Motorcycle Drag Racing Team
Saturday 13 August 2011
This year, not only was it the 25th Anniversary of the Bulldog bash, but all three of us had been invited to do demonstration runs, which Lizz and Jake thought was pretty cool!! Jake and myself went up on Wednesday, the two bikes already polished and checked over, whilst the Fuel bike was arriving with Rene on the Thursday. Once he arrived we set up, wheelie bars on, and just waited for the arrival of various crew and rider, Binzi, Bryony, Chris, Klaus and Lizzy on Thursday evening. Friday came, the weather was on side, and the RWYB started, and we started up all bikes, checked for leaks, and waited until demo time. I had really wanted Lizzy to do a test run, to iron out any gremlins before the demos, as we had had issues again with the nitrous not working, but this was not to be. The stunt riders started their routine, which was our cue to get lined up in front of the wall, and ready for racing. Jake was racing against Scott Collier, Lizzy against Ken Cooper, which she found too funny for words (Something to do with him being a bit of a hero!!) and
Friday 15 July 2011
From the time we left the ferry at Calais to head onto Drachten, it was raining. By the time we got to Drachten, it was still raining , 5 hours on. We fleetingly had one of those awful "We could have stayed home for this weather, moments" But this soon passed when we got settled, met all the gang, The Family Van den Berg - "Shark Attack Drag Race Team", and from the English contingent, Binzi, Les Harris and Tara Reeve! After setting up, and chewing the cud, we did some routine maintenance on the fuel bike, ready to fire up the following day. Friday the weather still overcast, and intermittent showers, but the bike had also decided to develop a leak from the head gasket over night, so the head had to come off. Myself and Binz, under the close supervision of Rene, set about repairing this. It was a very frustrating day, and thanks to Binz for his relentless "sigh, lets get the head off" lament, as another problem reared its ugly head, once we warmed it up. The rest of the spent was spent repairing this, so didn't get out all all. We used the time wisely,
Monday 30 May 2011
My thanks go to Craig and Binzi, again for working late on the bike to get it up and running for this event. They had a lot to deal with as well as try to get the bike ready . Trying to juggle a personal life as well as working on bikes, keeping the loved ones indoors happy and going to work, late nights in the workshop are just a part of life for Lizzy, Jake and I, so much appreciated fellas !! Also Dan (the man) for the late night welding, thanks mate. What we were not expecting over the Main Event was "Hurricaine Pod" cloudy and rainy, but the Santa Pod track crew as always, unrelenting, kept up the fight and beat the weather, and kept the track good. Although the bigger Fuel bikes were not suffering as much as the Super Street bikes (Wayne Saunders, who had an off at the top end, hope you are healing, and not feeling too sore now), it was still a bit of a thing to put into the equation. First run - technically a shake down pass to make sure the new gearbox was a good 8.004 @ 139mph but
Monday 25 April 2011
"Where do we start with this report? With all the work that has been going on in the background, it would be only right to thank Craig and Binzi for all their hard work over the past few days, to get us out on the track this weekend. Thanks seem inadequate, but thanks! We got to the track on Thursday night to get set up early, and go over the bike thoroughly, and gave us all a chance to chill a bit, before Saturday. The weather was very kind to us compared to last year, Lizzy got to see a lot of racing before the stress of me going out (she is not too fond of top fuel at the moment, but I’m sure this will pass!) Bike all ok, and rest for the first outing on Saturday – where the bike spun off the line, and headed for the wall, so I shifted gear and rolled off the throttle, great start! (It transpires that after speaking with Ivan Sansom about the first run, I had done the right thing, as through his lens, I was heading right for him!) So a 16 second first qualifying run it was. Second