Newsletter NovaBike Racing Team Delft

16th of May 2011

Last month was characterized by the races. We

raced on Spa-Francorchamps and last weekend

we also raced on Assen. Besides the fine tuning

and testing of NovaBike01 we are busy with the

building of NovaBike02. In this newsletter you

find a report of the race at Spa-Francorchamps

and Assen. Furthermore this newsletter

contains an update of the NovaBike02 progress

and a part by a team member.

We want to thank all our sponsors for the financial, material and immaterial support.

Follow NovaBike also on Facebook, Twitter and

YouTube!

Our next newsletter will appear on Monday the

4th of July.

Race weekend at Spa-Francorchamps

On Saturday the 23rd and Sunday the 24th of

April the first races of the season took place for

NovaBike, on Spa-Francorchamps. Spa-

Francorchamps is famous for his relief richness

and integration in the environment, with a lot

of famous corners such as Eau Rouge (according

to many the most beautiful corner on a circuit

in the world) and a total length of more than 7

kilometers it promised to be an awesome race

weekend. On Saturday we managed to get a

16th starting position in the first qualification.

During the second qualification we drove 'safe'

whilst other riders began to drive more on the

edge. Hereby our best time was good for a 21st

starting position. Sunday we did the last

adjustments to the bike such as the elevation of

the saddle and the adaptation of the

windscreen for an optimal sight on the

straights. We constantly monitored the

temperatures of the tires, oil and water. The

last minutes before the start of the race slowly

ticked away on the clock in camp NovaBike.

Suddenly the paddock came to life; teams

started their engines, riders jumped on their

bikes and raced towards the pit lane. After a

final check NovaBike01 was started and Nick

flew towards the pit lane. The team ran after

the bike with the starting battery, the tire

warmers and the bike standard. In the pit lane

the tire warmers were quickly mounted to keep

the tires at temperature. The sign was given; all

engines fired up, in the pit lane everyone ran in

all directions causing a chaos. Riders managed

to get out of the crowd to start the warm up

lap. The riders came across the last corner and

placed themselves on their starting positions,

whilst keeping the engines revved, waiting for

the starting sign. Nick started good and

managed to keep up good with the others. The

rest of the team was looking from above in the

F1 lodge at the pit lane. After the first lap, Nick

came by with an incredible speed. We went

quickly inside to check the times! Every lap Nick

managed to go about one second faster and he

even overtook some other riders. The lap

before the final lap we were on the 18th

position. In the lodge the team was monitoring

the time; 10 seconds too late and still no

NovaBike in the last corner, something was

wrong... The bike was dropped at the paddock;

the engine fell off whilst accelerating out of a

corner. Why this happened is still the question

since the engine functioned in the paddock

after the race. Battery level, fuel, temperatures,

everything was OK. Although it's a pity we

couldn't finish we are contented about the first

race weekend; we managed to race good and

Nick has the feeling of the NovaBike back!

Raceweekend at TT circuit Assen On Friday the 13th of May the team set off to

Assen to race the 32nd International Ducati

Clubraces. The supermono class would race two

races which both counted for the European

Championship. 49 riders from 14 countries; a

very popular event for the supermono class!

After arrival the bike was unloaded and

prepared for the qualifications. We decided to

replace the spring of the rear shock absorber

because the original spring was too stiff. To do

so we needed some kind of shock absorber-

press in order to remove the spring. Luckily the

team of Evert van de Beek helped us with

replacing the spring, many thanks for that!

For Saturday two qualifications were scheduled.

At dawn, before the first qualification, it started

to rain. The bike was equipped with slicks and

there wasn't any time left to change the tires.

Unfortunately we had to skip the first

qualification. The second qualification, the

weather had cleared up and we could race on

slicks. It was a short session with much delays

on the track, this resulted in three to four laps

where Nick could set a good time. Our fastest

lap time of 2.02 was good for a 31st starting

position. Luckily it was dry on Sunday when the

supermono's started at 11 A.M. The start was

good and Nick was able to overtake a lot of

riders. We came over the finish 18th with a

fastest lap time of 1.59.2. So there was room

for improvement! With good hope, the bike was

prepared for the second race. The second race,

later on that same day, was also dry and also

here Nick had a good start. The engine started

to hold and came by stuttering each lap. The

engine also had some small stuttering problems

during the first race, unfortunately it became

much worse during the second race. We

finished 20th with a slightly faster fastest lap

time of 1.59.0, due to the stuttering engine we

were not able to do any faster.

We started two races and also finished them,

keeping the bike upright in sometimes tricky

conditions, still, in a sportive point of view, not

as wished. With a good running engine and

some more training time we could have been

riding much more up front. The potential the

engine has still is not optimally used and until

that is achieved we cannot be satisfied. We

became more experienced during the weekend

and things like the adjusting of the spring have

proven to be beneficial. The engine problems

will be solved by changing the injection and

maybe we will install some faster parts if time

allows. For the next race in Oss we will do

everything to perform better!

Update NovaBike02 Progress

Hardware: All preparations for the fabrication

of the high-grade Reynolds steel frame are

done. The headset and all bushings are milled.

This week the fabrication of the new frame

starts. Besides, the final design of the brake-

shifting set for NovaBike02 was presented,

where after the technical drawings were

distributed for fabrication amongst the team

members. These parts are mostly finished, in

this way the improvements on the engine in the

dummy-frame of NovaBike02 can start as soon

as possible. Due to a defect in the triple clamp

this part was repaired, thanks to the effort of

the workshop associates from the faculty of

Industrial Design. Also a spare triple clamp was

milled from tough 7075-T6 aerospace

aluminum.

Bodywork: Small imperfections of the

bodywork will be removed. After this it will be

coated and painted in a color pattern and

sponsor stickers will be applied.

Engine: The high compression piston from PMI

has arrived; a masterpiece! With an increase in

compression ratio from 11.8:1 to 14:1, it

promises to get a lot more power out of the

engine. The camsync sensor was mounted. This

sensor determines the position of the

crankshaft, for the new injection system this

sensor is necessary.

Teammember: Wolf Cavens

I am Wolf Cavens, second year student

aerospace engineering and the PR of the

NovaBike Racing Team Delft fills my agenda

quiet well. The spark struck me last year; a

roommate (who was active in the team at that

time) his enthusiasm didn't let me cold. Within

the team I am active as team management. My

task consists of maintaining the contact with

our relations and informing them (by, for

example, writing the monthly newsletter) and

to promote the team (by means of articles in

magazines and other publications).

Furthermore, I also took responsibility of one

part, the fuel tank, which is mounted

underneath the engine block to make space

above it for the airbox, at the place where, at

conventional bikes, the fuel tank is mounted.

The fuel tank from high density polyethylene,

HDPE in short, is made by two companies;

Polymess and BPC Plastics. Polymess made the

moulds for the tank and by means of vacuum

forming the upper and lower half of the tank

were formed. This two halfs were then welded

together by BPC and also equipped with a cap,

brackets and an internal barrier. The primimg of

the bio-ethanol goes through a brass tube. An

inline fuel pump primes the fuel and delivers

the required pressure for the injectors. To

guarantee a good start of the team next year I

am busy with promoting our team amongst

students within the Delft University (for new

team members) and within the national media

(to attract new sponsors). I am very content

about last year; working long nights on the bike

in the workshop, working long night at home

writing, and translating, the newsletters, the

great experiences on a motorfair in Utrecht or

on a race weekend. That's why you will see me

appear again on the team photo next year. Will

you again be reading my pen? Only time will

tell...

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HartgersRadiateurenZutphen

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