CBR 400 NC29/ZXR Race Bike Season

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
Tuckshop1
Settled in member
Reactions:
Posts: 91
Joined: Thu Jul 24, 2014 3:59 pm
Bike owned: FZR3TJ/ZXR400 H/NC29/ZXR400 L
Location: Bristol
Contact:
Re: CBR 400 NC29/ZXR Race Bike Season

Post by Tuckshop1 » Fri Sep 23, 2016 7:38 am

8th of October bud, only a 1 day event, which means plenty of beers after the racing!

Tuckshop1
Settled in member
Reactions:
Posts: 91
Joined: Thu Jul 24, 2014 3:59 pm
Bike owned: FZR3TJ/ZXR400 H/NC29/ZXR400 L
Location: Bristol
Contact:
Re: CBR 400 NC29/ZXR Race Bike Season

Post by Tuckshop1 » Tue Oct 25, 2016 12:24 pm

NG Road Racing Thruxton 8th October.

Saturday:
After sitting around by myself for a good few hours the day before to make sure me and Ben had a garage and then sinking a few beers i was more than ready to get on the ZXR and go for a spin. And having ridden Thruxton before i was quietly confident going into the race.

My warm up went OK but it felt like the bike didn't want to pull below 10K but wasn't causing too much of an issue, which was a little confusing as it had been fine at Pembrey. I came in and as they went to noise test me my bike shut off and wouldn't start again so i managed to dodge that bullet as i was running my micron system without the baffle in. For the race i was 14th on the grid even though i was 7th in the championship! didn't quite understand why but i was more than happy to battle my way through the pack. Ben was starting 16th so i was hoping to follow him as well to pull me up to the front. I bang the revs up to 10K, lights go out and i let the clutch out to its usual biting point and she almost stall on the line. I managed to catch it and slip the clutch to get me going but i dropped to last in the F400 class. I went up into the complex pissed off and out broke 4 people and then a few corners later went round the outside of 2 people into Noble. After a blast down the back straight i came into the last chicane, dropped the bike into 3rd gear and went to accelerate out the last corner. The bike did nothing, it wouldn't rev at all below 10K and just felt like it was stuck. I spent the whole race pissed off that it was playing up. I managed to get myself up to 6th place but it was an incredibly lonely and frustrating.

I came back in and ripped the tank and ram air system off to find i had made a slight error when cleaning my carbs a few rounds before.... i managed to leave a couple of rags in the air box that i used to clean up some fuel!! not only did i feel like an idiot but i went out on a warm up lap of another race to see if that was the problem only for the bike to still be pissing about. Now i had a bit of fuel coming out of the side of my ram air system, something it hadn't done before but i didn't have time to piss about with the carbs before my race so it would have to do.

Starting from 6th on the grid i took the revs up quite a bit higher so i wouldn't stall off the line again, i got a good start and jumped up to 5th but got lent on a little so had to shut off. Going up into the complex i road around the outside of some bloke on a steam powered tractor (Desmo duo/Air cooler Ducati Monster) i braked later than him but got in all sorts of shapes with the back end in the air and it snaking from side to side. He managed to drop across the front of me so i followed him through the first part of the complex, got better drive out to which he then parked himself in the middle of the corner as i was swinging back to get a good run out and i had to take slight avoiding action (Would have been my fault anyway) i still managed to out drive him but by that time i had lost about 4 seconds on the 400 pack in front of me!

I spent a good 4 laps by myself but then started to slowly reel in Simon Wilkins on his FZR, by that time 2 guys ahead of us had pulled out so the fight was for 3rd until Simon Gates on his ZXR came flying past me. I had managed to hold him behind for a lap after he tried diving up the inside but i was really struggling to get the bike moving out the slower corner on the track so as he got past i instantly lost 3 seconds out the last corner as i was having to slip the clutch.

The following lap i put in my fastest lap of a 1.30.6, looking at the footage i didn't miss a beat all lap, i had it bouncing all over the place coming out of church and had to stand up on the pegs to get it into a straight like, it was class! proper hard riding. I got close to Simon on the FZR into the complex, bouncing around on 1 wheel for most of the braking area (Something i need to fix, my forks are a little buggered) and then got solid drive coming out and went round the outside of him and another bike into and through Noble. One of the steam powered Ducati's was right on the apex of the next corner going fairly slowly and i couldn't go anywhere but up the inside but i was coming at a completely different angle so if i had gone for it i'd have most probably taken us both off at 90/100 mph, something i didn't quite fancy doing. I had to slow down quite a bit but saw there was a patch of tarmac on the infield, quite possible part of the run way so i jumped across the grass and little and onto that to make sure i got past haha. Simon managed to slipstream me down the back straight and got into front into the last corner. I followed him really closely through the chicane and managed to get OK drive out, enough to keep within distance coming onto the last lap. My entry speed was quite a bit better so i nailed the throttle a little earlier and stood the bike up and managed to drive around the outside of him before the braking area for the complex. I broke super late into the complex and had my knee down with the brake still on which scared me!, i kept the rest of the lap nice and tidy, got a good exit through church to see 2 back markers up ahead and i was going to catch them right at the wrong point. I got a long side 1 just before the braking area, went round the outside of him and then dived up the inside of the 125. There's me thinking "Ah job done just go through the last corner nice and easy" as i shift into 2nd my bike as it loves doing drops itself into false neutral and i have to run on at the last corner. I came across the line really pissed off as i thought they'd drop me back a position but fortunately they didn't and i managed to take 4th place and secure 6th in the championship.

All in all it was an OK weekend, i definitely had the pace for low 1.29's and the podium i think but its my fault for not properly checking the bike between races. I managed to improve my lap time from 2014 by 7 seconds so i was happy with that. Big shout out goes to my Brother Ben Harrison (Chowderv4) on here as he won the race by 10 seconds and got performance of the meeting after finishing 4th in the pre injection 700/1300 on his 400!

Now i have a garage the winter will be spent taking the engine out to fix a few bits/new forks/ new fairing (Cheers Ben Palmer) and just generally going over everything and getting new seals. My plan for next year is to win every newcomers race and secure that championship and hopefully challenge for wins in the f400 class.

Here's a few as usual cracking pictures from Kerry Rawson Photography and Hairy Beat Pix and some race footage (Unfortunately my gopro ran out of memory on the last lap!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5YQ55cxNQw

Image
Image
Image

Tuckshop1
Settled in member
Reactions:
Posts: 91
Joined: Thu Jul 24, 2014 3:59 pm
Bike owned: FZR3TJ/ZXR400 H/NC29/ZXR400 L
Location: Bristol
Contact:
Re: CBR 400 NC29/ZXR Race Bike Season

Post by Tuckshop1 » Fri Dec 09, 2016 11:01 am

Winter Update:

Been fairly busy since the season finished taking the bike apart! The gear box needs looking at, nothing major and if something is broken i have 4 spare ones so i'm hoping i can sort something.

I've treated the bike to a new full Scorpion system which sounds sweet, also managed to grab some new forks, adjustable clip on's, Venhill quick action throttle, new fairing (From Ben Palmer, Lovely bloke) and a few other bits and bobs like gaskets etc.

I've got 3 Months until my first race to get everything sorted and i know March will turn up fast so i need to get my ass in gear. My 2017 calendar looks like this so far:

- Brands Hatch - March 3rd/4th/5th (ThundersportGB)
- Brands Hatch - March 18th/19th (NG)
- Oulton Park - April 7th/8th (NG)
- Donington Park - May 13th/14th (NG)
- Snetterton 300 - May 20th/21st (Bemsee)
- Cadwell Park - June 2nd/3rd/4th (NG)
- Castle Combe - July 8th/9th (NG)
- Oulton Park - August 4th/5th (Bemsee)
- Anglesey - August 11th/12th/13th (NG)
- Pembrey - September 2nd/3rd (NG)
- Thruxton - October 7th (NG)

I want to get as much track time as possible and then plan for the Manx in 2018. In the mean time i want the NG newcomers championship, missing out on it by 4 point this year hurt haha. And a solid top 3 in the NG F400 championship would be nice as well but i'll have stiff competition.

Here's to a cracking 2016 and roll on 2017, a year of racing!

Tuckshop1
Settled in member
Reactions:
Posts: 91
Joined: Thu Jul 24, 2014 3:59 pm
Bike owned: FZR3TJ/ZXR400 H/NC29/ZXR400 L
Location: Bristol
Contact:
Re: CBR 400 NC29/ZXR Race Bike Season

Post by Tuckshop1 » Mon Jan 09, 2017 12:19 pm

Its been a fairly busy start to January after a rather chilled Christmas. I've gone about doing a bit of an Engine refresh with the help of my Brother and his expert ZXR knowledge. Fortunately with the engine being tuned recently its all in good nick where it needs to but. So far I've put a refreshed clutch in,given the engine itself a good clean and replaced all the gaskets.

I got the rocker cover off over the weekend and learnt how to do the valve clearance's with Bens help and bar 4 being slightly out of tolerance it was all good. Now its just a case of waiting for payday so i can get the rest of my bits such as clutch/throttle cable's/fork oil/engine oil/fork seal kit/new fairing amongst a few other bits but its all minimal the hard work is almost done.

Managed to blag myself a compressor as well :grin: so respraying the bike shout be a walk in the park. Hopefully it'll all be done by March as I'm out on track at Pembrey the 4th/5th after having a change of plan and deciding not to do Thundersport at Brands.

These pictures should show a little bit of the progress I've made over the weekend, i got bored and sprayed a few bits, excuse the terrible fixes on the ram air box, its messy but it worked haha :rocks:

Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

Tuckshop1
Settled in member
Reactions:
Posts: 91
Joined: Thu Jul 24, 2014 3:59 pm
Bike owned: FZR3TJ/ZXR400 H/NC29/ZXR400 L
Location: Bristol
Contact:
Re: CBR 400 NC29/ZXR Race Bike Season

Post by Tuckshop1 » Wed Jan 25, 2017 12:23 pm

Winter Update:

After a few cold evenings. a lot of parts purchased and a trip to Frome by ZXR is almost finished.
Image
Image
Image
I've purchased some fairing from Ben Palmer and boy do they look nice! Seat until fits right over the standard sub frame with it only needing a bit of drilling and tapping for it to be fixed on. I've got a spare set of forks which i have purchased some Ktech goodies for and they'll be going on this weekend.

Mechanically the bike is absolutely spot on, since getting the engine back in and running it sounds far better and starts on the button, the new scorpion system sounds far better than the Micron too! All essential parts will be fitted this weekend plus some rear sets I'm borrowing as mine are knackered. All that'll be left to do is paint the bike then and put some sponsor stickers on it.

Oh and I've decided to name it Keith the Kawasaki :whistle:

Roll on the 4th/5th of March for some testing at Pembrey!

Tuckshop1
Settled in member
Reactions:
Posts: 91
Joined: Thu Jul 24, 2014 3:59 pm
Bike owned: FZR3TJ/ZXR400 H/NC29/ZXR400 L
Location: Bristol
Contact:
Re: CBR 400 NC29/ZXR Race Bike Season

Post by Tuckshop1 » Fri Feb 03, 2017 8:16 am

Finally got the bike finished minus the paint! I'm thinking of going for a yellow/blue combination but not decided on design just yet.

Image
Image
Image


Everything else is in place and I'm incredible happy with the work that's gone into making this bike perfectly ready for racing this year. It was all a bit bodged last year as i only got it half way through the season but i now know almost everything has been checked, most replaced and the set up is getting there. The new longer adjustable clip-ons are far nicer and should make a big difference to my riding as i'll be able to lever the bike around a little more.

I'll be hitting up 100% Suspension at Pembrey to see if i can get the skipping under braking sorted!

Looking forward to the 2017 season!

Tuckshop1
Settled in member
Reactions:
Posts: 91
Joined: Thu Jul 24, 2014 3:59 pm
Bike owned: FZR3TJ/ZXR400 H/NC29/ZXR400 L
Location: Bristol
Contact:
Re: CBR 400 NC29/ZXR Race Bike Season

Post by Tuckshop1 » Mon Feb 27, 2017 12:38 pm

Here she is, the finished article!

I'm bloody proud of what myself and my brother have produced here. A lot of blood, sweat, brake cleaner, paint, bolts, more bloody and tears has gone into this bike over the winter, I'm so stoked on how its turned out! (Best not throw it down the road at Pembrey this weekend!)

90% of the bike is new front hoses to clip-ons and even little bits in the engine, I've tried to leave no stone un-turned. My brother always said to me last year "keep your bike clean and do everything properly and it'll be easy", my ZXR is now an example of that. Putting that extra hour in to get it done right is incredibly worth it. I can now go into this season knowing my bike is built how i want it to be!

If anyone's curious about the make of fairing a good friend of mine Ben Palmer makes them and is always happy to make more.

Cant wait to ride the thing :grin: :grin:

Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

Tuckshop1
Settled in member
Reactions:
Posts: 91
Joined: Thu Jul 24, 2014 3:59 pm
Bike owned: FZR3TJ/ZXR400 H/NC29/ZXR400 L
Location: Bristol
Contact:
Re: CBR 400 NC29/ZXR Race Bike Season

Post by Tuckshop1 » Tue May 23, 2017 1:52 pm

A bit late on the old updates for this.

Season started in March, I came away from brands hatch with a 4th and 3rd.

What a unbelievable weekend I had at Donington Park with NG Road Racing though.

I came away from the weekend with a 1st in the Newcomers and 2x 2nd place in the F400 races (Also 2x 2nd place in the qualifying races). My goal was to beat last years times and set a new lap record in the newcomers and I managed to do it! I set a 1.21.002 on the way to the win, the previous record being a 1.21.3.

I was incredibly happy with how my riding went all weekend and on the Sunday I managed a 1.19.927, putting me 7 seconds faster than I did last year and with that my timers were very consistent, gradually getting faster as the race's went on.

I currently lead the Newcomers championship by 23 points and I'm sitting 3rd in the F400 Championship with only 2 points between 1st, 2nd and 3rd so I'm heading to Cadwell Park in a couple of weekends time with my sights set on getting another win in the Newcomers and solid results in the F400 races, it'll be difficult as I've never ridden there before.

Craig Harriman got this cracking shot of me - https://www.onestoptogs.co.uk/aboutonestoptogs
Image

Footage isn't half bad either - https://youtu.be/6fmZlpWA6mo

Tuckshop1
Settled in member
Reactions:
Posts: 91
Joined: Thu Jul 24, 2014 3:59 pm
Bike owned: FZR3TJ/ZXR400 H/NC29/ZXR400 L
Location: Bristol
Contact:
Re: CBR 400 NC29/ZXR Race Bike Season

Post by Tuckshop1 » Thu Oct 19, 2017 4:01 pm

Its been a while since I last updated this.
I'm now the 2017 NGRRC F400 and Newcomers Champion! :grin:

After a great start/middle of the season I had a big, big off at Anglesey. Breaking my wrist and knocking myself out for a good minute after a monster of a highside. 3 weeks later I cut the cast off to race at Pembrey so I could keep the championships alive. I managed to win the Newcomers race there and take that title. In the F400 races I managed a 2nd and a 4th after starting from the back of the grid in what could only be described as monsoon condition.

With those results I actually lost my Championship lead in the F400 class to my Brother, we went into the last round at Thruxton 3 Points apart. We had a cracking race in the qualifier until I crashed, clipping a back marker whilst in second ahead of my brother. His bike then broke down 2 corners after my crash so we'd both have to fight for the title from the back of the grid (MotoGP stuff this haha)

Unfortunately Ben didn't source his fuelling problem and had to pull out on the warm up lap as his bike cut out again. I was actually gutted as I wanted to properly race for the title. Saying that I had a crashed/repaired bike to ride from 36th on the grid and still had another championship rival I had to beat. I started 36th, finished 3rd after what was the most enjoyable time on a 400 I've ever had. A little nervy on the last lap but I was stoked to bring home the title.

I'll be having a year off next year from full racing, i'll pop along to a bemsee round or two and see how I fair against those boys. The bike will also be getting some loving with new bits going on it front to back and engine internals getting a good looking at.

All in all a cracking year.

Image
Image

cbr400rrn
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Reactions:
Posts: 1267
Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2008 9:37 pm
Bike owned: NC29 CBR600F
Location: Lancashire
Re: CBR 400 NC29/ZXR Race Bike Season

Post by cbr400rrn » Thu Oct 19, 2017 10:16 pm

Excellent news that you won the championship.
cutting the plaster off after 3 weeks takes a lot of dedication to try and bring home the championship title, must have been bloody painful but I do admire your determination to win.


Post Reply