Bad Cat Racing

Mike drove down to Buttonwillow to meet Mr. Bill and pick up the CSR. He’s like a camel in that he can just get in the car and just drive endlessly non-stop for long distances without getting bored or restless. So for him the thought of a 500 mile day trip just made him shrug and say, “meh…”

I met him at Blanco Basura to discuss the design of the vinyl wrap we’d be using for this season, and this was what was waiting for me on the floor of the studio.

It’s simply goregous. Mr. Bill does amazing work. It looks like a totally new rig.

Scott and I went around the rig discussing the color scheme I had in my head and looking at the photos I had brought with me while Scott looked at the rig the way all master artists do when they’re waiting for the muse to strike them. Then suddenly we were both picking out details, tape was flying, and a battle plan started to form.

That last picture gives you a hint. But I won’t say any more. You’ll just have to check back in to see how the finished product turns out. It will be pretty spectacular.

~Sarah

There was a knock on the door this morning, and when I opened it I saw this.

Some quick and careful slicing revealed the following.

That would be three brand new Yokohama slicks courtesy of Mr. Rick Murray over at Team RGM. So my baby will have fresh new shoes to run on that first race of the season, which is rapidly approaching.

Mike drives down South tomorrow to meet up with Mr. Bill to pick up the CSR. From there he’s driving straight back to Blanco Basura to drop it off in their shop so the vinyl design and skin process can begin. Once Blanco Basura have finished up we’ll bring the CSR back home, throw it up on the jackstands and begin the final prep for the first race of the season.

~Sarah

The powers that be within the Sidecar Racers Assoc. West have released the 2008 race schedule. So those who are wondering when and where they can come see us race, here’s what we’ve got so far. Bring your leathers, Helmet, boots, and gloves on a practice day before the race day… And we’ll throw you on the back of a F1 or FII sidecar (after some instruction) for a few hot laps around the track so you can experience sidecar racing for yourself.

That’s 12 race weekends and 16 races total for the season. We’re going to be very busy in 2008.

~Sarah

Mr. Bill updates…

“Hello Guys, What kind of weather are you having at your house?

I am doing my best to finish your body, the Epoxy work looks finished I have primed and skimmed what blemishes I can find.

Now if I could get a day without rain and 100 MPH winds I will shoot the last primer and be finished.

So cross your fingers and pray for one good day this week.

MR B.

PS. I replaced the brake line to the chair”

He sent a couple photos of the progress. The body looks amazing. It’s hard to imagine this was once our battered and cracked CSR carbon/kevlar shell. It’s going to look amazing once Blanco Basura gets the new skin wrapped on it. Everybody cross their fingers for us and send positive karma towards SoCal for some warm dry days so Mr. Bill can get some quality time on his laundry list of projects (not just our stuff) wrapped up.

And our spiffy new short brake line Mr. Bill installed on the chair wheel caliper!

In the meantime since we pushed back pick up of the CSR one week Mike had a totally clean garage and a three day weekend with nothing to do. That lasted about two hours into Friday evening when he decided to pull the cover off his Ducati which has been sitting unused for about six months and tear it totally apart for a tune up and rebuild. It started out as this on Friday.

And by Monday afternoon it looked like this and was roaring out in the garage full of new tune up parts and bits. He did all the fabrication/custom work himself in the space of three days.

Hopefully he can apply himself in this fashion when the CSR is back in the garage and needs to be prepped for Willow Springs.

~Sarah

Mr. Bill writes…

“The fender is going ok but I am not sure I will have enough time to finish everything by Saturday / Sunday.

I am pushing forward the epoxy is the issue. I am more familiar with the one hour set time and grind to finish with polyester as to the epoxy and it’s turning out to be 24 hrs minimum before grinding……..

In the time I have been waiting four your epoxy to set I have finished all the polyester repair and changes on Mark & Bobette’s sidecar damn near ready for paint………

I hope to shoot the first primer on your main body tomorrow morning and then filler sanding and the last primer Friday / Saturday morning if all goes well…….

Just keeping you up to date.
MR. B”

So while Mike and I had planned to go down to pick up the rig on Friday it looks like we’ll have to push that back to Sunday. Luckly we both have Monday off. The good news is that this will give Mr. Bill some breathing room and he won’t have to try and rush to finish the job before we head down to pick up the rig. Mike will just have to work twice as hard to get things prepped and ready before the first race.

While Mr. Bill was reparing our old sidecar platform wheel arch he found that it was entirely made of a combination of glass-mat, mar-glass, and body filler. Another suprising discovery was that under those layers of glass-mat areas of resin had never fully cured. So he was running into a gooey nougat center that was gumming up his grinder and sander trying to get to a layer that was stable enough to build up a repair from.

The decision was made to pull a new wheel arch from his shelf that was 1/4 the weight and four times structural integrity since it was made up of true woven composites. A couple minor modifications would be required to get the wheel arch to fit, but other than that it would be a fairly simple procedure to graft the new wheel arch to the CSR.

Mr. Bill sent a photo of the progress he’s made today. Click it for a large version.

Oh, and the Kevlar clutch kit came in for the engine. Many thanks go out to our great sponsor We All Ride here in Santa Cruz for the hook up on the EBC kevlar clutck pack.

~Sarah

Mr. Bill writes…

“Moving forward, the repairs are going slower then I expected epoxy takes about 24 hrs to kick off. But the repairs look good and it’s going better then I thought structurally. As you can see, some freaky Canadian shit under the old paint.”

If I was in to tye-dye, I’d tell him to make it smooth and shoot the clear. The half-sucked jawbreaker theme was never more pronounced than it is now. A phonecall with Mr. Bill yesterday looks like we’re set to motor down this weekend with the trailer and bring the F1 back. He says the wheel arch is done except for the primer, the center cowl is mostly done, and the big massive battering ram of a body is the only remaining component with just the sanding and finishing to go. He’s installed a new front brake air scoop in the front, which is far better than the tiny one that was there before. The good news is that if I start winning races, I’ll -never- have to take on any success ballast due to the weight of this body.

Photos from Mr. Bill.

~Sarah

Mr. Bill has started in on the bodywork on the CSR. It’s not looking good. He’s found out why the shell on the CSR is so heavy. Turns out it’s mostly bondo and mar glass. In the pictures he sent the CSR bodywork looks like a half-sucked jawbreaker. Mr. Bill writes…

“As you can see the body has been patched together there is so much mar glass & bondo you need to remove about ¼ ” to as much as a ½’ to get to the carbon to begin the repair.

It appears that the engine cover was mar glassed on; I can make it look good when I am finished with the repair at the chair but the odds are any place I repair over the mar glass will crack again down the road.

I will do the important repairs on the cab and the passenger area down to the carbon. The rest of the small cracks I will make it look good it should be fine.”

Mr. Bill is a hero for undertaking this amount of repair work on our rig, and we’re fully confident the end product will be strong and look great on the track. Thank you Mr. Bill!

And if you want Mr. Bill to handcraft you a turnkey trophy winning F1 or F2 sidecar he’s more than happy to. His artistic skills with a welder can’t be beat. His website: Becker Motor Works

~ Sarah

New Canadian bling, eh. Thank you to Bicknell Racing Products for the hookup on the sweet new BRP-62D rotors for the CSR.

That takes care of the front rotor and side rotor. We still have to figure out what the oddball rear rotor is sourced from. It’s not a BRP or Wilwood unit. And so far I’ve been unable to find a match for it digging through stock motorcycle rotors on e-bay and other online parts archive sources. It’s a 235mm O.D. 7mm thick 120mm bolt spacing 8 lug mount rotor with a I.D. hole of 85mm. It’s pretty weird.

Click the image below for a large version.

We’ll check with EBC and Motion Pro to see if they’ve got anything close, and I’ll have to see if I can try the AHRMA list and see if any of the motorheads there remember any Kosman or other custom aftermarket rotors that might fit the bill. Jean-Guy does not remember what he sourced the rotors from, but I’ve got two and they’re identical and that makes me think they’re a pair of front brake rotors from something.

~Sarah