It is not all bad news though for we have just been sent some wonderful parts from Dave Madigan in the USA. They are a CNC machined sump plate to his design which is a true work of art along with a set of rocker box inspection caps and the icing on the cake is hydraulic clutch conversion. These parts will be fitted in the nest few weeks along with a new barrel which we are currently sourcing.

 

 

2009 will be a very exciting season for Triplebrew Racing. Following on from our rather dissapointing previous couple of seasons a lot of effort and work have gone into our outfit and we are looking to finally reap the rewards. The engine has been the main issue following its unexpected (and arguably unwanted) capacity hike to approximately 940cc. The poblems this cauesd were frustrating and difficult to diagnose. Initially after the increase the engine destoyed a big end bearing requiring a full strip and rebuild which was carried out by a well repsected Triple company (who had also done the rebuild to the larger engine supplying all the components). This was done only to fail again at the very next meeting. At this point it was decided enough was enough as a) it was now getting very expensive and b) we had lost pretty much all of the 2008 season, to send the engine to Ricahrd Darby of 3D Motorcycles who we had used before with exceelent results. Once Ricahrd had stripped the motor the cause of the big end failures were clear - our 'new' crankshaft was 2 thou undersize on one of the journals!Once the rebuild had been done we went racing only to be faced with a new problem! The symptoms were clear - oil being passed out the crankcase breather in ever ioncreasing volumes! Various ideas were tried including a sump extension and various additional breathers. Seeking advice and help from many sources the final idea to try (before pulling the motor down and fitting a standard crank and standard length rods to revert back to 840cc when we had none of these issues) was to put a large diameter breather from the rev counter take off and into a catch bottle. This was done in November last year and thanks to some very generous help from Pete Chuchill and Richard Darby we went to Mallory Park for the final testing of the year. Despite it being wet it was clear from the start that a vast improvement had been made. Not only was there no oil being passed from any of the breathers but the engine ran cooler, pulled much cleaner and finally sounded like a good triple should. With the engine now sorted it has been handed back to Richard Darby of 3D Motorcycles for a health check and clean up. Whilst this is happening the frame has been stripped bare ready for painting. However we have found a few cracks that need attention and slightly more worrying the head stock will require some fairly drastic repair work to rectify some past 'repairs'. It is interesting to see how a frame develops over the years and now ours is free from paint you can see all sorts of alterations, repairs etc. that have occured over the years. Once the frame and engine are back in our poseesion we can reassemble everything and begin testing too get a few laps under our belts before the season starts.