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| Dark clouds but mostly dry at Cadwell park |
It’s the weekend, the forecast is for thundery heavy showers, so clearly the RAF classic racing team are out racing again.
This time they are split between two venues with Paul Kirkby & David Williams heading down to Castle Combe for round five of the Classic Racing Motorcycle Club (CRMC), joined again by Symon Woodward spannering for his son Joe and John Walton also on the tools. Kirkby, having not ridden Castle Combe before, was aiming to avoid a 4 for 4 crash weekend on his Honda VFR750 RC24. Williams, had achieved the impossible in successfully blown up his “bullet proof” VFR750, so was out on his FZ600. High on the talking points list here was increased noise restrictions which must have stung even more having just left a limit free Donington park.
Meanwhile Andy Green and John Hannafod were attending the GP Originals club at Cadwell park which was taking place alongside the British Superbikes. Green Was out on his Yamaha TZ350. This has received a lot of work since it’s first outing at Donington so hopes were high for some improved performance. Hannaford was out on his TZ250K which has been teasing us in the background of many photographs up until now so we were all intrigued to see how that went.
For the guys at Castle combe, having nabbed a pitch and signed on, the evening was their own. At Cadwell however, Friday was a longer day. A heavily prescribed timeline had Green and Hannaford (having just been driven to their designated camping pitch) were bundled through arriving to scrutineering to riders brief and then practice. All of the timings were issued in joining instructions, and with an event this size you can see why.
Green had a very last minute engine build due to the cylinders pulling the Chrome off the bore at the previous meeting. Then being away on holiday until a few days prior made it all a bit of a rush. Thanks are owed to Dave Cooper for the loan of a head and Jason Burrill for the loan of a set of exhausts to get ready for this meeting.
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| A not so dry clutch |
With lots that could go wrong for Green's freshly rebuilt engine, practice only highlighted a slipping clutch issue thankfully. He opted to stay out but limiting his RPM to best preserve said clutch whilst bedding in the new pistons and bores. Hannafod on the other had was not having much fun with some serious fueling problems making the bike virtually unridable. Both riders worked into the night with Green taking a trip home to machine the inner clutch basket and a spacer to try and fix the oil weep that was presenting itself onto the clutch.
On a dry but threatening Friday night, the usual banter over lukewarm cider spilled onto WhatsApp groups, as the distributed team tried to relax whilst the rain started to come down..
Saturday
Castle Combe
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| Kirkby getting stick |
The rain came quickly on Saturday morning. Practice was duck wet by the time the superstock 750 practice came. The possibility of another DNF didn’t exactly enthral Kirkby, so he wobbled around on the damp track, not really knowing which way the track went (despite a guided tour the previous evening) finally ending up 11th overall and 5th in class. Williams was also out on his FZ600 but he still enjoyed getting reacquainted with the track - qualifying mid-pack in the PC750 class then doing the same for the junior production on the same machine.
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| Williams - PJM photography |
Kirkby was back out for the ACU qualifying but had unfortunately completely forgotten what he had been told about the small band of what felt like ice (overbanding) which joins the two halves of the track together. On lap two the fateful mistake was made: Feet down and heading for the grass Kirkby somehow stayed on and kept it on track. Suddenly in desperate need of a boxer shorts change, he did one more VERY steady lap and pulled into the pits. With the first race looming and the downpour increasing Kirkby called it a day.
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| Sideboating - PJM photography |
If it wasn’t wet enough already, it now rained properly, temporarily taking out the circuit power supply, race control to marshal comms and flooded the track so badly that some of the sidecars never reappeared after their sighting lap (ok embellishment, but they were literally bucketing water out of their outfits the poor buggers).
The racing programme was subsequently suspended, shortened and to top things off the sidecars went out again and left an oil slick round most of the circuit. By this time the sun was shining and the track drying. Williams enjoyed 2 great races finishing 9th and 11th in respective classes.
Overnight, the BBQ and band tried to make up for the next comically heavy downpour. Thankfully they were saved from being washed to the bottom of the paddock by John Walton's wise highest-ground site selection. “Not bad for an engineer” thought Williams.
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| The smile says it all- PJM photography |
Cadwell Park
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| Green enjoying a gazebo to himself for once |
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| Roy on the tools |
Green managed 3 laps of qualifying before the water pump drive gear retired itself from active duty by breaking up into 3 parts. The inevitable engine overheating followed, before the bike relieved itself of water breaking down on Park Straight. Hannaford wished he could manage 3 laps.
Thanks to Chris Rose, a new water pump gear was donated to Andy’s TZ allowing him to enter the race. Having qualified in 20th, Green had some work to do as the flag dropped on his first race. Meanwhile Hannaford was again having fueling problems leading him to quickly retire. The clutch was still slipping on Green’s machine but this eased after 3 laps allowing him to make some progress. 3 laps in was however a bit late to make big gains, leading to a 17th place finish.
Sunday
Castle Combe
What a difference a day makes! Sunday brought glorious sunshine to Castle Combe with the hum of excitement only just drowned out by the sound of bikes warming up.
By the time Kirkby formed up on the grid for his first race, the track was dry. Having missed the first race, Kirkby had the pleasure of a P32 starting position on the grid. Up till now his starts had never been that good so; not expecting too much he squinted at the small figure at the front of the grid, flag in hand. The flag dropped and to Kirkbys surprise he was off the line briskly with riders flashing by. He had made P15 by the end of lap one, then continuing to claw his way up the rankings until a GSXR1100 halted his progress, bringing it home 11th overall and 4th in class. 
Williams leads Woodward- PJM photography
The tyres looked good so, in went some fuel and the bike got treated to a once over with Mr Sheen ready for the ACU superstock race.
Meanwhile Williams made steady progress on the FZ600, finding the capacity disadvantage of his little Yamaha was offset by the consistency of riding the same machine back to back. Lap after lap, the times came down and subsequently, the finishing positions got better.
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| - PJM photography |
To ease Kirkby's disappointment though; he discovered that he had lapped 0.4 seconds under the (non ACU) Superstock lap record. Happy with his achievement in just two races, and with a nine hour drive ahead of him, Kirkby decided to miss his last race and head home instead.
Williams completed 4 races over Sunday with results varied between 11ths and 14ths. Most importantly; much fun was had - and that's all that matters in any of our books.
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| Leeeeeean- PJM photography |
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| Big crowds for some big racing. |
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| Hannaford's fun |
Slowly Green lost his grip on the group he had been trying to hold onto, which left him on his own for a lap before finding himself with some racing to do. Another rider joined him leaving Green in a battle for 16th place. This pushed Green to achieve a PB for Cadwell park which was a great achievement even if he had to settle for 17th in the end.
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| A very professional looking Cadwell park |
Regardless of where the riders were, everyone went home knowing they had at least; all stayed on their bikes (This was most exciting for Kirkby of course) even if said bike might not have gotten very far in the process for some riders.
Kirkby, still on the fence as to whether he actually likes Castle combe or not, came away having achieved far more than he could have hoped for.
That was the last round for Williams this year. He is looking forward to ‘22 where he will be back out on the 400,600 and 750.
Hannaford all but threw his bike in the garage and went off on holiday. Green has a fair bit of work to be getting on with and friends to thank for getting him through the weekend. In fact every rider mentioned at, one point or another, how very thankful they are towards the support from friends and our sponsors. Without them, this would be all but impossible.
If you want more, check out this video by John of the ACU750/1300 featuring our very own Paul Kirkby looking very comfortable on his VFR750.
If you want to stay up to speed with the ups and downs of the team you could do worse than to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
For our longer reads, you are already in the right place. This is where we post our race reviews and other articles on Blogger.
If you want some nail biting viewing, we also have a YouTube channel. So far it is a list of videos gleaned from our various members and other racing disciplines in the RAFMSA but expect some original content soon.
The Classic Racing Motorcycle Club (CRMC) offer live timing and have race results going back years so if you can’t make it to come watch the action you can still stay up to date.
All serving RAF team members race under the banner of the Royal Air Force Motorsports Association (RAFMSA) alongside our veteran former members and associate members. If you are serving and wish to get involved with motorsports you can find all the contact details you will need on the RAFMSA website or get in contact directly with us.
Finally special thanks go to the companies who continue to support us:
Royal Air Force Motorsports Association, Royal Air Force Central Fund,
EBC brakes UK, NGK spark plugs UK, Stahlwille UK, Classic Racing Green,
R-Tech Welding, Ragged edge racing, Talon Engineering, Forcefield body armour,
MCA Leicester, Spencer Racing, Tony Salt Tyres, Witham group Motul, PJMphotography, Speedsnap, Hel performance brakes and individual sponsors:
Symon Woodward: Mick Abbey tuning.
Andy Green: New Era Restorations
This blog post was written by the Royal Air Force Classic Racing Team members whose names are featured above then compiled and edited by Gavin Heggs.
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