Mettet 4 hrs: Mertens and Lindén

It's always lovely to get those two riding with each other again!
That 2000 WEC winning year was really something special; teamed with Warwick Nowland they scored six finishes from six starts and were rarely off the rostrum. Great memories.

Mertens and Haynes (Mettet 2015)

The Mettet 4 hrs will be run in two legs of 2 hrs, one on Saturday afternoon (not into the night) and the other on Sunday afternoon,
28/29 May.













This year, for the first time, the organisers have elected to run a class for later machines. It seems the later class is a "catch all" to enable anyone, with anything up to 1991 to ride.
It should be interesting, but effectively ends this race as a classic endurance event, which is a real pity as it was a useful race to keep the ECS honest. €550 entry fee at Mettet, €1450 entry fee at Spa!!

My feeling is that if a "post classic", 750cc up to 1991 had been adopted, it would have been true to the endurance classes at the time and would have been a great venue to bring out genuine endurance machines from the period.
Anyway, we shall do our best; despite being in the "support race". Sour grapes? A little.

In 2015 we were beaten into 2nd place by Team Force, and we really don't want that to happen again.

See you there!

RB

Mettet 2013 (archive picture made by Jacco Dijkhuizen)

3rd at Paul Ricard - a great start!

Ian Simpson and Peter Lindén made a great start on the job of defending the Team's European Classic Championship. After qualifying second against notably stronger competition they raced to a very hard fought third place in the 4hrs race. Team Force won and Neate Racing were second.

Against my expectation, the competition, in both depth and strength was up. Forty teams were on the line, many now with the security of two bikes, and almost all from the top ten had well known national champions, or ex- world champions aboard.

At the top, Greg Fastre was as fast as ever, fresh from his second place at last weekend's Le Mans 24hrs race. Sam and Steven Neate raced at a pace better than ever before. Mike Edwards and Mick Godfrey went superbly on Alf’s Kawasaki, Roadrunner (Dirk Brand and Henk van der Mark) and Taurus was very fast too.

The fifth to fifteenth region was stacked with talent as well… Cormac Conroy came back with a bang, joining Patrick Banfield on a pair of Kawasakis to finish a very creditable 7th, plus the Team Monex entry qualifying well in 6th and finished in 12th .

In the race, Lindén started well and settled in fourth for most of the first 40 minutes. The Neates led, followed by Force and Taurus. Monex lay fifth, until a stop and go ended their challenge.

There was excitement right from the warm-up, with team Force pitting after the sighting lap for adjustments and Cormac pitting with a slipping clutch.

After stop one, Sweatshop Phase One were in third, with Simpson pushing hard. Force were leading the Neates.

After stop two Sweatshop slotted into second place behind Force.

During rota three the pace car arrived in response to Mick Godfrey crashing Alf’s Kawasaki and the detached tank catching fire. The pace car intervention resulted in the top three closing on track to 8 seconds separation; Force, Neates and Sweatshop.

The latter part of the race was uneventful; with good pit work and faultless riding the team were able to secure third, some minute or so behind the fast charging Neates and two laps ahead of Nocki Classic Team in fourth.

 

Steve Boam and Steve Clarke had an awful race, chasing what turned out to be a dropped carb needle for at least half the race distance.

The sweatshop Phase One Team were content with getting points on the board (the team’s fourth consecutive ECS rostrum position) but will be working hard to be even more competitive at Spa.

Mettet 4 hrs next,  27^th - 29^th May…….RB

             

Valencia - good, Vallelunga - bad

Following an excellent two day test at Valencia, where all objectives were achieved and which involved Peter Lindén, Hugh Brasher and Ian Simpson, it all came to nought at Vallelunga!

Serious deliberations

Peter Lindén and Hugh Brasher qualified in third spot behind Team Taurus (44), with Giorgio Cantalupo and Sandro Caprara and the fast charging Team Scuderia Officine (333) with Samuele Sardi and Emiliano Bellucci.

Long queues for the scrutineering

After 25 minutes Peter Lindén led and built a 4 second lead by stop 1, at 43 minutes. Hugh Brasher returned to the track in an even better position, leading by 18 seconds.

At stop 2 and stop 3 the team held a steady 3rd position, well in touch with Scuderia Officine, who led.

















A mid-race stoppage, due to a bike fire on track, turned into an Italian farce. No pace car, nor parc fermé were available and all bikes returned to their pits awaiting instructions.
These can in town crier fashion with the organisers making the rules up on the hoof, contradicting each other and making no coherent sense... poor Segale suffered a 1 minute penalty for wiping the screen!


















Anyway, farce over, our race resumed... but not for long. Hugh Brasher pitted with 45 minutes remaining with a broken gearbox! It was a real shame, as Peter Lindén had scored the race fastest lap and absolute class record whilst chasing for the lead after the race stoppage and Hugh Brasher had delivered a 1 min. 54 sec lap and was displaying top form!

Fastest lap trophee

Next week off to Paul Ricard for round one of the FIM European Classic Series.

Ian Simpson and Peter Lindén will join forces on the Sweatshop Phase One bike... and this one really does count!

See you in the Provence next week.

RB

Golden memories, James Ellison on the No 3 Phase One bike

Valencia and on to Vallelunga

Testing this year will be at Valencia. The team will have two days on track over the Easter Monday and Tuesday, 28th/29th March. Technically, there is only a modest amount  to do, but for the riders it will be very important to get up to speed before the 1st round of the Italian championship the following weekend.










Probably the biggest change to the bikes is the new fairing and headlight set up. Last years lamps have been brought inside the fairing in order to try to give a better aerodynamic presentation and possibly improve top speed, which was down by some 8/9kms against the competition at the end of 2015.  a new replacement for the gas discharge light will also be tried. The team will also need to put some hours on the new tanks and mounting system, which is as yet untested.

After the test, the truck will travel to Vallelunga via the Mediterranean ferry which crosses from Barcelona to within 40kms of the circuit on the Italian coast. Practice is on Friday 1st April and the 4hrs race is during Saturday evening.

Peter Lindén and Hugh Brasher will ride at this event.

Just two weeks later the team are out again at Paul Ricard for round one of the European Classic Series. Riders at that race will be Peter Lindén and Ian Simpson. Last year the event attracted crowds of over 25,000, with the 4hrs classic endurance as the headline event.

Ian Simpson leads Peter Lindén during the SA TT Classic Series at Zwartkops

See you at Vallelunga

Peter Lindén - South African Classic TT Champion.!

Peter Lindén scored four straight wins in the SA Classic TT series held over the last two weekends at Zwartkops and Killarney. Linden fought off challenges from Graeme Van Breda and Rod Gray at both events to come out on top of the 33 bike field. This was Peter Lindén's first visit to South Africa, and riding the same Sweatshop Phase One Suzuki GSX1230 on which he finished the ECS Aragon 4 hrs race, he mastered the conditions quickly and matched the pace of the locals at both circuits.

In each of the races there were two classes; the pre-1983 and the pre-1989. The series champion was determined by the rider achieving most points, irrespective of which class he competed in.

Races one and two which were at Zwartkops, on the outskirts of Pretoria and were not easy affairs, with local star Rod Gray making forceful challenges, finishing within a couple of seconds behind Lindén in each.  They finished one and two in both pre-1983 races. Bill Simpson scored creditable thirds.













In the pre 1989 races, circuit specialist Noel Haarhoff and Graeme Van Breda made it a one-two in each leg , with Gavin Ramsey holding off Ian Simpson, on John Wheatman's XR69, for a pair of thirds. Ian finished fourth with Ian MacPherson in fifth.

At Killarney the battles resumed, this time with Linden being pushed all he way by Rod Gray, who finished just two second down in race one.  In race two the challenge was weaker after Gray crashed on the slowing down lap of the first race.

In the second pair of pre-1989 races Ian Simpson and Graeme Van Breda scrapped tooth and nail right to the line, with Van Breda taking the honours on both occasions.

Peter Linden received his trophy from outgoing champion ( and Phase One team mate ) Ian Simpson at the post race prize giving, which coincidentally was on Lindén's Birthday ... a great present after a faultless performance.

Final Championship positions

Peter Lindén             P&M Suzuki    GSX1230             56 points
Graeme Van Breda   Suzuki              GSXR                  52
Rodney Gray            Suzuki Katana  GSX1100             48
Ian Simpson             Suzuki XR69    Bandit 1100         42
Noel Haarhoff          Suzuki               GSXR750            36
Gavin Ramsey          Suzuki              GSXR                  36
Bill Simpson             Suzuki              GSX EFE 1100   30
Alan Duffus             Yamaha             TZ750                  27
Fergal McAdam       Suzuki Katana  GSX 1100            26
Ian Mac Pherson      Suzki                 GSXR                  22
















Snippets -

Oil - anyone who imagines that classic bikes are bad for oiling circuits really should have seen some of the many classic car races held over each weekend. With no sump catchtanks and hard racing it really was bad.

Austin Healey- Anyone interested in 3-litre Healeys would be interested to know that there were at least four of the Chatham family at Killarney, including old man John, of DD300 fame. Those who remember John Chatham cars on Pigsty Hill in Bristol will probably be aware of DD300, the Healey that John Chatham campaigned for decades from the early 1960s until it was sold just five years ago. It was THE most famous racing 3000.

Temperature - both races were held during the current South African drought and heatwave, which saw race day temperatures in the low to mid 30 degree Cs.

Marchant Engineering - Ray Marchant performed excellent mechanic duties alongside Russell at both meetings

Meercats - running across the circuit at Zwartkops - a genuine hazard

Continental -  Big thanks to Graeme Matcham for the supply of the tyres which astounded the local racers who had not seen grip like this before

Next - Valencia test 28/29th March

South Africa next

Next weekend the team will race in  South Africa for the first time, competing in the first two rounds of the South African three event Classic Series.

The first two races are at Zwartkops and Killarney over the weekends of 30/31st of January and 6/7th of February. It's not endurance, but it will be great to see Peter Lindén up against similar machines in the pre 1983 category.
Competition will come from a host of local stars, plus Ian McPherson and Ian Simpson, last year's series winner.The event is organised in the UK by Mick Grant, who has shipped a dozen or so bikes from the UK.
TT star Bill Simpson will also be racing an XR69 Suzuki.

Interest in the races started when Bill Simpson spoke of what good events they were during last season. The team had been looking at competing again outside Europe for a while and these events fitted the bill perfectly. As an aside we had considered Philip Island but dismissed it as our bikes were out of class (the organisers allow 17" wheels , slicks and post 82 engines), New Zealand, but our timing seemed wrong and Japan, where we could be in class, but emails were never replied to. 

So, South Africa it is. Ian Simpson built on what his father had told us and speaking to others it seemed pretty irresistible. The bike and spares were transported by sea from some Hull based shippers in early December and are due back in mid-March

Zwartkops is effectively in a suburb of Pretoria, which in turn is very close to Johannesburg. The whole area is high and at this time of year is warm, Race day is forecast to be 36 deg C although the build up week will be in the high 20 deg Cs. So the height and climate will bring some carburation challenges. We believe that the races are very short, like the circuits, so being spot on ready and getting a cracking start will be crucial. I can only wonder about how Lindén will handle going from minus 17 deg C today, in Sweden, to plus 36 deg C next Sat. ! 

Killarney is likely to be easier technically. The circuit is at sea level in a northern suburb of Cape Town, with Table Mountain clearly visible to the south. This time it is a longer circuit, at 3.267 km which should give Peter more of a chance to settle down.

Whilst in South Africa the 'tour' is being organised by promoter Clive Strugnell, who,with Mick Grant, has organised the road transport for the bikes between port and circuits and back to port. With just two events in the 14 day period away, there will be plenty of time for recreation, and what better place to spend that time. 

More to report from South Africa in the coming days.  

Team dinner a great sucess

Thirty team members sat down on Saturday evening to celebrate the successes of the season. The Lamb Inn at Spaxton put on a great traditional Christmas Dinner, but the special Venison and Stilton Pie still won over!
Furthest travelled were Peter Lindén, Ian Simpson and Bill Simpson, from Sweden and Scotland respectively.

We all enjoyed the opportunity to have a good talk away from both circuit and workshop and what was especially good was to introduce key sponsor Lee Marchant of Marchant Engineering Services (MES) to some of the local team members who don't go to races and also some of the new starters.

The evening was capped by an exclusive UK airing of "The Peter Lindén Show", a charity picture show presented by Peter about his life in fighter jets and with racing motorcycles.
As they say, a good time was had by all.


South Africa

The Team will travel to South Africa for the first time, in late January, to contest 2 rounds of their three event Classic Series.
The first two races are at Zwartkops and Killarney over the weekends of 30/31st of January and 6/7th of February. It's not endurance, but it will be great to see Peter up against similar machines in the pre 1983 category.
Competition will come from a host of local stars, plus Ian McPherson and Ian Simpson, last year's series winner.The event s organised in the UK by Mick Grant, who has shipped a dozen or so bikes from the UK.
TT star Bill Simpson will also be racing an XR69 Suzuki.
Last time Bill was on the same grid as Peter was at the 1985 Production TT where he beat him convincingly - a fact that he would not let Peter forget at last weekend's dinner!
More on South Africa to come -....