Naked Racing Project / Streetfighters Magazine ROUND 1 - Snetterton Thunderbike supported by OldSkoolSUZUKI Riding and writing by Wingnut Ok, my weekend - considering: - I was on an 18yr old bike with 45,000 miles on the clock - it cost less than £3k to build, including the donor bike - we finished building it in the scrutineering hut on Saturday morning (as they were scrutineering the front, we were finishing the back!) - the suspension was as it came from the breakers/out of the box with no setting up whatsoever (til Steve had a look at it on Sunday morning) - we had to add 15kg of lead ballast and run with a full tank of fuel to keep within the bhp/kg limit - I was bedding in brakes and still running an engine in - that I was treating this weekend as a test/shakedown - that it handled like a wheelbarrow with a flat tyre - that we had neverending teething problems and gremlins - no-one's ever raced a Slingshot quite like this around a circuit before ... then 10 points was a fucking achievement IMO Handling was well off, but that's probably got a lot to do with all the ballast and suspension with no setting up. In first practice, I had to get used to riding it, bed brake discs and tyres in and it started slipping the clutch. Still wheelying crossed up coming out of the Esses in third, though First race, I launched it like a drag bike and it went like a drag bike... creamed everybody but Rob off the line, but decided just to let everybody go into the first bend as I'd never really cornered it hard before and didn't want to lose it and skittle everyone... but caught them up again down the back straight! The Gixer must be doing well in excess of 160mph along there. After that, I got left alone. By the time I finished, the batch of five were way in front and the rest of the field well behind. Which worked well for me, cos I had the track to myself. Rest of the weekend threw up fuelling problems - seems that the 837cc engine draws too much fuel for the tap to cope with (haven't got the Pingel on there yet), so despite getting as far as the sighting lap a couple of times, I didn't race again. A shame, as Steve Jordan transformed the bike on Sunday morning after a quick bounce on the suspension and a twiddle. So, the plan for Mallory is to lose lots of power (ie 15bhp or so) and therefore lose all that ballast. Get the weight down to 175kg or so and therefore sort the handling out. Good to see everyone again, and the grin on Plonko's face after his first race was hilarious! Well done JFK too, despite getting pissed on along the straights he fought back in the corners hard. And Sarah and Rob's SVs are goooorgeous and bloody fast... congrats Rob on the wins The Gixer will be back at Mallory... lighter, torquier, and quicker than ever... and I can honestly say I've never raced a bike which made me giggle in my lid as much as that thing! Edit - or made my body ache quite as much. Hustling that thing through the Esses rapidly is like trying to put a polar bear in an armlock... Oldskool rules baby... For full report, pick up a copy of StreetFighters Magazine