BSD News

Ronnie Smith handed his Monte Christo cigar to the publicity bimbo for disposal,

shoed away his personal pedicurists, raised himself languidly from the sun lounger, and stretched. A black-uniformed chauffeur stood at a respectful distance from the poolside, and an almost imperceptible nod was all it took to have him whisk Ronnie’s riding kit towards the idling limo.

As he relaxed in the back, Ronnie poured himself a chilled Red Bull, and began to read what The Times had recently called “the keenest mind in motorsport”  for  the Mountain Course. Then he woke up.

In the real world it was pissing down from a low brooding Manx sky. Ronnie plodded through the paddock, mud sticking to his racing boots. Somewhere in the maelstrom huddled two blokes from Peterborough with his bike. This much, at least, was progress. Just eight weeks before, they didn’t even have a bike. That was when Ronnie rang BSD and asked if they “fancied doin’ the TT”. Never having been there to see what he’d be up against, Mark Brewin found himself saying yes.

That was when BSD’s world went mad. A Formula One bike? In eight weeks? You must be nuts.

The first bit was easy. A few phone calls elicited a UK-spec GSX-R 1000 at trade from Carnell. Mark’s description of what happened next doesn’t do justice to the painstaking effort it entailed. “We put it straight from the crate onto our dyno“ he explained over a brew in the Hailwood Centre, “just to see if it’s a good un. They vary a lot - from 136 to 143bhp. Ours was right in the middle at 140. We stripped it and ported and flowed the head, then went for tried and tested kit: Yoshi cams - they went in a treat, didn’t even have to cut the valve seats back.”

Mark and his partner Nigel Smith knew that, at the TT of all places, to finish anywhere you’ve first got to finish. The race would be 226 miles, most of them flat-stick. So the tune was conservative.

“As soon as you go looking for that extra five or six bhp” he added, “that’s when you get into bother.”  While they were at it they dealt with a couple of known faults. Apparently, “All the early GSX-R1000s are forever losing gears, because the pin in the selector mechanism falls out. We took it to pieces, cleaned it, and reassembled with Loctite 272, the strongest there is. We left the rest of the bottom-end standard.”

The fuel injection uses a reprogrammable Yoshi EPROM which plugs into the standard ECU circuitry and overrides it. “I can map the engine management in each gear.“ said Mark through mouthfuls of Cornish pasty. “And there’s an on-board switch with three mapping options, plus a gearchange light. 13,000 is the explosion point on this engine, but we’re using the stock limit - around 11700rpm”.

Even so, GSX-R600 valve springs were chosen for their greater control at high revs, but with accurately machined titanium collets rather than the rubbish that comes stock. Other than a “proper Japanese” Yoshi exhaust system, that was about it. “We didn’t have time to do anything to the airbox.“ Mark explained. “It could do with being bigger, with shorter bellmouths. There’s two or three bhp there.“ As it stood the big Suzuki was 20bhp up on stock with 160 horses. 

The first practice session, at least, was dry. No sooner had it begun than it stopped. Word came back that someone had crashed on Bray Hill. Everyone settled down to wait, unaware that already one of their number, Colin Daniels, from Stock port, was dead.

Eventually practice resumed. When Ronnie regards you through those Hubble­like lenses, it’s like being eyed by a rather affable carp from the bottom of a pond. Today the carp was surprised to be on edge. “I’m not normally nervous. It’s my first time out on a pukka Fl bike. Oo-er.“ Then he disappeared for what seemed like a week.

That’s the trouble with a lap almost 38 miles long. If summat needs changing, it’s around 20 minutes before you’ll see your pit crew. The clock ticked. Ronnie howled past the pits - the bike can’t be that bad or he’d have pulled in. After a second lap, he rolled into the pits. Mark hovered anxiously.

It’s an art, setting up a bike for the TT. It must be stable, yet able to turn at close to top speed at places like 11th Milestone - a 150mph chicane. BSD had lengthened the swingarm by 40mm for stability, but how would it tip in at high speed?

“Chassis’s alright“ reckoned Ronnie, pulling off his lid. “It just feels heavy on the steering, so we’re going to drop the front end on the forks. No scares, but l kept missing apexes and losing speed. You have to run into corners slower, because of the time it takes to turn at those speeds. Stability is OK- not great, but l don’t feel like jacking up the back - we’ve already raised it five mil, because I don’t want to lose any more traction than we’ve got.”

Ronnie wanted the pegs moved forward to get more weight on them and help the bike turn. But for BSD’s first session on the Island, it was looking good. The only thing missing was power. “Amazingly, it didn’t feel that fast. I could do with more speed - a bit more zip to get past people.“ By people, he meant other men with 150bhp plus and no brains.

The timekeepers recorded Ronnie’s flying lap at 115.76mph, tenth fastest in class. “I was surprised to be going so fast”admitted Ronnie, tolerably chuffed, “although it did feel like hard work.”

Tuesday wasn’t good. When mechanic Darren Bostock drained the oil, he found it looked suspect, and a blown head gasket was later diagnosed. “Come to think of it, it did feel a bit flat last night“ added Ronnie after the fact. Since these are special 0.45mm Yoshi jobs, rather than the stock 0.7mm, it would be a couple of days before they could get a replacement. In the meantime Ronnie would have to struggle round with the mere 150bhp of the spare mill.

“Bollocks to that” muttered Ron after a solitary practice lap. “Did one lap, and all I got was a load of fog. It was dry from Rhencullen into Ramsey, but it took me about three miles to realise.” Being so long and so varied, the Mountain circuit is a glutton for time. It sounds far-fetched, but even in a week of ideal conditions, you might not learn enough to find the ideal set up. But today at least a little was gained. As he rattled it off, Ronnie seemed surprised how much he’d picked up. “The headstock came loose again - you could feel it knocking on the brakes. Dropping the front end (another 5mm) helped a lot, but it still feels really slow steering and heavy on the front. At these speeds if you tip into a corner when you get there, you’re in the wall, like at that big left-hander before the Crosby Hotel. You have to turn in miles before.”

Compared to short circuits, TT bikes typically run softer springs and less damping in both directions. BSD used Ken Summerton at K-Tech to modify the forks with racing damper units. The forks also feature new yokes with adjustable off-set, although the week was spent chasing the correct front ride height adjustment.

To cut costs, the rear shocks too are externally stock, but again with new internals- although Ken reckons the original unit is very well built. The standard stamped ally suspension ‘dog bones’ have been replaced with EN8 steel items.

According to the race organisers, Wednesday practice began at 06.15. According to Ronnie, that was a dumb idea. “It was hoying down“ he explained later, “so we stayed in bed.” BSD used the extra time to rebuild the race engine and ready the bike for evening practice. They needn’t have bothered. A session that began in glorious sunshine ended 25 minutes later with a tropical downpour. Ronnie got in one lap on his proddy GSX-R750, and that was it.

Thursday is traditionally the big one, the long afternoon session when the fast guys go for it. As the bikes line up, Jefferies and Co near the front, Ronnie’s peroxide crest is a distant mirage, promising him lots of slower traffic and little chance of a fast lap.

“Ronnie was fuming.” said a shaken Mark a few minutes later. “So we did a fake bump start past the queue, then sort of parked it in the line. The marshals were going mental, but we pretended blissful ignorance and strolled off”.

Maybe they should wind Ronnie’s spring more often. Despite slowing to a crawl under waved yellows at Alpine, he manages a startling 119.22mph, fastest Fl in the session. He’s disappointed. “Four bloody seconds off a 120mph lap“ he complains.

If Ronnie’s brassed off, Mark’s doing back-flips of joy. His bike’s “good…a lot better“ reckons Ron. “I want it a bit more down at the front. I’m getting too much air-time. The front’s bottoming on the brakes, and needs more rebound. And we’ll stiffen the rear compression at least three clicks - it’s too soft and squiggly round the big corners where you’re driving right hard, like in the Glen Helen section. And I’m sorry: I was showing off at Ballaugh and - bang! - - knocked the data- logger clean off.”

For Friday they dropped the front end some more - another 3mm, making 12mm in all. This meant that the screen was threatening to disappear altogether from Ronnie’s view, so they raised that. A few suspension clicks back and front, and off sped Zebedee and gang down Bray Hill. An improbably short time later he was back from a two-lap stint, the second at 120.80mph. Not only had Ronnie joined the exclusive 120-plus club, but at the end of practice week, BSD’s budget racer stood fifth on the Fl leaderboard.

It doesn’t pay to get too smug on The Island, but the team was quietly confident. They had a bike with speed and handling, and a rider saner and safer than he looks. “I feel sorry for a lot of the blokes here” said Mark. “They must think we’re dead flash. But we haven’t got a big budget. We’re just doing it right.”

“..And that’s Ronnie Smith,“ boomed Maurice Maudsley from the Glen Helen commentary box, as our man cranked the GSX-R past. “I told you to look out for him at the North-West 200. He was fairly average there, but he’s going well here.”

It was Saturday. Race Day. And there was nothing BSD could do but wait and sweat and hope. It was all down to Ronnie, the bike, and 226 miles of Manx public roads. It’s not like the shorts. At the TT riders start at intervals, and there’s no telling who’s lying where until timekeepers tell you. After one lap Ronnie sits eighth, with a lap at 121.26mph from a standing start. A lap later, he’s in the pits for fuel. Compared to this, building bikes is easy. “Nerve­wracking…scary…horrible“ said Mark afterwards. “I was more nervous than Ronnie. He was sat on the bike telling us to calm down, and we were having kittens.” Then he roared off again.

By his second pit stop, this time for fuel and a rear tyre, Ronnie is up to seventh. Changing wheels drops him to ninth. As he leaves the pit the stand catches on the swingarm and flips over violently. Ronnie looks round with a “What the fuck was that?” expression. Later he explained he thought maybe one of his crew had trapped a hand and he was “tekkin’ ‘em wi’me” down the pit lane. Ron picked up one more place on the final two laps, but “that pit-stop bolloxed me - we should have left the old tyre in. I’ve been racing on knackered tyres all me life, so it’s not a problem. Still, I’m not surprised it were a bit of a mess”  he added. “Ive never changed a tyre in a race before. I could never afford to.”

When he was told how fast he’d gone, he cheered up. Lots. Everyone did. They were bubbling. “I’d have been more chuffed with a top six place, but I’m well chuffed with a 122mph lap. That’s proper stuff is that. Mind you, I’m a bit knackered. I don’t think I’ve concentrated for two hours in my life, especially at school. And it’s a long time to go without a fag. You just have to get your head down - and on the last lap I was making a real effort to concentrate, talking myself through each bend.”

“Fantastic“ beamed Mark of BSD’s first TT experience. “Eight weeks ago we just had a cardboard box with a stock bike in it. Now we’ve got a 122mph lap and an eighth place in the TT- on a bike that cost about the same as the forks on some of the top bikes. And we didn’t really get enough practice. And it’s still in one bit.”

“Aye - it’ll probably fall over in t’van“, added Ronnie, helpfully.

It’s too early on a Monday morning but BSD Development’s Mark Brewin and Nigel Smith are already hard at it. Hanging from the workshop beams is a GSX-R 1000 chassis and engine. There are no wheels, no brakes, a bare white seat unit and a fuel tank with several large dents. It’s no wonder the pair are knuckling down, in four days this bike will be at Donington Park for the final round of British Superbikes. Gulp.

BSD’s usual tranquility had been disturbed a week previous by a phone call from the chaotic Performance Bikes office. You and Ronnie, ooh, Donington, came the garbled message. You’re racing in BSB! How cool is that? Very cool, no doubt, but it gave only two weeks to prep the bike. This would have been less of a problem had the Suzuki not been scattered about the workshop in its component parts.

Designed and built for the rigours of the TT, and achieving a stunning 122mph lap en route to eighth in the F1 race, the bike then saw duty at Scarborough. Mark explains what happened next: It was the Cock o’ the North road races. Ron was battling for fourth place when the rear came right round on the brakes. It gripped and threw him in the air, kicked and danced, cart wheeled clean over a fence and disappeared down an embankment. Ron broke a bone in his hand, two vertebra and was out cold.

Back in the present, our peroxide rider arrives at Mallory Park for the Wednesday practice session. He’s been back to Scarborough over the previous weekend (anyone could have passed me but I’ve got rid of me gremlins’) and with two days to go this is the first time the bike has turned a wheel.

Short circuit work is a completely different fishy kettle to the TT and BSD have made a host of changes. Not only that but Ron has been doing endurance events, where consistency and tyre management are more important than all-out speed. Is he nervous? ‘It’s impossible to tell. When I were doing Superstock I could look at differences in times and bikes, and hazard a guess. This is so different. I’ve no idea what’s going to happen.

The aim is to use Mallory for base settings then fine tune at Donington, but things aren’t going right. Ron complains the forks are too harsh and hit compression on the brakes, leaving no suspension travel. Each outing sees softer settings and new dog bones for the shock linkage to raise ride height to help it turn, but the front still needs to be more compliant.

Next morning Mark can’t believe what he’s found:

We took the forks to bits last night and rebuilt them. Back in the bike the suspension was still sticking. Compress the forks and they stayed compressed. We undid the bottom yoke and nothing happened, and checked everything we could think of. Then we undid the wheel spindle and bang! The forks shot back up. Having used OZ wheels for the Isle of Man, the boys are using 16.5 inch Dymags for Donington. Spacers are captive, but different bearings mean the spindle is pinching the forks together and literally holding the suspension solid. No wonder it felt funny.

Friday practice

Sorry, which class? The tattooed monkey on Donington’s paddock entrance either didn’t hear or doesn’t believe. Bemused, he waves BSD’s van to the next security check, where the pleasant lass on the gate asks the same question. We’re in Superbike, as a wildcard with Ronnie Smith,chirps Nigel with a grin. She steps back, takes in the proportions of the un-articulated van and starts to giggle. She manages to radio ahead with, ‘I’ve a Tranny here for Superbike, can we fit them in anywhere? before laughter gets the better of her.

Having erected the workshop (one borrowed tent) in the corner of the paddock, the bike is given a final once over for Ron’s first 50-minute practice. He cycles up on his Raleigh Chopper from the comfort of his luxury caravan and heads out. Two quick laps show gearing is too high, he’s only using fifth, managing 1m 40.5.

Bob’s feverishly working on 2D’s datalogging system to see what’s going on and where. Things aren’t helped when Ronnie returns from his second outing. Times are high 39s thanks to lower gearing, a harder rear spring and revised forks, but a datalog rod has been snapped and the bracket bent. “Don’t look at me, I just ride the thing” claims Ron.

Brembo’s GP calipers are good but eating pads, and the team only have one set of spares so more are chased up. Fork settings are changed to stop bottoming, reduce chatter and allow the suspension to move more on the brakes. By the end of play the team manage a 1:38.

Mark is upbeat his motor keeps up with the field on the straight bits despite being on the wrong gearing. Stealing a championship point for fifteenth would be the icing on his cake but Ron wants to be nearer midfield:

“We need two seconds. Fuckin’ hell, where are we going to find two seconds?”  Bob lifts his head from behind his laptop and, ever helpful, suggests Ron tries a shortcut, perhaps missing out the Loop. “Aye, that’s not a bad idea. Think Ill need to…”

Qualifying

Gearing is revised again for the first official session. Chatter is still stopping the bike turning in on the brakes but tweaks bring a best of 1:38.6 and 24th of 26 riders. Speeds on the straight are even more encouraging. BSD’s bike is only 3mph down on the GSX-R of John Reynolds.

Ron has his race head on and the cheery air has taken a sober edge. Gearing goes back to how it was, head angle goes 1deg. steeper and rear sag is re-set after K-Tech put a new piston in the shock. Forks are further adjusted to ensure the stops aren’t clobbered under braking. Dunlop supply a rear with a sharper profile, and also a qualifying compound tyre to try for one fast lap. This is getting serious.

Instantly the times are better, and Ron rattles round to his fastest time so far at 38.4. Both sides of the fairing, the alternator cover and the rearsets are all grazing tarmac. With ten minutes to go he comes in for the soft rubber but it all goes wrong: there’s a spacer missing from the wheel, losing several minutes, then when the bike does get out times are 46.5 then 41. What happened, Ron?

“It went sideways in the first corner, then again on the overrun. Dunno if it was release agent or what, gave it an easy lap but it was still awfuL The bars and shock were all over t’place. What a waste of time.”

The slick appears to be splitting round the centre, so Nigel takes it back to Dunlop. Official word is that the out lap wasn’t fast enough, so the first fast lap was on a cold tyre. Then it was then too knackered for another. Nobody’s to blame, this special tyre lark is new to all.

Hislop heads the field with an amazing 1:31.457, faster than Rossi on his RCV. To qualify you have to be within a percentage of pole, and one of the two riders behind Ron doesn’t make it. The other, Nick Medd, isn’t well and calls it a day, so even though we weren’t slowest Ron is now last on the grid. At least we get to use Nick’s vacant garage for Sunday.

Race day

Warm up shows two things. The first is that Ron can wheelie the length of the start straight, the second is the forks are hitting the bump stops. Bob: “The logger shows full compression at Redgate, Esses and Melbourne Loop. When they’re like that you may as well replace the forks with solid bar, the tyre has to do all the work.”  Any movement we can give will let Ron trail the brake more and get the thing turned.

And corners are the place we’re losing out. Reynolds came round the outside of Ron at Coppice but BSD’s bike matched him all the way under the Dunlop bridge and on the brakes. With 9kg springs currently fitted, the decision is made to change to 9.2 5kg, with sag, rebound and compression

altered to suit. It’s a bit risky but the next – bike on the grid is 1.16 seconds ahead. Our Ronnie needs anything that’ll help.

With the forks stripped, it’s found that the preload pin hasn’t been locating properly in one leg and has slipped. It’s like having no preload in one side. K-Tech reckon some of the Superstock bikes have been suffering the same way too. The forks are then rebuilt with extreme care using the stronger springs. Pit lane is opened for spectators and Ron and the GSX-R pull a healthy crowd to our bare garage. Autographs are signed, pictures taken and it’s easy to forget there’s a race in an hour. Crowd gone, Ron pedals off to sort his head out while Mark and Nigel give things a final once over.

Sat aboard the big Suzuki on the back row, spectators shouting and brolly girl Kelly drawing photographers, Ron’s expression barely changes. His sight is focussed somewhere up front. The grid is cleared and this is it. It’s down to him.

Lap times are in the 1:37s from the off and Ron’s prediction of going faster in the race comes true. It’s a race- long battle with Gordon Blackley and times consistently high 37s/low 38s. The group ahead are being caught, too. Mark and I compare goose bumps every time Ron howls past, and 20 laps go in a flash. At the last corner of the last lap, Ron makes his pass stick and runs Blackley wide. Fifteenth place, a 1:37.65 best and a championship point. The team is ecstatic and nearly fall off the pit wall in excitement.

“Blimey, that was hard work,” says a red-faced Ron with massive grin. “I was trying to pass him everywhere. It was like a bucking bronco out of Redgate. We’ve probably reached the limits of the standard suspension but I can feel the front tyre more now, and it’s loads better on the brakes…

And we weren’t last!”

Race two sees a one tooth smaller rear sprocket along with new slicks. Ron again spends the race fighting with Blackley and at the line there’s only 0.04 seconds in it. Twentieth place and a best lap in the 37s. That’ll do nicely.

In the pits everyone’s buzzing. Fans linger for a snapshot and there’s an air of success. “We’ve come with a bike designed for real roads and scored a point,” grins Mark. “We’re running reworked stock suspension, no quickshifter, excess weight, and we can’t throw tyres and pads at it like the top teams. But we didn’t qualify last, weren’t last in the race, didn’t get lapped and the bike’s in one piece.

And where’s all this 180+bhp everyone talks about? We were only 3.5mph down on Reynolds through the trap with our genuine 165bh

September 2005, Snetterton: Barry on his way to winning the Richard Everett Memorial Trophy, He won all four formula 400 races that weekend.

Trophies won during the 2005 season where he finished 2^nd in the New Era F400 Club championship and 3^rd in the New Era F400 Superclub Championship. Barry is currently leading the 2006 New Era 400 club series (watch this space for updates).

Welcome to the words of BSD.