Making A Female Statement @ MOTO GP INDIANAPOLIS

If you know me, you’ll recall the teasing I did last season with regard to the MotoGP venue Indy. I had achieved full media accreditation for this American race venue in August and was so excited about attending! Plus, BMW Motorrad Canada given me a F800ST inclusive panniers to ride to Indianapolis on. I went alone, but was meeting up with Dutch friends (Frank pictured announcing live to NL in the broadcasting room Indy --what a great view!). It took one day (in the rain) from Toronto to Indianapolis. It was the same back from Indy, one day where at least the weather was superb!

Well, I had the best time! Hung out with good and very much missed Dutch friends, and enjoyed a dinner with the Dutch 125cc race team—what fun! There were so many others I knew. My access allowed me to be upfront with Rossi, Hayden, Mamola, Lorenzo and more as you might imagine. Note the pic of Rossi, I took while standing right in front of the bike!

After returning home I discovered the local columnist, Tim Rivers whom I had spoken to published a pretty good article in local Kokomotribune. Even though this happened last summer (I must find a way to get these things more promptly posted) I thought I’d share it in my blog. I hope you enjoy the read and the pics too!

::: In its 61st season, MotoGP is growing Interest of women cyclists can’t be ignored The International spectacle of motorcycle racing attracts fans from many walks of life. The globetrotting league known as the FIM (Federation Internationale de Motorcyclisme) was founded in 1949. In 2008, MotoGP celebrated its 60th season. It is the oldest motorsports championship in the world. More than 2.4 million fans watched 18 MotoGP events in 14 countries in 2008. MotoGP earns its international status naturally by starting the season off in Qatar and then jetting to Spain, Portugal, China, France, Italy, back to Spain, England, the Netherlands, Germany, the United States, the Czech Republic, back to Italy, back to the United States, Japan, Australia, Malaysia, and finishing up in Spain.

Even the 2008 Indianapolis MotoGP event, which was pounded with bad weather, was fairly successful. The 28-lap race was stopped at lap 20 amidst winds of up to 60 miles per hour and the pounding rain. The riders were disappointed that the race did not run its full course. One has to question their sanity, running at high speeds in those conditions. It certainly illustrates their commitment to the sport. Fans still showed up to eventually see Valentino Rossi of Italy win the 2008 Indianapolis GP at an average speed of 84.201 mph. By comparison, this year’s winner, Jorge Lorenzo of Spain, completed the race with an average speed of 192.75 miles per hour. Alex de Angelis of Italy became the first rider to break the 200 miles per hour barrier with a speed of 201.3 miles per hour. Each race was exciting but for different reasons. The 2008 race was a daring display of skill in the face of disaster brought on by the foul weather.

This year, with good weather, the race was more characteristic of a normal MotoGP event with higher speeds and fierce competition providing the excitement. Much like Formula One, fans are loyal and devoted to their rider or motorcycle manufacturer. Often wearing team colors or waving their favorite rider’s national flag, it takes little imagination to figure out their favorites. In a sport dominated by men, inevitably, the question arises as to how many women have graced the MotoGP circuit.

There have been only four women in the last 20 years to compete in FIM events and of those, only one (Gina Bovaird of the U.S.) has ever taken to the 500cc MotoGP class. According to Vicki Gray, Director of Motoress.com, more women are getting involved in motorcycling of all types. A quick visit to her website explains the mindset: “Our philosophy is inspired by free-spirited, positive thinking individuals who are optimistic, sympathetic, determined, open-minded, inspiring, non-conformist and fun. Simply said — Motoress is an attitude, a lifestyle, a woman, a ride.” Indeed, there is a growing number of women interested in motorcycling and they have a qualified voice in Motoress.com. Gray is quite the accomplished motorcyclist, having ridden her BMW to the race from Toronto. She’s also a motorcycle racer, instructor, coach, and columnist who has been riding since 1983.

According to Motoress.com, a recent press release from the American Motorcycle Industry Council with regard to their current Owner Survey and though not complete preliminary findings verify the increase of women riders. Through the first three quarters of 2008 the survey was finding a 29 percent increase in the percentage of female owners, compared to 2003. That last survey found that 9.6 percent of owners were women. Over the first nine months of 2008, the number had grown to 12.4 percent. This is likely the most substantial rider segment of growth in their findings which is logical if you compare the growth of women in other segments such as single home owners and business operators. One thing is for certain, whether it’s NASCAR, IRL, F1 or MotoGP, eventually a woman is going to appear on the scene and school all of the “good ol’ boys” at their own sport. I’m looking forward to this, it should be entertaining.

DIRT, FLYING ROCKS & UN-FEMININE T-SHIRTS COULDN’T KEEP ME AWAY! MONSTER ENERGY AMA WORLD SUPERCROSS FLAGGING IS WAY TOO MUCH FUN!

You’re standing on the floor of the dirt covered Rogers Centre surrounded by 42,000 people, 3 metres from the dirt track where the world’s best Supercross contenders will bring it all to win. Feeling dirty and completely the opposite of feminine, there was no other place I’d rather be on Saturday, 13 March!This was the 2nd year for me as official flagger during famed Monster Energy AMA Supercross Toronto round and oh yes; it was more than out of the ordinary! If you love competition at its highest official level, outside of having the skills to compete yourself, this is the next best medicine!

This year, as a new concept and by special approval of the CMA our FIM motorsport sanctioned body for authorized motorsport in Canada I worked out a program to bring this amazing experience to women; those totally ‘green’ to supercross and flagging to see another dimension of motorsport. The plan didn’t quite have the success I imagined (am certain next year will be better!). I thought women riders would love to have their noses pressed against this real time window of action; many were apprehensive (nervous) and others had last minute commitment priorities causing them to back out. However, those "exposed" to this unique, once in a lifetime venue of experience; are hooked!

Don’t misinterpret, flagging requires expertise and usually a license (training course). The newcomers initially were not permitted to manage a placement alone and given less threatening/demanding areas of the track. It’s an enormous responsibility and key to the success and survival/injury prevention to the riders. It’s our job to signal danger coupled with long hours and unfriendly conditions.

There’s no pay really to speak of and you risk being run over or hit- but the “pay-offs” in the form of ambiance, action and race sphere are huge! You get full on-site access, up close opportunities to meet/talk to famous champs/motorsporter’s; first chances at autographs and more! Additionally, we get ground level front row seats for the opening ceremony which is similar to a RockStar concert-thrilling! But really, for me it’s the up-close action and hanging out with the other flaggers! Great bunch of folks!

Keeping Kawasaki rider Ryan Villopoto safe as he claimed his second win in a row picking up another three points in the championship, first hand was certainly rewarding. He had a four-second margin of victory over series points leader Ryan Dungey-close racing undeniably.

There’s really no dirt to kick up in being part of such a great experience!

More Fanalone

Hello again.

As I wrote last time, the engine dismantling revealed that certain new parts were necessary. These arrived and this weekend I built up the bottom half of the engine.

A couple of weeks ago I spent a fair amount of time cleaning the oily mess that appears in the earlier photos on this series, so with decent clean parts to work with I could get on with it. At the same time I fitted the new piston rings to the pistons having carefully checked all the gaps. Standard wisdom for water-cooled engines is "three thou per inch of bore" - roughly 0.75mm per 25mm. Every new ring in this case had about 10 - 12 thou (0.010 - 0.012" or 0.25 - 0.3mm) since there is wear in the block. Next time it will have to be a rebore.

A cleanish start!

I think I can say that I have always had trouble making Fulvia engines non-leaky: some of them are as bad as classic English motorcycles. I suppose that this is hardly surprising as the crankcase is all bolted together, and the block bolted on top. So I have taken extra-special care this time preparing all the mating surfaces: we shall see!

First, a quick word about tools. When I first started building these engines, I wondered how I could correctly tighten the block to crankcase bolts. A "crow's foot" attachment was suggested, but these are not much good if tightening torque is substantial as it is in this case - I usually tighten them (12 grade 8mm bolts on 1600s) to 25 lb/ft and use red Loctite as loosened block to crankcase bolts are a serious - and oily - pain. Here's a snap of some tools; they are all 3/8" square drive:

Bottom right is a standard 13mm "crow's foot" attachment; quite useless for this application, unless of course one wants rounded-off bolt heads. So I went back to the Snap-On man and ordered the one on the bottom left, very useful for undoing 13mm tube nuts on hydraulic lines, but no good again, because it is too bulky. Exasperated, I returned to Snap-On's catalogue and in the aircraft tools section, found the one at the top of the picture. This is spline drive and thin walled and does the job nicely so long as somebody hasn't already damaged the bolt heads. The reason is that this tool is (or was) only available in Imperial sizes, so it's ½" (12.7mm). This is good as it makes an excellent tight fit. Of course I make an allowance for the additional length when setting the torque wrench.

It was the late Harry Manning who told me to use a ½" socket rather than 13mm on the 1600 big-end bolts - again to avoid possible damage; sadly there is no equivalent option for the 12mm heads on 1300 con-rods.

Building a Fulvia bottom end is a little awkward in some ways. The crankcase of a Fulvia (as anyone who has read my Fulvia Developments series knows) is weak. It is best then to bolt as much of it together as possible, plus of course the block, before tightening finally the main bearing caps. And in any case one does not want to damage the block to crankcase gasket trying to fit the front cover with the block in place!

The recommended tightening torques for the front and rear covers are quite low, but there are many bolts (good practice this) so the total "clamp" is quite substantial.

So with the crankshaft in place and front and rear covers correctly tightened (not forgetting to install the timing chain which always gets in the way!), one "nips up" the main bearing cap nuts to stop the crank falling on one's foot whilst fixing the block to the crankcase:

Cap nuts "nipped up" ready to fit the end covers and the block

With the block fitted and the main bearing caps tightened to 60lbs/Ft or 8kg/m or 80nm, I then installed the pistons and rods. Not much to say about this except that these days I use a piston ring compressor. I know that the job can be done by feeding in the rings, but it's much less stressful using a compressor. I modified a spring steel one when installing some pistons a few years ago that were fitted with very thin and fragile rings. I simply cut the bottom of the compressor to match the angle of the vee; this works perfectly - one of course must use plenty of oil, but you knew that didn't you?

Here's a snap of the story so far - apologies for the quality:

Note the famous sand-cast large sump fitted only to Fanalones; this holds an extra litre of oil. The sump adds considerably to the rigidity of the crankcase structure. Incidentally, in this case, as is usual, the steel internal baffle was cracked: I could see where I welded it up nine years ago - and of course it cracked somewhere else, two places in fact. Soon fixed with the MIG though.

Next job is to look at cleaning the filthy subframe and to prepare the replacement gearbox for installation.

A bientôt