Nitro
us Junkie Racing
Motorcycle Drag Racing Team
us Junkie RacingMotorcycle Drag Racing Team
Saturday 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 more
Thursday 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 more
Tuesday 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 more
Tuesday 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 more
Wednesday 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 more
Friday 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 more
Tuesday 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 more
Thursday 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 Read more
Friday 28 June 2013
As per usual, when me and dad arrived at the track, the awnings where already set up thanks to Lizz, Gipp and Nige. First run out in the morning and the headwind was unbelieveable! It knoked my MPH down to 56! Despite the wind, the bike launched well with a small wheel spin. Back in the pits, we tried raising the forks to get the spin down to a minimum. Next run out, it turned out that this had bought back the bogging problems from last meeting! Not wanting to lower the forks, we decided to tighten the clutch springs slightly. While this did get us a slightly better launch it still wasn’t great so back to the pits for the same adjustment again. On the last run before eliminations we still had a better launch but not quite good enough. We had only one option left. Dial in slow and try to push Lou out. The bike still launched with a bog as usual, when we were nearing the end of the track I couldn’t see Lou so decided to roll off. As soon as I saw the ticket, I was kicking myself immediately. On my 11.50 dial in Read more
Thursday 02 May 2013
When Dad and I arrived at the track, most of the setting up work was already done thanks to Lizz, Gipp and Nige. Thanks also to Don Kennedy, Bois Reed and Ray Debben for helping to find some spark plugs at short notice. First run out in the morning we started out with a 9.89 dial but it soon became clear that the bike was having real trouble leaving the line without bogging. I ran a 10.34 @ 65 mph. I came back to the pits feeling sure I had let go of the clutch too slowly and it spun the clutch instead of the tyre. Saturday morning , and another attempt at leaving the line. This time I made a point of reminding myself to ping the clutch and there was still a bog. Back to the pits and we put even higher pressure into the tyre and lowered the front in order to get the wieght away from the back wheel. Also, we decided to lean out the fuel mix. but still had the same problems as before. It was the last run before eliminations and lean didn’t work so we decided to try rich. Thanks to Binz Read more
