Race Review - Donnington Park round 5 2021

Kirkby tucked in - PJM Photography

 A familiar start to any of these race meetings in 2021 is the impending downpour expected for the weekend which was safely in place as the riders headed out to Donington park.

It took a while for the riders to be ushered onto the circuit whilst the Friday track day participants packed up to go home. Thankfully, being the classic festival, the team had a large pitch set out for them so they could assemble the RAF village. Although the team were sad that the Witham oil were unable to make it, they were still joined by the RAF aircrew recruiting team. They showed off what the RAF can do when they are working and the classic racing team did their best to show off what representative sport can look like in your free time.

This weekend the RAF Classic racing team were out in force. Symon Woodward, David Williams, Andy Green, John Hannaford and Paul Kirkby were out with the addition of Mick Rudd appearing for the first time since 2020 at Darley Moor and Chris Bartlett who has been hibernating since 2018’s Donington park. In fact it’s so long since Barny was there the kerb stones have changed colour (he would know, he got very close to them before inspecting the gravel at Redgate corner). 

The paddock was further filled with support from John Walton, Roy dale, Ian Ridley and Tom Flynn not to mention friends of the team Si Allen, Ziv and Joe Woodward. It was going to be a busy weekend.

Basecamp - Woodward

Rain rattled caravan roofs throughout the night but the morning teased that things may be on the drier side. Practice and qualifying went without major drama bar Symon exploring the gravel trap at Coppice, thankfully keeping it rubber down.

First out racing was Hannaford and Woodward on their RD400 and TZ350 respectively. Hannaford had just enjoyed a trouble free weekend at Donington Park’s Thundersport with GP Originals. So naturally he decided to swap the good Lea Gourlay engine back to his own, which gave him some more problems to solve. Woodward wasn’t having much more luck as he found himself tangled up with some TZ’s which he had no difficulty passing on the twisty bits but they had significantly more pace on the straits where they all caught him back up again. This prevented him competing with his class race leader resulting in a grumpy Woodward.

Next out were the 250’s With Mick Rudd starting P17 on the grid having qualified with Joe Woodward who hadn’t been going as quick as either of them had thought. Feeling a bit rusty on his first race of the season Rudd soon got into his groove. However, part way through the race the engine tone changed and things seemed to get louder. He pushed through regardless for a 4th in class finish. Once back in the paddock it was easy to identify the problem as he had lost the stinger and silencer off the left hand exhaust so after retrieving the part from the marshalls he headed off to find Jon Walton and his R-tech tig welder, cap in the other hand of course.

Onwards to Dave Williams (VFR400 NC30) and Chris Bartlett (ZXR400L), who were set to battle it out on mini four cylinder, rev hungry screamers in the new supersports 400 class. Both riders were relatively new to their machines with Bartlet long out of the saddle. He was happy to find his race went quite well with the ZXR400 performing without any issues giving him a respectable 6th in class whilst Williams pulled out a 5th place.

Williams was back out again in the junior production where he held his position till the end but sadly wasn’t out on his VFR750 with Paul Kirkby who was up next.  Kirkby had repaired his VFR after some damage at Cadwell park and was quick to get back in his groove for a comfortable 2nd in class.

Kirkby getting some lean on - PJM Photography

Finally Andy Green was out on is Aermacchi 350. He was rolling in from the previous weekend at Donny on his TZ350 which was quite different to race. A 5th in class was achieved despite the bike being down on top speed. Being light in the corners seems to be the bikes strong point and some decent stopping power afforded by the EBC brakes really made a big difference.

 The following races continued the same pattern.. A personal highlight for Woodward was getting a clean race with Andy Widdowson for second place, with Woody just getting in front on the lap before the race was red flagged affording him some silverware. But before the riders knew it, it was the end of day one

 Being back in a busy paddock, spectators on the fences and your mates by your side made the whole racing experience feel complete again. Moods were high and not a broken bike in the paddock. Could that last? 

Sunday came and the weather was similar to Saturday, mostly dry with a little visor rain to keep you on your toes.

Hannaford continued to fiddle with his TZ finishing 4th in his third race.

Woodward opted for a days sand castle building with two trips into the gravel. His first was in a gaggle of TZ’s round coppice which knocked him down to an overall 18th. The second was a 1 lap red mist adventure. Following a great start, Woodward found himself in front of Andy and Olly Bingham by the exit of the old hairpin, only for two missed gears to allow them both back past. A bold undertak going into Macleans dispatched Olly but a somewhat optimistic attempt to ride round the outside of Andy and 3 Tzs at Coppice ended in the gravel again with so much time lost he humbly retired.  

Rudds RD125 mod

Rudd had made some improvements in his second race, gaining a 4th place and not losing any bike parts that he was aware of. Determined to continue with the progress made on saturday and having reviewed the races mentally he was convinced there was more time to be made up. Pushing hard in race 3 things seemed noticeably faster with better lines through the corners. Unfortunately after exiting the 2nd last corner on the last lap the RD spluttered, coughed and rattled. After coasting off the track and getting back to the paddock the investigation showed that the big end of the RH conrod had failed bringing about the end of the weekend's fun for Rudd.

Kirkby avoiding a mess - PJM Photography

Not wanting to let Woodward have all of the fun in the sandpit, out came Kirkby on the VFR750. One trip into the kitty litter at the chicane was to avoid a fallen rider whilst holding onto 2nd place. The second was achieved when the front tyre cried “enough” whilst dicing for the lead, ending his race.

Kirkby making a mess - PJM Photography

Green - PJM Photography

Green had a lot of racing to do on Sunday. The longer ACU Classic race brought about a fueling issue he had suffered in practice. This was traced  to a lack of fuel pressure on a low tank of fuel. The downdraft configuration of the carb, due to the engine layout of the Aermachhi engine was exacerbating this issue but identifying this now ment things should be good for the rest of the 350 races. And things did go well with lap times dropping for consistent 5th place finishes in class. As the pace grew, some patter in the front forks started to show, something else to look into for the next race meeting.

Williams on the FZ600 - PJM Photography

Williams VFR400- PJM Photography

Williams put in some consistent racing on the production 600 for two 13th places but he was far more excited by the SS400 racing that was going on, despite two red flags. A pattern developed; with the VFR bogging down on the start line (how tall is the first gear??) followed by a ham fisted wheelie and then overtaking Bartlett on the way into Redgate. A lap later, in every race, he then whizzed past Williams going down into Craner Curves leaving Wiliams spending the next couple of laps trying, unsuccessfully, to keep up. Barny was having a fantastic return to racing, matched perfectly with the ZXR400. With lap times tumbling Barny felt confident pushing the little Kawasaki 100% even after the restart knowing that there was still pace to be found. Two 4th places were his reward and Williams wasn’t too far behind.

Bartlett ZXR400 - PJM Photography

The team didn’t get away without a scratch but everyone got home under their own steam and all had a great weekend. The highlight above all (even the relaxed COVID restrictions) was the weather, yet again holding off from the forecast downpours expected. 

Hannaford extends a MASSIVE thank you to Ant Cross this weekend for all his help with everything including a garage and transport.

Woodward has some work to do to tidy up Joes best efforts on the VFR400 NC21and some minor issues with the RD250. If he gets the time he will also look at his own ZXR400 and see if he can join in the fun with the others in the SS400 class.

Bartlett, with a clashing callenday for the rest of this season, will be ready to go for next year and hoping to see a few more RAF riders out there on 400’s as well. He extends a big thank you to Tom Flynn for helping out with anything that cropped up.

20 years after last racing a, 400 Williams rediscovered that they're only quick if you don't use the brakes. That said, carving around Coppice, knee down with a silly grin on his face shows that buying a 400 again wasn't such a mad idea - even if he does look  like an elephant riding a unicycle (Ed: His own words,honest).

Green had a good first outing on the single cylinder 350, with a new riding style to get to grips with and all focus on honing the finer skills to get the best out of the bike.
NOISE is the issue for Castle combe however. With 107Db @ 4k and 121Db on blipping the throttle it's not going to pass any noise test soon. A redesign of the silencer is required and lots of testing. Of the 2 Aermachhi's at Donington mine was the quiet one 🙄 if any acoustic specialist are about then please give him a call…

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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.