Projects
Matt wins Championship with Moore-power
Mid 2010 season, classic sidecar racer Matt Kingsmill was trailing the leading competitor in the CRMC Period 3 Class (the ‘Formula 1’ of classic sidecar racing) by a full 50 points, and his 1070cc Siebenrock had just gone bang – in a big way. Could Moorespeed help with the engine?
This was the start of a partnership that has seen Matt and his passenger Alan Bedford win the Championship on their Kingsmill Autos outfit. While the final results show that they won by a single point over the to Eddie Wright’s 1170cc Hillman Imp powered machine, they actually amassed a much greater total of points, but the rules allow the competitors to discard their worst four performances from 28 rounds.
Since Richard took on engine development, they have only suffered one mechanical mishap – and that was when Matt dropped the clutch on the start line at 8,000rpm, and the three torque straps on the flywheel exploded. That’s the consequence of having to hold the engine in gear on the start line for a long period... it all gets very hot and with the gearbox running a high overall ratio to get a speed advantage from the now much more powerful engine, which was running Moorespeed’s short skirt high compression ratio pistons and ‘long’ con-rods – plus a lot of head work and a purpose-built exhaust system. At least it proved the strength of the new heavy-duty Moorespeed clutch...
Despite strict instructions not to exceed 9,000rpm, Matt later confessed to regularly running it to 9,500rpm – and ‘in the heat of the moment’ to 10,000rpm....
“We did dozens of flat-out runs on the dyno during testing and development, plus all the racing, and it never protested – not even leaked a drop of oil. And it gave a good 10bhp more than I’ve ever had from any BMW engine, and I’ve been through a number of very expensive versions!” explained Matt. “Racing is never cheap, but by avoiding costly engine blow-ups for the second half of the season, by bills have actually come down and my performance gone up.”
Incidentally, Matt also placed second in the Belgian Championship on the same outfit.
Engine development continues!
While attending his first-ever classic sidecar race meeting, Richard fell into conversation with Jon Perkins – who was making a return to racing after a lay-off of a few years, with a very neatly engineered outfit, which included chain drive courtesy of a transfer box from an agricultural vehicle. With this, Jon was able to quickly and easily change gear ratios – but is was proving troublesome (there was no room for a cush drive) and it was handling a lot more power than it had been designed to do...
With no chance of success in the CRMC Championship, a newly-blown motor and living not far from Northampton, this seemed to be a very suitable machine on which to base future Moorespeed engine development.
And so it has proved. The chain drive system is now proving reliable, and engine power has literally doubled thanks in part to a new ignition system being added to the ‘usual’ Moorespeed power-increasing modifications, plus a number of other updates still on the ‘secret list’.
At the end-of-season Sidecar Festival held at Mallory Park, everything came together for Jon who qualified on pole position – only to learn that that his regular passenger could not stay for the actual races. He therefore ‘borrowed’ the services of a young lady Belgian sidecar passenger – and took 2nd and 3rd places! They also broke the lap record during one race (only to have it taken away again a few laps later!) and were dicing for the lead throughout against a Works-BMW powered outfit driven by a former GP competitor. No disgrace there!
“Sidecar racing is very demanding on power and torque” observed Richard. “You’ve got two people to hurl around, and there is so much grip from the rear tyre that it really tests all aspects of the engine and transmission. We have learned a great deal and are very pleased with the results, so we’ll be back next season – though I think I will decline Jon’s offer of a drive.”
Classic assault on the Tuareg
Among the 200 riders contesting the 2010 Tuareg Rallye – a week-long ‘mini Paris-Dakar’ around the mountains and deserts of Morocco - Rupert Shaw’s choice of mount really stood out. For amongst all the usual KTM and Yamaha enduro racers, he had entered on a Moorespeed BMW!
The full specification is detailed in the (excellent) BMW GS Supplement supplied with the August 2010 edition of Bike magazine, but what isn’t mentioned there is that Rupert had not actually ridden any GS before that event – other than a quick blast up the road when he picked it up from Richard’s premises. Last year he rode a Honda CFR450 in the event, but now wanted something a bit more challenging!
It was built to such a tight deadline that the day after it was set-up on the dyno it was transported to Lincoln to be fitted with desert tyres and the all-important road book, before being crated-up and transported to the start line in Spain. And not only did he finish this punishing event, but the sole damage was a broken indicator and a burned-out clutch from his exploits in the sand dunes (not helped by his lack of familiarity with the correct method of adjusting a Beemers’s clutch).
Since then, Richard has sourced and fitted a heavy duty clutch (another unique-to-Moorespeed item), and fitted the bike with a dual seat and passenger footrests for Rupert to take his girlfriend on a touring holiday around the Pyranees.
