It's all changed over winter 16/03/2011
With costings in for the car upgrade, wishing to remain eligible for the factory championship, considered budget for a years racing and the effort required to run and prepare the car to a competitive standard while still focusing on a new business and other commitments, the out come ... no racing in 2011. Back to cars... our Lap times were getting on towards 2 seconds off race winning pace in Jedi club class, which is sometimes only a two second gap off the championship class pace. The time differences are not to be misjudged. The faster the lap times get the harder the margin to make up time. So with really limited experience Karl is not comparing his ability to the faster much more experienced seasoned racers from other backgrounds that include the occasional professional race instructors. Merely the fact that with such little experience by comparison - results and lap times indicate a good starting point, with potential for easier improvement. The bench mark in these cars is high, pace exceeds some professional racing times and can be quicker than some of the F3 car times. Setting outright circuit records in the process. Maybe It's the challenge to potentially achieve something difficult that perhaps makes it seem so worth while and rewarding. ... A personal thank you from Karl to all that have helped and supported, without you it would have been incredible difficult. - With a special mention to Roger and Tim FAST FIT TYRES - " Sorry we could not help you on your promotion day and thank you for the open ended help " Adam Moore, Carl Boyle James Mcbride, Gary Mclaren and Trev Sellars Formula Jedi drivers, John and Frazer @ Jedi race cars all the guys at Monoposto To all our friends, family and those who supported us & helped out - watch this space - this may not be the last of this little adventure & bike racing progress if it starts to look like it's all happening 8 Comments UP DATE - Summary for 2010 08/11/2010
After racing with Jedi and Monoposto, We have now removed and sold our standard Yamaha R1 2003 Club class Engine. This was a great engine and served us well. We fully appreciate that we could still make up a bit more time (based on lap time data) with this set up. However the improvement would only be semi - rewarding as personal bests are not recognised unless they happen to be lap records. The best lap times achieved by this 03 machine would make it less likely a driver could podium finish in a mixed grid Monoposto 1000 race and in Formula Jedi Championship the classes are split by engine age, so any podium finish in a club car overall would not be recognised - it's not valid to cross reference classes. Classes do not mix on results sheets when comparing finishes. Whilst we appreciate Formula Jedi runs an age related Club class where cars are equal, we personally preferred racing in a bigger class in Monoposto 1000 with what was an underpowered car compared to some of the faster cars on the Mono grid. We had a fantastic experience at Rockingham with Formula Jedi, which we still say is " Highly recommended ". Formula Jedi Lap times are usually very fast in comparison, so we recognise a win in any class at Jedi, as a definite achievement. Even in club class at Jedi - the lap times of the cars with 03 engines and older are still very fast. So in our eyes Formula Jedi is definitely a drivers championship - Individual engineering is regulated and more controlled but these cars put out blistering lap record times, achieving outright records on some circuits making it the choice for drivers who really want to put their own ability to the test with all cars being very similar. Karl did finish third in his class with his first ever race. So Karl was happy as it was such a new experience. However in hind sight, Karl feels this is no great personal achievement. When comparing that result to the pace of the Formula Jedi Championship Class. It's only perhaps a good effort when comparing Karl's lack of experience to other drivers but.... Karl has always been a competent driver and rider. Karl would get more of a thrill from finishing in front of drivers in the more powerful cars with a less powerful club class car, which we considered to be more of a measure. However the interest is obviously to aim for top three finishes outright. So we decided to sell out 03 engine. Even if we find it hard to compete with the much faster drivers (given our experience) - it's good to know we have a better chance with a capable car, we have moved our bench mark. A good time in an 03 Jedi car at Silverstone is 58 sec's. A good Formula Jedi time at Silverstone in an 04-06 car is 55 sec's. So we need to beat 58's with our new engine to warrant running it. The closer we get to 55 sec's at Silverstone (Formula Jedi lap times) the more competitive we are. Generally you would need to finish with . 5 of a sec within the lap record to see a podium finish. So that's really going some! For the reasons above we have removed our good 03 engine - We have purchased a 04-06 Yamaha engine as it offers a slightly less expensive installation than up grading to the GSXR Conversion. The down side is we believe the newer R1 engine offers a bit less torque and less Midrange compared to the GSXR, which we predict will make the drive a bit more "two strokey" (less forgiving with gear changes) - hopefully we can learn to drive around this as this engine is still competitive in MONO 1000 and still does reasonably well in the ferocious Jedi's Championship class. We look to carry out the bulk of the installation over winter. So depending on Jedi's costings, we hope to still be eligible for the Formula Jedi Championship if the structural engine bay work is carried out at Jedi. We could carry out this work within the team and it's associates as Karl is a fully qualified mechanical & electrical engineer, having carried out hands on engineering projects for numerous companies over the years. Engineering work that has enabled development within R and D at the highest levels of motorsport satisfying standards and specification for some of the most demanding customers. So we already have contacts that include full time coded welders and machinists that have experience working for race companies. It is this that provides Karl with the potential to build his own race car in the future and holds back his engineering instincts in the Jedi championship - although Karl fully appreciates Formula Jedis reasons for such regulations. That's why Karl calls it a drivers championship. The upsides are not having to waste time/money researching properties of metals and heat treatment to develop drive shafts or find suppliers with that knowledge through trial and error. Although this is actually a process Karl has grown to enjoy since working in a project technical management role. For this reason we have contemplated selling the car, but at this stage... Our preference is still to keep the car standard and eligible with formula Jedi despite the fact we may race again with Monoposto. In 2011 we may only be able to get a couple race weekends in like in 2010 - with a couple of testing sessions to run in the new set up. However if we do less in 2011, we would hope to return to 2012 for a strong good years racing, especailly as we gain interest from Local businesses. So for now... Hope you all have a good Christmas and New Year! Thanks for your help and support everyone xxxx Up Date.. 23/08/2010
 The car dash assembly is now installed. We are very happy with SPA, the technical department and customer services were very helpful. This weekend we are carrying out some basic maintenance and checking the set up again then. We are planning to test at Mallory Park next week ( weather permitting) this is so we can compare with the shake down lap times in dry weather. This should also finish off what is left of our slick tyres in time to purchase a new set for racing, or at least gauge how quickly they ware out. We recognise, we really should test at championship circuits to gain familiarity... At this stage that would create to many variables to judge our own improvement. Alsowe are pleased to declare we have been offered some financial assistance, which will enable us to complete 2 more races this year before the season is over. Entry fees, fuel and tyres are covered. Unfortunately this does not cover all costs associated and may force us to look at racing in a different championship this one time. Whilst wishing to remain loyal to the Jedi Championship, this will still give us more diverse experience, exposure and a different set of challenges. We are still building experience at the moment and the car is more than capable, but to do well you do need the right machinery so......After racing this year we will have to make decisions if we want to tune our current club class engine to factory championship regulations or beyond, but it may make more sense to put a newer engine in, to race for outright wins in a bigger class or in a different championship with more open regulations like Monoposto. For now we will just try not to run before we can walk and if we can build on our first début success it may just boil down to how deep are our pockets. Fingers crossed we will have no problem or mis-haps at testing. Up Date... 30/06/2010
Unfortunately we missed the round that followed Rockingham with only a short gap in between and we have adjustments to make to the car. We have ordered the parts for the dash and look to install them and return to testing to compare lap times with our original shake down. Hopefully we can manage 5 secs from Formula Jedi's best recorded lap on that circuit, anything better than that would be a bonus. We will be disappointed if the lap time is similar to those when we were shaking the car down and adjusting it from the re-build. Rockingham has given us an insight but we are aware there are a group of quick guys, so we need to find our limits. Once the car is tailored to suit, and the quick starts have been nailed. The times will improve, but the faster you go the less room for error, and the harder it gets to shave time off the laps. Hopefully, I will not run out of ability but I'm very aware that it partly boils down to practice too. So we are off to testing again soon to see where we are at.... We would like to try and race once more this year, but will have to see how it goes for now...We are already making plans for next year's race budget which will involve less purchasing of kit and more time at the track. We will be considering local sponsorship for next year as we have already had some local interest, but we do not want to get too wrapped up in complicated agreements, and only want support from people who are genuinely interested in their local racers. If that's you? Then feel free to contact us. PLEASE NO SALES OR JUNK MAIL - we will not respond | Click for Comments Above Topics!Please
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