24 Hour Reliability Trial July 2013

[tripodtiger]

Lap 4, second last competitive.  They've got about 20 minutes from here until the chequered flag.  But before they get that flag, they have to make sure that everything fitted to the bike is working (or lose points) and that everything that should be fitted is still there - it has to still be road legal.  Again, if it's not road legal then they incur big points.












Hmm, looks like I haven't finished uploading photos.

Youmay think that all the drama was on the competitive stages.  Given the conditions, you'd be wrong.  The public road transport sections were really chopped up at places.   The sidecars dealt with that without a drama. Lots of the solo riders fell off on the transports, which aside from having mud patches 8" deep & lots of standing water, the roads wound this way & that AND there are lots of spectators moving between competitives to catch up with 'their' rider.  How many riders?  First doutfit was away at 11am.  Last solo was after 3pm.

Great event.  This and the Mac Towns rally sort of ties up July for me.

[tripodtiger]

Just fast!








Photography was very hit  miss.  Auto focus wasn't working, so I was pre-focusing on the grass or arrows or mud, then trying to pan & release the shutter when they got to the correct spot.




The 550 again - that head light!  I think I almost like the way this turned out.  It's still a colour photo, not monocrhrome.

[tripodtiger]

The big girl.  Not a sharp shot, but I reckon it captures the action.  And the rider's eyes are  n e a r l y in focus.


This is another acquaintence.  Fred has done something like 20+ 24s.  This is a TT600 engine shoehorned into a flash Mefo chassis that was designed to take the Maico 700 2 stroke engine.  Fortunately, Fred is an alloy welder.  They finished too.



Into the night


This pair (lady in the sidecar) asked if they could have a print from this photo.  I wasquite chuffed.  I just sent them the file. I hope it enlarges wellenough for them.


Taswegians hitting it as they exit the control.  They finished too.  Bloody long trek to score a DNF.


Members of a range of Clubs man the controls for the full race.  This is the Keynton control.  There is a clock adjacent to the desk, the rider has an 'out' time for each competitive.  One way of incurring points is to not be 'in' at the end control of that competitive by the correct time.  eg, they may have 6 minutes to complete a competitive stage.


I have no idea of all of the rules.

The Kato 950 & Aprilia 550 were like this the whole time.  I think the 550 was having a few dramas -perhaps with over heating due to mud? but they were both there at the end.

[tripodtiger]

I went to this again this year.  Not XS related but this is just an awesome event. I drove over, towing a Tiger 900 to deliver to my mate in Adelaide.

I basically just go to watch the sidecars.
Wet without being too wet.  Not so cold.

GSXR750 in a road trials sidecar.  It didn't finish.




Kato 950.  'The big girl' indeed.

Way cool 

First lap.  An acquaintance, who was racing with his son, didn't even get this far.  His son (passenger) over balanced & blew out his knee in the 3rd competitive section.  They packed up and got on the turps.





A pair of women. They finished.


They recovered from this, without even stopping.

(to change their undies)





This is an Aprilia 550. The headlight (LED bar) was so bright that every time I tried to photograph it, the shutter speed dropped and it came out underexposed.