Monners Gen 3

[Monners]

Morning, yes I was riding in the Endurance on the Saturday but had some issues with getting the bike ready so was not out for long. It was absolute carnage with 35 bikes smashed to bits on Craner over the weekend! I went with Metzeller M7RR road tyres as they worked well on the R6 last year. To be honest they were not great this time but they were a lot safer than the slicks that were going down like dominos every time they got cold and sending riders to the Craner Club!! I usually do the sprints on the Sunday as well but didn't bother this weekend. I'll be out Fri - Sun for the next round at Cadwell.

 

[Monners]

Round 2 of NoLimits at Cadwell Park this weekend and she's finally looking like a racebike. I've got a few more things incoming in particular jet prime switchgear that looks heroic and cost as such which I accidently bought yesterday after getting seduced by the shiny pictures.

I've also got extra rear sprockets coming for my Titax spare wheels which I'm hoping will stop me from having too many issues with using different brands. The racing paddock is very hectic and the last thing you need whilst trying to deal with a problem is confusion with different gear. The Titax wheels take the Marchesini size sprockets with the 100mm bolt circle / 76mm inner diameter whereas the HP wheels have a different size (not sure what it is off hand?).

The forecast is still very cold with it showing 8 degrees high and 3 degrees low at the moment for Friday-Sunday which is not great but at least it is dry so hopefully we will be able to keep heat in the tyres. After spending 8mths and still recovering from smashing my ankles at Cadwell last September I have no appetite for playing temperature roulette! If I wasn't racing with the Army Team I'd just head to Spain and wait for it to warm up more in this country but I learn so much from racing with the Team and in the NoLimits series which is very competitive with some extremely fast riders. We have an infrred temperature reader now and the general opinion seems to be that if the track temp (not the air temp which can be very different) is below 10 degrees then its a case of engage survival mode until it warms up later in the day. At the Donnington round the track was 22 degrees around noon which was surprising since the air temp was only around 10 degrees if I remember correctly. We didn't get a measurement in the morning when all the bikes were going down which is a shame.

 

[Monners]

I haven't updated in a few rounds, it's been a bit of a roller coaster at times but I'm back on it after the awesome Red Bull Ring and Mugello trip. Last weekend was the penultimate round of the Nolimits Endurance Championship with a 6hr race and it could not have gone better for me and the team.

I managed to match my 1'42'' personal best on the Pani from a few years back on the Thursday test day and was reasonably confident I could go quicker since everything was feeling good. I've wanted to get into the 1'39'' for a long time and never managed it on the R6 last year.

I got Army Team 3 best qualifying time at 1'41'' so the weekend was looking good from the beginning. Unfortunately the heavens opened up at the start and I ended up having to do a couple of laps on slicks in torrential rain which was not fun at all! After the team did an hour on wets I went out on slicks since the track had dried out but the crashes every lap made it clear the moisture was still sitting on the fresh rubber from the weekend and making the conditions very dangerous so I stayed in wet settings for a lot of my 45 minute stint just to get it home safety. My next session was hot and sunny and much more fun. I managed to finally crack into the 1'39''s which made my day and the Team finished a credible 18th of 34.

On the sunday I decided to have a crack at the Pirelli Super Series with the big boys. I knew it would be tough but could see from the time sheets that I would not be last and there were five or ten riders in the 1'36-38'' range which I was hoping I could hang on to for a few corners to get a tow and learn a few things. The first race got restarted due to a crash and I didn't have enough fuel so ended up a lap down due to starting from pit lane. I did however manage to stay in the 1'39'' which was great.

The second race I started really strong and knocked another second off my personal best to get 1'38.4''. Unfortunately like a novice I hadn't kept an eye on my brake pads over the weekend and got complete failure at 146mph which I reduced to 40mph with my lovely new Daytona boot on the floor as I went into the gravel!

 

[scooby]

38's is flying well done

 

[bmwbadboy]

Well done! Decent time.

The time they spent extracting you from gravel allowed me to change my pads to not end up in same situation lol. Notice pads were thin 10mins before my race.

 

[alex]

Cracking times. I don't think I'll ever be committed enough to hit those levels, hat off.
Which pads do you use out of interest?

 

[Monners]

These ones are TRW. They have actually been really good and one of the few pads I'll use instead of Z04 Brembos, I was just caught out and forgot to check. These have done two days at Mugello, three race days at Cadwell and two race days at Donnington so they have lasted really well. A normal race pad will usually last me about four race days if I am lucky. Z04 and these TRW will usually manage twice that.

 

[alex]

Have you tried the sbs DC or DS?

I am thinking about them next.

I have PFC95's in at the moment but am fitting Z04's for Jerez.

- Alex

 

[scooby]

Have you tried the sbs DC or DS?

I am thinking about them next.

I have PFC95's in at the moment but am fitting Z04's for Jerez.

- Alex

i'm using the SBS DS atm,awesome pads,but **** me they are expensive,along the lines of the zo4's,and cant really tell any difference between them myself.last a lot longer than the sbs ds,but they are about 5x cheaper

 

[Monners]

Re: TRW-Lucas Pads (thanks for editing my earlier post @alex). I get them from Chris at Tracktech https://www.facebook.com/tracktech1st/. Mention Monners from the Army Team sent you and I'm sure he will give you a good deal.


SBS are the same pads as Bendix and the DS Endurance compound that @scooby is using is the MSR in Bendix speak. https://www.pdq1.com/brand.php?BrandID=2. I used these for a year or two and PDQ are excellent at getting them delivered when needed. They are a good alternative to the Z04 but the only problem is they tend to delaminate when wearing low and I scoured a set of discs when a set broke down earlier than usual. That was my main reason for switching over to the TRW. The Z04 are definitely the best as they are more consistent as they wear down but I find the TRW are very very close and I can hardly tell the difference whereas the SBS/Bendix are sometimes a bit variable.

 

[bmwbadboy]

Z04 lasted 4 intensive days for me. Now fitted DS-2, will see how long these lasts. Going to Silverstone/Jerez with them this and next month.

 

[alex]

Updated
I think Bendix and Performance Friction are also the same, fairly sure HM Racing told me that.

 

[bmwbadboy]

Re: TRW-Lucas Pads (thanks for editing my earlier post @alex). I get them from Chris at Tracktech https://www.facebook.com/tracktech1st/. Mention Monners from the Army Team sent you and I'm sure he will give you a good deal.


SBS are the same pads as Bendix and the DS Endurance compound that @scooby is using is the MSR in Bendix speak. https://www.pdq1.com/brand.php?BrandID=2. I used these for a year or two and PDQ are excellent at getting them delivered when needed. They are a good alternative to the Z04 but the only problem is they tend to delaminate when wearing low and I scoured a set of discs when a set broke down earlier than usual. That was my main reason for switching over to the TRW. The Z04 are definitely the best as they are more consistent as they wear down but I find the TRW are very very close and I can hardly tell the difference whereas the SBS/Bendix are sometimes a bit variable.

How much did you pay for TRW pads ?

 

[scooby]

theres 2 sets for sale on fb atm,for the m4/50 calipers not sure about compound though

https://www.facebook.com/groups/trackdayaddicts/

 

[bmwbadboy]

theres 2 sets for sale on fb atm,for the m4/50 calipers not sure about compound though

https://www.facebook.com/groups/trackdayaddicts/

I don't have facebook

 

[scooby]

I don't have facebook

okidoke.

this might be a better link for those with FB as is on market place,not a private group

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/496841264464099/

 

[bmwbadboy]

okidoke.

this might be a better link for those with FB as is on market place,not a private group

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/496841264464099/

Thanks!

So they retails at 180 he says. I'm getting SBS DS-2 for 230.

 

[scooby]

i've no idea about them personnaly as never used them,just thought as there was chat about them here,and if running the correct calipers (m4's/50's,gp4's) might be of interest to someone

 

[Monners]

I think I've finally got to the bottom of the brake problems I have been having! All season I've struggled with the discs being tight up against the pads and the wheel not being free to spin. I had a couple of very scary brake failures at the Red Bull Ring which seemed to be sudden over heating but I couldn't work out exactly what had happened other than the wheel becoming very hard to spin due to brake drag when hot. I went as far as changing the pads and master cylinder trying to fix it and then had the failure at Donnington which put me in the gravel.

I was convinced it was something stupid and lo and behold its the damn spacer on the left side. The bike has the spacer set that stays in place but I think the pinch bolts had been mistakenly loosened at some point by the pit crew helpers at the races and the spacer had moved out a few mm. It was just enough to put the disc very close to the calliper and once the pads got really low and the metal got hot it was rubbing and scoured my discs on the side of the calliper and ended up with me in the gravel.


In a stunning display of man maths I got onto Brett at https://www.roadraceperformanceshropshire.com and got myself fully sexed up with a new set of Brembo Supersports discs and Z04 pads

 

[stuartb]

Similarlish issue I had with my rear wheel bearing last year, the tolerances at the rear spacer are minute.. well spotted Monners, thought flames off the front would have gave it away lol

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