Nitro
us Junkie Racing
Motorcycle Drag Racing Team
us Junkie RacingMotorcycle Drag Racing Team
Sunday 20 April 2025
I wasn’t 100% for the Thursday test day. We'd been to Prague for Lizz’s “significant” birthday and managed to bring back Norovirus as a souvenir - it wiped both of us out for a few days. By race week we were mostly recovered, but definitely still feeling the effects. Jake and Esther arrived Wednesday night, and Jake and I got up early Thursday to set up our pit area for the weekend. The girls followed later with food and supplies for the weekend. With everything set up, we chilled for a few hours and prepared the bike. Once the rest of the crew arrived we made a plan for starting the bike first thing in the morning, we all got some sleep ahead of Friday's action. Friday morning, we ran into a bit of nitro mischief. Even though the bike had sounded great just two weeks earlier, it now didn’t want to idle properly. We took our time resetting the barrel valve and idle settings. We weren’t in a rush to make the first qualifier - this is about testing, not chasing points (yet). We also got some excellent advice from seasoned friends in the paddock, including multiple European champion Read more
Monday 31 March 2025
Over the winter, real life and work took priority. In between the daily grind, the bike was stripped and cleaned. We relocated a few components for easier access and maintenance, and did our best to balance the setup. I'm really happy with how the bike stands now. We removed the fuel distribution blocks, stainless hard lines. These were replaced with showerhead fittings and equal-length braided lines to help improve fuel distribution - fingers crossed this addresses our persistent fueling issues at idle. I made the decision to skip the season opener at Santa Pod for a few personal reasons, but we did manage to make time to attend the Yam Yam test day the Monday after the event. It was a well-organized session and gave us a great opportunity to fire up the bike on nitro post-rebuild. We had a productive day: got the timing set and sorted out a couple of minor fuel leaks. Unfortunately, during testing, oil pressure dropped, halting our progress. We went through the oiling system piece by piece - lines, components, everything - and eventually traced the issue to a faulty fitting. Once replaced, all was well again. The troubleshooting took longer than we expected, Read more
Sunday 23 June 2024
Having committed ourselves to a date to test the new fuel bike and get everyone together, we went to a Run What Ya Brung at Santa Pod. Bearing in mind that the bike was a new build so new to us, all checks had been made, the fuelling had been set as well as we could, before riding it in anger on the track! We fired it up on nitro, this has to be done at the track anyway due to the phenomenal noise of the thing, the restrictions we have at present on the fuel and also not wanting to scare or annoy our neighbours! I had not ridden a top fuel bike since 2011, being the first time riding one of these huge machines for a while I obviously was a little nervous! It was great having Lizz and Jake crewing for me along with good friends Dean and Dan, they organized themselves who was doing what, and let me know so that I could concentrate on what I needed to do. By the time we had checked over the bike and made adjustments needed, we had one shot at getting on the track, for only a burnout Read more
Monday 01 May 2023
Finally we have some updates to be able to share with you. The fuel bike is coming along very well. We have been working very hard on it, and it is now beginning to look like a race bike. Kev decided to try to make the body work himself, after all how hard can it be (!?) He soon found out. He made a wood and car filler plug, waxed and polished and polished some more, and made a fibre glass a mould off it and left it to cure for a few days. Then came the butt clenching moment of removing the body from the mould. The cracking noises that this made was concerning, but happily we had a mould, and it was in one piece!! Duly waxed and polished some more, and going back to the fibre glassing and stinking of resin, the body shell was made. There are probably easier ways to do this, but for a first attempt, Kev was rather pleased about the way it turned out. We have the engine build up, dismantled and rebuilt again, and in the bike. The gearbox is completed and also in. All the plumbing and wiring (not a Read more
Tuesday 24 March 2020
Sitting here at home, due to Covid-19 and being on lockdown, we sadly (but sensibly) made the decision to put the fuel bike on hold. The last bits on the list to do will have to stay that way for a while and the toys will have to be put on hold. This period of uncertainty has put us into responsible adult mode, and monies are best left in the bank for mortgage and bills. Because we have no idea how long this is actually going to go on for, we have brought the bike home, as we are able to continue to do our bit, and work on it here, which we can do shut in the garage, at no risk to anyone else. It was also a good opportunity to see if it would fit logically in the race truck! This it does! It’s disappointing, but rest assured once this all blows over, the bike will have the last bits done and we will be back on course again. We will continue to update from home for now. Read more
Friday 07 June 2019
Having headed to the Main Event for an easy weekend we bumped into Tethys on Thursday night who was short of crew and unable to run for the weekend. He offered me the opportunity to come and meet with him and the crew the next morning to learn the routine and see if I felt able to help out for the weekend as Top Fuel were not running until Saturday. I soon realised that the amount of work that goes into running these cars is on a completely different level. The engine is completely stripped down to a bare crankshaft and block at the end of every run and to add to this the rules only allow 90 minutes turn around time. With a lot of guidance from the team I ran through the routine once on Friday and discussed some ways to speed up for the real thing. Including gathering a selection of 5 torque wrenches for my tool tray alone! I was also nominated to drive the tow car which leads to a very strange view in the mirror. Thanks to a lot of help from the whole team I managed to just about keep up with the Read more
Sunday 15 July 2018
Ok here goes…… Usually, it’s my job to ride the bike and leave Lizzy to the PR and write the race reports, but I thought I would give it a go. Due to real life and having to go to work, I couldn’t make it to the Track until Thursday evening. By the time I got to Santa Pod, the pit was set up. The girls had done a great job setting up the pit space and the caravans! (Thanks Nipper for the tow) Just a small hiccup with fuel in the generator (yes as it’s not an ACU race meeting, there was no electricity supplied by Santa Pod 🙁 )This was soon sorted out, and I made up for being late, by buying the Team a Chinese takeaway, we know how to live it up! Friday morning we had a look over the bike and fitted the wheelie bars, we then gave the bike a warm-up, and did a leak down test to get a starting point to work from while monitoring the engine condition, after the valve issues at the last test day. Down to the start line and the bike did not want to start, so back Read more
Friday 29 December 2017
How we are able to write a season review when none of us have been racing is amusing. It’s been as much of a busy season as ever. Just like it would have been if there were the three of us racing competitively! How does this happen?? I will try to make this as interesting as I can. We are asked what is happening with various developments – so here goes. Jake got an unconditional offer to study Computer Networking at Sheffield University, and is going to be concentrating on this, so won’t be racing for a while. No doubt at some stage will be doing some run wots, on Kev’s old Bandit which is being rebuilt and redeveloped at present. He passed his driving test the week before he left, so was able to drive himself up there. Very proud of this chap! Jake and the team also crewed for Pete le Gros and his beautiful top fuel twin a few times, which was always such a pleasure. Kev is still working on the build of the Top Fuel Bike, as I’m sure you can all appreciate it comes at a price, and a lot of the components are Read more
Sunday 02 July 2017
Just got back from a cracking weekend on the Isle of Man. The ferry journey over on the Thursday night was rather rough, and not very pleasant, but once there, and we had driven to Paul and Maria’s in a torrential rain storm, we finally got to bed after midnight. In the morning it was still raining, but by late morning the rain had almost gone, and we set off to the track at Jurby. Set up, bike out, and had a look about. Julie Moxley, by this time was on her way, I hadn’t heard from her for a couple of weeks, apart from a text to say she was on her way. Imagine my total surprise when not only Jules got out of the car, but Minx (Sarah Chapman) too! Lost for words I’m not, very often, but I was …… Brilliant that I had both of them here. Very happy ! We had a little walk up the track later on in the evening, and it is not like anything I was expecting. Having been spoilt by the Santa Pod track and Shakey, this track had no rubber, no stick, a strong headwind, and I have to Read more
Thursday 23 March 2017
The season sadly none of us are contesting the ACU Championship, Kevin is still building the top fuel bike, but other commitments have taken precedence, so the bike is on the back burner for now. Lizz has (supposedly) retired from competitive racing, but will be out testing, and will be racing at the Bulldog Bash on Dutchman’s Erik Feijt’s bike, who he has very generously agreed for it to be brought over to the UK for this. There are also rumours that Kev may have a go on Rockets funny bike too! Jake has out grown Junior Drag Bike in more ways than one. Jake is nearly 18 now, and over six foot, the Junior bike is far too small for him. The plans are for him to be out on Kev’s old Bandit in due course. Talking to Funny Bike Racer, Dave Peters (Rocket) who we are crewing for this season, we have offered the Junior Bike, as a sponsorship deal, to his Nephew Will Pickering, who has outgrown his first junior bike. We are delighted to be able to do this. We wish Will the best of luck, and will be there to give him all the guidance Read more
