QuietRush said:
Takes 10 laps to win a 10 lap race.
I knew I hadn't heard the last of it :lol:
Did John not finish either ?
Is that the data from the official transponders ? I dont know if the lap times are right but the top speeds are certainly wrong, I was hitting 80 on the straight. Or is best speed the average speed ?
Did I miss much after I left ? I'm looking forward to seeing more pics and vids. I'm not sure how close behind you were when I deployed my smoke screen but it'll make for amusing footage if it turned out :lol:
Congrats again on the win! It's great advertising for stealth, those new fighters have certainly got some sting.
Here's my wrap up cross posted from my build thread, I'll post the pics and vids over there shortly.
Day 1 was great, the raptor performed really well in the 1500 division and to my surprise found it was not only highly competitive against the bigger motorcycles but actually faster! I was against Grinhill on his converted ninja, Quiet Rush on the new fighter and a few others. I lead every lap and was sure Grinhill was just warming up but he said he couldn't catch me! That was until I broke an axle! The crown TC80 was a solid performer up until that point but unfortunately I was let down primarily by the controller tuning and the fact that I only finished building the bike a few hours before the race and didnt have time to tune it all properly. Although I couldn't get regen working properly (and as above it was best to run without it) something in the controller settings was causing a constant jolt of regen-like torque for a split second every time I let off the throttle and this made short work of the axle at 12kw under race conditions where I was constantly on the power and brakes over and over. I actually had a rear facing camera running on that lap and I think I lost the axle nut 2 laps prior and then it kept jerking with the pinch bolt alone holding it until the axle broke, then went spiralling off down the track! I didnt realised at the time and though I may have blown a bank of spokes or something as it felt a bit loose and the disc brake was badly rubbing. As a testament to the frame I was able to complete the rest of the lap with the wheel held to the bike only with one side of the axle remaining!!
It then started raining and by that night it was well set in and forecast to rain most of the following day. I was left with a hard decision, given it looked like I was going to win the main event was it worth the 5 hour return trip to Sydney to pick up a replacement motor ? Would the race even go ahead with the weather ? I nearly packed my spare 5403 but with a last minute rush to just get the bike finished I gave it a miss. I'm now really regretting that. Hind site is a wonderful thing huh ?
I had packed a 26" H4080 kit in the car on the off chance someone wanted to buy one at the event and I decided I'd run with that instead to at least have a crack at the final race. Fortunately Sigmacom's mate Phil lived locally and had a good workshop set up so we pulled the new H4080 apart and I drilled the covers in my usual fashion. Unfortunately I didnt have time to hook up a thermistor and figured if I took it easy and with the added air cooling holes I might be OK given how convincing my performance was the previous day. Due to the rain there was no qualifying or even practice laps so I wasn't able to assess how it'd go on the track so my first time to find out was as I lined up on the grid for the race. I thought the Newcastle university bike would be my main competitor and would roll out on race day with a secret weapon but apparently they killed theirs the day before in practise. I also thought a last minute entry from the catavolt team with a cro-style motor in a little (14" ? ) rim motard style pit bike might be a contender. The flag dropped and I sprinted off the start line and was well ahead of the competition by the first corner and maintained a clear lead throughout. Unfortunately with the reduced heat dissipation capabilities of the H40 motor, even after I started taking it easier on the power a few laps in it was too late and it had built up too much heat to recover. I backed right off when I started to smell it and quiet rush on a stealth fighter quickly caught up and took the lead. We exchanged some light hearted competitive banter, name another motorsport where you can do that mid track ?
I figured if I stayed just behind him for the rest of the race I could blaze past him on the last straight at full power and take the win but the heat was already past critical and what I only smelled going forward turned out to be an impressive smoke show behind me the crowd :lol:
The bike rolled to a stop and I knew I was done. I started pushing then decided to power cycle the controller just in case. To my surprise it came to life again and I thought maybe it was the internally mounted controller that actually overheated and reset rather than the motor (which was obviously struggling too) So I went on for another lap before the motor let me know I was being exceedingly optimistic and it was a done deal. I'm guessing one of the sabvotons other clever features is it would start to detect things were starting to go bad on the phases.
Quiet Rush ended up taking the win (though I think I caught him cheating and using the pedals at one point
) and I think Grinhill ended 2nd ? Congrats guys! Sorry I couldn't stick around for the awards, I got a call from the missus that the brownie points I had cashed in for the weekend away were about to expire and traffic late Sunday afternoon going back through Sydney can be brutal.
I'll definitely be back next year and now that I know what's involved I know what to prepare for. And I have 350 days longer to build something this time too! :lol:
A big thanks to Mark and Phil who were my pit crew for the day and helped out with accommodation and last minute repairs! Also thanks to Andy/Grinhill for helping me out with a tyre for my H40 wheel and also offering for me to crash at his place. Also Sunnyboy who hung out at my "stand" and kept watch over my gear while I had to duck off and do other stuff.
