Category Archives: OSS Race team

Sisters are doing it for themselves…

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In our first year since creating the oldskoolsuki’s Winged Hammer race team we’ve issued the hallowed and exclusive Winged Hammer livery to a full range of competitive racers including world record holders, Isle of Man Racers, straight-liners and drag racers. They all have one thing in common; Their weapon of choice is an old-kool-suzuki. Here’s a story from from one of the team. Go Winged Hammers!

Words of Anna; Winged Hammer, Drag Racer;

This all started in July 2015 with a day out at North Weald, where I took my old Z900 up a drag-strip for the first time ever, having owned it since 1980.

The 2016 season saw me switch to our old Suzuki Slingshot, which had been hibernating in the spare garage. Second time out on it at the Pod I was slowing down from 117mph when I locked the front end and ended up bouncing down the slow down area, writing off my helmet, brand new leathers and gloves but, happily, not the Slingshot which slid down the track on one side.  This was when I learned how wonderful the  emergency response crew and medics at Santa Pod are © And got acquainted with Bedford Hospital A&E.

Some TLC and parts replacement on the bike meant I was back at North Weald the next week just to prove to myself I could still ride it and to make sure it still ran true.  Just aimed to get up the 1/4 mile and back safely so times and top speeds were well down.

The front brake lever, bar end, exhaust and points cover took most of the damage.  Luckily we had a Vance & Hines exhaust in the shed (thanks to Kyle’s hoarding tendencies).

One of the reasons for the crash was that I couldn’t get my right foot onto the peg and use the back brake so one of the main post-crash mods was setting the footpegs back making it much easier to get my feet on them.

The first few times I rode at Santa Pod post-crash, I concentrated on just getting across the line and back to the pairing lanes safely and the rest of the 2016 season was really about getting my confidence and some consistency back.

Between the 2016 and 2017 seasons we repainted the body work, lowered the bike even more, fitted a Nitron shock, a Dyna 2000 system, 38 mm Flatslide carbs and treated it to a dyno session thanks to the wonderful chaps at Warpspeed in deepest Norfolk.  Eblag provided a second hand set of BKS leathers and  I signed up for the RWYB Challenge at Santa Pod, so in Feb 2017 I shivered and ran up the foggy track as fast as I dared. Which wasn’t very fast.

In March 2017 I did the dial-in day at Santa Pod, as the only motorcycle so want to give huge shout out and  thanks to Dave Grundy who came along to give me someone to ride against.  The bike started to misfire so didn’t do great times and headed back to Warpspeed for some trouble-shooting.  The culprit was the Dyna leads and the coil shorting out.  While we were up there we got  Stuart Crane to fit a lock-up clutch and 2-step,  so I had to get my head round yet another a new set up.   I got used to the lock-up before I attempted to use the 2-step and started with a gentle 3500rpm launch working up to its current setting of 4000rpm.  I’m still getting used to winding open the throttle,  dumping the clutch and having the front end come up (at least I think it does – no photographic evidence yet).

2017 is when I started to learn how to really ride the Slingshot and began to get near its capacity with a standard engine, gearing and swingarm set up.  In July I got my first 10sec run and in September I managed 3 PB runs in one day, finishing with a 10.8!  I like to think I have improved this season, my times bear this out as I have gone from 13 & 14 sec runs at the beginning of the season in Feb 2017 to consistent low 11s in autumn 2017.  Another recent personal achievement is being able to pull out good runs towards the end of the day, whereas I used to get tired and my times went down towards the end of the day and I started to make “D’Oh” mistakes – taking off in neutral anyone?

Last meet of 2017 (29 Oct) and I got the chance to ride our new Slingshot “Chip Shop Express”, which used to be the Warpspeed chip-shop-run bike.  Never ridden a turbo bike hard before but it felt really good and another credit to Stuart Crane’s bike-building skill.

As a paid-up science nerd, I graph my times after each session and the graph is my times on the Slingshot over 2 seasons.  The regression line tells me that I really am getting faster and more consistent (even when it doesn’t feel like it).

Next year we are hoping to run 2 Slingshots, one nitrous and the other turbo – Mr & Mrs will be going head to head!

Big shout-out to the RWYB and Drag Racing family that we are becoming part of; my fellow riders who made me welcome in the RWYB Challenge at Santa Pod; Straightliners and our Pendine Land Speed friends.  XXXXX

Especial  thanks to Chris Tombleson and Gary Hurd at Grumpy’s 1260 Performance for encouragement and advice of my early efforts on my old Kawasaki Z900 and the pink handlebar grips that will become my signature.  Gary – you said “do burn outs” – I’m getting there.

To Stuart Crane (a Top Fuel racer giving little newbie me help and advice ), Martin Hewitt (Electrical Genius) and John Wood (Dyno Wiz) and all at Warpspeed for their amazing bike building and tuning and for inviting us to be part of the experience.

So here’s to a great 2018 season from Kyle Rushby – Chief Pit Bitch and me “the Rider”.  The ‘Rents will be going Racing…..

Read more about Anna’s racing here

http://www.warpspeedracing.co.uk/
http://grumpy1260suzukispares.co.uk/
https://www.fiberman.net/

Bike of the Month September 2017

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Goodbyes are never easy but they make for a good occasion to honour something or someone that has done OSS (very) proud. Let me fill you in…

Maxwin stumbled on the scene in January 2016 mid-development of his 750ET after having competed in the 2015 season of the Earlystocks championship. Having cobbled together the bike for 2015, the early days of 2016 were there to fine tune the bike and get it all working a bit better, looking a bit nicer and going a bit faster.

As with pretty much every build I’ve ever seen on OSS, thing spun a bit out of control with lots of clever engineering, pole positions and ultimately, big crashes. If you’re not crashing, you’re not racing. There’s no argument to say our friend Maxwin didn’t try his very best.

One of the very first to be promoted to OSS Winged Hammer, he has kept us up to date with all the ins and outs of the ET, plenty of pictures and YouTube videos for us to ogle over and wish for it to be us on the clipons and having a go ourselves.

Personally, I’d love to go racing, but lack of talent/balls/money will see me get my fix trying to hassle my bike around during rookie-level trackdays, dreaming of keeping up with the likes of Maxwin and his Earlystocks-compadres.

But, this is a goodbye, and for OSS an instance to honour someone who in turn honoured our request to fly the Winged Hammer flag and do his part for our little community. After a few heavy crashes, our friend choose to follow the path of progression (as you do with racing) and that progression sees the ET and Maxwin parting ways, with a water-cooled 600 of a not-to-be-named brand waiting in the wings to bring new highs in the career of our friend.

Update: It will be a Slabby 750 for next year, hurray! The ET will stay and progress, for Maxwin keeping it and let his dad have a go.

If you’re not crashing, you’re not racing. If you’re not trying to take things to another level, you’re not racing. If you’re not out to get that next second off your lap time, you’re not racing.

Maxwin chose racing and thus, we must say goodbye but not before we award him with the BOTM September 2017.

You sir, have truly done us all a big favour by letting us enjoy your updates and it makes me personally very proud to see our stickers on bikes used as intended and doing a bloody good job at it too! Thank you, I hope you return into our fold at some time in the future, for now, all the best 🙂

Congratulations on Bike Of The Month September 2017

Buildtread here

Competition makes us faster but collaboration makes us better…

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Following on from our announcement earlier in the year that we wanted to create a collective oldskoolsuziki race team identity, we’re almost ready to launch the OSS race team board.

While OSS have always had members who raced ( Go Runt Go! and Go Pete Go!) we have never, until now,  given them a special place on the site.  Over the last year we have recognised the importance of those that choose old school Suzuki motorcycles as their foundation for a building a competitive machine. This has convinced us that we need to provide a race section on the site and we need to create an OSS identity for our growing band of intrepid competitors.

More and more of our members bikes being built to compete. Last year, 2 of our bikes of the month took world records at Pendine Sands, Elvington and one was an  international post classic racing series winner. We also have a number of members building their bikes solely to compete in various race events.

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This week we completed the design on the new winged hammer logo as the team emblem that OSS Racers will be able to proudly display on their bikes. Over the coming year, we hope to encourage sponsors to support the Race Team Members with discounts in exchange for coverage on the site and trader status on the forum. We also hope all members may also be able to try to support in any way they can, whenever possible.

There will of course be rules ( Fucking rules) this is OSS after all. To be a Racer you will have to be a current competitor in an recognised race series or competitive straight-liner competition. In exchange we only ask that racers keep us all informed of their, builds and results in the race section of the site.

Rumour also has it that we will be fielding a Flying Hammers race team at the coming 4 hour endurance legends race at Donington on the 6th and 7th. Watch this space…

ENDURANCE LEGENDS at DONINGTON PARK 6-7TH MAY 2017

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Last year we said that all real world OSS events would be held around other larger bike focused events. Last year we had 2 big get togethers. The first one was at the Classic Bike Trackday weekend event at Cadwell and the second was at the VJMC  classic bike festival at Donington Park. Both events were a great success and proved to tick all the boxes by providing an opportunity to meet and socialise, while surrounded by OSS bikes on our stand and on the track.

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Yesterday I spoke to Rob from Classic Bike Trackdays and we agreed that OSS would have a stand at the Endurance Legends weekend at Donington Park on the 6th and 7th of May next year.

I can’t fully describe how much fun this weekend is going to be and I am confident it is going to be our best event to date. For those of you not aware Suzuki themselves have provided significant input and funding into the event. Some of you may also be aware that they are funding and supplying the parts to build a Katana endurance race bike that will compete in the 4 hour endurance race that weekend. Previous bike of the month winners Phase one will be there to keep them honest and of course there will be a host of other teams and bikes competing. I also heard a rumour that there will also be one of Suzuki’s original GSXR-750 endurance race bikes taking part.

If that is not enough we have block booked 10 trackday slots for those that want to do more than spectate.The trackday is run by Classic Bike Trackdays. These guys know how to run a trackday event. The Cadwell event last year ran like clockwork.  The trackday slots are made up of six sessions split across the 2 days and they will take place in between the endurance race rounds…no pressure then. The best thing is that this is a no noise limit event. I’ll say that again for those of us who have already permanently damaged our hearing; THIS IS A NO NOISE LIMIT EVENT! No need to cross your fingers at scrutineering or raid the loft insulation the night before.

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The track day slots are face value at £199 per bike and include a weekend pass for 2 for the entire weekend. The track day is already 25% booked and is filling up fast. Our 10 slots are guaranteed with places available in all three categories of novice, intermediate and advanced.  Personally, I found the novice category last year didn’t prevent me from going as fast as I wanted and when your are riding your pride and joy the last thing you want to to do is allow heroics get the better of you and end up with a gymnastic situation.

If you want to do the track day I suggest you follow the link at the bottom and state you interest quickly. We might be able to get additional booking slots if we fill our 10 quickly and you can book directly with Classic Bike Trackdays here

Trackday and bikes on the stand will also get an opportunity to go out as an OSS group for a few parade laps.

If you don’t have a bike on the stand or on the track entry for the weekend will be £30. There will be camping , live bands and so much unadulterated bike porn that you may well need to take several little lie downs throughout the course of the weekend.

Members click here to book.

If it ain’t broke, it doesn’t have enough power yet – The quest for speed.

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This year we’ve had the pleasure of following one of our youngest members on his crusade to build a winning 300bhp turbo wheelie bike based on a GSXR1100 Slingshot from the 1990’s. We all watched in amazement as the master plan took shape and we rode the roller coaster with him throughout the year.His determination and focus was such that  it soon became clear he was either going to break a record, break his engine or break himself.

Fortunately he managed the first 2 and not the 3rd. Here’s Kev Kearsley’s round up of  his 2016 campaign. He went into this  year as the Kid Kearsley but nobody can deny that he came out the the other side Da Man!

The Quest for Speed

Kev Kearsley

Ever wake up and think I’m going to do 200mph today? Tuesday was one of those days.

The Top Speed Tuesday put on by Straightliners at Elvington marked the last event of the year for myself, and what a year.

With numerous top speed days for tuning the bike for the Wheelie Comp, seeing a failed 194mph kilometre wheelie for dropping it a few metres short of the required distance.

A trip to Pendine sands in South Wales where I set two land speed records reaching 174mph on sand.

Hundreds of miles on the road two up

A track day at Oulton Park in the soaking wet, 300bhp on summer race tyres in the wet is not advisable Kid.

A few static displays at various motorcycle shows to fly the OSS banner including Donnington where my alter ego Rene took the old girl for a few laps of the track.

Many visits to RTR motorcycles for dyno runs, one off which was for the OSS dyno day where the bike made 300bhp.

So all in all a good year! Just think of the stress that engine has had doing all that, the only fault I got all year really was a leaky block so I’d say quite a reliable one.

Lets go out with a bang! I had that shit or bust attitude on.

It had been raining all Monday night making it look like the event would be cancelled, that gut wrenching feeling driving to the track in the rain for 2 hours thinking this ain’t gunna happen today. The rain stopped thankfully and after waiting a few hours to allow the track to dry we were given the all clear to attack the track.

The bike is, as a few of you know, made for wheelies, this means a short 55″ wheel base and big horsepower, not an ideal combo for Land Speed Racing.

Time to do the job. I was waved off by the starting Marshall after sat staring down a 3km runway. Short shifting 1st, 2nd, 3rd into 4th with a little wheel spin as the track was cold and still damp, into top gear and the bike is now naturally wanting to wheelie up in the air, feathering the throttle on and off to try keep the front wheel planted was an impossible task.

kk-speed-1I felt gravity some what take over just shy of the line and I managed to pin the the throttle open all tucked in with my chin on the tank as I had no fairing to hide behind.

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Made it. Still alive. Slowly throttle off as not to upset the bike, heart beating, did it do 200?? That drive back to the pits and the timing office seems to take forever.

203.8mph! On an unfaired 30 year old motorcycle with a well and truly abused engine.

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Thank you to all involved over the past year for parts, advise and food.

Use the link below to view the onboard action.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0QcmiqJi-rISzdsMzdYTkJscU0/view

 

Cadwell Birthday Bash Trackday Weekend Checklist.

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The weekend of the 8th ,9th and 10th of July will mark 1 year of the new site being up and running. We will be marking that event at Cadwell Park with a gathering and participation in the Classic Bike Track day.

There are some important things to remember for the weekend and with less than a week to go there’s just time to give everyone  a poke and say “get your shit together dude it’s next weekend!”

Riders
So if you are on track you don’t have to worry about camping because it is complimentary but you do need to read these rules and you need to have completed all paperwork which Yoshi Johnnie has emailed to all riders. Remember, we don’t make the rules. It is your responsibility to ensure you have read them and, that you, your bike and your equipment complies with them.

Non Riders
There are only 2 things for you to do:
1. Pay for camping if you are staying overnight.
2. Pre-pay your BBQ money by Wednesday the 6th of July.

If you haven’t pre-paid your BBQ money, you wont get any BBQ,even if you try to pay on the night.The food needs to be bought in advance.  Anyone standing in the line for BBQ who hasn’t paid in advance ( there will be wrist bands) will become the object of unbridled ridicule and will be asked to wear a pointy hat which reads “I’m that BBQ Cunt who never paid” I can’t rule out that Dangerous Dave our BBQ Chef wont try to brand you either ( he’s like that) Don’t be that guy. PM Yoshi Johnny for his PayPal and pay him a fiver for each night.

Two last things to remind everyone of are:

1.It’s not an OSS exclusive event so be nice, behave yourself-ish and have a good time.

2. If you see Yoshi Johnny ( he’s the guy with the Lockhart tart’s handbag Slabbie race rep) make sure you shake his hand, pat him on the back  and say thank you. If it wasn’t for John none of this would be happening. He’s put loads of work into this event and he deserves our appreciation. Probably a good idea to do the same to Dangerous Dave because he will be “handling” your food.

There may even be Birthday cake.