The Story Behind Our British Adventure by RoadRace Factory

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In case you might have missed the news, we announced a little while back that we are going on an adventure.  We have decided to pack up our kit and take our DSB riders, Jake Gagne and Tomas Puerta to England at the conclusion of the 2014 AMA Pro Road Race Season to compete in the final two rounds of the MCE BSB Series.  We thought, we’d take a little time now to explain in more detail what is actually going to happen and how it is going happen. 

 

We received a lot of positive comments and emails when we made the initial announcement.  However, we learned that no matter how many people proof read and view our newsletters before they go out, we still tend to miss some key details.  We blame our media guy for all of it, or course.  So, let’s start by answering a few questions.

 

Q: Are you guys really going to race BSB?

A: Yes we most certainly are.  However, to put a finer point on that, we are actually racing the BSS British SuperSport class.  We didn’t give our Yamaha R-6’s an injection of 400 more cc’s and water them until they grew into a Superbike.  That’s… just…. not possible.

 

Q: Where’s England?

A: It’s a.. wait… what?? Really?

 

Q: Are you guys just using your AMA bikes?

A: No, not at all.  We’re going to have a section in this about the prep of the bikes, but they are two completely BSS purpose built Yamaha R-6’s.  Technical rules being different, we felt it was better to start with a clean sheet on the bikes and build them to the BSS Specs.

 

Q: How much stuff can you take over there?  That has to be a logistical nightmare to transport all your gear to another country.

A: The second part of that is an objective statement rather than a question, but yes, it has been an ordeal for our crew.  Short answer, we aren’t taking over everything.  The crew, under the leadership of Jamie Spinks have been able to down select our equipment to just the needed items that have been crated up and placed in a small shipping container.  More on that later.

 

We Love Logistics?

Going overseas and racing has been a goal of the team since it’s inception.  The main mission was to create a team wherein the best up and coming riders would be given a chance to compete against the best riders in the given class.  It’s a team based on the principles of rider development and exposure.  So making the call to run in a different national series wasn’t out of the scope of the team’s goals. It was just a matter of time and deciding which series to join that would offer optimal experience for our riders.  The BSS is a fantastic series with incredible battles every weekend.  The support from the fans and the sponsors make it a natural fit with our aspirations as a team.  So, earlier this year the decision was made and the trigger was pulled.

 

The team had a lot to do in a short amount of time, once the final call was made.  The purchase of two machines that would be turned into BSS spec bikes, the paperwork for the series, the paperwork for the shipping, the paperwork for the customs, the paperwork for the sake of the paperwork, testing, equipment and electronics testing, paperwork, finding a shipping company, paperwork, more testing and finally paperwork.

 

In charge of the logistics side of the effort has been our beloved Jamie Spinks.  In order to get a more complete understanding of what he had to do to get the bikes and equipment to England, we simply asked him and what followed made our heads hurt.

 

Jamie:

“This has been one of the hardest and most involved processes I’ve had to handle since I got into the sport, but I’ve enjoyed the heck out of it.  I mean, I had no idea what needed to happen in order to get all the prep done.  I’ve been buried in paperwork since we began to discuss the possibility of going over there.  Before we even got to Daytona we had to get a copy of all the BSS rules and regulations and put together a rough cost for the effort.  Ever since we made the final decision to go, everyday has been go go go with little to no rest.

 

You know the rules and the specs for the bikes are one thing, in that it’s pretty straight forward.  We had about a week and half to build one complete bike before we went testing.  What has been the real struggle is dealing with the customs and logistics issues.  For example we are shipping most of everything out in what’s called a Carnet.  I had no idea what that even is, but it’s a method of shipping that states that everything you ship in that container must return in that container, nothing more, nothing less.  Customs has been the most interesting part of this.  We learned that it was going to take 5 weeks to make the trip (the container) and once it got to England it was going to have to be in customs for at least another week.  Try backing up your entire race program by six weeks!  Everything in the shop had to be done and done before the truck and container arrived.  Time was a major factor in ensuring that we would have everything we needed in the container, so that it would be good to go by our first race.

 

That was just the main container, we are still going to have to ship three more crates after our last race at New Jersey Motorsports Park.  We’ve had some help for sure.  We found out that power was going to be an issue.  We learned that we couldn’t just buy adapters for our tire warmers and other electronics.  Thankfully, Yamaha Generators pitched in a provided us some extra genies.  Little things like that, you know that would’ve stopped us in our tracks.

 

Another interesting wrinkle was trying to get everything in place so we could have made the test at High Plains Raceway a success.  We were fortunate enough to have a local Pirelli Tires supplier (Sol Perfromance) who was able to get us a few sets of spec tires that they run in the BSS.  The hard part was making sure we had the ECU and the right kind of fuel.  The closest place to get the fuel was from Canada and we had to import it at an extremely high cost.  It was the most expensive gas I’ve ever purchased by far!  It took a long time to get too, it arrived at the shop with less than 24 hrs to go before we loaded up for the test.   

I said before customs has been interesting.  Well the ECU that we were able to rent from MOTEC had it’s own little adventure in customs.  It got stuck for a few days and we didn’t know if it would arrive in time for the test.  We had the bike built but no ECU.  It finally arrived in time for a little bit of dyno testing. 

To be honest, even though the container is arriving to pick up the bikes and equipment, I’m not going to be able to rest until I’m on the plane headed over there.  Even then, it’s going to be more stress once we arrive and try to get everything ready to race.  I’ve learned a lot and feel confident that we’re ready. It’s been one heck of a learning experience and I’m happy with the progress we’ve made as a team.”  

The Bike Build

Heading up the bike build has been our Crew Chief Scott Jensen.  Normally, calm, cool and stylish, Scotty and the guys have been rushed to get the bikes in proper BSS trim.  Warning! Technical Information Below! 

 

Scott:

“First and foremost the three main hurdles for us in doing the British Supersport series was to develop a new engine package due to the differences in the rulebooks, the different spec fuel that they use (Panta), and the fact that they have a spec MOTEC ECU. 

  The BSS class allows more work to be done on the engines than what we can run here in AMA/DMG. The odd thing about the BSS class is that the chassis is more restricted than what we run here in the USA.  This meant we would have to spend a fair amount of time coming up with a new engine package that will make us competitive when we get over there. In addition, the different spec fuel means different compression ratios and ignition timing to get the most out of the engines. After figuring out what I wanted the engines to be I needed to build four of them to put into the shipping container. This is in addition to maintaining our current fleet of engines we need to finish out the AMA season. 
  After that, it was on to the dyno to break in the engines and start trying to figure out this MOTEC ECU.  This quickly introduced another problem; the ECU has a different set of software than what I am used to seeing in them.  This is in an attempt by the sanctioning body to keep the costs of the ECU down, which does make it a less expensive product.  Unfortunately for me this meant I needed to learn how to use it and FAST!!!  So after a couple stressful days, several emails and phone calls with a very helpful Mr. Paul Bower from Motec Europe, we were starting to get a grasp on it.  
   After a significant amount of dyno time, we were ready to head to the track for our first on track test.  For me, the main thing I was wanting to accomplish in our two days of testing was to figure out a good baseline setup for the fly by wire system on the Yamaha R6. In addition we needed to do some testing on new Penske suspension with the (new to us) Pirelli tires.  This is something that is very critical as it adjusts both the amount of engine braking the bike has and how the bike acts as you are getting back onto the throttle.  Unfortunately, this proved to be as challenging as I feared with the vast majority of the first day and half of the second day being spent tuning the throttle set up.   Once that was done the suspension testing went smoothly and not surprisingly Jake Gagne adapted immediately to the new tires. 
   By the end of the test with the new (to us) ECU, Fuel, Tires, and engine platform we managed to surpass the previous best 600cc time around High Plains Raceway (also held by Jake Gagne) by more than a full second!!!!!!  That is most definitely what I would call a successful test.
  After the test, the focus was shifted to finishing up the second bike (both Jake Gagne and Tomas Puerta will be racing in the BSS class). Wrapping up the last engines and all of the final preparations to get everything finished to get stuffed into the shipping container; for the expected six week shipping time to get it over to Europe.”

 

The Wrap Up

Normally, this is the section where Danny Walker comes in and says something inspirational and positive to guide us through to the next round… Well, why change the format, right?

Danny: “This has been one crazy adventure.  We started talking about this back in January.  We showed up at Daytona with the BSB Rules and Regs and had the guys start looking at everything.  Throughout the season we’ve been getting more and more information about running over there, mainly on cost and trying to find a base of operations while we are there.  We’ve been fortunate in that the environment over in England is so generous and helpful.  Everyone from the MCE BSB staff to locals who’ve offered the use of their garages, it’s been a trip with how helpful everyone has been. 

We knew the bikes were going to be different so we set aside some engines for Scotty to build.  We had no clue what to expect from the MOTEC ECU and the fuel.  Once we got that sorted and had our hands on some spec Pirelli’s, we thought we’d be ok.  Then Gagne goes out and smashes his old outright lap record at High Plains Raceway for a 600!  Crazy!  I’m excited to get over there and see what’s possible, you know.  I think we’re in a good position to test the waters of overseas competition and show the community at large what our riders can do.

This whole process though has been about my guys.  Jamie is really stepping up and handling all the logistics issues.  I mean, I walk by the shop at night and the lights are on as he’s working the paperwork or on the phone with Customs Officers.  He’s had to learn everything to make this happen and when the container left the shop, I was confident we wouldn’t have any issues.  Scotty and the crew came together during the break in AMA action to build the bikes, test them and create the package we’re gonna race.  Not only that, but all the guys got together and had to build the framework for the container.

They measured out the space in the B Shop, built the frames and mocked up the entire container in order to ensure everything would fit.  These guys have busted their collective butts in order to make this a reality.  I can’t say enough with how happy I am to have these guys and excited I am to go to England and race!”

 

Sponsorship opportunities exist for this adventure.  If you’d like to inquire as to how you can help, please contact Danny Walker at  
[email protected]

 

(RoadRace Factory PR)

Adam Sinclair
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