Racing report from Round 2 BEARS club champs.
For more info http://www.ozebearsracing.com
Saturday 26th March
Today was spent focusing on getting the bike to handle bumpy tracks well, and rebuild my confidence in the bike staying together. I completed 50 laps in testing, with the fastest being a 1:06.583 in the final session of the day. Changes to the bike included removing front compression damping to make the bike more compliant over bumps. Also raising the front of the bike to get more rearward weight bias, to combat some big slides while under full throttle. With the bigger fuel injectors in place we were expecting to have a cure to the 7000rpm stumbles we have had all season. Yet it did not cure the engine from flaming out from 7200-8000RPM. Engine wise I applied 10% fuel to the base Hypermotard map to get a good plug colour. We also added 2% fuel in the problem zone, this did not cure the misfire. In the last session I started to remove fuel in the trouble zone, with -2% in the 7000-8500rpm range. This did seem to assist with the bike running better. All said and done a good day with no major dramas. At last!
The Bimota db1 Beta EVO on the gas down the front straight
Sunday 27th March
Race 1: Best lap: 1:06.616 - Best rolling lap: 1:06.554
Due to a timing stuff up I have to start for the back row. The bike launched well and I barge my way past roughly 10 guys before turn one. On the run up to turn 3 I overtake a couple more. My race settles down into following Glen Kelleher and Phil Bartush both 675 mounted. Phil lost the front end on lap three in the cauldron. Lap four I pass a very slow Glen down the straight, and feel bloody great, only to be hosed by Darren Jones's 848 Ducati in return! My final lap is my fastest, and the bike seems to have responded to less fuel again -4% in the problem zone. I finish in 10th place.
Race 2: Best lap: 106.448 - Best rolling lap: 1:06.343
My row two start did not help much, as the clutch grabbed big time forcing me to shut down the motor to get the Beta EVO off the line. I finish lap one in thirteenth place. Lap two see me barrel past John Price and Brett Richards and catch up with Patrick Brierley all of whom are on Triumph 675's. Lap three is my fastest, then me and Patrick are caught up behind Rick Fitzsimmons on his Ducati 1198. Rick is getting great drive down the front straight and up the hill making it very hard for me and Patrick to attack him where the small bikes are quicker. Still we are going faster than race one and I am only three tenths off a new lap record as I finish in 11th place.
The Bimota db1 Beta EVO lays rubber out of the final corner
Race 3: Best lap: 1.06.439 - Best rolling lap: 1.05.962
Again the clutch proves a pain off the line with the Beta EVO pulling a massive first gear wheelie. Once more I had to cut the engine and have a second go at the throttle. Still its better than the first two races, this is my fastest opening lap of the weekend so and I finish lap one in tenth place, ahead of Darren Jones and trailing Rick Fitzsimmons. Final corner lap two I dive down the inside of Rick. Its a good move, but I loose the drive down the straight. Rick powers past and so does Darren damn! Next time I have to over take him I should use the outside and use the superior turn in and mid corner pace to keep my drive. I do my best lap on lap three closing the gap to Darren, Darren then jumps past Patrick, who was holding station ahead of Rick. This is how we finish with me lacking the time and track position to jump past Rick and have a go at Patrick.
Goose plays with Rick and Patrick
Race 4: Best lap: 106.047 - Best rolling lap: 105.830
My start is less than optimal again, but I get brutal up the hill and barge my way past John Price Triumph 675 to take 10th place for the run down to the cauldron. Ahead are Pat Brierley and Rick Fitzsimmons again. We circulate quicker this race, and I post a new lap record on lap three at 1:06.047. Unfortunately there is a crashed rider in the cauldron preventing both me ant Patrick having a shot at Rick down the hill. Patrick is pulling me along nicely however. On the final lap Patrick gets a great drive over the hill and passes Rick to pull near one second gap to the line. I finish about the same distance back from Rick in tenth place.
A good days racing. F3 wins all day and a new lap record to boot. The bike will go quicker yet.
Session 1: 2 laps, best 1:08.405
The bike handled pretty good out of the crate. It felt a little nose heavy, and tail happy off some of the off camber corners. The misfire was there, but did not seem as bad as on the dyno. With only two laps in I feel my right foot slipping on the peg, looking down I see oil on my boot. Shit! I come in.
The clutch seems to be leaking oil still, and I returned to the pits with oil on my right and left foot pegs. I was not overly surprised by this given that we did not quite know if the welding on the left side was perfect nor if the big clutch seal was okay. I pulled the clutch cover and outer off, the small seal in the driven shaft looked okay to me. I put this right hand side down to oil still on the clutch plates. On the left side it appeared that the clutch slave was leaking. I pulled if off and found a lot of oil on the shaft. Suspecting that was from the welding I cleaned this up and put it back together.
Session 2: 2 laps, best 1:05.484
The bike still feels tail happy, but the lap times do not lie and I certainly could go faster but will have to do some changes with ride height to get more rear bias. Again two laps in I smell oil and come in with a bike dripping from both sides of the motor! This time there is oil on the rear tyre, and I have to wonder how much of the movement I am getting is from here rather than stance of bike.
The oil is pouring out of the clutch side. I pull the cover and outer again. The inner seal is in place. So I pull the whole clutch basket to check the outer (big) seal. I run the bike up and there is no issue I can see from this seal. I put it all back together cleaning everything as I go. On the left side of the bike I clean up the oil and am stunned to see the counter shaft seal coming out of the cases! I pull the sprocket and tap this back into place. Mike had warned me that this might happen after the welding with the seal perishing from the heat.
Session 3: 1 lap, best 1:05.003
Faster again, but only one flying lap before I smell oil and feel my right foot sliding, then my left foot! What the hell is going on!
Back in the pits there is oil everywhere. The counter shaft seal has completely popped out. The clutch is pouring oil again. Its as though we are facing some massive crank case pressurization issues, as such I pull the breather completely out to check it. No dramas there. Removing the sprocket again I pull and clean the counter shaft seal and groove, then glue it back in with some threebond! Stay put you little shit.
Clutch side, I pull the cover and outer again. This time I find another amazing sight with the small inner seal having popped out of its location, oil is pouring out of the shaft. I clean this all up and put the seal back in place. Starting the bike I watch the seal slowly migrate out of the shaft.... What the? Cleaning the seal and shaft up I superglue the seal back in place. Take that! John Price comes by and we check the clutch pushrod. As far as I can see the only way the seal is getting moved is a bent pushrod. We know we bent it with the chain broke, but it looks pretty good to us. Post gluing, the rod and seal stays in place pretty good.
I check the breather, and then go mental and drill a massive hole through the middle of it! That will learn it to pressurize my cases!
Session 4: 2 laps, best 1:04.540
My out lap is cautious, I look down checking my footpegs for oil, sniff and see if I can smell any. Not sensing any drama I up the pace. On my second lap I flash over the line to see a 1:04.540, cool! As I hit the brakes into turn one I feel my right foot slide a fraction on the peg, I have just enough time to think "I wonder if its a lot", as I tip in. It is! The bike slides in a huge way trying to throw me out of the saddle. Pulling the brakes on as hard as I can scrubs some pace off, but leaves me at I guess a hundred kilometers an hour as I hit the dirt. Looking up the hill I plot a course up to the fence, easy. In the foreground I see a slight problem, an erosion ditch roughly a foot deep and wide. I loose my grip on the bars and wait for the impact. Bang! The bike starts to slew the front down hill. Bang! Okay the rear tyre is thought it. Applying the most minute steering input to dodge the trees ahead I feel the front loose grip and tuck downhill. I am outa here, pulling my hands up and pushing down on the footpegs to jump clear. Ugly yes, effective you bet! Until I land leading with my right shoulder and head. Ouch! I leap to my feet and turn to find the bike only two meters away, engine still running. I push the kill switch and look at the bike to see oil everywhere! Picking the bike up it will not move and I look down to see the carbon front wheel has collapsed. SHIT! $1800 down the drain.
Back in the pits I find my helmet is damaged to. Quickly I call Craig White to see if he has any spares, no he did not bring any. Craig calls Rick Heffernan from Albury. Rick is believe it or not in a bike shop! Rick agrees to bring me a new helmet on the morrow, life saver Rick. The replacement front wheel is not an issue I have a spare for the wet. The oil leak though is massive, and I remove the clutch over and outer again to find the small inner seal completely pushed out. Placing my finger over the end of the shaft I can feel the a massive amount of pressure pushing air out quickly followed by volumes of oil! Something very odd is going on. I call Mike and give him the good news, I am alive and about ready to burn the bike to the ground. I give him a full briefing and tells me to go and have a beer while he thinks about it. Nursing a very sore shoulder I follow his instructions all the while thinking about why this bike refuses to work for us.
The mystery bolt!
Wrap up: A full day at the track and seven laps! Well that's seven times better than last time at Eastern Creek. During dinner Mike calls me and talks me through what he believes is the issue. He believes that the cases we have are for a wet clutch bike, and there is an oil feed to the centre of the clutch. He points out the mysterious bolt by the counter shaft sprocket on these cases that is also on the 800M cases. Our minds crank overtime to consider this is an oil gallery drilled on wet clutch bikes, but undrilled on dry. All makes sense to me.
By 9pm I am back at the track. I pull the clutch push rod and start the motor, volumes of oil pour from the clutch pushrod hole on both sides. With the mystery bolt undone and extra hands from Scotty Brown to start the bike we quickly find this indeed an oil feed to the clutch pushrod. Oil comes gushing out of the bolt hole along with a spring and ball bearing! I call Mike and we confer, if the ball bearing is held down no oil will be feed to the clutch pushrod. I make a spacer to replace the spring from a steel drill bit, while Scotty helps change disks on wheels etc. Measuring three times the depth from back of ball bearing to top of the bolt hole, I average them for the spacer length. At about 1030pm with the spacer in place we start the bike. No oil geysers! I call a tired sounding Mike to give him the good news. Scotty heads off to bed. I drink some more gator aid, make a cup of tea and reassemble the bike. Sometime around 1130pm I get the fibre glass box out and set to repairing the destroyed front guard. It has been demolished by the collapsing front wheel. With 2:30am on the dial I fall into bed in the back of the van. All I have to do is bolt the front guard on and I am ready to ride.
Saturday 19 March
Qualifying: 8 laps best of 1:05.443 10th place start.
In a single session I get as many laps in as the last two full days of track time. I pull in after two laps to the pit lane and have good look around the bike. I see small residual amounts of oil but nothing new. From there I push on for another 8 laps. My initial impression of the bike being a bit nose heavy are confirmed by some wild moments off the hump on the back straight, I have the damper on hard by the third quick lap. It's going hard, but I am really lacking confidence in my turn one tip in, and also onto the front straight. Changes: I pull the back down by 7mm and push the front up by 5mm. Its a bit of a gamble but the bike feels very nosy and the bike is spinning and drifting everywhere. I have never felt a bike less stable down the back straight here. Thankfully the db1 Beta EVO is so small that I am sure it will survive without loosing its flickablity.
Race 1: Fastest lap: 1:04.961, ultimate lap 1:04.932 on lap 5/6
I get a good start with the bike proving easy to launch. I get caught up with Bill Shannahan and a couple of the slower 4 valve Ducati's. Bill is riding well and follow him to the line in 9th place. I am struggling to get the power down onto the front straight. After all the drama's I've had I am very nervous of another mechanical issue. Having said that the bike was flawless in this race.
Race 2: Fastest lap: 1:05.016, ultimate lap 1:04.995 on lap 5/6
A good race. I managed to get ahead of some of the big bikes on the run down into the pit entry corner on lap one. This allowed me to take the fight to them a bit easier, messing up there lines in the tight stuff. It worked pretty good with me being able to take 6th place outright! Nice.
Sunday 20 March
Race 3: Fastest lap: 1:04.012, Best rolling lap: 1.03.838, ultimate lap 1:03.773 on lap 5/6
A good race, I wish these big bikes were out of my way in the tight stuff. Here is the video.
Race 4: Fastest lap: 1:04.087, Best rolling lap: 1.03.544, ultimate lap 1:03.399 on lap 4/6
This was a strange race, with one of the front running bikes exploding! This made Mark Belestro shut off big time, hence me and Bill Shannahan caught him with a lap to go. Enjoy.
Racing Wrap: First in F3 with four wins. Four tenths of a second off the lap record, I know I can beat it. I wanna come back when the bike is finished!
While helping out John Iles at the creek today I got the chance to test the bike. The misfire was evident even at load throttle positions, so I could test it statically at idle without drama. Borrowing a infared thermocouple from Jon Price I could detect a huge difference in front to rear temperature on the header pipes.
Working on the principle that the rear pot was not working I went through the following list.
Replaced all spark plugs
Swapped coils front to rear
Swapped the injectors front to rear
Swapped the fuel flow front to rear
removed 10% fuel
Removed 20% fuel
After all that work and the bike still misfires. hmmm. I am getting ready to set fire to this thing! I also threw in the clutch seal, which seemed to fix the clutch oil leak problem.
With no time left, I am going to Broadford with an unsorted bike, and one test lap under my belt. Such is the life of the bike builder.
We ran the bike up again today on the RB Imports dyno. We where trying to test the engine after the crank case issues, and see if the changes to the air gap paid out.
We reduced the air gap this time to .6mm, there was no difference in the flat spot at 7400. We only got two runs in before the bike started pouring oil out of the clutch like the Exon Valdez.
Fark a duck this is getting ridiculous! I call Frasers and get a new internal clutch seal (the small one) ordered in from Simon.
I take the bike out to see the D-Moto team, Shaun and George, and explain the misfire. They through me a few idea's. I put them in the bank until tomorrow at the creek!
After a frankly shitful day yesterday it was nice to get to Mikes tonight. After a quick look at the bike he was pretty optimistic that we could fix it up. The first pic below was from the welding up job. It took longer to blank off all the holes in the engine than to grind back and weld it up. As Mike likes to say give it enough electric putty and you can fix just about anything!
Freshly welded up engine cases.
This is the finished job a day later! When I came over on the 9th April, Mike had finished hand filling he cases back. .02 of a MM is a bloody good job by hand! Already for a clean up before we bolt it all together and take it back to the dyno!
The Beta EVO sounding lovely and strong on the single lap I got in at Eastern Creek today. Unfortunately the bike broke a chain adjuster in the second lap. This caused the rear wheel to lock up and try to throw me off in turn two. To compound maters the bike threw the chain and it smashed the engine cases and alternator cover!
Broken chain adjuster main part!
Broken Chain adjuster minor part! Peice of crap!
I thought I saw a putty tat! No thats a great big hole that is!
In the single run down the front straight the bike felt loose, leading me to think we have it a bit step. Something to work on at Broadford. I pulled the bike down at the track removing the alternator cover and proceeded to Mikes this evening. We stripped some of the alt gear out and plugged up the cases ready for welding. Thankfully the big piece of case was jammed into the motor meaning we could weld it back in!
The engine certainly seems to have an oil leak from the clutch to, either the small seal on the clutch push rod or the huge clutch seal is gone. There is continuing seeping oil from the bottom of the clutch.
Also the misfire we had on the dyno was not cured by the changes made to the air gap of the crank position sensor. Increasing it to .9mm was a waste of time. Damn it!
Whats next!
UPDATED: 15 April. As far as we can tell this pretty much happens because the rear wheel is not done up tight enough. Reef the back axle up and you'll be right!
With a ride day scheduled for 7th March. I really wanted to get the engine working under load and see what the fueling was like. I had loaded the Nemesis with a map from a Hypermotard fitted with open airbox and DP cams. I know we did not have the DP cams in yet but this was a close as I could find.
Here is a quick vid of the beastie on the dyno!
And here are the results. The image below shows three runs we did today, and the 800M data. The ones showing 80+ HP are from the HM engine, with a peak at 95HP. A bit more to come with the DP cams when we get them in. The huge drop out on the dyno is a very strange thing and I believe its due to the air gap on the crank position sensor being wrong. Post dyno run I ran out to Frasers and picked up two different size shims for the crank sensor. I'll pay with this on track come the 7th!
Thanks to Harley and Geoff and RB Imports Caringbah for the help with the dyno.
