Triplebrew Classic Sidecar Racing Team
Archive
Croix-en-Ternois - Saturday 18th - Sunday 19th June 2011
The team had a challenging start to the weekend with all sorts of problems with the carbs which ultimately never were completely sorted. However following many hours of work removing, cleaning and adjusting them the team finally managed to stop them leaking and get the engine running. Saturday's first track session proved the thoughts about the front shocks being too soft with the front diving a lot under braking - new springs required. Other than that the session went well and it was clear to see that the outfit has a lot of potential we are only just beginning to find. The seond session Saturday again saw some good laps covered and more valuable track time.
Sunday dawned with a wet rack and then a long delay folowing a solo blowing up and dumping a huge amount of oil on track. The circuit staff did a valiant job trying to clear it but in the end settled for reducing the width of the circuit around the first corner by a half with cones! After 3 or 4 laps we came in as it was pretty hopeless trying to rie in these conditions. Fortunately the weather improved as did the track conditions and the further 2 sessions of the day were great fun with lots of laps completed.
A big thank you to Bob Bird for coming to see us and spend the weekend with us - it was great fun to be in your company.
Anglesey - Friday 13th- Sunday 15th May 2011
This weekend was the first meeting for the team with their new outfit. Following the accident on Wednesday at Mallory Park were the outfit spun on the run up to Edwinas, throwing Ian from the outfit and spinning Grant around off towards the barriers, both guys were feeling a little 'second hand' so decided against taking part in the practice, qualifying and first race on Friday.
Saturday morning dawned and it was good to see Mike Richards arrive. He quickly helped get the outfit ready for safety checking and made some adjustments to the brake pedal to help stop Grants foot resting on it. Changes were also made to the front end to slow the steering. As we had not taken part in Fridays sessions we were only allowed to use the first race as a pratice session starting from the back of the grid. The flag dropped and we set off but it was soon clear that the engine was suffering some pretty poor fuelling with fuel flooding the carbs! After 4 laps the team retired from the race and headed back to the pits for further changes. The fuel pump was changed and another regulator was fitted in an attempt to sort the fuelling.
Race 2 and again a start from the back of the grid. Sadly it was clear that although changes had been made the engine was still getting too much fuel and the team retired from the race. Saturday night saw lots of spanner work as another, different type, of fuel pump was borrowed and duly fitted. The front steering was altered, brakes cleaned and gearing changed. The carbs were removed and cleaned and the main jets changed for one size smaller.
Sunday and only 1 race today just after lunch. The team took up position at the back of the grid ready for the warm up lap and promptly did a practice start leaving a huge amount of rubber on the circuit as the rear tyre spun up! Great stuff! Back round to the grid and the flag dropped and we were away! A good start saw us hanging onto the grid as the first lap unfolded. We quickly caught and passed the slower BMW of the two Dave's and then the Banshee Imp of Ian and Kevin. The engine was superb and the fuelling faultless with it revving cleanly all the way to 9,000! As we came around the last but one corner to complete the lap the electrics died! We pulled off in pit lane and soon found the cause - the battery had jumped from its cradle and pulled off the earth wire!
All in all it has been a challenging few days for the team but huge advances have been made and a vast amount learnt. The outfit is now heading back to M R Equipe for alterations to the brake pedal and battery carrier. The paintwork will be done over the next couple of weeks and the next track outing will be a further test session at Mallory Park and then off to Croix-En-Ternois in France for the Gerard Jumeaux meeting on the 18th & 19th June.
Snetterton - 11th & 12th September
Our first podium and a trophy!
The CRMC had a test day on the Friday which we took part in. There were heavy showers and longer periods of rain for most of the early pm and water got into the electrics after 4 laps of the first session leaving us coming to a stop at the Bombhole!
Session 2 and again after 4 laps we came to a hault again at the Bombhole! This time due to a flat battery!
The last session was doubled to 30 minutes and saw us complete 6 laps in one go, stop in pit lane for a rest and then complete a further 3 laps before the flag. The outfit was running very well and we were ready for the weekends racing.
Saturday's first race saw us on row 7 and we got off to a good start working our way up to 9 th place and gaining rapidly on the 3 in front when the motor died in the middle of the fast Coram corner - race over!
Saturday's second race saw us on row 14 (thanks to the DNF!) and although following a frustrating start getting stuck behind a couple of slower machines we were soon on the charge and worked our way up to 7th at the flag from a field of 14 finishers - we were quite happy.
Sunday's first race saw us on row 3 and off to a great start. We had a race long battle with the much more powerful Imp outfit of the Chapmans seeing us outbrake them at Sears only for them to fly past on the long and fast Revett straight. On the 4th lap we did a great outbraking move on the way into the Esses and once in front pulled a decent gap of some 6+ seconds at the flag with us coming home with a podium finish in 3rd! A fantatstic result and our first trophy!
Sunday's second race and we were on row 2 but at a slight disadvantage being on the outside of the circuit. We had a pretty good start butagain the Imp of the Chapmans out dragged us on the charge to the first corner. We managed to outbrake them on the run to Sears and managed to gap them a little. The race was only a 4 lap dash due to stoppages earlier in the programme. On next lap we missed a gear on the exit of Sears and this saw the Imp fly by! We charged hard once we regained drive and almost got back on terms. A last ditch attempt to pass at Russells on the last lap nearly worked but the Imp managed to stay ahead and on the run up to the line we got pipped to the flag by the very fast Weslake twin of Mike Bellaby - result was a 5th place.
All in all we had a great weekend with some very unexpected results at a speed circuit that is not best suited to a Triple.
Roll on Cadwell Park next month.
Beezumph 19 - Anglesey
After less than a week we were back in Anglesey for another track outing. This time we were not racing but taking part in the superb 'Beezumph' rally organised by the Trident and Rocket Three Owners Club. We had come via Banbury earlier in the day as we had the fuel tank repaired and a frame bracket strengthend following the CRMC meeting the previous weekend.
We set up camp, had dinner and elected for an early night. However Mother Nature had other plans and not long after midnight we were doing battle againts hurricane spped winds taking down our awning and watching our tent, along with many others, get destroyed - not a good start!
Friday morning dawned and thankfully the wind had died down a lot. The place looked like a disaster zone with many tents destroyed and even the massive marquee razed to the ground. A meeting was held in the club house and thanks to some amazing efforts by TR3OC members and circuit staff the meeting was to run. Just before lunch we had our first outing and had a great time. We were using a different circuit layout to last week and as well as being a longer lap introduced another hairpin and a couple of excellent left handers. The second session of the day ended after just 2 laps with a rear wheel puncture!
Saturday came and the wether was again calmer and the day went well. Grant and Laura went into Hollyhead to get a new inner tube fitted to the rear wheel to sort that. We had 2 great outings with lots of track time and really enjoyed ourselves. Later in the evening we were presented with the 'Best Sounding Triple' award and were chuffed to bits. The trophy being presented by Gary Nixon.
A massive thank you to all the TR3OC members and circuit staff who made the event happen and turnaround a disaster into a superb weekend.
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