When it all goes wrong
... yet you still set lap records and take class wins. Bike's Pete Boast gets the better of the gremlins
We started building this bike, a KTM engined Tigcraft framed single cylinder racer, at the end of 2019, so it’s taken eight months and a lot of hours to get it to a race meeting, but they’ve been enjoyable hours in the workshop. It’s been a really nice project.
The plan was to run it at the Manx Grand Prix but that’s been cancelled. So, we decided to try and have it running for the CRMC meeting at Cadwell Park, 11-12 July.
Ten days before the meeting we got it running for the first time, and then took it to Guy Martin’s dyno. We did a few runs and changed a few things, but we had a clutch slip problem. Even so it put out 63bhp at the back wheel and Guy’s dyno always reads low. We were happy with that.
It’s a standard 2015 690 engine, last of the single plug 690s, running with a 41mm Keihin flat slide carburettor and a Ignitech ignition. It’s a fantastic engine.
I gave it a run at Donington Park on the Monday and the clutch slip was bad. So, on the Tuesday night, we dropped the engine out – the frame spar covers a bit of the clutch casing so you can’t get the case off without taking the engine out. We found the lock tab on the clutch was broken, so we fixed that and put in new plates, and we were feeling very proud of ourselves as we put it back together. But, on Friday there’s a classic track day at Cadwell, and the clutch was still slipping. So Friday night it was in pieces again, and it turned out to be the slave cylinder causing the trouble.
It’s a two day race meeting – two warm-ups and a qualifier on Saturday and two races on Sunday. In the warm-ups we had a problem with the tank breather. Then in the qualifier the temperature gauge fell off, the back light fell off and the radiator spit. Other than that it went really well, and we qualified second in class.
Sunday morning we were out early for the first race. It took three attempts to actually start the race. First time out a Triumph Trident soaked the track in oil, so we all came back in while they cleaned it up. It was fortunate for me because we were able to fix an exhaust bracket that had broken. Then after the second restart there was a big crash, so the red flags came out again. And we all came back in. Third attempt, on the warm-up lap and the bike’s fairing nearly fell off – an R clip had come out of a bracket on the left side. So I’m on the grid, clutch in, holding a clip in my right hand when the flag dropped. I managed to start, holding the fairing in with my knee. It took to the end of Park Straight before I got the clip in. I’m dead last and angry.
What happened next wasn’t pretty, so for anyone I made a dodgy pass on I’m sorry. I just got my head down and went for it. We broke the class lap record trying to catch up, and ended up seventh overall. Good enough for the class win. Back in the paddock we found the chain guide had disappeared and the seat had come loose, but we had it all sorted for the second race, and the rest of the weekend. Yes we had trouble, but I’m really pleased with the bike and looking forward to Scarborough, 14-16 August, when Guy Martin and I will also be racing the Team Lincolnshire Classic Suzuki GSX-R750S.
‘What happened next wasn’t pretty, so for anyone I made a dodgy pass on I’m sorry. I just got my head down and went for it’