round 2 at donington, and I was well keen for this seeing as we missed using dono last year, the bike left looking like this.....

Image


But unfortunately returned looking like this.....

Image

And my leg like this...

Image


Thanks to this piece of stunning "riding" by a lad not that popular on this forum

https://youtu.be/4GoNylHwz4o
Last edited by 28hodge on Sat Aug 06, 2016 7:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
28hodge
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Reactions:
Posts: 1204
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 4:26 pm
Bike owned: nc30 (track) Yam YZ250 (MX)2st
Location: Kendal, Cumbria, Northwest
Re: My half arsed F400 nc30

Post by 28hodge » Sat Aug 06, 2016 7:44 pm

Anyway the weekend wasn't exactly going to plan prior to the above, Saturday we made a major error for quali which meant I started to get some fuel starvation so couldn't post a great lap so we were further down the grid than we should have been.

Then Saturday there was lots of crashes, in all classes, I think the surface is really tired and there was a lack of grip, so the club lost a lot of time, and eventually had to chop one entire block of racing. We were one of the last groups on the timetable and despite it having been glorious weather all day, it fantastically started to rain about 10mins before our race.

So the wets went on and we ventured out, there was literally no grip, I nearly fell off starting on the warm up lap!,

Anyway here's race 1


User avatar
28hodge
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Reactions:
Posts: 1204
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 4:26 pm
Bike owned: nc30 (track) Yam YZ250 (MX)2st
Location: Kendal, Cumbria, Northwest
Re: My half arsed F400 nc30

Post by 28hodge » Sat Aug 06, 2016 7:55 pm

I'm normally good in the wet, but I just could not get any grip or feedback from the rear, it was just sliding everywhere, in the end I began pushing way more than I was comfy with, as I was catching 3rd and felt I could get to him, then fell off half way round the 2nd to last lap.

My nice new paint job had lasted a little over one full race weekend. I knew I shouldn't have painted it and made it look pretty!!

The bike went round with zero warning and once back in the pits the rear tyre was probably the culprit, it was really hard on the tread, a wet tyre should be pretty soft and supple, you should be able to push the blocks around with your finger, not this thing, they were solid.

So we got the wonderful task of fibreglassing the fairing back together and rebuilding the carbs in Saturday night rather than having a beer and relaxing.

Not all bad as I was really struggling with the fuelling of the bike, I wouldn't pull crisply at all out of the Melbourne loop, and when I rolled the throttle to change direction through Cramer, when I rolled it back on it would stumble and fart, basically the bike was running like crap, so I was hoping rebuilding the carbs would solve this.

I'd find out in morning warm up I guess.

It did feel a little better, but not great, I had left my jets at home and to be honest couldn't tell if it was running rich or lean, so I left it alone and waited for our 2nd race of the weekend on Sunday

User avatar
28hodge
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Reactions:
Posts: 1204
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 4:26 pm
Bike owned: nc30 (track) Yam YZ250 (MX)2st
Location: Kendal, Cumbria, Northwest
Re: My half arsed F400 nc30

Post by 28hodge » Sat Aug 06, 2016 7:59 pm



I didn't feel that comfortable, in truth I'd felt a bit on edge all weekend, I just didn't seem to be able to get into a consistent rhythm. Also the fueling was still utter rubbish. I rode ok but didn't go faster than we had been 2 years ago, although in truth the fastest lap I did 2 years ago was a full 1.5secs faster than any other lap I did that weekend. Whereas this year my laptimes were very consistent, but still slower than my pb, which was disappointing.

Then race 3 came around

User avatar
28hodge
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Reactions:
Posts: 1204
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 4:26 pm
Bike owned: nc30 (track) Yam YZ250 (MX)2st
Location: Kendal, Cumbria, Northwest
Re: My half arsed F400 nc30

Post by 28hodge » Sat Aug 06, 2016 8:11 pm



I have no idea what James thought he was doing, he took my bars out of my hands in a straight line, even if he hadn't I had no where to go so was crashing anyway. You don't pull across the front wheel of someone in the braking zone, it's just dirty bad riding.

I don't think he did it on purpose but to be honest that's of little comfort, it's just piss poor riding.

I got trapped between the two backs and was getting my hand and arm dragged into James rear wheel which I really didn't fancy, so dragged myself out and then got chucked off my bike to the left and I'm guessing cartwheeled through the gravel, I knew I had broken my leg as I was rolling through the gravel, as I could see it wobbling around, so as soon as I stopped rolling I was sat up holding my leg and shouting at the marshals to not move me.

I also broke both my little fingers and dislocated my left shoulder.

The medical facilities provided are fantastic and after some morphine and gas and air in the gravel trap I was stuck in a ambulance and taken straight to queen hospital in Nottingham and operated on that night, to put the scaffolding in, I stayed like that for a couple weeks and then had another op in Liverpool to place two plates and 19 screws into the tib and fib and then it was a case of sit tight and let it heal.

I'm not good at listening to docs so after some Google research and speaking to a mate of a mate whose helped James Ellison in recovery he basically said get up and walk on it after 5 weeks, so that's what I did, whereas my docs said I was to be non weight bearing for 16weeks.

Anyway I broke it 10th April and we are now 5th Aug so 4 months and I am still signed off work and off the bike, I was trying to get back for brands GP but the leg needs to be strong enough to crash on not just allow me to ride, so we will have to wait for 2017.


Post Reply