Westhoughton Motorcycle Club
Westhoughton Motorcycle Club
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The first meeting of the year is always a hectic one, being a long weekend and a double meeting. So, as they say, it’s all in the preparation. John had fettled the chassis and suspension: polished, painted, lubed, replaced and re gassed. All the necessary things. This left Doug more time to fettle the engine. He had built a No1 engine in a good state of tune and a spare not so tuned. My job was to move the bike around as John lives Wigan way and Doug in Manchester. Once the engine and chassis were reunited, it was off to Doncaster to be set up on a dyno at Darrels. Doug’s DIY dyno is not accurately calibrated and has not got fuelling readouts. We wanted to see how much bhp it really made. The runs went well apart from the carb blowing off due to a modified inlet manifold. We got there early and managed an engine swap to squeeze some more bhp out of the second engine. Going back to Manchester, Doug had a grin on his face. He’d tuned a standard barrel and he had made good bhp. Thinking we were sorted I spoke to Doug a week later “ How’s it going?” He had to fettle the No1 engine. He took the head off to inspect piston and bore, run it on his dyno and it had cracked the porcelain on top of the plug. He then tried a new plug but it was the same. Taking the head off had altered the squish. Doug re set the squish and fit larger main jet. Sorted! We arrived Friday night to set up camp and get a good place in the paddock. Tris, Cath, Simon and Mario were already there to give us a lift. Rex , Dave Bates, Mark , Yvonne, Gary and Carol turned up Saturday to camp. Over the weekend we were visited by several ex ,old and new club members (a big thanks). To the racing ............John and me had not ridden the bike before. Conditions were good. Doug qualified us second on the grid for our races (no pressure there then}. Doug had made an all steel inlet manifold but it was frothing the fuel. So, we fit a new manifold supplied by Darrel and we borrowed a spare rear sprocket off Kev Wright. The races were half hour or twenty minutes. We had mixed results, wet and dry races. Doug with solid wins in class, me and John 2nds, 3rds, 8ths, & 5ths I think. Not bad. The kill switch broke causing a dnf and the chain came off followed by a fall but after the first day we were second in class. That night we presented John with a medal because he had commented on all the work he had done on the chassis and Doug had said what do you want a bloody medal. So, Doug made him one. Second day Monday, we had got used to the bike and how to ride the on off two stroke engine and it was a sunny day .We had better results Doug was dominant even beating the Carl Foggarty of our class Mat Douglas in one race, we won our class and were leading our class overall in the championship. Thanks to everybody for a good weekend. The next meeting is in Laddlow, Wales keep you posted.
Last meeting at Rowrah went well. The bike and riders were competitive and I think we surprised a few people .I was just pleased we had got through the meeting with no major hiccups. John had never raced or seen Rowrah before and set a faster lap time than me.I must admit it was a blow to mi ego. So, the next part of the tale goes summat like this. Feeling confident we dropped the bike off at Johns house, there were broken engine mounts, and temp gauge to sort out and probably other things that i’ve forgotten. In a few weeks John was off to the TT, coming back a day early to make the race meeting (obviously bitten by the bug). Once the chassis was sorted (a week before the race) i picked it up and drops it off at Doug’s. The plan was to whip the head and barrel off, inspect it and put it back. I thought things were going a bit too well until i got a phone call from Doug, “the barrels knackered plating has come off the inlet side”. It was too late to tune another barrel and too costly to re plate. Also Doug was working away for the next couple of days, and i was starting nights the next day. Doug made a call to Darrel (50cc raceing.com.) he had a Doppler barrel. It would have taken vital days to come by post so because Doug was working I volunteered to ride up to Doncaster and pick it up. I dropped the barrel off at Doug’s house that night. I started my night shift the next day thinking everything was sorted. Later on in the week, I was thinking that Doug just needed to bolt on the tuned barrel, which should not be a problem, not so. A disappointed voice “its not making the same bhp as the home tuned engine, cant get it to rev as high.” For me it was still making good power but for the perfectionist Doug, it was bit disappointing. I pointed out that with a 10bhp AP50 engine he was did well and that he would just have to try a bit harder. The track wasn’t the fastest on the calendar so he would not need the BHP. Doug had made an 11 tooth front sprocket and bought us a couple of rears to keep us in the sweet spot. Doug and John were to sleep in the van and I was taking the caravan for Kay and me. Kay volunteered to do the catering (thanks luv xxx). We all got there in one piece. John and Doug had got there before us and the workshop tent was up. Tris and Simon were there. There was no Cath but she had sorted a load of pre prepared meals all cooked and set up for them. Once base camp was sorted onto the beer. Next day we had the scruterneering and a riders meeting, the usual stuff. Then the track paramedic briefed us. Let me set the scene. One thick set bald guy (looked like a prop forward} “ Hi my name is sucha body if somebody’s on the floor dont touch them, dont remove their helmet, crowd round, above all else keep out of my fu?!ng way thank you. It got the message across. The track was tight and twisty very grippy on the corners. Weather was glorious. We qualifyed third on the grid, the raceing went well we won quite a few races. Our rivals Don’t do donkeys had a few problems, wich helped us. Night-time food and more beer Last day we were presented with our trophies for the last meeting .The raceing got faster and more competitive, good results again. Left us winning our class and leading our class in the overall standings. Oh and I set the fastest lap in our class (i think). Just thought I’d get that one inHaHa. Thanks to Fab raceing for keeping the dream alive and Doug and John.( I say they take it too serious but the bike and the results speak for them self.) Last but not least thanks to Kay for letting me raid the piggy bank again. Next meeting is at Whilton mill, Daventry. The track is a lot faster so we have to find some bhp. Hopefully we have something in the pipeline (fingers crossed)...
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