CBR 400 NC29/ZXR Race Bike Season

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Tuckshop1
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CBR 400 NC29/ZXR Race Bike Season

Post by Tuckshop1 » Tue May 03, 2016 2:40 pm

Hi all,

I've had this thread in the CBR section but thought i'd post in here too.

Im currently competing in my first full season racing with NG Road Racing, so of you may have seen my brothers post(Chowderv4) he's my pit crew for this season as he's preping a solid bike for next year after landing a new job.

I managed some decent results in the first round on a heavily under powered NC29 (Only 2 on the grid). After the bike blew a spark plug out the head and left the thread in I Managed a 7th from last place. Then whilst leading the newcomers i fell off at Paddock Hill (Not fun) and the bike took a could of hits, fortunately myself and the bike were use able the next day.

The following day after fixing the bike up I qualified 5th and managed 4th in the race after a good battle.

Long story short i missed cadwell due to funds and fixing the bike, which is now all sorted and repaired ready for Donington Park this weekend, were I i'll be going to head to head with Ben (Chowderv4).

Few pictures below showing the before the race/crash/fixing of the bike.

I'll aim to carry this on throughout the season as it seems a better platform than in the CBR section.

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Not too shabby for a couple of spray cans!
Last edited by Tuckshop1 on Wed Jun 22, 2016 10:13 am, edited 1 time in total.

Tuckshop1
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Re: CBR 400 NC29 Race Bike Season

Post by Tuckshop1 » Mon May 09, 2016 9:56 am

So i managed to bring the bike back from Donington Park in 1 piece and with a 3rd place trophy!

(Saturday)

At the start of the weekend I struggled to get any decent track time due to a couple of jetting issues that I wont go into (ChowderV4 was trying to sabotage my race ;) ) once that was all sorted I had only done half a lap at full speed before the first qualifying race.

I went into it fairly nervous knowing I'd have to learn the circuit at race speed real quick. I went about doing this and managed to get myself a 9th place and a 1.26.9 lap time after a good battle with a few of the f400 boys. Onto the afternoon and i was fairly confident on dropping my lap time and trying to run for top 6, then 10 minutes before our race the scheduled thunder storm hit and the heavens opened. I scrambled to get my wets on and went out for my first taste of wet weather racing. I started off fairly cautiously and almost high sided coming out of Coppice but didn't let that put me off, I got my head down and started riding real smooth, coming into the last corner in 7th, 6th place out braked himself and I got really good drive and managed to beat him to the line by 0.002 :grin:.

The newcomers race was one of the last of the day and we (5 400's) were mixed in with a number of 600'/1000's, which proved to be very challenging. I got a fairly good start but due to me being a little too cautious and the guys on bigger bikes not having the same corner speed I lost touch with the front 2 on the first lap, I maintained 3rd place all race and was matching the leaders lap times. I had a good battle with some guys on the bigger bikes, beating an r1, MV and an RC8 to the line on the last lap. With that result came my first trophy and knowing I had the pace to run at the front was nice as well.

(Sunday)
Fortunately the weather held out and Sunday was absolutely glorious weather, I went out in my practise session with the aim to run at race pace and up my lap time, straight out the pits and 4 people are off down at Craner Curves and its red flagged. In the pits we come, back out again 5 minutes later, 2 laps in another red flag!, back in and back out again. I then got some clear space and hooked onto the back of a quicker F400 rider and started nailing some good laps, i came in 9th fastest with a 1.24.9, i was more than happy with this but I was still a good 4 seconds off the leaders.

Onto the qualifying race, which started so well as I got a good start, I was braver into the first corner after advise from ChowderV4 (He then came barrelling past into Coppice) and latched onto the back of the quicker boys and started catching then up. then came probably the worst lap I could have imagined, braking late into the first corner I managed to keep the throttle on slightly whilst braking, tipped in and realised I was travelling fairly fast still, I had to brake quite hard whilst leant over, bounced over the curb and did a little grass tracking. I brushed that off and carried on then coming out of the old hairpin I hit 2 false neutrals, a few people came past who I then went round the outside of through Coppice, tried braking a little too late into the last corner and followed someone in really deep and bounced across the curbs again, lost about 10 seconds and ended up finished 10th. Not the best of races at all but a good lesson in how to not panic and crash when shit hits the fan.

Onto my final race of the day I started from 14th on the grid, my old man adjusted my clutch and the biting point wasn't were it usually was so i started as usual and it just revved and didn't move, I lost a good few place so knew i had to be brave into the first corner to not lose too much time on the top ten. This race became really frustrating as we were mixed with guys riding Bandit 750's (Basically as bad as Harley's) and they were barrelling past in a straight line, almost taking each other out, stopping mind corner then flying off again. numerous times I couldn't run the corner speed i wanted as they were all elbows and knee's out, honestly I should have been braver and just made a move stick but every time I got past after they ran wide I'd lose out on the straights. I was battling with the bloke I beat by 0.002 who was riding a blue RVF400. We were having a good battle, changing places a number of times, I managed to get past him on the last lap into the first corner as he got pushed wide by one of the Harley riders. I tried nailing my last lap, then coming into Coppice one of the Harley riders almost stopped mid corner, I went up the inside over the curb, which really unsettled my bike so I had to shut off, the RVF then came past down the straight and gave me a swift thumbs up. I braked late into the last corner and aimed for good driver out, unfortunately again all the Harley riders tried taking each other out and were all off line trying to get back on so I had to swoop around the outside off a few but couldn't get the drive I wanted and finished in 10th. A little disappointed as I thought I could up my pace but its all part of racing and learning how to deal with traffic. I'll aim to get the footage up of the race soon, in case the guy on the RVF is on here I believe he was called Aaron Mellish.

All in all it was a cracking weekend and i improved my riding leaps and bounds, my Brother (Chowderv4) Managed a 3rd place in the final F400 race as well after some engine trouble the day before, hopefully by next season I'll be up to his pace. Now I've got to give the bike a good clean and change a few parts before the next race at Oulton Park in June.

I currently sit 5th in the F400 Championship and 6th in the Newcomers.

Edit* - Video Links Below

10th Place F400 - https://youtu.be/0n-gM9m-Lkk
3rd Place Newcomers - https://youtu.be/MEIMfNsOHp0

(Pictures)
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thmjo1
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Re: CBR 400 NC29 Race Bike Season

Post by thmjo1 » Mon May 09, 2016 9:57 pm

Great stuff mate, you seem to be getting on the pace.
I race an NC29 too, great when it runs right, hoping to be out on Sat but bloody thing is dead at the mo. Hopefully get it sorted before the weekend.

Tuckshop1
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Re: CBR 400 NC29 Race Bike Season

Post by Tuckshop1 » Mon May 09, 2016 10:04 pm

Cheers bud, yeah i've had my teething problems with the nc29 and i've still got a few things to sort out (seat height being one) and i've most probably got 1 of the slowest bikes on the grid! compared to everyone else of zxr's in straight line i've got no chance but she's good for learning to race on.

Tuckshop1
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Re: CBR 400 NC29 Race Bike Season

Post by Tuckshop1 » Fri May 13, 2016 4:52 pm

There's been some cracking photo's uploaded so far, which I unfortunately don't have the funds to buy just yet :(

But! a guy called Glynes Photo's managed to grab some good snaps throughout the weekend so here's a few:

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And a nice one of us all soaking up some sun between races, it was bloody hot between thunder storms!
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Onto Oulton for some more fun, between that me and ChowderV4 are going to attempt to raise the seat height on my CBR by manufacturing something to fit on the original subframe as its not perfect for me at the moment, hopefully that'll give me a little more movement. And she's going on the dyno soon, I'll be able to see how much BHP I'm losing to the other boys!

Tuckshop1
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Re: CBR 400 NC29 Race Bike Season

Post by Tuckshop1 » Tue May 17, 2016 1:57 pm

Another Photo here courtesy of - http://www.edpphoto.co.uk/ngroadracing/ ... index.html

Captured me and ChowderV4 having a crack.

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Tuckshop1
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Re: CBR 400 NC29 Race Bike Season

Post by Tuckshop1 » Wed Jun 08, 2016 12:56 pm

Little update as ive been fairly quite the past couple of weeks.

I'm racing at Oulton Park this weekend with NG (Can't wait), the CBR has had a bit of a refresh over the past couple of weeks. I've fitted so far - New rad/New pads/Clutch cover gasket/New 520 Chain. My brother also removed the thermostat as i was having some overheating issues at Donington and getting sprayed with a lot of hot water once I had stopped after the flag thanks to my invincible tropicana overflow bottle.

Hopefully that'll fix and few things and the plan for the friday test day at Oulton is to really improve my riding style (Need to get myself off the bike more) and run race gearing (Hopefully I wont blow it up).

Its looking like its going to be a wet one as well, fortunately i'm pretty good in the wet so i'm not so fussed about it (Fresh tyres from my sponsor helps as well!)

Here's a picture of the old girl with some fresh sponsor logo's after the refresh (My brother being a bike mechanic really help)

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Tuckshop1
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Re: CBR 400 NC29 Race Bike Season

Post by Tuckshop1 » Tue Jun 14, 2016 12:39 pm

Oulton Park 10th/11th June.

Friday:
The Friday test day started as all my 1st sessions do, i wasn't comfy on the bike, didnt know how i was going to riding the track fast and kept getting really tired as i was riding stiff. Came in asking myself why this kept happening. Second session blew me away! i actually started riding well, the track is amazing and very well suited to the 400's i was happily keeping up with the quicker guys and some 600's. I managed to really improve my riding style and finally got comfy on the old NC29 for the first time this season! Now going into the 3rd session of the test day i wanted to go out and improve my braking points etc, got 3 laps in, on a good lap and BOOM! The old girl decided she no longer wanted to live and blew the conrod and piston through the front and back of the engine!
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Now if it wasn't for friends in the paddock giving encouragement i would have packed up and grabbed a few beers, but no! i asked around and found an Engine 20 minutes from Oulton Park! now they guy wasn't 100% sure it would run but i had to take the punt, for £200 he sorted me right out, ended up coming back to Oulton with almost 2 bikes! We spent all night swapping the engine over and fired it up at 7:30am the next day and she ran sweet!.

Saturday:
I went out for the morning practise after frantically trying to get myself and the bike scrutineered. The aim was to take it nice and easy to make sure everything worked and it didnt spit any oil out. I did 4 laps and it felt good, if anything faster than my previous engine anyway! I popped off to the Van for a sleep before the first qualifying race to recharge the batteries and i came back to the pits incredible nervous for some reason. I was starting 4th on the grid due to my championship position and managed to get a real good start. I pushed my way up to 3rd within half a lap but was passed by a fast guy later on in the lap. I kept my pace strong and tried to follow 3rd place but he got away. I rode most of the race by myself keeping a keen ear on any suspicious noises! When i came across the line i was going mental, i couldn't believe i managed a 4th place and the 4th fastest lap after swapping the engine, it was an amazing feeling.

About 20 minutes before we were due out for the race it started to rain, something i wasn't too keen on as i didnt get any time to practise in the wet the day before, i took the warm up lap fairly fast to get to grips with it as quick as possible. My start was terrible, i got swamped by 4/5 riders, i didnt want what happened at donington to happen again so i let off the brakes and went through the middle of them all and tucked back into 4th place. My pace was really strong, the bike felt great in the wet, i made my way up to 3rd within 3 corners, up to second 3/4 of the way through the lap and set off after 1st place. Having not long go across the line to start my second lap disaster struck again, i lost almost all power as i went to exit the long downhill left. I tried revving it out but to no avail so i pulled off the track, parked the bike up and watched my potential first f400 podium literally wash away!

Turns out after checking all the valve clearance and giving the bike the once over at home one of the coil pack connectors had worked loose! pissed off it was something so small but also glad i didn't ruin another engine!

All in all i learnt a hell of a lot and couldn't believe my pace throughout the weekend.

And i'm picking this up on the weekend!
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Footage off the bike blowing up: https://youtu.be/sxyAukQI7wA
Pulling out of 2nd place: https://youtu.be/22JAixB8bGk

Kerry Rawson also got some awesome pictures throughout the weekend - http://www.kerryrawson.com/
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cbr400rrn
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Re: CBR 400 NC29 Race Bike Season

Post by cbr400rrn » Tue Jun 14, 2016 9:39 pm

I'm liking this thread , keep us updated

Tuckshop1
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Re: CBR 400 NC29 Race Bike Season

Post by Tuckshop1 » Tue Jun 14, 2016 10:04 pm

Cheers dude :grin:

I'll keep it updated throughout the season! hopefully with no more blown engines.


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