PCRA Round 1 Eastern Creek

PCRA Round 1 Historic Road Racing is at Eastern Creek next Saturday.
I will be there racing the TDR250, TZR250 and RD250LC.
Stop in to the pit garage and say hello if you come for a look.
My bikes are all number 35.

 

A very successful day of racing. Stayed upright and all bikes made it through the day intact.
Phill Glasson was my Team Manager and were were pitted with other Canberra riders.
Because it was the first time PCRA had raced on the new North Circuit,
Motorcycling NSW required us to have separate Practice and Qualifying.

The new flip-flop corners were interesting especially when coming up on a group of slower lapped riders.
During qualifying this happened and Dez slammed into the back of me as we both tried to avoid the slower riders.
If he hadn't had his hand stuck between the brake lever and twist grip he would have locked the front and cartwheeled his bike.
But neither of us went down and the only injury was his sore hand.

We were very happy with my qualifying as I often find it hard to go fast before the racing starts:
TZR250 qualified 3rd in New Era 250cc.
TDR250 qualified 3rd in New Era 250cc Production.
RD250LC qualified 4th in Forgotten Era 250cc.

The bikes had minor changes since the Barry Sheene:
TZR250; more preload on rear spring, stiffer front spring with no preload, forks 20mm further through the triple clamps, front mudguard mounted under the mounting lugs on the forks to lower it 16mm.
The changes worked superbly; the bike is much more stable and steers faster.
I have no changes planned for the next race meeting as I need more time on the bike and currently cannot fault it.
It is the best bike I have ever ridden.
But at less than 100kg it is so light that I still brake too early for corners and have to train myself not to throw it around so much as it is so easy to change direction because it is so responsive.
TDR250; Steel rear suspension rocker replaced with FZR400 alloy rocker with needle rollers.
As it was 10mm shorter it gave the shock proper clearance fron the swing arm but raised the rear of the bike 6mm.
6mm doesn't sound like much but the bike must have previously been on the limit of stability because after the change the front end was wobbling at top speed at the end of the straight and during the exit of the fast turn one.
For the next race meeting I will fix it by fitting longer dog bones to lower the rear.
RD250LC; Stiffer front brake caliper bracket on the RD250LC.
Still having issues with the front brake pads moving too far off the disk and requiring the lever to be pumped on entry to some corners. Further work is required.

Had some great dicing with other riders in all classes.
Was hoping to beat Lech on my TZR250 and RD250LC and to beat Julian on the TDR250.
Beat Lech on my TZR250 but he won the class on his RD250LC. Beat Julian.

Took home trophies in all 3 classes!
TZR250 2nd New Era 250cc.
TDR250 3rd New Era 250cc Production.
RD250LC 3rd Forgotten Era 250cc.