Auckland Motosport Ventures. Sponsorship and Season Developments

Slow Ride - Take it easy (Mopeds with personality!)

2011-03-21T01:28:00.000-07:00

I was recently in the Bay of Islands enjoying a bit of fishing with the family on the wharfe at Russell when I noticed a motorcade of postie bikes. Yes that's right - postie bikes. It seems they ride each year from Cape Reinga to Wellington raising money for charity. This year for the Christchurch earthquake appeal. Incidentally, I note on the video postie trip (see embedded video below) that they did a stint at Hampton Downs beating Andy's best result in the 2010-11. Oh the shame of it. Beaten by a postie (max speed 70km).
Whilst on the topic of Posties. Check out this ambitious little post man. I also came across the world's fastest postie site just a few days before our trip North, and thought that it was a bit of a laugh. An aweful lot of time and money preparing for a salt lake race - but it was cancelled due to rain - I've followed his Facebook so we'll see what happens next year.

Mopeds with personality!

New Bike Looking for New Rider

2011-02-05T23:32:00.000-08:00

Check out the factory specs here

Check out this 1994 GSXR-400 we are preparing for the NZ F4 class. This bike is a grey import and quite unique for New Zealand. It will suit a rider 6"or less. Perhaps you can be our next big thing!

We are hoping to have the bike registered for the track this season and would like to get it into shape for followers who have are or are in the process of getting their rider's license to take out on the track on practice days and with a few modifications eventually for competitive racing.

If you'd like to discuss options for the track or are looking for a bike to ride while travelling in New Zealand leave a comment below and we'll get back to you asap.

If you would like to sponsor the bike - contact us

PACHAMAMANZ

Rebuilding the Head and lifting the Power

2011-02-01T04:56:00.000-08:00

This is part 2 of our Blog about taking an old beat up GSXR-400 and getting ready for the track. Its racing on a tight budget. To read how about the fall from grace. See this post.

gsxr400racer a member of a very useful forum for GSXR riders offered to ship a 442 engine rebuild kit with all the bits and pieces that the bike needed::

442cc pistons and rings,
complete gaskets kit,
new valve seals and
keepers for the used head (which will need after a valve job)

So the following tasks were performed once all the goods arrived:
1. remove the rest of the faring
2. re-seat the valves and prepare the head
3. remove damaged head, barrel and inspect the engine block
4. bore barrel and replace pistons, rings and bearings
5. put the running gear all back together, add the tank etc and hopefully test ride
6. replace repainted faring, and break in the new engine.

US $1200.00 plus labour

Inside the head we found a stray piece of metal that had chipped off the tappet on the first cylinder. No wonder it was running like a bag of bolts. It was clear that a new head was needed so I was happy to take delivery about a month later and the mechanic got to work leqaving us bikeless over the summer months (if you are interested in finding out how to procure bits and pieces for Suzuki GSXR models you can join the GSXR Forum by following the link on our last post). In the mean time, I worked on reconditioning the carbs while all the engine was in pieces. GSXRacer has offered some tips to hot up the carbs – check the forums for more about this.

The new head arrived from the States – I have to admit I was nervous about the deal but Jbird helped a lot. The valves looked ok, but we did a leak test just in case. After we removed the cams and tried to remove the head. Dammed thing - I'm not sure if my fury with a wooden mallet was helpful - I was sure I had taken all of the bolts off. One bolt seeped in oil had evaded its presense from me.Once I get the head completely off, we put a good head together out of the two and at the same time I took a few fotos of the pistons

Here are some still shots of the burned out pistons - imprint of valves

Click on the above images to open a higher resolution image in a new window

Fairing and other body work.
I striped off all the fairing and fenders - the tank was already off. I wiped them down and gave them a light skuff with fine sand paper to see if I might get them powder coated. I think the kid who owned the bike before me must've came off as there were tell tail signs of dodgy patch jobs.

This page has detailed specs of our bike.

After some deep thought and budget analysis we went with plan B. This consisted of a couple of spray pans and some masking tape! I gave it a nice sheen and she looks good as new. Being a bit of a backyard jobbie I will have to repaint next Summer just to keep it looking respectable.

If you're interested to learn about the history of the bike check out Wikipedia and the Suzuki website (although there is scant about the 400cc model)

Let us know if you'd be interested in becoming a rider for ARCSLAND Racing on this black stallion. She ain't no pony but she's fun to throw into the corners and open up down the straights.

1994 GSXR-400R GK76A Mechanical Repairs and Advice

2011-01-28T02:08:00.000-08:00

The 1994 GSXR-400R GK76A

Visitors are welcome to submit feedback about this page on the www.gsxr400.com website, please use the following thread to place your feedback there. Otherwise enjoy!

In Mid 2007, we took this Suzuki GSXR-400R with 60,000k on the clock out to the Pukekohe race track to see how fast she would go. We had to pull her off the track after about half an hour because of poor performance though, she was coughing and splattering. I was hoping it was just the spark plugs but deep down I knew it was the beginning of the end for the poor girl. The speedo went off the clock, I predict about 220km/h but clearly that was too much for her to handle at her age.
So weI took it into the mechanic who told me I had burnt out a valve, and that he would need to take off the head to ascertain the likely cost of repair stating that usually there is damage done to the pistons in such an event. I scoured the local market for a second hand motor, and the Suzuki dealers for replacement parts all to no avail. After two weeks of hunting on-line I came across the GSXR on-line forum. I have been a member for a couple of months now and have already had some excellent help and advice and have devised a plan and budget which I have posted below for feedback from forum members.
It turns out the bike is a “grey”import so parts are difficult to find. Fortunately we have the Internet! Here’s how you get an old klunker back up to scratch and back on the road.

I spoke to the mechanic who told me to whip off the barrel now and get a better look at the cylinders and see how much movement is in the pistons. I took a video of it and have posted it on YouTube below. There is minimal movement in the pistons in terms of looseness. Hopefully that means that I will not have to take the block apart at all - although that seems inevitable if the pistons have to be replaced.

We had a hell of a time getting the head off (even tried with a mallet) but undoing all the nuts on the head seemed to work well (What a plonker)! There was a stray round head nut that I hadn’t undone (I must have missed it in the pool of oil somehow. But good news we slipped off the head and gross. Look what we saw!

Here are some still shots of the Burned Out Pistons - imprint of valves

Click on the above images to open a higher resolution image in a new window

Here's the video of what we saw (comments welcome on |Youtube):

In the Next post, I will share with you what we did to the bike and how we got her back on the road.

Terratonga Race Track on a Ducati 996

2011-01-06T20:29:00.000-08:00

Check out this video of Terratonga Race Track in Invercargill. ARCSLAND rider Andy Strachan is somewhere in the field See if you can spot him). The video is courtesy of Glen Strachan on a Ducati 996. A nice wheelie if you watch for 2-3 minutes.

998S

2011-01-06T19:04:00.000-08:00

The unmistakeable tank of the Ducati 998S Ben Bostrom replica. The bike that this photo was shot from is one of only 155 ever made. We are considering this for a new logo.

We would appreciate any feedback on style etc.

Riders and Bikes

2011-01-06T18:39:00.000-08:00

2010 was a great year for ARCSLAND Receing. The business trip to Brazil, the new bike and new workshop. We thought we were in for a great year on the track but with 2 DNFs on the card and the resulting hole in the budget saw us miss two races. We're going to take stock for the rest of this season and come back in 2011 all pistons firin'.

The workshop is busy with the SV650 and we're looking at getting our second bike on-line and ready for next season so that we have a back-up rider able to compete if necessary and increase the visibility for our sponsors.
We are looking for sponsorship for the second bike so if you would like to get in touch to support our new rider we'd love to have you on-board.

Until next time sports fans.

Business Trip to Fortaleza, Brazil

2010-08-27T21:17:00.000-07:00

Check out the photos of our trip to South America recently (Full album here)

After arriving in Buenos Aires we proceeded to investigate the culture and sights of the city.

Wifi access allowed these photos to be taken and then as you walk past a cafe or service station connect on the hot spot (for free) and send.

Boca Junior Stadium was round and had a football field in it. But being lamo didn't go inside the Meseum (We though museo meant music with tight pants).

Powering along we saw some pretty cool old buildings. But more importantly we were getting use to some of the common sights of South America. In our album you will see some cool old cars, grafiti and ladies.

Then to Brazil where there were a whole lot more ladies but being just over the equator a whole lot less clothing. The camera man should be commended for managing the drool that was rampant.

One party we crashed (ok it cost $40) was a mad affair with lots of close body dancing , We moved like a candle flickering in the wind with our hot bodies moving in motion with the tango salsa and the woman the heat of our bodies was hot so hot .
Now onto the traffic and driving styles of the people.... Nuckin Futs ... a lot of 150cc bikes everywhere racing in and out and between the busses and cars with only mm to spare. No real road markings so if ya can fit 3 cars and 4 bikes beside each other go and do it, lets just say don't walk too close to the curb as ya might get taken out buy a bus... only saw prob about 6 real bikes in the 2 weeks we were there....eg R1 and etc but did see one of the can-am bikes.....sounded good...but dunno , not on 2 wheels.

And budgie smugglers...(speedos) the guys wore then everywhere, even andy as well...(shake head)

Definitely going back

Andy and Glen

Background and Establishment of ARCSland Racing

2010-08-05T03:07:00.000-07:00

Heat up the tyres
ARCSLAND Racing is a motosport team based in Auckland. Officially established in 2010 current rider Andy Strachan has shown steady improvements in lap times at both Pukekohe and Hampton Downs.

ARCSLAND Racing is grateful to the following companies for their support in the 2010 sponsorship year:

Check out this video