Thinking of Pirelli diablo rosso 2's as a change. Much of an upgrade?
Decent kevlar jeans?
Smith and Espargaro to make Suzuka 8Hour debut
MONSTER Yamaha Tech 3 duo, Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro will represent Yamaha in their return to the Suzuka 8-Hour Endurance in July.
Yamaha have not fielded a factory team at this prestigious event since 2002, but now it has officially been announced that the Yamaha Factory Racing Team will compete in the 38th “Coca-Cole Zero” Suzuki 8-Hour from July 23rd-26th.
Yamaha’s rider line-up consists of MotoGP riders Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaró and Katsuyuki Nakasuga.
Nakasuga is one of the top Yamaha riders in Japan and is currently in contention to win a fourth consecutive title in the premier class of the All Japan Road Race Championship. He has also raced in the Suzuka 8-Hour seven times, with a best result of fourth place in 2014.
The riders will have a factory machine based on the new YZF-R1 which has been specially developed for this particular endurance race.
The team will set out to claim Yamaha’s first victory in this event in 19 years and its fifth in the race’s history.
Espargaro and Smith will be making their debut at the Suzuka 8-Hour.
“Firstly, I want to give Yamaha a massive thank you for considering me to be part of their Suzuka 8 Hour team, which is a legendary event,” said British rider Smith.
“I’m looking forward to trying a new form of motorcycle racing and even more so along with my MotoGP teammate Pol and Katsuyuki Nakasuga, who has a strong record at this special race.
“I think it will be an unforgettable event and it will add another chapter to my life with Yamaha. I’m also very excited to try the new Yamaha YZF-R1, which I have heard a lot about and it will be really great to finally get the opportunity to ride it.”
Smith’s Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team-mate Espargaro added: “I am really happy that Yamaha has chosen me to represent them at one of the most famous motorsport events, the Suzuka 8 Hour race. I feel honoured to take part in it, but there will be a lot to learn.
“In addition, the MotoGP calendar is very demanding and we will have to work through the training for the event, in between the races. Therefore, we need to work as much as possible in order to be prepared for the race, but I’m very excited to get this opportunity.
“Moreover, it will be nice to work with Bradley as a partner where we will fight together, instead of against each other. I think we will complement each other very well and have a great time.
“The only thing is that neither of us know the Suzuka track, so I hope Nakasuga-san can help us with everything, which includes the circuit, the bike and the correct strategies that we need to have a successful eight hour race.”
Engine blows doing 200 kmph
mondello park
My new wheels
Adventures of a TT Racer 2015
Back again for another lash at the TT with the trusty sidecar. Thought I might throw up a thread that’s a bit more organised this year after last years last minute blind panic to go.:woots: Maybe this one won’t have the dramas of last years but hopefully it will keep you entertained.
This year due to work commitments unfortunately Pa of Pa Gill Racing fame couldn’t do the TT at the start of the year and Terry "The Hair" O’ Reilly was looking a passenger to go over for his 1st visit. So from doing a season with Terry a couple of years before on the F1 outfit and Terry actually doing spanners for us for the last two years it was a no brainer.:thumbsup2:
So we are all registered and ready to go. Lucky No:66::devil: A really big entry this year with 70 entries in the sidecar list but I’s say maybe 60 to make it as there is a severe lack of passengers. I wonder why:rolleyes2:
Terry was over in January with the lads doing the obligatory laps all weekend and we were over in March again for more laps compliments of the Isle of Man government.:thumbsup2: Normally as a newcomer they do a weekend when everyone goes over an meets up with bus rides around the course with some top lads, now that’s scrapped and they try and pair you up with some local boys for the weekend. It’s actually a good system. We got off the plane with a lady holding up a sign with our name on it for a hire car. Makes a change from customs giving you dirty looks. Then put up in 2 double rooms on the sea front (all that was missing was the ice cream).:biggrin_old:
That poor little Fiesta got to experience a lot of laps that weekend mainly with Terry driving through the night with no traffic and the lights on the dims to see could he remember the corners.:woots:
I got teamed up with Lee Cain he who is made famous in the youtude sidecar clip:
We had another guy from Norway who’s competing this year for the 1st time. Lee who’s mad at the best of times was doing his best to give him tips around the course while also pointing out all the places where they had crashed, gone on fire, hit kerbs etc. Poor bloke I don’t think knew what to make of him.:biggrin_old:
Meanwhile Terry was getting a lesson with Lee’s Driver Karl Bennett who was giving him pointers around the track. All went well and I think we both got something out of the whole weekend.:thumbsup2:
The paper work is all through at the moment bar the mountain licence which I found an email in the spam folder yesterday telling me I needed one more time sheet by Monday morning to be approved.:wassat: Bit of a panic but myLaps.com is a great system and we had the races done so no issues.
Just so you know:
All applicants must have competed satisfactorily in at least six Road Race Days in the period of 31st March 2014 to 8th May 2015. A minimum of 2 of the 6 required race days must be in the 2015 season. One result will be permitted from each racing day of a short circuit Road Race meeting to a maximum of 2 days per meeting. One result will be permitted from each racing day of a Closed Public Road Race circuit meeting to a maximum of 2 days per meeting. |
Anyway apart from the mountain licence from the ACU (£25), you need:
1: International FIM licence (£30)
2: Start Permission (Free:smileee:)
3: Insurance for the TT from the MCUI (€153)
All sorted anyway I hope.
So the bike is ready all spayed up thanks to Philip McNally
Engines ready and sorted we hope thanks to Wogan performance tuning
So fingers crossed we get a good run at it. The ferry leaves Wednesday morning, we have to go a bit earlier as Terry is a newcomer and there are extra laps provided.
As you can imagine all this costs a good few quid especially on Terry as he’s doing it for the first time and there is a lot of kit to have on hand and Sterling is brutal at the moment so if anyone want’s to throw some sponsorship our way we will gladly take your hand and all off as we have no big sponsorship at all really. There is space on the bodywork for anyone who wants to get a name or company on it and we are the only Irish outfit going over this year so hopefully we will make it into a good few photos. Also if anyone wants to sponsor us privately I will try and get a good photo from the island and send it to people for a few quid.
I have a PayPal account if anyone wants to pm me. That’s the begging bit over:bag:
Hopefully keep you updated as the time goes on.
Terry has a F A C E B O O K page setup as well so hopefully keep that up to date in real time. It’s
Terry OReilly Racing |
if you search for it.
That’s it for now, I can’t wait after 8 months of build up.:hyper:
Aidan:thumbsup2:
