Hugo Following the Pack into the First Hairpin

Exhausting! That's what racing is, exhausting. The 'Big Day' was the day before yesterday. Yesterday I wandered around dazed despite having an hour and a half snooze after lunch and today I feel alert enough to write this but still a bit fugged up. Having a cold might have something to do with it - maybe it's that chicken flu... cluck, cluck, cluck atchoo. I tried to write this last night but my mind wouldn't work. I guess I just have to accept that at 49 I'm no spring chicken and my body takes longer to recover from being worn out.

We - Yuko, Vincent and I - got to bed at 1 AM the night before and were up at 4 AM to meet Mr Koizumi and his assistant, Horie, at his place at 5.15 in order to set off for Tsukuba Circuit at 5.30. We got to the circuit by 6.30 and it was cold as we unloaded the bikes, about -2C, or 28.4F. Practice was at 9.03, by which time it was about 1C under our feet. We knew that because Mr Koizumi, the ever-prepared racer, has a Casio watch that measures the temperature of anything you put it against.

There were 17 of us in the practice (and the race): 2 BMW airheads, 2 KTMs, 1 Magni Arturo Moto Guzzi and 12 Ducatis and I was the slowest, although I wasn't one of the 5 who crashed :-) I think they were pushing too hard for the cold track and their cold tyres. Thankfully nobody was hurt, though. My excuses are that my suspension was too soft at the back, softer at front, the front and rear were badly matched (more on that later) and I was underpowered compared to the others. I didn't enjoy the practice at all and was quite despondent at the end of it. It was SO cold, for one thing, and I found it hard to get into any kind of rhythm - it all seemed such hard work. The only positive feeling I had was about my cylinder heads not touching down on the corners... the raised rear worked! At the end of the 10 laps of practice my belly was sooo cold - Mr Koizumi joked that it was because I was sitting too upright and that with him it was his back that got cold.

The practice finished at about 9.20 and that left us with about 2 and a half hours before we had to get ready for the race itself. This gave us time to wander about the paddocks looking at the other bikes there and watching other bikes on their practice laps. There was one rather spectacular crash when the Buells (they were having a track day). I happened to be by the fence watching the Buells rush up to the 1st hairpin when it happened. Apparently a novice rider had changed his line to allow a faster rider to pass him and that rider had swerved to avoid him and had come off as a result. I didn't see the off itself but heard the sickening crash and grating noise and turned my head to see a very trick Buell going rear over forks followed shortly by the rider going arse over tit. He managed to crawl to the verge on all fours before collapsing in pain. An ambulance came and the practice was stopped.

Shortly after our practice the best lap-times for our MAX 10 group were posted - mine was 1m 26sec and was 13 seconds behind the fastest bike, a Ducati 916. Now, I've always claimed that my fastest lap at Tsukuba was 1m 20sec on my R65 but I now know this is almost certainly an error. That time was taken by Yuko a couple of years ago at a BMW dealer arranged track day with the stopwatch function on a Casio wristwatch. When I spoke to Mr Koizumi about it he reckoned that that time was rather fast and I would have been really flying. My benchmark time is now that 1m 26sec obtained in the practice on Wednesday.

In the interval we enjoyed brunch, prepared by Mr Koizumi's wife Tamie, delicious as always - Mr Koizumi insisted we finish it all as otherwise she'd get angry so we all ate more than was absolutely necessary but what the hey, it wasn't that difficult. Tamie's support for Mr Koizumi in his racing is really impressive... a perfect racing couple. She has always been very supportive of me in my efforts, as well, assuring me I'd come first in the race (with that smile she has) and remarking how good my bike was looking. As we sat around (Mr Koizumi always brings a table and at least 4 chairs to race meets) we talked about so many aspects of racing that I've lost track, or forgotten half of it. Mr Koizumi is a mine of information about racing technique and will talk at length on how to go into, through and out of any particular corner at Tsukuba you care to mention. He talks really fast and I often find myself screwing my forehead up in concentration while I try to take it all in - my Japanese is good but not that good, especially when talking about racing. He reckons that cornering is the forte of our airheads and therefore we have to use that to its full advantage, going into bends wider than other people tend to in order to take a tighter line on the exits. He made me laugh when he explained how he uses that to unnerve other riders - like, 'Where did that BMW come from!' as they lose time having to cope with the surprise. I've got a way to go before I can practice such stuff.

After the Buell crash a meeting was called for us MAX 10'ers about track safety and we were asked if any of us novices wanted to wear a florescent vest to let others know to be careful around us. Afterwards I asked Mr K if he thought I should wear one but he said, no, adding that it looked too uncool for one of the only 2 BMWs there that day to be so marked, and anyway, I was fine on the track (small compliments like that please me a lot ). At the meeting we were introduced to 2 guys from Ohlins who would be delighted to give anyone advice on suspension set-up, even if we didn't have Ohlins shocks on their bikes. I was reminded of this by Mr K. just before our race was to begin so I went over to them to ask them about the Ohlins on my bike.

Mr Kobatake from Ohlins, and his assistant, spent the next 20 minutes or so having me bounce up and down on my bike and checking spring length and compression and rebound damping settings and adjusting them for me. It was a very valuable experience. Unknown to me, they had been watching me on the track for the practice and saw that the imbalance between the front and rear was unsettling the bike for the corners. After lots of bouncing up and down and them changing all the settings on the shock they told me the spring rate (75Nm) was too soft for my weight (they recommended 80 or 85Nm for my 92 kgms) and that the gas damping on the shock wasn't working properly. They recommended having the shock serviced and having a stronger spring fitted and that it would cost me about $300. The shock is 3 or 4 years old and while they cost $850 new in Japan I bought mine from an outfit in Holland and it cost about $450, so spending $300 it will still cost less than buying one here. That work is next on my list of things to do to the KS before the next race in May.

They also reckoned that the 5wt fork oil was too light and I should use 10wt as the forks were rebounding too quickly so that the front was diving on corners and bouncing up when I opened the throttle - that meant I couldn't feel confident in corners as the bike rocked fore and aft. After their adjustments (shortening the spring 3mm, increasing the rebound by 4 clicks to 34 clicks and taking off the compression damping completely from 25 clicks, or full-on) they reckoned I should be able cut my lap time by about 3 seconds. Now HOW could they possibly know THAT!?

With the Ohlins work finished I still hadn't changed into my racing suit for the race and it was going to start in about 15 minutes so Vincent took my bike up to the warm-up paddock with Yuko (who was filming everything) while I changed. I would like to say a big THANK YOU! to Vincent who came all the way from Kanazawa, some 300 miles away from Tokyo, where he lives, to act as my mechanic for the day. He was great and I felt like a real racer thanks to him :-)

By the time Vincent got back with the warmed-up bike I was all suited up and we were soon heading for the starting grid. We were to have 2 warm-up laps before the race itself (when the weather is warmer you get one lap) and after some confusion about where I was starting from - I knew it was at the back but there were 4 slots there - we found it and with the order to start engines Vincent and the camera crew (Yuko with Vincent's camera) left me all alone . And we were away. At the first corner I realised that this was going to be fun. Aware now of how the rocking motion of the bike, caused by the suspension imbalance, affected stability I felt more comfortable - the unknown versus the known - and I could feel that the rear wasn't bouncing down so much or rebounding so quickly. Like all things, having someone who knows explain something makes it easier to understand.

Pulling up for the Start

Then it was back for the start. On the Sunday before, when I'd taken the KS over to Mr K's place for prepping, Mr K had given me a 10 minute lecture on starting. Before that I'd had no idea so much was involved in a 'good start'. First off, the red lights that go on just before the race begins... the start of the race is signalled by the lights going off. Except, there's no set lapse between them coming on and going off again - it's random and can be anything from 5 secs to 1 minute. So everyone sits there staring at the lights, waiting. At that time, as Mr K explained, you can't hear your engine in all the racket of all the engines being wound up to 3 or 4000 rpm getting ready for the start. What can easily happen is that you sit there with your rpm at 4000 rpm and when the lights go out you forget and open your throttle more as you drop the clutch and you flip over in a monster wheelie. You have to watch that. So what you do is hold the revs up and slip the clutch to the point where it's just starting to bite, at the same time you keep 2 fingers on the front brake to stop creeping forward - creep forward more than 10cms and you have a false start and a penalty. Then, when the lights go out you let the clutch out smoothly rather than dumping it and then you open your throttle gradually to fully open in order to accelerate as fast as possible. He also warned that if you wheelied you tended to go towards whichever side you had you foot on the ground as you waited.

Well, that all seemed pretty straight forward and logical but when you're doing it, sitting there waiting to start, it's rather more difficult. All you can hear is the roar of 17 bikes all with their riders, who want to get to the 1st corner first, with their throttles a quarter open and man, is it LOUD! So there I am at just under 4000 rpm with the bike wanting to creep forward and 2 fingers lightly on the brake when the lights go out. I'm off and as I whack the throttle open, yes... the front wheel lifts (honest... I know shaft-driven bikes can't wheelie but...) and the bike does go slightly to the side I had my foot down, the right. Yuko got it on video. Nothing serious, with the wheel maybe an inch or 2 off the ground, but enough to surprise me.

Then the race... well, all I can say is that I haven't had so much fun for a very long time. Who cares that I was the slowest! I had a couple of 'moments' but nothing scary enough to put me off trying to go faster at the same place the next lap. I even managed to get the right hand side head cover down twice on one particular corner. I know there are ways to raise the bike (opening the throttle more while applying the front brake slightly, for example) and I can work on those. The stronger spring I'm going to have fitted at the rear and beefing up the front slightly to reduce front fork compression will help, too. As will improving my line - on the 1st hairpin, for example... there's an S-bend before it and I was straightening it but Mr K. told me later that it's better to follow the S's in order to approach the following hairpin wider and exiting it tighter - doing so keeps your overall speed up, as well.

Mr K lapped me on the last lap of the race and made me laugh by waving as he passed. I waved back before remembering that he didn't have mirrors to see me. Better than the practice though, as then he lapped me 2 laps before the end (the practice was the same number of laps as the race). The race finished but I missed the checkered flag and at first thought it odd that I was catching the pack up. I finished with the widest grin on my face that I've had for a long time. I LOVE racing and can't wait for the next time.

After the race I wanted to shout 'That was GREAT fun' over and over. I was a bit delirious. The Ohlins guys came up and said they'd watched me and that I'd gone better and would go better still if I did as they suggested to my suspension. When the times came in I found they'd been right and my best time was down to 1m 23sec. I want to get a pair of Works springs for the front that Bill Shockley and Ben Barkow keep recommending. Oddly, Mr K suggested I might like to shorten the front springs to drop the front a little to give quicker turn in... I didn't have a chance to find out exactly what he meant or how I'd go about that... all in good time.

Mr K wants me to turn my bike into a full-blown racer and has even offered to lend me a spare racing engine he has lying about, saying, 'You'd go really fast with that'. I bet I would but I've declined for the time being, figuring I need to concentrate on the handling first. Mr K agreed, saying that in racing the accepted wisdom is handling, braking and power, in that order.

Enjoying Mr. K's Victory Champagne

Next on the agenda was the end-results announcements. Guess who won? No, it's not wishful thinking - none other than our very own Honorary Airhead (by powers invested in me by myself as Asia Airmarshal - that reminds me... I MUST renew my membership) Mr Yoshimi Koizumi. A BMW airhead sandwich, you might say, with me bringing up the rear. I am most impressed by that win as the 4 riders who finished before Mr K were all disqualified for producing lap-times faster than 1m 10sec - that's why the series is called MAX 10. Mr K was able to judge his laps so as not to break that time rule (which is in place to ensure the amateur nature of the event). Mind you, although Mr K is and has always been a purely amateur racer I think his skills are anything but amateur. Also, as Yuko, Vincent and the Yellow Brothers Yuichi and Takashi, who also came to support me on Wednesday, will agree, there's something beautiful about the way Mr K rides. Actually, he reminds me of John Surtees who I once had the pleasure of seeing race at Tsukuba on a Manx Norton - it's the fluidity that can only come of long experience.

After it was all over and we'd (Mr K, mainly) finished socialising we packed up and returned to Mr Koizumi's house for a post-race party. We were, according to Tamie, celebrating 2 things - Mr Koizumi's win and my first race and the fact that I didn't come off. It was a splendid dinner, as I'm sure Vincent will vouch for. And the things we discussed would have y'all drooling. One small thing, Mr K explained that when fork springs are compressed inside the stanchions they don't compress in a nice straight line but behave as they would if you took such a long spring and compressed it between your hands... it bulges out everywhere. Inside the stanchion it contacts the inside of the tube and for that reason he always polishes the outer surface of the coils with fine grit paper so that the forks stay smooth. So logical when you know but not something that would ever have occurred to me, or a lot of you guys, I imagine. I can't wait to get some Works springs and get my forks apart...

There was a whole bunch of stuff that Mr K told us but it's secret so you'll just have to work it all out for yourselves :-) One interesting thing he did say is that while he used to read a lot about tuning he gave it up. He doesn't even use manuals nowadays but does everything according to what HE thinks seems right. He mentioned that he does yoke bolts up far less tight than BMW spec as he just wants the yoke to grip the stanchions enough to hold it and not to deform the stanchion's roundness. He also reckons that a top yoke's function is possibly not to grip the forks for stiffness but to just stop them from waving about. All this and more - I often find myself spellbound listening to some of the stuff Mr K says - I think maybe Vincent felt the same. He says that nowadays when he goes to a dealer and they start telling him about how to do something he nods and goes 'Hmmm' and then promptly forgets everything they said. He prefers to do everything to please himself.

At the end of it Mr K thanked me for coming along. Thanked ME? I said the thanks was all due from me to him for making it possible and for all the help he's given me. He replied with something that will warm the hearts of any true Airhead... he said, no, for him it was so much more fun to go and race together with other people who shared his love of racing old pushrod BMWs. He lamented that so many of the guys he used to race with have given up airheads and now ride oilheads and where's the fun in that when the challenge is to make these older bikes go fast? He said that he's presently trying to get an airhead-only racing fixture going (all boxer races accept oilheads, too) but the problem is that fewer and fewer people ride them. Actually, Mr K reckons BMW stopped making bikes in 1983 :-)

Hugo #5158
'87 R80KS, '83 R80ST
'Get them jugs down and redline!'
Tokyo, Japan