Tokoroa GP 2013 Photos
April 28, 2013
Here are some more photos from the Tokoroa GP 2013. I cannot emphasis how awesome this event was, such great competition!
^Nathaniel Diprose took it out on his Honda NF4 RS125 powered by a 80cc watercooled Derbi engine putting out 21hp
Tokoroa GP 2013
April 27, 2013
Wow, what an awesome weekend that was! That was my first time visiting Tokoroa and it’s such a fun circuit, although hard on the body into those down hill sections. Huge thanks to the organisers, time keepers, flaggies, and everyone who drank beers with us on Saturday night. Congrats to everyone who raced and those who triumphed. The GP looked fierce, I was nervous before qualifying and I wasn’t even in the race!
I just wanted to point out that there were TEN, yes TEN Honda RS chassis’ at the GP (including a RS250) and not including the GPR diesel which is pretty much a RS. That’s more than a nationals round I believe…
Cheers to Glen for showing me a few improving lines during the track walk and to Cully for letting me pervertedly handle his RSGP125. On that note:
TOKORA GP 2013 – PITLANE & PRACTICE
April 18, 2013
On the weekend the 2013 F4 GP was held at Tokoroa Kart track. This is a simple walk through the camp ground/pit-lane on Saturday followed by some practice laps by the F4 GP class. There will be some more video of the fierce race to come. There were TEN, yes, 10 Honda RS chassis’ at the GP this year. This included one RS250 and one NX4. That is more RS’ than the National 125 rounds!
ROYS HILL ROUND 6
April 18, 2013
I haven’t posted in some time so here’s a quick catch up. The final round of the North Island Series was held at Roy’s Hill Kart Track in Hastings at the end of March. Another spectacular track and some amazing roads to get there through the gorge hills. I did pretty average, sitting at the back of A grade with a bike performing very badly and some slow lines as it was my first time there. Never the less it was a super fun weekend. The final race came down to Rick Ford and Reagan Griffith with Reagan taking the series win, congrats!
Yes the race track is located in vineyard country and is in fact built between two vineyards and a road. You really couldn’t ask for a much more beautiful area. I’m thoroughly looking forward to the next race there, and the start to the new season. Hopefully I can inspire one or two readers to join in on the incredible fun.
MAXTON TR3
March 24, 2013
One of my favourite bikes from the Barry Sheene Trans-Tasman Challenge in October 2012
Some commentary from the festivals website:
“Glen Hindle is bringing his Maxton TR3 350cc to the BSTT in NZ. Glen is the current 350cc Post Classic lap record holder at both Philip Island and Eastern Creek and was Australian 350cc post Classic Champion in 2009. Glen didnt take up road racing till his late 20s and got into ‘historic racing’ in 2004. His late dad Bryan Hindle was an Austraian Yamaha Factory rider and won a number of Australian titles. With team mate Len Atlee he won the first Castrol 6hr in 1970 on a Triumph T120 650cc Bonneville.”
North Island Round 5 – Te Puke
March 23, 2013
My dad and I went down to Te Puke – pronounced tee pokee not puke ie vomit – for the fifth round in the north island F4 series the other weekend. To say it was a great event is an understatement! I spent Friday night after work and Saturday morning building a new/quieter exhaust so I didn’t get black flagged. We arrived at Te Puke around mid day and jumped straight into practice then qualifying. I set a horrible qualifying time due to never having seen the track before, loosing out on the first practice session and a tune that wasn’t playing fun with the new exhaust set up.
Super solid weekend, cheers again to everyone who helped out, organised and drank beers with us.
Reagan put in a ridiculous 42.955s lap, brian broke two bikes after qualifying third and pushed the FXR over the line, I got smoked by B grade half due to a ill tuned bike (other half cos I suck), Warrick fended his son Josh off until he conceded (that would have been an amusing drive home), I believe Mel got her knee down, Will stepped up the pace in B grade, the track was bone dry and fun as hell…
… aaannnddd my old man took some photos of us. Cheers dad. A successful first away meeting for myself and I can’t wait for the next one.
MT WELLINGTON AMCC ROUND 5
March 1, 2013
Last weekend it was round 5 of the AMCC F4 series at Mt Wellington. I palmed off my camera to my dad like usual but this time with the 300L lens on the end, oh yeah.
It was such an awesome day and improved on my times quite a bit! I felt comfortable on the bike and I ran a new pb of 31.407 seconds anticlockwise. The last meeting my PB was in the mid 32 second block and I’m stoked it only took 4 race weekends to get into the 31 second block. Avalon Biddle was racing on Sunday who races a Suzuki GSR600 professionally and used to race a Honda RS125.
I also tried my best to learn some riding skill from Avalon, Gavin, Nigel and David who lead from the front. Unfortunately the GP125 engined RS125 which Avalon was riding was leaking gearbox oil into the crank case of the 2 stroke and fouling plugs but I’m kind of grateful for it because it let me try and follow when she overtook me haha.
The below photo is a pass around the outside of Warrick in the sweeper just after passing me in the infield, that’s some corner speed right there!
Congrats to Nigel for a new track record of 29.436s anticlockwise, a real sight to see!
I had some good battles with Warrick, Karl and Neil (mini motard)! Great riding guys
Huge respect for Karl (following me in the above photo) who put in a 30.9 second lap on a 13hp FXR with standard wheels and 5 year old worn out skinny slicks. I have some serious learning to do with corner speed clearly! It also goes to show how little you have to put into your bike to be competitive at Mt Wellington if you have the right skill.
Thanks Kamil, Cully, Tim etc who ran the event and to the flag marshals as always. Cheers dad for shooting the photos
RICK BONE @ HAMPTON FEB13
February 10, 2013
If you’re into Datsuns and you don’t already follow Rick Bones Datsun 1200, I suggest you do. Having fought hard in SS2000 for years with his incredible 205 flywheel hp A15, he’s swapped to a SR20DET and pursued GTRNZ. After a few rounds, he then got pushed into GT2 when ran times below the minimum allowed time bracket. As you can see in the video above, GT2 is a serious class with Sivias, Skylines, Porsche GT3s, BMW M5, camaros etc.
Unfortunately round 5 at Hampton Downs didn’t end to well for Rick. After reeling in the 3.6 litre Porsche GT3 that was up front, he tapped its ass out of the hairpin which only ended badly. I believe Rick has sorted the damage already which tells good things for round 6 at Manfield.
I’d like to note for those unfamiliar with the series, that the cars passing were from the class above, GT1. Also that Ricks SR20 (running a mere 8psi) is the smallest capacity engine of the field. The largest being a 6.2 litre corvette. Way to go Rick, I can’t wait to see this in the flesh and I hope the rest of the season goes well for you.
NZCMRR TRIUMPH FESTIVAL 2013 #1
February 9, 2013
Ducati Saxon, Aermacchi, Ducati Monza, Triumph 3TA
TZ350
This weekend, Hampton Downs is the host for the NZCMRR Triumph Festival. I received 24 medium format films in the mail recently so I jumped at the chance to run a few through the Rolleiflex and indulge in the lines of some classic motorcycles. The pit area was humming as it was filled with vans, camper-vans, barbecues, tents and NZs crop of European bikes ready for 3 days of racing. My dad ran rampant with the 7D as I stalked out the local wildlife with my Rollei. We swapped a few times and I shot the above photos, the last being the only Japanese bike present. A TZ350 twin which was for sale and wasn’t raced today. Naturally, I lusted over it for a while and the only thing stopping me from shoe horning it into my garage was the $12k price tag.
I will post a few as I develop and scan the film but for now, some digital will have to do.
JANUARY 2013 MT WELLINGTON
January 29, 2013
Tim on a borrowed RS125 frame with GP125 engine
I spent my Saturday and Sunday at Mt Wellington for a practice round and a non points race day. Having not raced since November, I was eager to get as much track time as I could handle which consequently ended in my body now being wrecked!
It was a really good weekend of bikes with clear skies and a breeze to keep us slightly cooled. I let a few of my mates have a go on my FXR which should hopefully kick them into gear and mean they’ll soon be out there. During the Saturday practice I made the most of my opportunities to follow Brian and others where I could in the hopes their riding ability may rub off on myself. Brian gave me a few pointers on braking which helped hugely and lead to setting a new PB of 32.61s anticlockwise. On Sunday I improved on this with a 32.20s anticlockwise and I’m eager to keep the ball rolling into the 31s bracket! Thanks guys, I appreciate the hell out of any guidance I can get.
Races run:
5 lap sprint anticlockwise with no grid order (first on the grid gets pole) then straight after returning to the pits, back out for a 5 lap clockwise sprint
10 lap race around ‘the ring’ (midfield coned off) anticlockwise then straight after, clockwise 10 laps. Again no grid placing.
Borrowed bike race – anyone can enter as long as it’s not your bike – 10 laps clockwise then 10 laps anticlockwise around the ring.
I swapped bikes with Rick’s son Will who rides a CBR150 with cams, exhaust, carb, which was really fun! It had much better throttle response and seemed as fast as my FXR (which has more work done to it) although I need to work on the jetting of my bike still. The CBR150 hasn’t been on the dyno before but I’d love to over lap the curves between bikes for a comparison.
Thanks to all that helped out and organised the day, great fun!
Tim on his own Aprilia RS50
Cully’s FZR250 frame with GP125 engine
Will on the CBR150
and again hustling with John in the midfield
Andrew slipping out of first position during an anticlockwise ring race
More to come
