I must be MAD, Fort william on HT

[ace]

I heard about this race and it sounded so Nuts i had to enter.
A Le mans style start, then ride 1/4 up the hill, then drop back down to the chairlift and cram as many runs in as you can in 6 hours on the Fort william World cup track, piece of piss so i entered it !
I did have a chat with Frazer the bloke in charge first to make sure they would let HT in to race. He had a chat with track builders and they all seemed happy, NOT one for the newbies though. The race is on September 7 08 and is £70 to enter. No HT class but if enough enter they will create one.
Now what was a surprise was that i wasnt the first HT to ask if they could enter, and one of them is a HT manufactuer looking to launch ( unconfirmed so Frazer wouldnt say who ?? ) this could be THE race to do this year as its a one off with limited entry. Anyway the press are going up for a launch do in a few weeks so it should be everywhere in several weeks.
check out www.nofussevents.co.uk for more info.

[dirtydave]

Sounds awesome!! How you getting there? :) Will need to get Team HTN sorted soon.

[ace]

yep dave took some pics but the htn logos didnt show up, gold letters on a white background, so i am getting some new ones done in black or blue lettering should be ready early march. Already putting up with jokes on fort william, its ment to be a bit rough up there ( they ride m3s v10s ) and i might suffer from something called arm pump ??

[lew_bateman91]

ohhhh awsum . im goin 2 try and get up the in the summer hols , after my gcse's . whats the prices 4 the chairlift nd shait .
wb , lew .
when in september is tht race , sound awsum .

[Adam]

Good luck mate! Let us know how you get on.

[captain_codpiece]

Originally Posted by ace

I heard about this race and it sounded so Nuts i had to enter.
A Le mans style start, then ride 1/4 up the hill, then drop back down to the chairlift and cram as many runs in as you can in 6 hours on the Fort william World cup track, piece of piss so i entered it !
I did have a chat with Frazer the bloke in charge first to make sure they would let HT in to race. He had a chat with track builders and they all seemed happy, NOT one for the newbies though. The race is on September 7 08 and is £70 to enter. No HT class but if enough enter they will create one.
Now what was a surprise was that i wasnt the first HT to ask if they could enter, and one of them is a HT manufactuer looking to launch ( unconfirmed so Frazer wouldnt say who ?? ) this could be THE race to do this year as its a one off with limited entry. Anyway the press are going up for a launch do in a few weeks so it should be everywhere in several weeks.
check out www.nofussevents.co.uk for more info.

Well I can tell you it's us! Univega UK, but it won't be our launch, we will have already done most of the season by then......

[ace]

so lloyd are you doing it too, a race within a race perhaps ( fighting talk ) me on my secondhand parts bin special against the might of a factory rider, although if you want to base it on a breath test ( see who's still pissed ) and how many times you do the burger wagon in six hours i'am game for that, not to sure about UNIVEGA's view on that ?

[captain_codpiece]

Well I heard un-officially that the guys organising it are going to have a seperate prize for most runs done on a hardtail?!? Well up for thrashing you at burger eating but alas you would win at DUI......I am tee-total. (Feel free to take the mick, I am used to it by now......lol) Oh and as for " the might of a factory rider.........", looks like we're racing on 100mm DJ forks.......lol. Oh well. See ya at the Dragon!

[ace]

There are some quick people out there on 4" forks, but i enjoy a bit of comfort, which is something that is worrying me now. I have started thinking about setup for this race and rear tyre choice is going to be a tight one, as anything over 2.35 does'nt leave much mud clearance and mud has stopped the bike rolling before, then again it might be dry. Ratchet has given me a shagged short tracker to play with ( he ran one at cwm carn ) check the tyres pic on the cwm carn write up. We think a 2.50 should fit the blender and let me drop tyre pressure for some comfort, the other main problem i have made for myself is trying to ride UP the hill at the start ( got a wide cassette for that ) as i have put a very tall fork on without a lockdown on it, i have created a very slack bike. I think charge based there angles on a 4" fork which gives a Head angle of 67.5 and seat angle of 65.5 i guess my jacking up the front end as knocked -2 degrees off the above angles. Yeah it's fantastic and stable when you go down but trying to ride up ? a'int going to be nice. Add to that people don't reckon i will be able to do a full run without stopping ( softy owners ), well i dont know, just going to treat it like an uplift day at Rheola, and i have been warned that the midges are bigger up there than in South Wales so i get eaten alive as well.

[steve]

I've got my name down for this one as well. I can tell you now that Fort Bill will be one of the most punishing tracks you'll ever throw a HT down. The arm pump after two or three runs is mega and the rocky sections at the top really have to be riden agressively to keep the bike where you want to be going.
2.5" tyres shouldnt be a problem as the track doesnt suffer from mud at all bar a small section in the woods.
As for the up hill start, I plan to make as many places there as possible before getting beasted by the full bouncers on the first run.
Only 4 months now. Cant wait!