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.

Launch of 2016 Bonneville Project happening soon.

. . . with just over a year to go before heading over to Bonneville, Utah from the Isle Of Man,  preparations are well on the go with assembling and testing my two engines for the bike.
The Class will be 250cc and I hope to exceed 100mph which will be a challenge for the machines due to the altitude of 4000ft above sea level.         We hope that the salts will be dry and firm for our visit after the unfortunate recent flooding.