Sepang International Circuit changes

Following February's MotoGP test, the Sepang International Circuit underwent a complete resurfacing. 

But the changes made to the venue, which is hosting the Malaysian World Superbike round this weekend, went far beyond simply replacing the asphalt. 

Dromo, the circuit design company headed by Jarno Zaffelli, have also made subtle but significant modifications to nine sections of the circuit: Turn 1, Turn 2, Turn 3, Turn 4, Turns 5-6, Turns 7-8, Turn 9, Turns 13-14 and Turn 15. 

Immediately after the first World Superbike session here at Sepang, Crash.net spoke to Zaffelli about the main areas that have been altered, and why. 

“It's always exciting, the first time people ride on a track we've worked on. Especially when we've only just finished, because for example with Termas de Rio Hondo [Argentina's MotoGP venue] we finished two years before the first race. We finished the asphalt here on April 23,” Zaffelli said. 

“It seems the riders are enjoining the new asphalt. I went out to watch all the lines in FP1 and it was a mess! Everybody taking different lines. That's good. It means it is challenging.” 

The Italian was clear that the changes to Turn 15, the final hairpin, were the most significant. 

Turn 15 changes at Sepang. Red new design, green old asphalt.

“The biggest change for the riders, other than the change of asphalt, is Turn 15. With the original shape water would collect on both the entry and exit of the corner. 

“So to remove the water we have made a big camber change on the inside of the corner. There is now a 1m height difference from the old kerb compared to the new kerb. And to make it more interesting and challenging for the riders, the whole corner also rises towards the exit, like going uphill. 

“In the picture you can see how the circuit was before (green) and after (red). So the whole track is flat on entry, then you have the camber change - falling away from the inside - while at the same time the track is starting to rise. 

“The racing line is now completely different. Before they would hug the kerb on the inside, like a traditional racing line, but now if you do that the front will feel like it is going to close on the negative camber. 

“So you have to try to go wide on entry, stay where the track is more flat, and then cut back and make more of a straight-line on the exit. But if you are wider it invites somebody to try to pass you on the inside. So the question is do you want to be fast, or do you want to keep your position? 

“The corner will be safer because there is less chance of them losing the front just as they start to enter the corner. Now they are more likely to lose the front n the apex area, which is the slowest part of the corner. Also the riders can run wide on the entry and should not lose too much time. 

“But the changes have also slowed down the corner as a whole, which in turn means that the top speed on the main straight is slower. We needed to slow down the speed on the main straight because the run-off cannot be extended in Turn 1 and they are going a bit too fast now, every year the speed rises. 

“In FP1 you can see the top speed was 300km/h and before it was 308km/h. But the best lap time is exactly the same as in FP1 last year. This is because all of the other camber changes, in the other corners, have been to add positive camber. So they are a bit faster than before. 

“Turn 15 is the only corner that has been made slower, because it is not possible to carry the same corner speed due to the camber change. Also now they already have their elbow down on the inside of the corner, because of the camber, so they cannot lean the bike over any more. 

“So for the fans, motorcycles or cars, Turn 15 is the place to watch the races I would say. Which is perfect because it is close to the main grandstands. Also in the case of a wet race, the racing line should not have any puddles now, so there is a good chance of passing even in the wet.” 

The other main area for overtaking is the braking area into Turn 9. 

“Now there is camber around the corner, meaning you can brake less and push more. We wanted to give the riders more confidence to overtake because it is less easy to lose the front," Zaffelli said. “Turn 9 is also the place where I expect the most crashes at this track, followed by Turn 15, so we should have reduced the crashes by making these changes.” 

A further noticeable modification is to Turn 5, the quick left-hand corner behind the pits (the place where James Toseland had a huge testing accident at Tech 3 Yamaha). 

“T5 is the only fast corner on the left side. So there's a problem with balancing the tyre wear and the set-up of the bike or car. Normally they destroy the right hand side of the tyre a long time before the left. Turn 5 now has 200% more camber, exactly twice the previous amount.” 

The width of the circuit is a constant 16m, meaning the white line on the outside of places such as Turn 1 and 15 has been moved inwards. The asphalt now beyond the white line, previously part of the track, now acts as part of the run--off area. 

“Before it was designed to be wider 'so they can make an overtake'. No! It is not the width of the track that allows you to overtake. Now it is 16m wide everywhere and the riders or drivers feel more speed.” 

The full list of changes can be seen below. 


Taken from Crash.net no copyright infringement intended.

Why I tested a Tesla Model S

Yes that is right, I finally had my hands and feet on a really nice electric vehicle. I am going to explain how/ why I did it.

Why ? 
To start with, you might ask, does this guy owns 95k to pay for a new electric car? I answer: obviously no.. but...
It all started from the intricate passion for 2 and 4 wheel vehicles and if you are reading this post, most likely you are also a Petrol Head, so you will get my point, if you aren't just continue reading and you will understand.

What do we Petrol Heads(PH) have in common here?
PH's to my understanding and in general they like raw power, Torque peaks, the smell of burning oil and the nice pops the exaust will provide if you are ridding an at least decent sports car/motorcycle, (even my Civic Type R pops), Petrol Heads need to be convinced (like I was today) that the Electric Future reserves something extremely special for them, and the term Petrol Head will die with pride, once the first group of these people understand that the torque generated by an electric vehicle is amazingly fast and immediately rewarding.

So in order to avoid all of that confusion, I already convinced myself that this transition is going to be faster than we think and that I need to try a decent electric vehicle before I am obligated to change :D

How I managed to do this Test Drive?
Very simple, very easy over the internet on the Tesla website, did they asked me for anything in advance , no nothing at all, did they judge me or my income? no absolutely not, in fact I think I was better treated just because I arrived on my bike :D

The Test Drive:
As I enter the Tesla Design Studio, I dropped my jaw, again , the future is here, open space offices with a futuristic theme and everything very white, kind of like a Laboratory.

The reception lady was extremely friendly, I presented myself and she asked me to have a look around, that the Test Drive Instructor would be with me very soon, so I peaked a bit at the offices and the model cars and model cut throughs ( that I love).

Fabio (the instructor) arrived and he immediately sympathized with me, asked me for my drivers license etc, and the first question was, so why are you here to do the Test drive? he gave me options, and I was honest, explained that it was option 2 for the experience of an electric vehicle and that this would be kind of like a dream come true of mine, being a Petrol head and all, so he stopped me right there and said: I can relate to that, being a former race track instructor and all.
Well you can imagine our conversation was a very pleasant one, (if you dont get it, its like if you asked someone if they like music and they mention your favorite band, hours of talking right ?)

To start with we had a big overview of the interior, all the gizmos on the car and on the software it self.. faster than I thought Fabio said lets be creepin out of here and we were, (rolling slowly, same effect as in an automatic car when on D and you release the brake, the car starts to drive slowly )

After only about 5 minutes driving this car I was utterly mesmerized with the fact that the car has no sound, isolation is also very effective and this comment might sound obvious, however not that obvious, you only understand it, when you experience it for your self, the awkwardness of no sound and insane amounts of power is mind blowing (at least for me) keep in mind after you ride the Tesla it might lead to embarrassment when returning to your combustion motorized vehicle, you will realize how much db's that engine is producing, and how "annoying" it really is.

A very good way to understand how this vehicle will affect the world as we know it, is the Auto Pilot Technology, It may sound Cliche but that is exactly what Tesla achieved with its auto pilot, it brought the future into the present, trust me, when I say that a car driving by itself simply by means of a Radar some brilliant software and 4 HD camera's  looking at vehicles and road markings is something out of Total Recall.

i.e: if you have auto pilot on and cruise control set at 90kms/h and you are driving on a highway and suddenly there is traffic, the car will automatically stop, resume speed according to the vehicle in front. the system is constantly analyzing cars and road markings, you can even adjust in a very simple way, how far you want the car to stop from the front automobile. If you are driving around in the highway with AP on, if all ok, you can just put your blinker to the left and the car will automatically cross the lane to the other side. Ok all of these systems are still on Beta version, but they are amazing to see in action, in fact my test drive was something out of a magazine, I felt like I had a complete overview of the car with an amazing Intructor, I managed to push the accelarator really hard and that instant torque of 400+ hp is unimaginable (I ride motorcycles, so I am used to fast acceleration, but nothing like a 2ton vehicle accelerating extremelly fast).

Furthermore this car has so many tunable upgradable and customizable options, that believe me you will be finding out how awesome it really is for at least the first year, oh yeah that and the fact that it has the possibility to have Internet hot spot (with a sim card, the first 4 years are paid by tesla it self) where you will receive your vehicle automatic updates, the updates can change a lot of thingsm they can even be reflected on the way the car acts or a new featureon the car, I will give you an example, the car has a Key but it doens require the key to be turned on , so ita a wireless donlge thingy, if you exit the vehicle, the dongle goes out of range and the vehicle locks himself up automatically, Tesla released an update where if you stop the car in a red light and the doors are unlocked, you can ask the car to lock it automatically, you can also select wich doors, following this mentality, imagine the rest of the things that could be upgraded..

To fully charge the battery, In Amsterdam at night, it costs around 18euros for a full charge.
Authonomy is around 500kms (depending on how you drive it)
Comfort is out of this world ! amazingly comfortable, I would say at the same level as a BMW 7 series.
Price I dont want to talk about it ;) (its in fact the only down side)
Fun factor - forget it, this car does it all, you can drift it if you want to, you can do the Nurburgring at high speed like if you were driving a videogame, because another top feature of this car is its amazingly good 4 wheel drive system (also customizable)

My Conclusion:
The world is changing, and for Petrol Heads, this change is difficult, this affects the pillars of our passion, it also messes around with society and it affects the energy sector and the world as we know it today. So please consider all of these before you start scratching other peoples cars with offensive words.

CCT Cam Chain Tensioners explained

Essentially the most common design used today consists of a spring driven worm mechanism and sector type set up. Normally is composed of a housing that bolts to the cylinder in such a way as to bring the plunger of the tensioner to bear on a swinging tensioner shoe, as in the picture below. The plunger itself has an internal screw gear cut into it, and is keyed to the housing so that it cannot rotate along its length. A torsion coil spring is anchored to the housing and drives a shaft cut with a worm gear the threads into the plunger. This is the part that you turn to release tension when servicing.

When slack appears in the chain, the spring is able to rotate the internal shaft steplessly until the slack is gone, but if the chain tries to push back on the plunger, it cannot do so any more than you can pull a bolt out of a threaded hole without turning it; worm gears can't be back driven. Simple.



Other designs include simple spring loaded arms or plungers, often with ratchets to prevent pushback, some driven by hydraulic pressure from the engine oil pump, etc. That is the case of my Yamaha Tracer CCT, Look at the picture below. A down side of these spring loaded arm CCT's actuated by oil, is that they are designed to work with a certain oil pressure, so if by choice you change the oil of your motorcycle keep this in mind, as it can lead to premature failure.

So you read this article, and you thought, ok so how do I know my CCT failed? well most likely you will start noticing a tick from the side/back of your engine (normally where CCT are installed) and in more extreme cases the rattling will be too much, because the chain will have more slack than necessary and will make the chain guides hit the side of the block (if too much chain guides can brake, no one wants that! ), this guide hitting the block will be making all kinds of "interesting" noises. Do not panic though, only reason to panic is in case you chain skips a tooth, if it does, believe me! you will notice immediately causing sweats / panic and a immediate loss of capital.

So your motorbike has a tick or sounds like an old school Ducati, even though you don't have a dry clutch ?

Below is a small DIY that I took from FZ09.org Forum:

First thing to do is to unwrap your APE CCT and make sure the adjuster goes in and out freely (4mm allen). Then unwind the adjuster all the way to allow it to go in the engine and clear the frame.

1. Remove the LH side engine case cap using a 14mm allen socket (same as front wheel) and remove the 6mm bolt with a 5mm allen. A 19mm socket is required to turn the engine over CCW. Turn until the timing marks line up inside the small hole




2. Use some tape to protect the frame over the CCT. First remove the inner bolt, toward the middle of the engine. 



3. Here I will suggest you to go an extra step. Removing the RH side cover will make sure the chain doesn't skip a tooth and it will make it much easier to adjust the chain. I use my plier and some duct tape on the tip of the pliers to gently wedge between the engine case and the CCT slider. 




4. You can now remove the last bolt from the CCT.

5. It is now time to slide your new CCT In. Make sure the adjuster is all the way out. It won't go it if not all the way out. You can use the 2 bolts to hold the gasket in place then make sure the adjuster sit against the engine properly and start the bolts by hand and tight them up. 



Our bike are relatively new now so the chain should not be stretch too much with a lot of variation. 

All you have left is to bring the jam nut against the adjuster and tight it up. Make sure the adjuster do not move. Keep holding the adjuster with the allen key. 

There are also aftermarket Manual Cam Chain Tensioners for sale (below ACT version), these allow you to set the slack of your timing chain manually, keep in mind Automatic Cam chain tensioners tend to fail over time, so most likely you will end up doing this job yourself. To do this, follow exactly the same steps as showed before, the main difference being that you would need to get a feel for the slack of your timing chain, which is not the easiest thing in the world for a newbie or a mechanics savvy to do, without previous advises.