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Trying to get the bike ready for the new season and working flat out at the same time is taking its toll... So tired on saturday it took me 6 hrs and about 400 attempts just to time the engine. came home today to check the valve clearances so i could pick up any shims needed on the way home from work tomorrow only to realise the poxy cams are 180 degrees out with each other. turning over lovely but timed wrong. FFs ive put zxr engines apart and together aboutten times now with no trouble just too tired to concentrate on anything... How do ppl find the time to get work, training and bike prep all into there week... still a list a mile long after the engine is done and probably a million other things ive not thought of.

jic44 wrote:Trying to get the bike ready for the new season and working flat out at the same time is taking its toll... So tired on saturday it took me 6 hrs and about 400 attempts just to time the engine. came home today to check the valve clearances so i could pick up any shims needed on the way home from work tomorrow only to realise the poxy cams are 180 degrees out with each other. turning over lovely but timed wrong. FFs ive put zxr engines apart and together aboutten times now with no trouble just too tired to concentrate on anything... How do ppl find the time to get work, training and bike prep all into there week... still a list a mile long after the engine is done and probably a million other things ive not thought of.

Possibly the best post Ive ever read. I whole heartedly know how you feel. My life has been reduced to being a grumpy zombie trying to work, prep bikes, build my workshop (to put my bikes in as I have to travel to my Dads at the moment) and of course appease my very tolerating girlfriend. Dont get me wrong I love the bikes etc, but when things arent working out as planned, and the weeks are disappearing until the first race you do wonder 'what the 'kin ell I am doing this for....'


.....and then you have the biggest smile ever when you get it all together and it works


.....and then you crash or blow the engine up and start all over again

It is all the crap and hassle surrounding racing that will finally drive me to quit.....................but not just yet

I had a sit down chat with myself last night and thought about calling it a day at the racing coz it is an endless money/time pit. gonna try push on to the start of the season and see how things look then.

I read Niall MacKenzie's book about 4 years ago - is a very amusing read, but one thing stuck in my head, he says " either you want to go racing more than anything else in the world....or you don't"
The effort, money,time and frustration are sometimes overwhelming, I have lost count of the number of times I have been in the van at 3am on my way to a circuit miles away after working all week, arriving late & knackered - often at a circuit with no facilities such as electric or garages - I've had probably five or six races where an engine has gone bang, three of which where I crashed as a direct result. I had a footpeg fall off, also the connecting rod to the gearshift come loose, been knocked off...lost my race fees as a result of not competing, had a steering damper sieze in the pitlane at Donington and fallen off at 3mph in front of a puzzled Maria Costello, gone through thousands in tyres, fuel, engine builds, dyno time, van insurance / m.o.t. repairs.....but am just on my way to the dyno to run in my new engine and get the jetting checked on my spare bike !! My wife thinks I am incredibly thick

I guess like everything, racing has a shelf life. If you are lucky enough to get some form of support which means that you dont have to do or pay for everything yourself then it takes a little of the grief outta the whole process, but for most the money, time and knockbacks eventually mean that you stop trying to be competitive and just occasionally wheel out your bike for a little 'no pressure' fun.... or just take up watching the racing on the TV and comment on how you used to do that, could have been there but never got the break.

Keep your spirits up and just remember to enjoy it!

a real good post this,about the time and efort the privatier entrant of motorsport,
am past my best, but was i ever any good, well a did win a race when i was twenty in me old ford anglia
to me it was all about geting the best out of my machine, and myself
the amount of hrs you put in, never counted
but the cost of it was brought home by my dad,,,,we whent to buy a new tractor unit in the mid eighytys, the cost then was 35k,
when we talk about finance, and did the deal there was a silence all the way home, my dad took me to the garage, pointing at the toyota, and said to me, if it was not for that fcuking race machine lying there you would not have required chuky fot the truck.
well that week it got smash, was put on car bench on tuesday night repaired,
panell beater olso raced, he told me how much money he borrowed to buy his car
it stop me in my tracks for a few days on the cost of motorsport,,,,,,,,,it never stop me
so am back to my youth and bikes, get the pish ripped out me buy my younger brotherwho owns a brand new beneli
olways got dirty finger nails always in overalls,,,,,,,,, my health slowed me down
but hell your never to old to rock and roll......and....all be 18 till i die
HELL AINT HALF FULL,,,,,,,,,,,SPEED ON BROTHER