Nitro
us Junkie Racing
Motorcycle Drag Racing Team
us Junkie RacingMotorcycle Drag Racing Team
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 moreThursday 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 moreSaturday 15 August 2015
Yes I know I’ve said it before, but I’m saying it again. I am now officially retired from competitive drag racing. This doesn’t mean that if the opportunity arose, I wouldn’t be on the race track again; it just means that I will not be competing, or spending all my money on racing, instead supporting and crewing for Kev when the fuel bike comes out. Kev has given me more racing years than I ever expected, mentoring me and giving me great advice, which led us winning a Championship in 2013. He is one of the best nitrous tuners out there, we learnt from another good guy, Ken Cooper, and Kev and I testing and developing his own ideas, has been able to tune my bike with minimal spare parts with tired old stuff which I could never afford to replace. There are not enough words or hours in the day to really thank Kev so much for everything he has done for me. To have achieved what we did was pretty good, considering! I am (so far), in a relatively short career, the second woman, next to Helen, who has won the ACU Comp Bike Championship, won the APIRA
Read moreThursday 23 July 2015
Kevin, as you know bought the fuel bike, “The Purple Princess” from Steve Carey and after taking a good look at the chassis without the engine in, rather sensibly decided that a new chassis was definitely in order, due to a terrible crash that Steve had on it at Dragstalgia in 2013. As you can appreciate, these things cannot be bought off the shelf, and are not cheap. It is a work in progress, but things are moving in the right direction. Pulleys have been made by Portobello Precision, and he has had a meeting with Jon Webster at Webster Race Engineering (webster-race-engineering.co.uk) and Dejan Jankovic from Portobello Precision (Find him on Facebook) to talk about the next stage of the build. The engine has been rebuilt, and is sitting pretty waiting for the chassis and various other components to be made. To get the build right first time is what is imperative. Rushing to get this finished is not an option. However he hopes to be back on the track in 2017, and will be good to have Chris Pyke back as Crew Chief too. Jake stopped racing to concentrate on his Exams, and is now in his second
Read moreTuesday 14 July 2015
The first day in Drachten and the weather was very hot. The first two hours of racing were allocated for testing so we decided to get a couple of runs in early to see what the bike would do after tuning from Don Kennedy. Our first run was delayed a little by some issues setting up the tree, Dad, being a little rusty at this crewing game, forgot to pull the pin out of the air shifter. I noticed the flag flapping in the wind just after 60ft and tried to pull it out however the loop connecting the flag to the pin broke leaving the pin in place and meaning the run was completed in 1st gear with a final time of 17.46 seconds @ 44.36 km/h (27.56 mph). In our second test and tune run everything went well. I ran 10.86 @ 97.27 km/h (60.44 mph). We decided also during qualifications to switch from feathering the clutch back to our old method of dropping the clutch at high revs. This took a little perfecting as at first this caused big wheelspin but a burnout caused the engine to bog. After a few clutch adjustments changing spring pressure and
Read moreTuesday 23 September 2014
After testing at The Bulldog Bash it was time for my first meeting on the new bike. To start with we decided to keep the bike as it was and went for a dial in of 10.2 just to get a number on the board. After running a 10.8 we decided to see what could be done with the clutch. We lightened the base springs to allow for more clutch slip off the line and added weight to the arms to compensate further up the track. This worked off the line with a falling 60 foot time but definitely felt sluggish. We also noticed the shift point was set far too low as I shifted gear just as the bike was about to take off. All together it equated to a time of 11.2. The night before eliminations we added even more weight to the arms and rose the shift point to try and get some speed back and guessed a 10.6 dial in. I ran another 11 second run and was out. But all in all we learned a lot about the bike and what needed to be done. We are planning to go to some Run What Ya
Read moreWednesday 23 July 2014
It would appear my witty press releases have been missed, so I thought I would just put finger to keyboard, as it were and tell you what (little) the Nitrous Junkies have been up to. The story so far …… Kev Charman has bought Steve Carey’s Top Fuel bike, the Purple Princess, which suffered a huge and memorable crash at last year’s Dragstalgia Event at Santa Pod in 2013. So far we have upset absolutely no one in the village, much, by firing it up on nitro, or spending a lot of time in the garage. A new chassis is going to be built, and all being well, Kev aims to be out testing towards the end of next year. He is in no rush, and wants to learn as much as he can before he takes it back to the track. Big thanks to Steve to coming up to us, and spending a day with the crew teaching us all “stuff” Huge congrats to Steve, we went to the reception, so know it’s true….. Annette has made an honourable man of him, and they got married last Saturday !! Jake Charman’s new Junior Bike, aptly names “The Halfabusa” is
Read moreFriday 22 November 2013
We arrived at the track not sure what the bike would run after the National Finals. Up early Saturday morning ready for scruitineering and the first run, after some thought between two times written on either side of the board we decided on a dial of 10.7 from last meeting over 10.4. We went out to run and you would not believe it ... a 10.4! I thought the timing boards where broken when I first looked up at the gantry! Other than that, the bike launched better than it has for a long time and begun to hit the bars again. Time to turn the board round and a dial of 10.4 for next time. Next run out and after another good launch, a 10.2. Got back to the pits, still laughing inside my helmet and gave the ticket to Dad to which he replied "You are so fired! A dial of 10.2 for next run. Went out again hoping for a time the right side of the dial this time, and that was exactly what I got, 10.4, the right side, now we need to get a bit closer. Sunday morning at time for another qualifying round, so
Read moreTuesday 01 October 2013
In 2013 I had a tough year of racing, getting taller and a tad heavier, so we were having to work really hard to set up the bike. We made such good progress on the old bike in 2012, gaining 6 positions in the championship. 2013 was therefore very hard gong, I got taller and wanted to go faster, but the bike didn’t. Towards the end of the year, cramming myself into the bike, knees sticking out, it was very obvious I was getting far too big for the old bike and, thanks so much to Dad it was agreed a new one just had to be built. The new bike is beginning to take shape at Dave Branch's and will hopefully vastly improve on some of the shortcomings of the old bike. Even Dad is too short for the new one, the foot pegs are too far back for him, but is just fine for me ! On the old bike, we were having problems setting up the clutch and finding the balance between the clutch slip and wheel spin in order to get a good launch. Then there was me, the rider that gained an inch in height
Read moreThursday 29 August 2013
After finding two broken piston rings at the Junior Fun Day at Santa Pod on Wednesday we headed off to Avon Park hoping that a new piston and rings would solve the lack of power we have been having recently. First run out we decided to dial in 10.00 as a ballpark figure and I ran 10.80. The bike was back launching hard again and I definitely felt the front wheel lift up. Second run and we used 10.00 again to confirm our theory and I ran a 10.70. Again, the bike lauched well and despite a few prolems with the launch RPM light an alltogether good run. Back to the pits and an attempt at fixing the light ready for tomorrow. Sunday and the second day of qualifying. We agreed on a dial in of 10.50 for the next round as I still felt I could take some time off my ET. Another 10.70 and a whack with the dial in board from Dad (he suggested a 10.70 dial). We still had problems with the Launch light though, it was staying on down the whole track causing me to shift gear early. After another 10.70 run with the light
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