Well, what a day!
It was great to have the bike back at Wanneroo, and even better that we weren't trying to win races, where messing with settings would screw us up too much. Last time we had the bike at Barbs Pottz was doing 70 second laps, but we had a top speed of 170 km/h (still hadn't tuned the field weakening) and the heavy battery pack.
Straight out with no changes, 68 second laps were the norm. All that was different was more top speed and less weight, but it's worth getting a baseline first. We couldn't get a full charge in before the next session, so we went out with about 2/3rds charge. We took it to LVC, which is not ideal, but well within the pack's capability. So we held off for another session and gave it a full charge after 1.5 hours.
It wasn't until we lowered the entire bike by about 20 mm that the big times were dropping. We pulled the forks through another 20 mm and wound the ride height right back to the stop. The lower ride meant that the bike didn't buck and wobble under hard brakes, so Pottz could push his brake markers back further each time.
Paul Cox threw his leathers on and took it out for 5 laps, since he will be riding it in the State Champs race next Saturday. You couldn't wipe the giant shit-eating grin off his face :lol: "It wheelies up Skyline! It wheelies out of the basin! It wheelies out of turn 7!... and the POWER!" Can't wait to see that video again...
Pottz took it out for a session where they were doing practice starts. This was awesome - lined up on the grid with a dozen ICE bikes screaming their tits off, slipping the clutch as they risk a jump start. And Danny just winds it on and blows them away
After watching that, the competition guys at MCRCWA reversed their pit lane start decision :wink:
Lots of impressed punters at the track today, but best of all, we have Voltron handling better than ever. It brakes well, tips in well, holds a line and powers out without running wide. Front end still needs work, but the geometry is almost bang on, and the lap times are showing. I can't afford to renew my race license this year, so I didn't take it on the track but I did go for a squirt around the pits. It's so much nicer to flick around and it's braking so much more smoothly without pitching or bucking.
Both paul and Danny were putting in solid 65 second laps, which is pretty good for Wanneroo. In Club 1000 we'll be quicker than 60% of the field, so we're not going to be in the way of the keen guys.
Happy days for team O'Hanlon Electric Motorsports!!!
Glad he was OK though.
. He added some more preload and opened up the rebound damping a bit, to what he felt should be better. He went slower :lol: I'm beginning to take less notice of self-proclaimed suspension gurus, particularly in a situation where we have a completely new system with no baseline.
