CBX Racing

[Warwick Biggs]

Meet Gordon Hensley, our new recruit to the CBX Racing team following our successful track test yesterday. Gordon is a mechanical engineer from Bordertown, ASBK competitor in the 300SS class and active Committee member of the Mount Gambier MCC.

Following the mandatory early morning first crisis of the day (arriving at the track and realising I had forgotten to pack the tyre warmers - Duh! - necessitating a very quick dash home) and then after the tyres were up to temp, half a dozen laps with me on board to check that all adjustments were in order, we handed over to Gordon.

After my briefing on the issues with lightweight race cranks, downshifting high compression engines absent slipper clutches and overcoming difficulties getting feet on the ground with the heavy bike lifted to the max, he might have been a bit put off but if he was he didn't show it and with a pat on the back he burbled off for the first session. Alas, it did not last long with him slowing and stopping halfway down the straight on the first lap. After some minutes he got moving again and slowly returned to the pits holding something below the tank. It turned out to be the throttle cable that he was operating manually by hand as it had detached itself from the nipple and the linkage. Well, that is a first!

Then with a flourish he produced the nipple from somewhere in his leathers (I did not relish another dash back to the workshop for a spare) and after some time fiddling around trying to fit a frayed cable into a tiny friction nipple (threading a needle is much easier) the bike was ready for the next session in which he was immediately into the 1'20's, a respectable 600 Supersport time. This time without any issues and amazed at how easy and well behaved the Lump was. Next session he was knocking on the door of my best times in the mid 20's and in the final session blitzed my best time into the low 20's, a very nationally competitive time indeed!

Not only that but after shadowing a well ridden modern Ducati Panigale for a few laps he finally passed him under brakes at the end of the straight and then immediately pulled out a big gap on the modern Superbike. And I know that Gordon was riding carefully with heaps of ground clearance thru' the Office corner where Fran and I were observing, unlike the guy on the Duc.

B4 the last session we tried out the remote starter and it worked fine so with the National championships at Broadford in Victoria in November I have time to remove the heavy lead acid battery, starter motor, solenoid etc and then tap another petrol cock into the rhs of the tank to reduce fuel load reducing weight by around 25 kgs. And with a bit more familiarity I expect Gordon to be into the teens at Mac Park. Perhaps not enuf' to beat the modern faux historics like the Irving Vincent but certainly in the mix against the genuine historics. Can I say again this is a just a warmed over but well developed genuine 43 year old CBX? A few pics by Fran follow,

[Dynamohum]

Congrats on the new rider and his success.

[Warwick Biggs]

Of course, a practice session is not a race and we still have work to do to get there but thanks. I spoke to Roly yesterday, just back from the salt where he had been running a naturally aspirated CBX on Lake Gairdner. He opined (contrary to some pundits) that just under 150 rwhp was the practical CBX power limit. I would be happy with that but would not sacrifice reliability or rideability to get there.

It is a long time since I've had the lump on the dyno but I reckon we have around 120 hp at the rear wheel or less than 140hp at the crank from the plain bearing CBX. Compare that with around 180 reputed hp from a roller bearing crank Katana or the injected Irving Vincent and you begin to appreciate what we are up against. My motor hardly gets touched apart from minor adjustments whereas the hotrods are regularly rebuilt between races. By 'rebuilt' I mean down to the crank and in the pits too.

Roly can do that. I can't. I'm a rider first and only a distant mechanic's apprentice. So, these are our practical journeyman limits.

[Syscrush]

Congrats on the new rider and his success.

I don't think it can be said better than this.

Such a cool update, thanks so much for sharing it!

[Warwick Biggs]

The salt is now being inundated as a 1,000 klm wide flood courses down from Queensland to the 'dead heart' which means our pelicans, swans, ducks and terns and many other southern water birds will be heading north to Lake Eyre as it fills from the Diamantina. An ephemeral lake larger than many countries that goes from seeming sterility to teeming with life almost overnight. The Paroo, the Bulloo, the Warburton and thousands of other normally dry watercourses are running a banker.

Many of those birds will not make it as great walls of 260 metre high wind turbines are being erected everywhere across Oz in a mad windrush. Oz has been producing all it's daily power needs from household solar for some time but how much power is enuf? Ask any politician and the answer is entirely predictable. 'Never enuf'. Money, money, money.

How many other species do we have to extinguish as we get fatter and richer and continue on our destructive trajectory?

Meanwhile down here in Southern climes winter seems to be making slow progress. It's still hot during the day and we've not had more than a few mills of rain for 6 months and we are in drought. Tiger snakes are coming up from the river looking for water and much as I loathe shooting them they are too dangerous to mollycoddle.

As if to match the climate crisis Motorcycling Australia has announced radical 'professional' changes to the structure of our sporting officialdom that promises to create more confusion for our many volunteers. The powers that be do not seem to realise that motorcycle racing is by and large an amateur sport that relies on a relatively small number of dedicated volunteers. Putting it as politely as I can, most motorcyclists are 'rugged individualists' and trying to overly regiment them is akin to the proverbial herding of cats. It won't work.

Its a funny thing that young people don't seem to realise that we oldies have seen most of the things they are confronting for the first time at least once or twice b4 and we often have a good idea of how they will play out. Not that they ever really listen. So, I'm wielding the knife to eviscerate the CBX and transform it into the lithe dancer lurking beneath.

[Larry Zimmer]

Ah, yes!! How to improve the world of sports.. And, now, the racing world. I think it is a pandemic. Similar things have/are happening here and in Europe. 'We need more regulation!' (Yeah, right.) One would think the world would have learned by now. Most interesting how history is ignored. Good luck with your programs.

[Syscrush]

Many of those birds will not make it as great walls of 260 metre high wind turbines are being erected everywhere across Oz in a mad windrush. Oz has been producing all it's daily power needs from household solar for some time but how much power is enuf?

I don't want to derail this discussion, but you're stating things that are factually incorrect. Over 60% of Australia's power generation is from fossil fuels including black coal, brown coal, and natural gas. Only about 30% is from renewables, which is split pretty evenly between solar and wind. Those generation modes are not in competition with each other, but with fossil fuels (specifically black coal). Increasing wind production isn't trying to replace solar, it's reducing the dependency on fossil fuels:

https://www.energy.gov.au/energy-data/a ... generation

Birdstrikes do occur, but they're a far smaller contributor to bird mortality than the burning of fossil fuels - about 25x lower per unit of power generation:

https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/do-wind ... kill-birds

So, I'm wielding the knife to eviscerate the CBX and transform it into the lithe dancer lurking beneath.

I'm so hyped to see this!