Project Bikes
Charlie kick-starts his racing career and Bruce pulls his finger out on project Moto3!
M y TZR build has not progressed massively this month as my on-off loan of Phoenix Yamaha’s spanner man Wayne Philips suffered a setback when he managed to spanner himself on a patch of gravel coming out of the winding wilderness of Cheddar Gorge. I am delighted to say that his injuries have healed to the point that he is back to work but wish him a very public get well soon all the same.
This delay in the actual build has not meant that the project has stopped, actually far from it as I have managed to move the project forward quite substantially since Wayne’s off. There were a number of things that I needed to source to complete the project and it’s all on its way. Hopefully a day in the workshop should now bring the TZR truly to life and next month it can be dyno’d and the race prep can begin for Yamaha Past Masters final round at Snetterton 300 on the weekend of October 7.
I needed a replacement tank as the one that came with this particular TZR is full of rust induced holes that even a weld would be ineffective against. Thus I have managed to borrow one from Mr Paul Traylen, a Yamaha collector and friend of
Fast Bikes who took the pictured tank off of his own prized TZR on Jersey. Big tick in the box for that one and a favour owed.
Furthermore the rear caliper has seized beyond repair, and another visit to eBay and what I thought was a risk ordering a brand new fake one from Hong Kong. Having sought reassurance from members of the YPM paddock I placed the order, and it’s absolutely mint. I also submitted a rough hose sketch to Samco this month to design a new fitment that will complete the radiator installation, something that could be fudged using old hoses of course. Samco however offered to prepare a new mold which could potentially be reused for others in the YPM paddock, so maybe my efforts at this stage will end up benefiting the series, which I had my first taste of racing in this month.
The whole point of this project was to challenge myself to build a race bike and then race it in a project of firsts. The opportunity however to race in this series on the YPM Hire bike at Donington Park just seemed too good to miss. Not only would I get a feel for the racing but also
SPENDING A WEEKEND WITH TZR RACERS OPENED MY EYES TO A FEW THINGS ON THE BUILD
riding a TZR, two ducks to break. Spending an entire weekend with TZR owners and racers also opened my eyes to a few things about the current build. The racing itself will be covered in a later issue, suffice to say that it’s a great experience open to all and one that if you are considering racing yourself you should look into.
The YPM hire bike is the same model as mine, a TZR250 2MA which will allow me to make a direct comparison to my weapon. The hire bike runs with a Blue Spot front caliper out of an R6 but my new wider Brembo wheels will not allow this modification as it rubs on the wheel. Thus a purchase I needn’t make and in fairness Gary Button, who I spent a lot of time with over race weekend, told me that he managed to flip his TZR with the OE caliper so change is not a necessity. I also got some great advice from Len Whalin, another constant YPM face who helps everyone around the paddock with his extensive knowledge. I told him about the problems with my front wheel, that the spindle was not thick enough to hold the wheel in place –and without prompting he told me a set of spacers would be in the post. Problem solved.
Pretty much all of the YPM’rs had cut their fairings in half, straight through the belly pan and rejoined them with hinges. This allows you to access either side of the bike without removing the entire fairing and as you don’t need an oil catch with the TZR running premix, there is no reason not to modify to your benefit.
Therefore when I arrived at Bardney Racing in Lincoln to pick up my fairings I already had a plan to modify them. Business owner Craig Wilford welcomed me into his shop with a smattering of fairings that he produces hanging from the ceiling and his own extremely rare TZR125 on display. The shop resembles Quint’s ‘workshop’ in Jaws, only the ceiling decoration was fairings, not sharks’ teeth. Craig works with his dad Gordon and help from previous owner Basil Linton (Ivan’s dad) producing a range of over 300 race fairings. He handed over a 450 weight fairing for my TZR, an extra 30% more dense than those you would find on a BSB bike but this is built for longevity and durability, not weight saving. A BSB fairing will only last three races before they buckle out of shape, and that’s even without crashing. Look around the YPM paddock and there are fairings that look like they are older then me. So all we need to do now is get the fairing prepared with hinges, number boards and an MRA screen that has just arrived from HPS. Fit the rear caliper, hose from Samco and spacers from Len and I will be ready to get the TZR out for its first run. We are getting decidedly closer.