YAMAHA TZR250
Part two of Charlie’s resto-racer.
As I entered into my second month of the Yamaha TZR250 build and race project I thought it was best to see exactly what I was letting myself in for. To recap: I’m the bloke who sells ads in CMM’S sister title Fast Bikes, and – with the promise of an old Yamaha TZR250 2MA from a mate – I’ve foolishly decided to get the thing going again and take part in a race meeting before the end of the 2017 season. Well, the opening round of the Yamaha Past Masters Racing series kicked off in March at Brands Hatch and I thought it would be good for my education if I went and spent some time in the paddock. Had I not bought into what I saw then this would have been a very short series for CMM indeed. As it was, far from dousing any fire in me to get this project going and get racing, it just poured two-stroke oil (and fuel, pre-mix of course) onto it. While I was lording it around Brands, Wayne Philips was continuing to work
away at Phoenix Yamaha in Trowbridge with the many TZR parts we were supplied with, sifting through various cardboard boxes having been ‘carefully’ stored by bike owner and Fast Bikes journalist Benjamin Cubas-kronin or ‘Beej’. This is no quick fix, not all the parts are there and the parts that are either need extensive cleaning or to be ripped out and replaced. Having been across to see how the job was going I walked out with a nice long list of parts needed that must have fallen out of the boxes. Blessed as I have been up to this point with modern bikes, courtesy of the job, the need to source some of the smaller yet most essential parts for a build has eluded me. Having compiled a list of oil seals fore and aft, thermo units, collars for the gear-change shaft etc. I thought this would be an impossible mission. However with part numbers in hand I entered them into the Electronic Parts Catalogue on www.fowlersparts.co.uk. This is a great service and one that alleviated my fears of endless searching straight away. If the required parts are not in stock (which is unlikely as they carry some 100,000 different parts at Fowlers) they can be ordered or alternatives suggested. If you don’t have the part number you can get it easily enough from exploded diagrams available on the site. So another project confidence boost that at least the parts were available to get this old girl running again. Another essential part missing was the rear mudguard whose absence meant that the build would stall as many of the internals needed to be attached to it. Here ebay became my friend and parting with £20 got the job up and running again. In addition is an air-box, but what a bone of contention this will be. Beej swears blind that he never ran the bike with one and it will be better without. Wayne at Phoenix however believes it will run much better with one and in the end I needed to do some digging around the paddock at Brands to see what they were running when I visited for the first race of the season. On arrival at Brands I was met by Paul Middleton, he is starting his second season with YMPR and much like me, had the epiphany that he just had to give this racing lark a go. As it was he had a great season, was the fastest rookie and almost took the rookie championship. This came down to the last race of the final weekend: the wet surface costing him as he tucked
the front and fellow contender Mark Ewans sailed through and clinched the title. Testament to the series was Paul’s response to this: ‘I couldn’t have lost to a nicer bloke!’ He wasn’t even gritting his teeth (much) when he imparted this to me. It would appear that ‘being nice’ is a pre-requisite for being a YPM racer. Everyone was interested in what I was doing, everyone offered help and advice and I do mean everyone – bar none. I left with more numbers than Justin Bieber at a school disco, a paddock full of a wide range of people who were all there to race as hard as they can, but also enjoy every moment of the paddock. I had gone to Brands thinking that this could kill my appetite for the project (or scare me silly) but far from it, had I had my ACU licence and kit I would have been out on the hire bike which was a constant temptation. Of course the build was a key conversational point: the overriding advice was simplicity and not to worry too much about getting a finely tuned stallion for the racing at first. Just get used to the bike, get your head right, know your braking markers and what your bike is going to do – basically spend your time riding the bike more than fixing it. Sound advice indeed even for the most competitive of us and as Paul explained: “Don’t think you are going to be the slowest on the circuit. You can get a race at any speed, if you’re doing 53s laps (Brands Indy) you will get a race and a bloody good one. If you are doing 1min 30s you will still have a target and get a race on.” So, it seems there is a fair spread of talent and machinery. Further to this Steve Higgerty – one of the key men in the paddock – pointed out what many rookies can get wrong: the preparation. He explained: “If I turn up with the bike as good as I can possibly get it, I have already started the hard work as all I have to think about is riding it. “I didn’t do that in my first year and I spent the whole season fixing my bike in the paddock. It was crap!” Just over his shoulder were the ‘Burscough Boys’ who had turned up with three non-runners and were frantically trying to get two running for the next session. A good example of what to avoid, though the very nature of people lending spare parts and offering help on the build was a great example of what this series appears to be all about. Out on track they were not hanging around either, trying out different lines, braking points and setting the natural order of the grid. A heady mixture of polished track weapons and old faithfuls could be seen out on track, along with some glimmering Dainese leathers and a few back-to-basics brands I have never even heard of. It really is a fascinating mix. There were a few bikes out there that looked like they would barely pass the scrutineering bay and yet more often than not they were actually the front runners! I guess on these bikes the investment was on the inside, not externally. I learnt many things at Brands, it was not just about the racing but also the build and I came away with a long list of things I needed to address to make a truly competitive bike. Feeding back to Wayne I walked into Phoenix to see the TZR complete with exhausts – it would appear that we are almost ready to get her started. The grand plan of getting the TZR on the road first and then converting it to a racer is over, there is too much to do so it will go straight to race spec and then back to road over the winter I guess. What is for sure though, it will be complete with an air-box – sorry Beej!