Informative FB post from Mark Miller regarding today's practice session:
quote:
Isle of Man TT 2014 Update 11 - Senior TT final warm-up:
Hey family and friends.
Real quick, got out on the EBR in Superbike trim this evening after some fairly serious suspension changes. They kinda didn't work.
Long story short our Ohlins guy here at the TT has since spoke with the Ohlins tech in World Superbike who gave him more insight into what basic geometry seems to work best in their experience and it's different from ours, fundamentally.
The mass of the engine seems to prefer to be higher than lower, in short, which means more trail in the front aka front ride height higher than stock and rear ride height lower than stock. Also, not unlike our Macau EBR brought to China last November from the AMA team the rear spring is far stiffer than normal. Ours at the TT is only marginally stiffer than normal.
Some final decisions on the suspension will get made just before our six lap final tomorrow at 1pm local time (a race that will take almost two hours to complete..). Do we take a risk and try something we don't if it will work, or go with a setup we know does not work perfect?
The two biggest two issues are 1), the bike dances and shakes violently over the ripply high speed bumps (more like moguls or whoops). And 2), the EBR is currently difficult to change direction at ultra-high speeds, which occur loads in one lap of the TT.
Gonna sleep on it.
If he turned nearly 120 MPH on an incorrectly setup EBR, maybe he'll surprise us all if they get the setup figured out.
I will give my full first hand tt experience once I get back early next week. Much of this thread is guessing what the Splitlath-Redmond team is thinking. I had a unique opportunity to get the inside story.
You guys know this is an open the crate change a handful of parts then race scenario right? The team doesn't have a huge number of events under their belt with this platform. The BMW is as close to a factory bike as they come and did they a great job with a highly developed machine. Results have proven rider experience is as much or more important than the machine. In BMWs case they had both. The win wasn't a huge surprise or underdog upset to anyone here.
The S-R team is excited about many of the characteristics of the bike and are looking forward to the results once it is well sorted.
I'm going to support the S-R EBR and wish them the best today.
PS. The Kool-Aid looks like Guinness over here. You should try a pint.
I believe this is a Paton 500 four stroke twin - their own handbuilt engine of which only a handful were made. Matt will know more....
The one in the picture is a replica raced by Ollie Linsdell in Classic races. Paton have been making only race motorcycles since 1958, and built GP bikes right up to the end of the two stroke era (including some exotic V4 500's). Since then they have concentrated on replicas of their 1960 and 1970's 500 twins, and the S1 is their first ever road bike.
The price of €16000+ seems very expensive untuil you add up just the cost of parts involved, which they reckon to be around €11000 alone (before you add labour costs etc). Very exotic and not likely to see one around, but definitely on my 'lottery winnings' list
Going back to the EBR at the TT.....
Long story short our Ohlins guy here at the TT has since spoke with the Ohlins tech in World Superbike who gave him more insight into what basic geometry seems to work best in their experience and it's different from ours, fundamentally.
I am NOT criticising EBR here, but a huge dig at the team manager!
Surely the team must have known that the TT course presents totally different suspension demands than either Macau or WSB? Why do they think Honda and BMW build bikes specifically for the TT that are very different to the Superbikes raced WSB? This is supposed to be a professional race team? Sorry but that just beggars belief and if they turned up there with bikes straight out of the crate since Macau than I feel very sorry for the riders that have to risk their lives on a machine that isn't set up for the demands of the Isle of Man
Splitlath-Redmond posted a couple of good videos to Facebook this morning- one showing the riders starting out on their practice laps yesterday. Whatever else you can say about the 1190's they are damned sure the best SOUNDING bikes in the field. The other video showed a practice pitstop in the paddock, complete with engine sound effects provided by the rider. Pretty funny.
I still haven't seen anything about Mark in yesterday's race.
FB post by Splitlath-Redmond posted this morning:
quote:
Boom... EBR conquer the Isle of Man TT!!!
EBR makes history by completing the fastest road race on the planet, with speeds in excess of 190mph on public roads.
Establishing it's place in recent motorsport history by being the first new manufacturer to complete this gruelling race event on it's debut visit, astounding the established manufacturers around the famous mountain course.
Hong Kong based Splitlath Group spearheaded the challenge of this iconic event, factory backed by EBR and partner Fun88. Splitlath Group compete in international motorsport events in both Europe and Asia, including Macau Grand Prix, FIM Endurance, British Superbike, European Formula 3 and the Asia GT Championship.
Brandon Cretu: "I am so incredibly honoured to have had the opportunity to ride the EBR1190RS for Splitlath at the Isle of Man TT this year. We knew we had an uphill battle bringing an all new manufacturer to the TT but the EBR has performed amazingly. The motor was strong and the chassis completely confidence inspiring. To be the first rider to ever finish a TT race on the EBR is definitely cool and I hope I have a chance to further show what these bikes are capable of for years to come. Massive thanks to Erik Buell Racing and Splitlath Group for giving me this opportunity!"
Establishing it's place in recent motorsport history by being the first new manufacturer to complete this gruelling race event on it's debut visit, astounding the established manufacturers around the famous mountain course.
Astounding? I think not (unless they were astounded that it finished one race at all!).
How many manufacturers do you think would be astounded by three DNFs and one 42nd place completed at a slower speed than the Lightweight winner on a Kawasaki ER6?
BMW were also at their debut since 1939 and they won 3 races.
Paton were at their debut for a road bike and they finished 6th in the Lightweight race.
CF Moto (Chinese) finished their first TT last year as a new manufacturer.
Voxan competed at the IOM for 2 years when they were a new company some years ago.
Yes it is great that Brandon managed to finish the Senior race, but please stop all this PR rubbish nonsense!
Yes it is great that Brandon managed to finish the Senior race, but please stop all this PR rubbish nonsense!
Now Matt- you really don't expect them to come out with a press release that says "Man, we really sucked at IOM TT, but we did manage to get one bike to finish one race." do you?
How were the press releases from all the teams that failed to enter the race worded?
quote:
"For immediate release. Today, Team X is excited to announce they failed to even enter the 2014 TT. This utterly non historic non event demonstrates the clear thinking, cautious inaction, and an absolute lack of any advancement as a result of a long season marked by absolutely nothing of note.
We look forward to another strong series of non achievements next year, where we plan to not enter any races we don't think we can easily win, and therefore avoid all criticism from all quarters.
Thanks to all our great sponsors for their continued support of our hard fought campaign to do nothing but criticize those that tried to do more than we did, but failed."
Thousands of folks here . . . . tons of "above average enthusiasm" folks . . . I'm waiting for one to pick up the gauntlet and show how it's done . . . hell, even enter a low budget AMA race.
Nobody will criticise a manufacturer who didn't race. Have you seen any criticism of KTM for not racing in the TT or WSB?
However, If you put your head above the parapet and enter a 'race' then you had better be prepared to be shot at when you fail, simple. If you don't like that then maybe racing is a bit too rough for you and knitting may be more suited.
The Splitlath team entered the race at the last possible minute, went to the Isle of Man with almost no preparation, and failed to perform, what do they expect? Other manufacturers spend months and thousands of man hours building bikes specifically for the TT.
You don't just turn up, unpack the bikes you last raced 6 months ago at macau and expect to do well. Jusdging from the comments postred re: the Ohlins techs comments it appears that they had little idea of what was expected or how to set the bikes up for TT racing either.
where we plan to not enter any races we don't think we can easily win,
I cannot think of a single manufacturer who would enter a factory team in a series or race they didn't think they had a chance of at least doing well and representing their brand in a positive light, even if they don't win. Finishing last (if they finish at all) is not in any companies interests and certainly doesn't get sponsors smiling.
In order to receive praise one must risk criticism, to achieve success one must risk failure. No man ever won fame nor fortune by languishing in obscurity. History belongs to those rare few willing to bet on themselves before the public was willing to embrace the same chance.
Please do not group all "American's" in one group, I for one, see through my own eyes.
Yes we may not quite understand the significance of the TT in British and European terms, but some of us still recognize, and acknowledge, that facts, are just that, facts!
By the way, to all of you living through Erik Buell and Staffs accomplishments (which is ridiculous, and should be embarrassing at the least)...Where is your entry?
I was merely stating it in the same sense you might say the British don't understand the significance of Bike Week in American biking culture was all. I apologise if you thought I meant to insult.
In order to receive praise one must risk criticism, to achieve success one must risk failure. No man ever won fame nor fortune by languishing in obscurity. History belongs to those rare few willing to bet on themselves before the public was willing to embrace the same chance.
In order to receive praise and achieve success in racing you need to WIN. 3 little letters that make all the difference between praise and derision.
History belongs to the rare few who bet on themselves and happen to have a WINNING product. History is littered with 'brave failures' in all kinds of racing. You never hear about most of them because history is written by the winners.
Here's what Brandon Cretu had to say about his effort on FB yesterday:
quote:
Well, that's our 2014 TT over and done. I have to say, even with all the little issues we encountered this has been my best and most memorable TT yet. I had the amazing opportunity to ride for Splitlath Motorsports EBR and become the first rider to ever finish a TT race on an EBR. My teammate Mark Miller and I proved the bikes are a very competitive and reliable package here at the TT. Mark had been absolutely flying and lapped at nearly 124-125mph, proving the bikes speed.
I did not achieve my goal of a 120mph lap but considering what we were up against with developing a brand new bike for the TT and missing quite a few laps compared to others I am still well happy with it all. I still set a personal best lap at a 118mph from a standing start and very close to a 120mph lap when looking at sector times. I do have to give a major shout out and thanks to my team for busting their butts to give me the best bike possible; Jon, Aaron, Brian, Peter, John, Will, James, Mark, and Erik, thank you!
Also, a HUGE thanks to RS Racecraft for providing technical expertise on little clutch problem that had been plaguing me and getting the bike running 100%.
Proud to have been involved with the effort and as always, so happy to see my racing family here. Looking forward to next years TT to keep developing these amazing bikes but now our focus is on Macau!
I'd think when he speaks to "reliable" above he meant they didn't have any catastrophic failures, because they certainly had plenty of minor issues. However, they do seem to have proved the durability of the engines on the circuit which is something. I haven't seen anything about what happened to Miller on Friday.
My teammate Mark Miller and I proved the bikes are a very competitive and reliable package here at the TT.
....GRRRRRR. count to ten....
The bikes were NOT competitive nor were they Reliable!!!!!! Was he living in some surreal universe for the whole time where the other competitors didn't exist and 118mph is still considered a 'good' lap on a Superbike?
Out of six possible starts ( 3 each bike- Superbike,Superstock,Senior) the team achieved 5 DNF's/DNS's and one 42nd place finish, so please tell me how that is reliable or competitive!
I can only assume his previous TT experience was a worse nightmare than this!Or maybe it was his best TT because he spent more time watching with a pint of Ockells in his hand than riding?
'Someone who prefers to allow things of seeming enjoyment pass them by '
Stick in the mud?
If the 'seeming ejoyment is EBR finishing 42nd with 5 dnf's at best then guilty as charged! I'll wait for the decent results before throwing my hat in the air thanks.
I would love to congratulate EBR on ANY decent results, but so far the results have all been abyssmal, including the TT. Saying that your bike is 'reliable and competitive' when it clearly is neither just makes me annoyed!
Matt- I get what you're saying but I can understand Brandon's enthusiasm too. Obviously he doesn't have much experience at the TT so regardless of what bike he's riding it's not reasonable to expect him to be bumping elbows with Michael Dunlop and just finishing the race is a laudable achievement. Despite having significant difficulty setting up the suspension to his satisfaction, Miller was achieving reasonably competitive speeds (within ~5 MPH of the front runners?) while he was running. While the team had plenty of niggling problems they apparently didn't suffer any major failures and blow any engines and spew shrapnel and oil all over the track.
I can certainly see how a rider would be enthusiastic about the potential of the effort after their showing. A long conversation with the Ohlins techs, a checklist on clutch installation, taking care to protect wire bundles and use high strength Locktite in a few locations and they could be in the hunt next year.
Damn...I was hoping to get a rise out of the French thing.. I work with some Britts here in the states doing defence contractor work. Not fond of the French persuasion.