Tom Tunstall Racing

Nov 09

2009-11-24T10:40:00.003Z

I’ve been out of action for the last week with a severe case [is there are other type?] of full blown man flu, I’m starting to come round now but my heads still a bit spaced from blowing my nose too hard and cold turkey withdrawal from Lemsip...

Now I’ve got this month’s excuse for spelling and grammar out of the way...

It’s been a busy month, and feels like a lot more than five weeks since the season finale at Oulton.

The last round went pretty well for us. Like Silverstone [see previous blog] the progress continued and was pretty clear.

Compared to the earlier meeting at Oulton Park in May I knocked a pretty hefty 2seconds a lap off my times. Racing a bit further up the pack with the likes of Gowland and with Mason, Richards, Walker [and even Ellison??] in sight, plus finishing the season only a handful of seconds off a top ten finish bodes well.

The improvement came from getting a consistent base set-up to work from, using set-up to find ways to make the bike easier to ride, and it sounds strange but I’m still learning how to get the best from a Superbike.

Oulton is a physical circuit especially on a superbike – back in May each run on track was equivalent to a very strenuous gym session, it was basically a wrestling match for 45mins and the winner [fortunately not by knockout] was the bike. But with the bike working with me this time it made so much difference. You can focus on riding; it’s safer, faster and easier [don’t get me wrong it’s still physical though!].

For me as the team owner [as well as rider] the season never really finishes – it just changes its form. Now the hard[er] work begins – securing support and funding for 2010...

We’ve had a pretty good year, some good results, got plenty of coverage, and made sure our sponsors were happy, but it’s never “easy” especially in the current climate.

Regarding 2010 the plan is clear - to continue our fantastic progress in British Superbikes. With the demise of the privateer’s cup, our homes for the past seasons things are open at the moment.

I’m not “entirely” sold on the new “EVO” class, but that’s a whole different story/blog. I’m trying to keep an open mind for the moment and my soap box securely under wraps!

Apart from the phone calls and emails RE: 2010... we had our bike [and me] on our sponsors Doodson Motorsport Insurance stand at the recent Dirt Bike show. I wasn’t sure how it would go down or what the interest would be like.

I was pleasantly surprised, although I guess I shouldn’t have been when I think that nearly all racers have come from a trials or motocross background and there’s a lot of crossover and interest in each other’s sports. Plus a set of slick tyres were a bit of a novelty.

By the end of it I’d lost my voice which I’d initially put down to harping on about bikes but turned out to be the old man flu.

Now my voice is on its way back I do a mean impression of a Yorkshire Mariella Frostrup which isn’t going to pay next year’s bill so now - it's back on the phone....

Speak soon

TT#21

Silverstone >>>> Oulton Park

2009-10-07T17:27:00.002+01:00

Photo Courtesy of LondonBikers.com

Right now we are on the run up to the final round and coming off the back of a pretty good round at Silverstone.

We just missed out on the Cup pole position by 0.1seconds in qualifying, but still in front of the likes of Gary Mason, Karl Harris, and Michael Rutter. We ended up 5th in race one and 3rd place in race two. Strangely it was the race one result I was most please with.
Only a couple of seconds off Mason at the flag is the closest I’ve got to the man this year in the dry and that was with a front tyre that was completely shot by half race distance.

It’s a strange thing racing with no front grip – when the rear grip goes you can play with the throttle to control it and in fairness its good fun.
But the front tyre? Especially peeling into corners like Copse & Bridge at 100/120mph with the front washing out more and more each lap whilst still pushing on to catch the riders ahead takes some doing. And the ability to ignore you survival instinct kinda helps.

Progress in measure in different ways and with my lap times being two seconds a lap faster than last year it was pretty clear were going the right direction.
And so onto Oulton Park this weekend and the season finale – as usual it’s with mixed emotions I head to the final round of the season in Cheshire this weekend.
Its a shame as the season seems to have flown by and it has been a tough year on and off the track and i feel we’ve still to show our full potential – and yes i know only three more chances [races] this year!

The final race is scheduled to start at 16:45 on Sunday... Mid October... Oulton Park, I just hope there’s still enough light to see where we’re going under the trees!

Hopefully see you all there,

TT#21

Silverstone Qualifying

2009-09-26T21:42:00.002+01:00

Photo Courtesy of LondonBikers.com

It’s the nature of competition I guess...

We’ve had our best qualifying of the year and should be well happy with it but I’ve just got a niggling feeling after just being pipped off a Superbike Cup pole position, and a top 16 qualifying.

Lapped nearly 2 seconds a lap faster than last year, and out qualified Karl Harris, Michael Rutter, Gary Mason to name a few, so life could be worse, and its good to be showing more like our true potential in a full field...

Looking forward to getting stuck in to tomorrow’s races...

TT#21

Testing times...

2009-09-23T12:57:00.003+01:00

It’s fair to say we were disappointed with the last round at Croft.
We struggled to get the bike working there and the results certainly didn’t show what we are capable of.

But that’s how it goes sometimes, but it wasn’t for the lack of trying!
We had a few unanswered questions and fortunately the Wednesday after croft we managed to get some much needed track time at Silverstone to try and answer them.

Don’t get this confused with professional superbike test on closed track, with unlimited track time – it was a track day with road bikes/riders.
We threw the bike in the van, filled up a couple of jerry cans, and dug out some part worn tyres. I was feeling pretty confident so I choose to go in the “fast group”!! The difference in speed and ability is massive and I struggled to hit the same racing line two laps running – It was a bit like a playstation game – weaving in and out of the traffic.

I’m not knocking the other riders it’s just different levels of experience and machinery and I did try and give them plenty of room.

Again I’m not complaining I don’t get that much chance to ride a bike away from race meetings so anything is better than nothing.

Although I didn’t get much/if any clear track I still got down to my race pace from last year which under the circumstances and with old tyres I was fairly happy with. We also got a better understanding of the problems we had at croft and found a solution which was really good – and helped me sleep at night!

So onto Silverstone...
I'm really looking forward to it. I don’t think slow traffic will be a problem!

TT#21

Progress in the park...

2009-08-30T21:23:00.002+01:00

Photo courtesy of londonbikers.com

Mixed weekend so far here at Cadwell Park – The first day of practice was kinda hampered by a few niggling bike issues, thrown into that was an intermittent electrical problem.

I was going to say that they are “the worst type of problem” as its difficult to fix something that either isn’t always broken or fixes itself – but in hindsight a con-rod hanging out of the side of the engine cases in probably worse so it wasn’t that bad!

We missed a chunk of practice which I certainly need here as Cadwell isn’t my strongest track – in fact I can narrow it down to the woodland section.

Very tight, twisty and undulating on a superbike it’s... “Challenging”!

It’s strange because if you push and try harder you end up going slower – it seems it all about getting a good flow and keeping the momentum up.

My qualifying position isn’t great but we’ve made some good progress – I’ve lapped about a second faster than ever so were going in the right direction – just need more of the same - without the bike issues for tomorrows races!

TT#21

2009-08-27T13:54:00.001+01:00

photo courtesy of motoprofesional.com

The last round Brands was a good one for me and the Hardinge Doodson Motorsport Team. Even though we had some problems with the bike throughout the weekend it was fantastic to come away with three podiums and a fastest lap.

It’s a bit of a strange one; I left brands on the Sunday night a bit frustrated…

I guess it was part the bike issues and part the nature of competition as I was close to getting 2nd place in third race… eventually with a bit of perspective I was really happy to head back north with three more trophies.

The whole weekend was really fantastic...

The BSB organisers did a great job, organising the parades, classic races, and a great atmosphere. It had the same buzz as the World Superbike weekend which was helped by the massive crowds and the cracking weather.

We haven’t been taking it easy either – less than 24hours after the race the bike was on the dyno and then the engine being stripped to try and iron out the issues we had Brands.

According to the dyno after it was rebuilt we’re back to where we should have been, we did take it to a race track to check it but that was rained off, so I’ll find out when we get to Cadwell!

I got my first race win at Cadwell Park on a 125 and I’m looking forward to the challenge of racing a Superbike there again. The woodland section is really tight on a big bike and like the chicanes at Mallory it’s an area I can improve.

I’ve been training even harder in the last few weeks which will always help and if I keep managing to avoid swine flu I’ll be stronger and fitter than ever for these last four rounds.

The goal this weekend is to be on the rostrum in every race and chase that first Superbike cup win!

TT#21

Looking ahead to Brands...

2009-08-04T12:25:00.002+01:00

Photo courtesy of LondonBikers.com

Only 24 hours now before we set off down the M1 to Brands Hatch for what looks like it’s going to be a busy weekend.

I’m really looking forward to getting out on the full GP circuit. I’ve got good memories from World Supersport Races there in 2004, 2005, & 2006. And after scratching round the chicanes of Mallory last time out I can’t wait to let our Hardinge Doodson Honda stretch its legs.

The World Superbike weekends there were a bit special – big crowds – cracking atmosphere – and great weather. Hopefully BSB this weekend will pick up from where WSBK left it and if we get at least two of the three it should be a fantastic weekend.

I’m looking forward to seeing the old bikes [and riders] too. Agostini is a true racing legend both with results and his character. When I was racing at Monza [WSS] he politely asked if he could take a short cut through our garage rather than just barging through as some people do. If I’d have known the Italian for piggy back I’d have offered to carry him through! Proper gentleman...

It’s the first time the championship has run three races on over one weekend and although Sunday has familiar format Saturday in going to be flat out - with our third free practice in the morning, qualifying just after lunch and our first race in the afternoon. You’ll find me in a quiet dark corner on Saturday evening.

Mallory was never going to be our strongest race and although I was happy with the progress we made over previous years it's was very frustrating to leave without at least one more podium especially in race two – I was in a strong third place but then started to struggle to see through my visor and lost more than 2 seconds a lap and therefore just got pipped before the race was stopped. I was keen to get back out for a restart but the BSB organisers did the right thing as it would have been too dangerous.

I’ve enjoyed a couple of weekends “off” spent with a mix of training hard, relaxing, avoiding swine flu and getting things prepared for Brands.

We’re past the half way mark in the season now and although we’ve racked up some podiums I don’t feel we’ve proved what we’re capable of yet....

Roll on Brands!!... TT#21

Times tight at Mallory...

2009-07-18T20:08:00.001+01:00

photo courtesy of motoprofessional.com

Over the last couple of years Mallory hasn’t been too kind and the results haven’t really come – ok we’ve had a couple of podiums but they were helped by the weather.

I’ve approached this weekend a bit different – this place is basically made up of 3 chicanes and a hairpin and on a 200BHP superbike you hardly touch full throttle let alone any more than 4 gears...

It sounds strange but I’ve had to slow down to go faster?
Consciously I’ve sacrificed my corner speed to make time on the exit of the very tight corners here. The result is I’ve lapped nearly 1.5seconds faster than ever before, however....

The times are tight – my qualifying time in the 1st phase of qualifying was only 0.5 [yes that’s half a second!!] off 5th place overall but it left me in 21st place!! (5th in cup).

Its gonna be a tough day in the office tomorrow. My race times are good but 30laps around here, where it’s hard to overtake makes for a challenge.
If I can get on the (cup) podium here it’ll be as good as a win!

Wish me luck!

TT#21

Motorcycle Racer Magazine – August 2009

2009-07-14T14:14:00.001+01:00

Yours truly has a guest column in the latest issue of Motorcycle Racer Magazine.
Officially “the world’s no.1 road race magazine” and available in all good newsagents...

If you’re local newsagent doest stock it then have a quick word in their ear, if they still won’t then seriously consider changing newsagents!!!

Or something like that anyway...

TT#21

Knockhill Qualifying...??!

2009-07-04T20:22:00.002+01:00

Photo courtesy of motoprofessional.com

Struggled a bit today [P4 in cup] I felt like I’d got to the limit of the set-up this morning so we changed the chassis setting quite radically and still could only manage the same time to within 0.03.....?!?

On a positive side the original set-up was giving me arm pump and was physically very hard work and the revision at least helped that side of things.
At the moment we’re still looking for where we can find about 0.5seconds to run the pace we need to get on the podium – at a circuit like this it’s quite difficult especially when the bike doesn’t want to play.

I never thought it’d happen and in some respects it the easy way out but I’m praying for rain - which up here is like hoping the pope’s gonna stay catholic – but judging by the forecast it looks like miracles are about to happen and we’ll need to find a better dry setting after all....

...Morning warm up it is then!

No time for a BBQ!

2009-07-01T16:29:00.002+01:00

There’s been good reason why I’ve not been on the blog since Snetterton and anyone either there or watching on telly will have a good reason why...

A bit of a "random, unforeseen and fairly major mechanical issue" is the political way of saying our engine went pop!

I’ve always said that motorcycle racing is the loneliest team sport I know....
When you’re on track it’s down to the rider but without the absolutely blinding work the whole team did to swap the engine and getting it running in around two hours, I’d never of got close to the grid let alone the podium in race 2. It wasn’t just a straight forward engine swap either. By the time I’d come to rest the bike on the Armco at the side of the track it was on fire!

I’d like to tell you how calmly and professionally I asked the marshals if they’d be kind enough to join me at the bike along with a fire extinguisher?....
Nah... Instead I was dancing around, more than likely flapping my arms, swearing like a navvy, in between screaming like a girl as the flames were growing bigger on my pride and joy! I’m just glad it never got caught on camera [or microphone] as it wouldn’t have done my image any good!!

Fortunately the man who put the fire out didn’t get carried away and although the guys had to clean all the extinguisher dust off the bike as well as do the engine work it could have been ALOT worse. If fact my season very nearly disappeared in smoke!

I think I probably owe the marshals at the Sears Corner not only an apology but a massive thank you.
A long story short the hard works continued and as we’re setting off for Knockhill in the next hour, you’ll be glad to know that we finally got our engine back this morning, all we need to do now is drive up there, set-up the awning/garage, rebuild the bike, run in the engine, in the next 36hours – and if all that goes well it should be a good weekend!....

TT#21

Snetterton Qualifying

2009-06-20T21:23:00.002+01:00

On reflection I’m fairly happy with how qualifying panned out – not so much the position [4th Cup – 19th overall] or the time for that matter but we did make some really good progress with the bike.
After this morning I felt there was nothing more I could get out of it and the harder I pushed the slower it went – classic set-up issues, but the bike felt good? If I hadn’t seen the lap time I’d have thought we were well on it.

We got our heads together and found a setting that gave us another consistent half second and more confidence.... We’ve got a plan to try a slightly different setting in warm up so all I need to do now is sharpen me elbows for tomorrow’s race!!

TT#21

Thruxton Qualifying...

2009-05-30T21:33:00.002+01:00

Photo Courtesy of Motoprofessional

Equalled my best qualifying with P2 in the superbike cup and 17th overall so I’m fairly happy with progress – I might have my work cut out catching P1 in the cup as Mason qualified 3rd overall, but I guess you never know how race day pans out!

It looks like the great weather will stay with us for race day as apparently it might be the hottest day of the year so far...
...No complaints here!

Looking forward to getting stuck in tomorrow!
TT#21

Thruxton Day 1...

2009-05-29T21:33:00.002+01:00

Photo Courtesy of Dave Couldwell MONOPICS

Good first day at Thruxton...

Already gone faster than I’ve ever been around here.

Man this place is fast, I had a walk round the track yesterday and they we strapping hale bails to the bottom 12ft of trees at the side of the track!
Fortunately with the progress we made with the bike in the second session I don’t have to hold on “quite” as hard now!
Really enjoying riding this circuit and looking forward to more tomorrow...

TT#21

Cooking on gas....!?!

2009-05-27T16:06:00.002+01:00

Photo Courtesy of Kathy Nicholson

Pretty happy with how Donington Park panned out – which I’m partly putting down to the fact were running the bike on Butane these days [see photo above].

Off to Thruxton tonight so no time to stop and chat....!

TT#21

Donington Park – Qualifying...

2009-05-24T19:00:00.002+01:00

PHOTO COURTESY OF : motoprofessional.com

So far so good...

It’s been a weekend of getting back on track – nothing too daft just building steadily and the perfect weather has kinda helped that. Fairly happy with how qualifying has gone – P17 and P2 in cup for most of the session only a couple of tenths off mason...

Ended up getting nudged to P19 and third in the cup, only by 0.13second and its all fairly close – feeling good on the bike, and looking forward to getting stuck in tomorrow.

Let’s see what tomorrow brings eh?..

TT#21

Yep thats about right...

2009-05-21T13:43:00.001+01:00

Depending upon the mood I’m in either “tough”, “difficult”, or “frustrating” seem to be the words I’m using a lot to describe the first couple of rounds this year.

The damage from Brands cast a bit of a shadow over the last round at Oulton. In reality we were still building and commissioning the bike when we got there. It wasn’t until qualifying that we had it running something like right and back near it should have been.
In fact I was still getting up to speed by the end of the event – I set my fastest lap of the weekend on the last lap of the last race/session which kind of back up my feeling that we haven’t yet shown what we are truly capable of.
The “frustration” comes from knowing how well testing went and wanting to show what we can do...

That’s where Donington Park comes in...
At the moment I’m not too bothered what anyone else is doing until I’ve got the best from myself, the bike, and the team, and having scored double podiums the last two years at Donington I’m looking forward to having a “straight forward” weekend... getting my head down... oh and tasting champagne again!...

Till next time – TT#21

Competitive streak?!?...

2009-04-29T11:02:00.005+01:00

The way my average day pans out means I’ll walk through the workshop maybe 10+ times. Since the crash at brands it’s just been bits of bent & broken bike making each trip a bit distressing!

I’m not sure if all racers are the same but I kinda get attached to my race bikes, especially the good ones [but if a bikes not competitive we end up hardly even speaking!?!]. At this point I want to make clear this “relationship” isn’t in anyway filthy - like you might see on a channel five documentary...

Anyway... All the team including myself have been working very hard, repairing, bending parts straight, chasing new parts, and trying to raise support to get us back on track at Oulton.

When I’ve not been working hard – I’ve been focussing the frustration into training hard and by the end of last week I was starting to feel it.
On Sunday I decided to ease off a little, and go for a steady cycle. Nothing too hard, more a stretch of the legs. This was going fine and I’d been out for about 40 minutes until I saw a group of cyclists up ahead.
It wasn’t a conscious decision to chase after them, but I guess it was the competitive side in me [especially on 2-wheels] – an occupational hazard if you like.

Once I caught them I saw more ahead and went after them. This pattern repeated itself until I asked one of the cyclists what they were part of. It turned out to be a 400rider strong “sportive”, undeterred I ploughed on...
The alarm bells really should have started ringing when we left Yorkshire and went into Lancashire!

With only two half litre bottles of water for company the adrenaline eventually wore off and with another ascent of the Pennines to get home my legs were about as strong as fag ash when I eventually climbed off my bike - what was going to be a 20 mile cruise turned out to be a 60 odd mile sprint!

If the team budget could ever stretch to a therapist I think he/she work have their work cut out with plenty of hours on the Chaise lounge required!!

TT#21

Noggin Floggin...

2009-04-15T14:46:00.002+01:00

Photo courtesy of londonbikers.com

As you’ll probably be aware Brands didn’t quite go to script!!

The headache I got from the crash is wearing off and it’s only down to the fact that Arai make the world’s best helmets [in my opinion!!] that I didn’t get knocked out – this usually cues jokes about nothing inside to damage etc but thankfully the internet can’t take the Mick... yet.

Like a fallen rider at the Grand National the bike saw fit to make a run for freedom – or at least complete the lap [probably chasing a good lap time, the sign of a committed bike eh?]. However as the start/finish straight at brands is like a banking it wasn’t going to work out and it headed south.

You don’t have to be a physicist to work out that when a race bike picks a fight with a concrete pit wall there’s only going to be one winner, and unfortunately this time form book stayed true.

I may be a “bit” biased but the punishment didn’t fit the crime and to not do either race probably stung more than the bruises, as we’d gone so strong in qualifying....

Anyway... It’s going to be a long 3 weeks till Oulton...
Ta ta, TT#21

The rollercoaster continues...

2009-04-12T19:46:00.002+01:00

Photo Courtesty of londonbikers.com

Having gathered engine bits from all over the country and started the engine rebuild at early a clock, they morning fog at Brands looked to be working in our favour with the delays giving the guys enough time to swap the engine before the first session of the day.
However with minutes to go before the session started the engine was fired up, and still having a problem was unusable – meaning out of the 6 free practice sessions we had done less than 2 full sessions & qualifying was next...

Another engine swap later & I got my head down in the 1st phase – I kinda surprised myself by getting up to 14th then sat the rest of the session out to save the engine hoping it would enough to get us through to the 2nd phase – which it was.

Being the first time into phase two, only having one tyre, and again watching the engine mileage I did only one stint – at the end of it I was again in 14th only 0.2 off the top ten!!
I knew it would slip and although I tried to get out again we ended up joint 17th = 18th and P2 in the cup.

Not bad all things considered... Let see what tomorrow brings...
TT#21

Bit of a short one tonight....

2009-04-11T22:17:00.004+01:00

Photo courtesy of londonbikers.com

The team did a blinder overnight and we got out on a patchy track this morning – it wasn’t ideal conditions to feel the different swing arm but everything’s a bonus at the moment.

We ended up sitting out session two as it wasn’t raining but kinda spitting – and as we’re doing a bit of damage limitation at the moment we saved the bike, hopefully without giving us a disadvantage as the track time wasn’t ideal.

In the meantime a whole bunch of people have been doing a mega job travelling the country to get engine parts to try and get the weekend back on track...

You know who you are guys and I owe you more than a few beers...

Watch this space folks – the adventure continues

What a day!?!...

2009-04-10T20:50:00.000+01:00

Good to finally get the season kicked off but it’s been a funny old day.
It started really well...

In the first practice session I got dialled in fairly quickly [had a bit of a tantrum getting the onboard lap timer set-up/working] and ended up lapping consistently faster than last year & feeling like I wasn’t putting on the line to do it. P2 in the cup by a couple of tenths, and 16th overall. So all good.

Unfortunately after about four laps of the second session I had a mechanical problem with the bike which cut out – and even worse poor old Ian Lowry ran into the back of me whilst I was still doing just over 100mph!!

Once I got back to the pits I went to check he was ok – He was still in the medical centre- apparently he’s on crutches and I feel for the guy [and his mechanics as his bike ended up in 2 pieces. But there was nothing I could do.

Needless to say we missed the rest of the second session and all of the third session having a broken engine and a bent swing arm!

And now....? We’re trying to get things together for official practice tomorrow – a late night for the team me thinks.

Fingers crossed eh?
TT#21

BSB Media Day

2009-03-31T21:19:00.002+01:00

Yesterday along with the other BSB teams/riders we were at the BSB Media Day.

Held at Bedford Autodrome, which is an ex RAF military site so if you tried to find it with a sat nav you’d have problems as apparently it “doesn’t exist” still!?!

The day went pretty smooth to be honest – my only mistake wasn’t wearing a few layers of clothes under my airtex M-Tech leathers, great when you’re working hard on a race bike – less so when you’re standing on a airfield on a windy spring day!

I not sure if it was the random questions or the hat but it did feel like I was being interviewed by a gnome at times [see photo above] I’m sure the suspect answers I gave will turn up on the internet or BSB DVD to haunt me soon!

9 days and counting!!...........
TT

Practice makes....

2009-03-23T22:25:00.002Z

After our successful Spanish test we were keen to see how things would go back on home soil & managed to get in with a pre-club meeting test at brands hatch last Friday...

For those with sharp eyes that bright white light behind the bike is actually sun, and to get that at brands this time of year has got to be a lucky eh??

I knew before hand there would be a big mix of abilities and experiences there – and don’t get me wrong I’m certainly not knocking anyone – especially as it was me who sneaked into their test day! The downside was trying to get a clear lap and therefore get a reference to what I was doing on the old bike.

I didn’t manage to do that, but I did manage to equal my qualifying and race times from last October... in heavy traffic... with well used tyres...
Now Brands wasn’t my strongest race last year but considering the circumstances, I’m more than happy with progress so far!

TT#21

“El Testo Completo”

2009-03-10T19:30:00.003Z

...or something like that anyway...

Another good day on track, and more progress with suspension set-up. Managed to dial in a better balance to the bike.
Knocked another two seconds off yesterdays time, but really struggled to get a clear track of one lap let alone a few in a row to get a good rhythm.

Still, really happy with the how tests have gone – it’ll be interesting to see how it goes around a British circuit!

Adios for now... TT#21