Team Bike at Classic Bol,
Team Bike were back at Circuit Paul Ricard for the Classic Bol d’or in September, but it didn’t quite go to plan
STEPHANE MERTENS, OUR NUMBER ONE RIDER, only did three practice laps on our 840cc Honda RC30 at Paul Ricard before he decided he’d be quicker on the 750. The bigger engine was vibrating and it didn’t have as smooth a throttle response as the 750. It’s a shame, because we’d put a lot of work into the big engine, but it’s a work in progress: many of our class rivals were running big engines in their Yamaha OW01S and Kawasaki ZXR750S. Stephane qualified the RC30 seventh in the start order with a lap of 2m 12.136s. I was slower with a 2m 17.794s. But it was amazing how things have moved on since we last raced here in 2015. The top guys are much faster – the Moto90 Kawasaki ZXR was just motoring past us on the straight. dropped two teeth off the rear sprocket so that we could slipstream the faster bikes down the Mistral straight. It’s over a mile long, so it’s critical to getting a fast lap. Stephane was slip streaming down the straight, then out braking everyone into the Signes curve to get ahead. The classic race is over two, two hour legs – one on Friday night and the other on Saturday morning, before the start of the main 24-hour race. Stephane took the first stint, got a decent start and held onto the lead group so we could keep the draft on the Mistral. It was an amazing experience for me to race at night at Paul Ricard. I first came to the Bol in 1982 as a spectator and Team Bike helper and it’s been a dream to race here ever since (last time the team raced here Ian didn’t ride – Ed), so it was an ambition fulfilled. And what a privilege to ride with a former World Endurance champion and World Superbike winner. Stephane is so fast and a great team mate. We finished the first leg in sixth place (5th in class), but Stephane had the fastest lap of any of the finishers. Overnight we changed the brake pads and tyres, and were up early for the second race. Stephane started, but he got blocked in and couldn’t get into the leading group for the slip stream, which was really frustrating. Even so, when I took over the bike we were up to fourth place (net, from the two legs).
‘He just stood his bike up and went straight on, skittling us both’
Slower traffic is a big problem in these classic endurance races. You’ve got such a mix of riders ranging from James Hillier at one end to trackday people at the other. I’d only done about four laps and I was passing someone round the outside at Spoon Curve, which is a never ending right-hander, when he just stood his bike up and went straight on, skittling us both. I picked the bike up and got it started, but the marshals wouldn’t let me ride off until I’d kicked the footrest straight, and the next lot of marshals stopped me for about ten minutes before they let me cross the track to the pits. By the time I got back to our box we’d lost so much time we decided to withdraw. It’s a shame, but it was a fantastic experience anyway. We packed the van, watched the start of the main race and then went and sat on the beach at Bandol for three days and thought about how to get the 840 running right. We need that extra capacity to keep the Honda V4 competitive. I’ve sourced some titanium conrods, which will reduce reciprocating mass and allow us to lose some weight from the pistons too. And I think we can increase the compression. It just needs some tweaking and more set-up time.