Ian Mackman Racing

From a Team Hairy Snid Spokesman:

“The Team Hairy Snid Racing Pre-TT Fundraiser was hosted by our sponsors – Lancaster Brewery on Friday night and the evening was a resounding success! The Brewery visitor centre was packed with Mackers, Team Hairy Snid and real ale fans.

Local band Ulpha590 rocked the evening whilst the guests took advantage of the FREE 5 cask ales and ciders generously provided by brewery MD Matt Jackson, which were compimented by steak and Lancaster Brewery ale pie.

Ian was on hand with the Team Hairy Snid Racing ZX-6R Supersport TT bike, while he talked to his fans about this year’s TT campaign and the Norton V4 Senior bike.

A prize raffle was held in aid of The Rob Vine fund with some fantastic prizes generously donated by many motorcycle industry companies. Ian had the honour of drawing the prize tickets, one of the top prizes being an official team shirt donated by Norton which he signed for the lucky winner.

All in all a very enjoyable night was had by all, with a fantastic amount raised for charity. A presentation will be made to the fund during TT race week.”

TT stalwart Ian Mackman has secured a works ride with legendary British manufacturer Norton. The service manager at Bill Smith Motors of Boughton will compete in the blue riband Senior TT in June, racing a prototype machine designed and built at Norton’s Donington factory.

Since his debut at the TT in 2007, Ian has consistently impressed with excellent results on bikes that he has sourced and prepared himself, culminating in him winning the TT Privateer’s Championship in 2011. He has twice taken the Joe Craig Trophy awarded to a British rider with the best result on a British machine.

Norton have a rich TT heritage that began with victory in the inaugural TT in 1907 and have provided winning machines for riders such as Jimmie Guthrie, Geoff Duke and Mike Hailwood. Their black and gold JPS sponsored machines of the 1980s are among the iconic images of motorbike racing.

In the 1992 Senior TT, Norton mounted Steve Hislop engaged in a epic battle with rival Carl Fogarty, eventually taking the honours in a race that has gone down in the event’s history as the most thrilling ever. An ill fated attempt in 2009 to race a rotary engined Norton has been the only appearance of the famous marque at the TT since then.

Now with a three year plan that aims to see a podium placing in 2014, Norton CEO Stuart Garner explains that 32 year old Ian was the ideal candidate to join the team:

“We wanted a solid rider with experience who could help us build this project and develop it. Ian is a proven TT rider and we know he is as committed to this as we are. He is a great guy and hugely passionate.”

Ian’s excitement for the project is evident. He says:

“This is a fantastic opportunity and not many people can say they’ve raced a factory based Norton – they are the elite. It’s great to be there at the start of a three year plan and it’s very exciting to have a bike that no one else has got. For me personally to secure this ride at a time when the TT is on a high and there aren’t enough factory seats to go around is a real achievement.”

A programme of testing is underway in readiness for the gruelling 6 laps of the 37 ¾ mile Mountain Course. The bike has been prepared to the highest possible specification, with many of the components machined ‘in house’ at the Norton factory. However, both Norton and Ian are keen to stress their realistic expectations for this year, and say just finishing the race is the top priority.

Ian will also be contesting the other classes at this year’s TT races in his more familiar guise as a privateer with a Kemtile Hygienic Flooring sponsored Kawasaki ZX10, and ZX6 provided by Team Hairy Snid and Lancaster Brewery.

© Jude Freckelton

To commemorate the roadracingsupporters.com exhibition, Roads Closed III, mugs4u.com have produced an exclusive mug and T shirt. Both depict Ian and Paul Owen in the cartoon by German artist Holger Aue. The full cartoon strip will be on display at the exhibition which takes place at St. Ninian’s Church, Douglas during TT 2012. The exhibition will be raising funds on behalf of the S100 Helicopter Fund, The Rob Vine Fund and The MGPSC Helicopter Fund. roadracingsupporters.com have raised over £20,000 since 2008 in support of the aforementioned bodies.

Mugs and T shirts are available here http://www.mugs4u.com/official-roads-closed-iii-mug-4918-p.asp

Oulton Park (Wirral 100)

I always like to support my local club and Oulton Park is a good circuit from a set up perspective too. I entered the Saturday race and Friday test day hoping for some dry time on the bike, having raced in three meetings so far with two being wet. I’d had some much bigger baffling put into the tank in the week running up the event, so wanted to test on low fuel levels again in preparation for the TT. The Friday started wet and I sat out the first couple of sessions, going out in the patchy damp third session purely to test the tank. The problem was loads better, getting right down to just under two litres before any real issue started. Some explosafe foam added and the problem was improved further, now at a point I think won’t cause an issue at the TT. One dry session in the afternoon revealed that the bike was now struggling for power at full throttle, I guessed it would relate to a blocked fuel filter in the pump ( due to all the welding/grinding etc that the tank had been subject to recently) you can never flush all of the bits out of the tank. I swapped the filter and tried again, fault still present but it was obviously a fuelling issue. Running out of time and the rain coming down again I swapped the fuel pump with the innards of a GSXR one (which are all but identical) and hoped this would fix the problem for Saturday’s racing.

Saturday came and was a marked improvement in the weather, a welcome relief after all the recent rain. I found a small leak in the fuel tank, same spot as before, so the chemical metal was out again as a temporary fix. Five minutes later I managed to cross thread the front wheel spindle nut whilst swapping the wheels. I was pretty much ready to throw in the towel and go home, brother in law Stuart and James from Infront Motorcycles along with Joanne dived in and helped out with the bike. We swapped the spindle nut from the ZX6, which I was also racing to prep for the TT, for practice. Fortunately the fuel pump swap had fixed the problem, good job really as I reckon I’d have thrown myself off the Runcorn bridge if not! Practice went well on both bikes and the weather was looking good too. Finally some real time on the bike. I dropped the forks a little further through the yokes for the first race. Getting a great start I led from start to finish pushing the bike, which was a marked improvement again, to see where we were suspension wise. The bike was great, just a little too soft at the front briefly locking/pumping when hard on the brakes. I came in to find I’d set the fastest lap 1m42.1(my personal best is 1m41.7) and won by 14 seconds in a five lap race. I was really impressed with how the bike was turning out. Adding a little fork oil for the second race was the only change. The Hairy Snid ZX6 went well in the first race, just getting beaten by Kiaran Hankin in the latter stages of the first heat.

The final of the Powerbikes was slightly delayed as there had been an accident requiring the air ambulance earlier in the day. The weather had gotten colder and windier so lap times suffered slightly. The bike once again felt great, I followed Hankin for the first lap and passed him into Druids. Then pushed on again, slightly slower lap times due to a bit less grip but the bike was superb. A big grin came over my face a few times especially in the direction changes through the chicanes, the bike was turning great and really settled when pushed hard from full lean to full lean. I won by 11 seconds and couldn’t have had a better finish to my last short circuit event before the TT.

Small changes to the 600 had improved it again, although Kev Spur ( KS Performance) and I have decided to fit a harder rear spring for the TT. I was involved in a great four way battle for the lead, back in fourth for some of the race I made two passes on the last lap to finish second at the flag, only a few tenths off the winner. Probably the best race I’ve had all season.

All in all a good meeting and well run by the Wirral 100 club given the forced delays. It was good to see Howard Tipping again for a chat and I have to thank him and his father, John, for their continued help for the TT.

With only a few weeks until the TT, I now have loads of preparation on the ZX10 to do (have the tank fixed, swap engines, dyno, lockwire everything etc etc).
I will also be out testing the Norton as well shortly, the bike is now nearing completion. It has been well documented in the press so there isn’t much more I can tell you here than you already know. A really exciting project to be involved with from day one. The goal to get the finish line will be realistic for us and I’ll do my best for all concerned. There will certainly be alot of people watching!! I have ridden the bike briefly for some high speed testing at Bruningthorpe and for a shakedown previously around the old melbourne hairpin at Donington. The bike made a good first impression and the engine, although still need to have the fuelling setup, feels strong from the bottom of the revs. Fingers crossed for a good TT, I think I might need to get my earplugs out though, as it is LOUD!!

I’ll keep you posted on my TT prep and if you’re on the Isle of Man in early June, come and introduce yourself.

Mackers

Mallory Park Race Report

Round Three of the Thundersport GB Championship took place at Mallory park. Not one of my favourite circuits on the calendar but I have grown to it in the last couple of seasons. During the break from Donington I had dropped the forks through the yokes slightly to try and improve the corner turn in of the ZX10. I’d also had the fuel tank baffle increased in size to try and remedy the low fuel cutting out problem that I’d been experiencing.

I arrived on Friday night, missing the test day but hoping for some dry track time. A slight rush before first qualifying when I discovered a pinhole in the extension of the fuel tank was weeping fuel under pressure. Some hasty chemical metal application and Joanne nearly getting overcome by fumes whilst holding a cardboard box and 2kw heater around the tank to speed up the curing process and the leak was fixed. Qualifying got underway and I quickly found that the forks were bottoming on the way into the hairpin and Edwinas. A pitstop and small adjustment all but sorted the fault. I pushed on for the rest of the session, the geometry change had clearly improved the bike and I finished the session in third place with a lap time equalling my personal best. Happy with how the bike was progressing I lined up for the first race wet again, unfortunately, bike development was on hold again as the wet weather remained for the rest of the weekend. I got a good start but took things a little to easy early on dropping to fourth. Passing Peter Baker I caught up with Dan Hegarty a couple of crashers promoted me to second for the finish line.

Sunday dawned with a patchy wet circuit for morning warm up. With no real benefit to be gained suspesion wise I went out with a low level of fuel in the tank to test the new baffling in the tank. Unfortunately the fault remained, as soon as the front wheel lifted out of Edwinas the bike would cut out for a second, dropping the wheel down and smacking my unmentionables into the tank. At least I’d found more work was required on the baffling. The first race got underway with John Ingram getting the Jump and leading until the finish line I had a race long battle with Dan Hegarty and Peter Baker eventually getting through to finish a close third behind Dan. Some minor damping changes to the rear shock were all that I needed for the second race.
Again I got a good start, Dan crashed out putting me into fourth behind Baker and Phil Crowe, I passed Pete Baker on the exit of Gerards and closed the gap to Phil Crowe crossing the line a second behind him with John Ingram the winner once again.

All in all a good weekend, leaving Mallory I am fourth in the series but only 6 points off the lead. I’ve improved the bike again with the fork change and know that the fuel tank baffle needs more work!!

Click the link to see video from the Isle of Man TT 2012 Press Launch evening held in Douglas on Wednesday.  Ian and CEO of Norton, Stuart Garner, on stage 13 minutes in:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZHdkcc3cFI&feature=youtu.be