Getting our engine running. First fire-up of one of our two new engines.

 . . . not so easy to start at first but this is hardly unexpected,   brand new and unique engines need a little time and patience to get going, but the wait was well rewarded with a magnificent roar from the exhaust and the delightful smell of Castrol R engine oil getting hot.

will it start or wont it start ?

The team were on location at a quieter part of the Isle of Man to prime and fire-up the carefully prepared converted Royal Enfield 250cc engine which has been placed into a donor running chassis as a temporary home until the new frame is completed.    After a few failed starts the engine fired-up well and after a few runs it was identified what minor, but important adjustments were required to improve the general performance ,     but for the moment things are looking good.

Traily bike Fitness for salt-racing.

 . . . It is well proven by the likes of John McGuiness and other T.T. racers that to be fit for motorbike racing you are best to include bike-related fitness programmes so to help prepare the Team for Bonneville in 2016 team Captain Richard has had us out and about on off-road bikes.  
   The Team have been out on some very rough tracks and paths with myself looking after a little 125cc Honda which has proven to be remarkably forgiving of my many tumbles and novice-wipeouts.    No bones broken yet thank goodness and I do seem to be improving slightly in terms of balance and ability,     . . . and I hope the flooding situation at Bonneville improves too because for a second consecutive year Bonneville Speed Week has been cancelled by organisers due to the problem of flooding on the salt.   I do hope that everything will be dry for 2016 as Utah is a long way to travel for another short notice cancellation.

the trail bikes are certainly a good way to physically fit-up for Bonneville because the combination of altitude, heat and rough salt surface,  and I do mean rough (like a chip-gravel drive-way),  makes the salt tracks during Speed Week rather skiddy so thank goodness it's all in a (relatively) straight line for the runs.

Chris has started his own Blogspot called  Bonneville2016  and I hope you will go across to view his on-going blog as he introduces a lot more detailed technical information than I can.

Windy Corner on a less-windy day.