The sisters took a trip down too Milltek Sport last Monday to get the new exhaust system made up for the Supermono. Milltek predominantly specialise in car exhausts but have been helping out the Smiths for a few years now. As you can see this looks the dogs danglies. The bike will be going on the dyno next week to see how the exhaust performs and then hopefully we will have the new engine back soon to see how it all works together.
After months of thinking about it Birdy has finally decided it is time to update the ZX4RR a couple of weeks before the season starts! As you can see from the photos we now have the ZX6RR forks installed along with radial calipers and the very trick Goodridge brake lines with in-built dry break couplings. In the second photo you can see the new Nitron shock now in place, I am keen to get out and have a ride on the bike now as we will need to get the suspension set up ready for the first meeting. It may be as time is running out that we will do the Friday 12th March test day prior to the meeting on the 13th / 14th March. This is not ideal but we are just running out of time. we will see.
I am very pleased to announce that we have two new sponsors on board. The first being Ann and Tony from MCM Motorcycle Machining based in Leigh, Lancashire. Although at first we had a mix up of dates when we were due to meet them, basically we turned up a week early, Ann didn't hold it against us and they have agreed to support us this year. Even when I sent the Smith Sisters up to see them that wasn't enough to put them off! You can check out their website and see what they can do at www.motorcyclemachining.co.uk. 
We travelled down to Mallory Park today as I had been asked if I would help out with ascertaining the competence of the new riders as I have an ACU Instructors Licence. If they are safe and able to ride to a certain level then I can sign them off as competent to ride. Unfortunately about half way down Leigh and I were in the midst of a snow storm and as you can see from the photo of the 'esses' at Mallory it had been engulfed by the snow. This put an end to any on track action and so the day was cancelled.
Now that Leigh had finally finished building his Suzuki SV650 race bike for this year we needed to get the thing on the dyno to set up the fuelling. After some investigation (to find out the cheapest option, we are from Yorkshire you know) it was decided that a an ECU re-map by Steve Jordan at Steve Jordan Motorcycles was the order of the day. His bikes have won numerous championships with this set up so we were confident of the job he would do. True to form we were not disappointed, on the initial run the bike made 68hp at the rear wheel, not a bad start. Once Steve had worked his magic this had been upped to 71.6hp, this is nigh on perfect as the class has a 72hp limit. Job done. The only down side to the day was getting up at 4:45am to get down to Steve's in good time, but sometimes needs must.
As promised we visited the NYRRSC Thundersport night yesterday in Northallerton and a good laugh we had too. You can see on the photo myself, Steve Tomes and our kid, being interviewed by Norman Bradley. Norman certainly does his homework and had plenty of questions to ask on the past, present and the future.
The North Yorkshire Road Race Supporters Club are holding a ThundersportGB Evening at the Golden Lion Hotel in Northallerton next Tuesday 16th February, starting at 7:30pm. We will be making our way up there and may even get on stage for a bit of a chat, who knows. Everyone is welcome so if you are at a bit of a loose end why not pop along? You can check out the details at http://www.nyrrsc.net/.
