Well my 'Ring' trip has been and gone and as the title says all was well and not so well. We (my son Jon SV650 and Paul CBR600 and me RSVR) met at Reading services on Friday morning....rode to the 'Chunnel and before long we were happily in France on our way to pick up the E40 virtually all the way to the Ring. Fantastic roads and even better (courteous|) drivers....we stopped about every 110-120 ks for fuel and *** stop so there were no aches and pains creeping in. We made good time/progress to our turn off point just east of Liege/south of Cologne. Turning through the first town off the autoroute we pulled in for fuel. At the next roundabout I pulled away in second gear (unintentionally) and the bike felt lumpy and not right. I pulled over and it was only running on one cylinder and smoking just a little. Thinking we could limp to our hotel near the Ring we carried on....30ks down the road the fuel light came on...we stopped and there was what looked like very thin oil on the lower rear right side fairing..but not very much and there were no other signs of a leak. We had the body panels off and couldn't see any probs. Took the airbox cover off and that was all Ok inside. We limped to the next garage and filled up again....30ks later...fuel light on again. This time I limped it back to a garage we just passed and in my anger and frustration I gave it huge handful and it surged forward as the dead cylinder kicked in....ah I thought..(hindsight is wonderful and I should have checked this earlier I know but hey...**** happens) check the plugs. I did nothing more than blow them off and spark them against the frame...bingo up it fired as normal. The only problem now was we were 40ks from the hotel...it was not an easy route...the recovery wagon was on it's way and I was out of fuel. We got to the hotel at about 1145pm with me in the recovery truck...bike on the trailer....4 1/2 hours later than planned and thoroughly pissed off but glad to have made it. The owner (Frank) was very good about our late arrival and kept the bar open...though after 2 beers we were so knackered it was sleepy time.
Thinking all was Ok now we set out to the Ring on Saturday morning to find it closed to everyone for an hour....first smash of the day...and oil all across the track...it didn't reopen to bikes for about 1 3/4 hours ...around 11am. In the meantime when it opened to cars my son blagged a ride in a Maserati...his first adventure onto the Ring and he gets to do it in a Maserati..jammy git....and came back a shaking wreck....having been well and truly introduced to the delights of the Ring...and been in a flying supercar.
We got onto the track and as my Ring knowledge is nil (my son has hundreds of PS2 Ring time in so he has a much better idea of the layout) I took the recommended method of riding for a Ring virgin....keep right and right indicator on all the time....and my son running off into the distance. Well nothing and I mean nothing can prepare you for your first time with no track knowledge. I was shitting myself as I tried to keep out of the way of more supercars and 'Ring' specials then you could imagine. Keeping right means not being able to use 'lines' for bends/chicanes etc and to be honest I was considering not going out again...I was scared. Doing the speed I was happy with, not knowing if the next blind crest was onto a straight or sharp bend...and keeping right...being passed by Carerra S/Lambo/Mustang et al at least 100 mph faster than me is intimidating.
I got back to the paddock/car park and thought to check the bike oil as we had done so many miles and had the problems. Checked the sight tube and could see nothing. So I took the oil tank cap off and the tank was full...??? i dipped it and it stank of petrol. My probs the day before meant that the fuel into the rear cylinder was forcing it's way past the rings and into the oil....morale sliding southwards. I managed to siphon about 1/2 ltr out and thought sod it I'm going for one more lap and if it blows up I'll tip it over the Armco, leave it to rot and walk home. Anyway the second lap was an improvement over the first 1/4 because I thought to hell with keep right and just ride it like you would any new circuit. It was much more enjoyable and I didn't get beaten up as much....actually I passed a car....yippee.
So with petrol in the oil and no bike oil available I got to the hotel...dumped the sump contents an filled with Castrol 20w-60 car oil to get me home....and home it got me with no further problems. So now its oil and filter change and I hope all Ok once more. It's a pisser really because I never had a bike let me down since I was a raving 2 stroke teenager...and it had to pick this weekend.
I was hoping to get a vid up as well but just to finish off the 'Murphy's law' weekend....the bloody video didn't work either....so the 2 laps I thought I got on tape...I didn't.
Well it was an up and down....mainly down weekend....would I go back....too bloody right and next time mid week for 3 days Ring riding.....we're planning it already.
The upside is it was my sons' idea and he got 7 laps in..plus the Maserati ride and I....as his Dad am chuffed to report that on an SV650....for the first time at the Ring..he posted a sub 10 minute lap...
And if you read as far as here then this...
is for you for having staying power....
Thinking all was Ok now we set out to the Ring on Saturday morning to find it closed to everyone for an hour....first smash of the day...and oil all across the track...it didn't reopen to bikes for about 1 3/4 hours ...around 11am. In the meantime when it opened to cars my son blagged a ride in a Maserati...his first adventure onto the Ring and he gets to do it in a Maserati..jammy git....and came back a shaking wreck....having been well and truly introduced to the delights of the Ring...and been in a flying supercar.
We got onto the track and as my Ring knowledge is nil (my son has hundreds of PS2 Ring time in so he has a much better idea of the layout) I took the recommended method of riding for a Ring virgin....keep right and right indicator on all the time....and my son running off into the distance. Well nothing and I mean nothing can prepare you for your first time with no track knowledge. I was shitting myself as I tried to keep out of the way of more supercars and 'Ring' specials then you could imagine. Keeping right means not being able to use 'lines' for bends/chicanes etc and to be honest I was considering not going out again...I was scared. Doing the speed I was happy with, not knowing if the next blind crest was onto a straight or sharp bend...and keeping right...being passed by Carerra S/Lambo/Mustang et al at least 100 mph faster than me is intimidating.
I got back to the paddock/car park and thought to check the bike oil as we had done so many miles and had the problems. Checked the sight tube and could see nothing. So I took the oil tank cap off and the tank was full...??? i dipped it and it stank of petrol. My probs the day before meant that the fuel into the rear cylinder was forcing it's way past the rings and into the oil....morale sliding southwards. I managed to siphon about 1/2 ltr out and thought sod it I'm going for one more lap and if it blows up I'll tip it over the Armco, leave it to rot and walk home. Anyway the second lap was an improvement over the first 1/4 because I thought to hell with keep right and just ride it like you would any new circuit. It was much more enjoyable and I didn't get beaten up as much....actually I passed a car....yippee.
So with petrol in the oil and no bike oil available I got to the hotel...dumped the sump contents an filled with Castrol 20w-60 car oil to get me home....and home it got me with no further problems. So now its oil and filter change and I hope all Ok once more. It's a pisser really because I never had a bike let me down since I was a raving 2 stroke teenager...and it had to pick this weekend.
I was hoping to get a vid up as well but just to finish off the 'Murphy's law' weekend....the bloody video didn't work either....so the 2 laps I thought I got on tape...I didn't.
Well it was an up and down....mainly down weekend....would I go back....too bloody right and next time mid week for 3 days Ring riding.....we're planning it already.
The upside is it was my sons' idea and he got 7 laps in..plus the Maserati ride and I....as his Dad am chuffed to report that on an SV650....for the first time at the Ring..he posted a sub 10 minute lap...
And if you read as far as here then this...
