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 Post subject: Re: TT F1 Endurance replica
PostPosted: Fri Apr 05, 2013 5:51 pm 
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Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2011 4:37 pm
Posts: 63
Cheers lads.
Well we possibly found the reason of the loss of power..

When I checked the ignition map on the laptop, the base advance setting had defaulted back to 10 degrees from the 16 we had set it to, which matched our modified flywheel. We modded it so we could get more max advance rather than be limited by the stock lumps and we found we could rotate the flywheel round on its mounting bolts to raise it up..of course this puts the base advance higher but it doesnt seem to matter. Another way of doing it would be to extend the lump with weld and machining it after to make it look bonny again but because our fylwheel is lightened too we were concerned about the heat changing the strenght of the metal.

So, with it defaulting back to 10, we lost 6 degrees from the whole map..effectively giving me only 26 degrees advance instead of 32...this explains why we had to jet down and the loss of power too. Why it would default back is anyones guess and I cant be sure if the whole map defaulted back to the Ignitech standard map either as i didnt save it..but with it correct again, it revs up smoother and a lot sharper too.
Shoulda checked it after Brands, my fault entirely...you live an learn, but its not something I expected to happen. A dyno session will help us set it up a lot better..I know Ive said it before, but this time we really need to do it !

Also played wround with the seat position and 40mm further back feels a lot more roomy and means I can get tucked in a lot better, so we will move the mounting lugs tomorrow. Shame about having to scrape away the powdercoating and re-brazing but a rattle can touch up will do and they wont be seen anyway once its done. Looking at the pictures, my seat is now 60mm further back from what the works bikes were in the day...those Italians sure must have been small...or I've got a fat arse?

Next week (in my dinnertime at work, ahem) I will make a new nylon throttle tube for the Gunner Gassser with more pull because 1/4 turn is too much for me (I am used to 1/5th or less) and playing around with little spacers on the cable cam today doesnt seem to make it noticeably stiffer either.

Getting there...

Next round is at Snetterton at the end of April, but really not decided if I will enter as its so fast I may be on a hiding to nothing.. :cry:


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 Post subject: Re: TT F1 Endurance replica
PostPosted: Fri Apr 05, 2013 9:51 pm 
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Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2010 10:43 pm
Posts: 46
Location: chiangmai Thailand
Hi there,been keeping a close eye on your progress with your bike and youve done a great job.Ive got an ignitech ignition in my bike and something similar happened to my 900 as i had the ignitech unit too close to my coils and leads.dont know if youve heard of this but these ignitions like to be away from all that stuff.cheers greg


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 Post subject: Re: TT F1 Endurance replica
PostPosted: Sat Apr 06, 2013 1:35 pm 
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Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2011 4:37 pm
Posts: 63
You raise a good point there Greg, but our ECU is about 12" away from the coils as interference is a killer on any electrics. The Ignitech ECU is mounted behind the headstock in front of the tank and the coils are on the LH lower frame rail...but wiring is a funny business so maybe all is not right?

Its interesting to know youve had a similar issue too...we will have another look at the loom and wiring and see if we can see anything that could affect it.

Thanks for the heads-up mate, appreciated :-)


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 Post subject: Re: TT F1 Endurance replica
PostPosted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 3:43 am 
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Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2013 4:36 pm
Posts: 205
my ignitech has been right next to my coils for several years now.


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 Post subject: Re: TT F1 Endurance replica
PostPosted: Tue May 28, 2013 6:10 pm 
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Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2011 4:37 pm
Posts: 63
The bike finally went onto the dyno after some engine work we did whilst we missed Snetterton Rd3. Work was mainly increasing the compression and we made two vernier cam pulleys from four solid standard ones. It can now be timed correctly instead of being more than half a tooth out.
The dyno showed 104hp and as its a Fuchs dyno, that equated to 95 at the wheel. Not too bad I suppose, I dont know how different a Dynojet is but we tried a few things like ignition timing and jetting and came away with a best of 35 advance and 270MJ, but we took it back to 33 degrees just to give the little end an easier time. It only lost about half a brake horse anyway. Really should have changed the supersoft supermoto slick, it transformed into chewing gum...oh well !
The Bridgestone R10's went on the bike for the race weekend.

Cadwell Park was round 4 and even though I didnt crash this weekend has got to be up there in the stress-o-meter.

At best I dont like Cadwell, Ive never got on with it, ever, so I can take it or leave it really.

Sat afternoon Practice went OK, we tried a few things and found that the bike was still running wide on the quick turns and felt very nervous changing direction. We lowered the rear which helped then we realized by dropping the front of the bike as we had been doing had altered the trial too much.
We raised the forks eventually 20mm from what they were and the bike feels much more planted now.
Ian Simpson (ex-British Champ) was there on his RC45...guess who did all the winning, haha.

Qualifying - 10th
FL = 1min 41.5
Was up to 2nd at one point early on, but pulled in to do some changes and then noticed the last lap flag, doh! Should have stayed out on that quick lap...

First Race - 8th overall, 6th Superbike
FL = 1min 40.6
Bit of a bad start but made my way through. Bike is struggling against the quicker bikes but it is what it is.
Went up on compression on the forks to stop it diving a bit.

Second Race - 7th overall, 7th Superbike
FL = 1min 39.03
Again, bit naff but the bike was more stable on the brakes. 15th first lap I think as I get mugged down the straights and cant outbrake a gaggle of riders when we all bunch up, made it through to 7th in the end. Awesome last lap where I got someone at bottom of the Mountain and the next rider going into the hairpin on the same lap. Bang bang I was on a roll, haha.
Pretty sure I got some sick air over the Mountain, rear wheel must have been all of 50mm and truly worthy of Nitro Circus...will have to give Josh Brookes some pointers...or not.

Monday - warm up - 1st
FL = 1min 40.6
Thought I would treat the bike to a new front tyre was still the one on it I had virtually fished out of a skip at Mallory last year and it was by now goosed and slightly scalloped.
30 mins before the Warm Up session, I started the bike but as it was cold it stalled before I could blip the throttle as I had taken it off choke too early. It back-fired and lit the fuel which sprayed out. The bike went up in flames, they got hold fairly quickly and I ripped the fairing off and before I could reach the fire extiungiusher the lad next door was already there with his.
Melted most of the wiring, bike was black with the soot, fairing had melted and set where I had ripped it off....not good and very VERY scary. Open carbs look cool but I suppose they have a downside.

Managed to clean it up and went out on track.
Came back in to find an oil line which I had noticed a trace of oil around the connection had gotten worse but it wasnt fire damage. It has the Torques made fittings on which clamp the braiding to stop the pipe pulling out. We took it off and rebuilt it, but when I started the bike to check it burst off and covered me in hot oil which as I had my top off may have looked great to any nearby totty, but not good to me. Great :-(

We rebuilt again, but we could still pull it off, we realized that the nut was bottoming out before it could get a decent hold on the braiding so we took a bit off the back face of the nut and rebuilt. We couldnt pull it off by hand and it didnt fly apart when I started the bike. Its OK now, but I may change them for some Earls pieces as I have lost confidence in the fittings.

Monday 1st race - DNF
FL = 1min 42.8
I was a bag of nerves and had a lot of worries as you can imagine. I went backwards, couldnt get into a rythme at all, braking too early and every slide I thought I had, I assumed was because of leaking oil even though in reality it wasnt sliding at all. Crap.
I pulled in as I had no confidence at all and I also could feel the throttle a bit notchy.
The bike was fine, the oil line was fine, no leaks, nothing. We checked the bike over and found the carb cable cover had melted so we changed it and it was all good again.
I very nearly called it a day to be honest and had started to pack my things away, but decided not to in the end.

Monday 2nd race - 7th overall, 5th Superbike
FL = 1min 39.8
Not too bad of a start, spent the end of the race having a bit of a dice with an R6 and I got past on the Mountain into Hall Bends, but he came past me down the start finish straight and thats where it ended up. Quite enjoyable though and he was riding pretty good, but darn his top speed advantage !
The rear had also started sliding around, we turned the back tyre round as it was getting worn on the RH side but really it had lost its edge and I could feel it breaking away earlier than it did the day before. Its all down to money at the end of the day, new tyres on every day if I could afford it (like a lot of others do it seemed).

Was slower than the day before, but I just wanted to ride round and get it over and done with.
We were glad to get this weekend out of the way, it doesnt rank high up there and I didnt sleep last night thinking about what could have been.

Oulton Park is next, our local-ish track and a track I know well so I am aiming for a decent result and am really looking forward to it...I wanna get this bike on the podium and I reckon this is my best chance as I love Oulton.

Rockingham is the one after followed by Anglesey so some interesting tracks in the next few months and Bridgestone may have some of their latest V Slicks as well, which could give me an advantage??

Pre-fire picture...
Image


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 Post subject: Re: TT F1 Endurance replica
PostPosted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 4:35 pm 
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Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2011 4:37 pm
Posts: 63
Last weekend was round 4 of the Golden Era Superbikes and this time it was at Oulton Park.

Practice
Only the morning was the practice and it was simply a case of setting the bike up really. The final practice session had the bike dying on the top end which felt like a flat battery so we charged it up before qualifying in the afternoon. Other than a gear shift rod breaking, it was OK really.
After practice I splashed out on a new Bridgestone R10 rear tyre as the old one was worn to the wear blocks !

Qualifying - 2nd
Well it wasnt a flat battery because it wouldnt rev out at all....but halfway round the first lap going up Clay Hill it suddenly cleared and we were good to go again ! It must have been some debris in the carbs or something? Anyhoo, the bike felt great, everything clicked and it felt like I couldnt crash no matter how hard I pushed it. My quickest lap was on lap 3, after that the traffic started holding me up, but it felt like I could go quicker...
Ian Simpson was there on his ex factory RC45, no guessing who stuck it on pole ! I was 1.6 seconds off his lap time with a 1min 48 dead, with him in the mid 46's.

Warm Up, wet - 2nd
It started raining heavily before the session so we changed tyres..literally. I only have a spare front wheel so the tyre had to come off the rear and a wet put on. Record time, 4 minutes - I have a good pit crew (my Dad). I managed only one flying lap as I had missed most of the session.
After the brief deluge of UK rain, the weather turned good and it was dry from then on in.

Race 1 - 4th
By lap 2 I realized something was amis in the front end as I was getting severe patter from the front in the fast corners, which resulted in it letting go a couple of times towards the end. The race was fantastic besides that, 4 of us dicing for 2nd place and I managed to outbrake the RSV Aprilia of Norris into the chicane on the last lap and just, only just, hold it to the line. The two ZX7R's of Wilson and Blunt were ahead and Simpson was about 6 or 8 seconds in front of us lot.
We stripped the RH fork as we had identified that was the problem. There was no debris in the shims and everything looked fine, so we put it all back with new oil..but it was still the same so we drained it and put thicker oil in. Was better but not right, however we had to run with what we had and do the best with it.

Race 2 - 3rd
Got a great start and came out of the first turn in 2nd behind Blunt on his ZX7R..then Simpson came blasting past like we were on 400's and we never saw him again. The race was uneventful, Blunty was slowly pulling away then the RSV of Norris came past me on lap 6, I was 4th on track but he had a jump start penalty which meant I was 3rd on corrected time. The forks were better, but still the problem was there...evident by having little damping in Parc Ferme. Something has obviously gone wrong inside.

We need to strip the forks and find the problem, also maybe increase the damping in the rear shock as I am almost maxed out on compression. A new larger bore silencer will be tried for the next round as Dad is sure its hurting the top end with my 38mm exit Akrapovic, but it does keep the noise down?!

Also made the decision that the bike is to be sold...it is a little outclassed in Golden Era so the plan is to have a full on Haga replica YZF750 for next season. Until then, development will carry on with the Ducati.

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 Post subject: Re: TT F1 Endurance replica
PostPosted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 5:58 am 
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Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2011 4:37 pm
Posts: 63
This may be my last race post gentlemen, but I thought I would update on the Thundersport Golden Era Superbike round at Mallory Park at the weekend.

The meeting was reduced to a one day event because of noise day restrictions on the venue, but we still had qualifying and 2 x 12 lap races.

Qualifying - 3rd
FL = 56.6
I had to scrub in a new rear, I have to say it took about 3 bloody laps before it stopped moving around.
Nothing to write home about really, I just went as hard as I could trying to learn my way round after 12 months. The gearing was wrong for the chicane as I really needed half a gear and the bike was getting a bit out of shape exiting Gerrards. A little too much rebound was causing the back to lose traction off the dip on the exit, causing the front to waggle and the bike 'got kinda squirriley' (copyright Kevin Schwantz).

After the session we changed gearing and took some rebound off the rear.

Race 2 - 1st
FL = 55.6
Almost got theholeshot but was 2nd in the first corner behind a very nice and rather trick looking XR spec SRAD750 who had got pole. I got past going into the hairpin on the outside two laps later I think, but when I ran a tad wide round Gerrards he came up the underneath in a sneaky move. I cant remember where I got past him again, think it was into the Bus Stop, but I then lead the race till about lap 9 when Williamson on his SP2 came past after I nearly collided with a backmarker in the Esses. No biggie, there was two laps left..I can still do this.
Then when exiting the hairpin, he collided with a backmarker (and my friend of all people) and they sorta hooked onto each others bikes like lovers and went straight on. By this time I had gone into Bus Stop chicane and crossed the line. I hit a false neutral into Gerrards and went slightly wide allowing series leader Blunt on his ZXR750 to nip past, but then the red flags came out and I was declared the winner.
The red flags were out because Nick, it seemed, had grabbed the brake in their entanglement dance when the barriers were looming up, thus flipping his SP2 and spanking himself on the tarmac. He was up and about but had some concussion I believe.
Andy, the other lad, was generally OK after sliding between a gap in the tyre wall and although wary he made it out in race 2. He was shaken up when I spoke to him, but still laughed when I thanked him for taking out the leader for me (all in light heartiness of course).

So yeah, finally we did it. A straight race win would have been good, but I still reckon I could have done it anyway,

I mumbled something about the race in the interview, made sure I mentioned Dad and then Baxi and that was it !

Race 2 - 4th
FL - 56.2
Slotted into 3rd at the start, and everything felt nice and do-able. The SRAD was riding really well and he was slowly pulling away.
Then the bike started to patter on the front round Gerrards and I couldnt hold the line, it also was feeling a bit light on the front flicking it through the chicanes and didnt feel planted.
The race was uneventful, there was 4 of us having a nice battle for 2nd but really, I couldnt do anything and it felt like hard work.
After the race I noticed there was next to damping in the front. Dad thinks its the rubber bump stop in one of teh forks which is breaking up and contaminating the shims, reducing the damping. Not a big problem to sort.

So, thats it, end of the Ducati adventure for me.
Its Donington next and I dont think I will be doing it.
Its in October (brrr), I have some work to do on the house and I cant finish any higher in the series than I am in (currently now 4th).

So to sum this year, we have campaigned an air-cooled 2-valve bike in the UK's most competitive and proffessional club outside BSB in the UK's quickest 'modern post classic' superbike series and won. Not many Ducati F1's (replicas or other) venture much out of classic racing or parading let alone a National televised race series, this one has and has done itself proud all year. Sure the design is old, but give it a fast engine and they are still there....if a little down on power, so get your bikes out there lads and ride them how they deserve to be ridden !!

Thanks guys for all your advice, well wishes and stuff and thanks for reading my posts. The next owner of this bike is sure going to have some fun..but we arent disapearing totally, Dad is still making a 750 version next year but only because we have the tubing and parts, he will probably just build it and then sell it but the chassis and suspension will be the same spec as mine as it works well.

Image


Last edited by jaydeetz on Mon Sep 30, 2013 10:20 am, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: TT F1 Endurance replica
PostPosted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 8:18 am 
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Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2012 4:38 pm
Posts: 135
A big ,big well done,both in the shed and on the track.


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 Post subject: Re: TT F1 Endurance replica
PostPosted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 10:34 am 
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Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2010 8:03 pm
Posts: 1142
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A big thank you! I have probably enjoyed these posts the most. From building the bike, racing and then winning! A real fairy tale ending! Wish you could keep her, someone will be getting a special machine with an awsome history. Best of luck. Lou


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 Post subject: Re: TT F1 Endurance replica
PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 12:52 pm 
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Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2011 4:37 pm
Posts: 63
Vid from Mallory Park for ThundersportGB, we are the first race in the video....also become suddenly aware I sound very Northern on TV !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... rKaTaCnJHo


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