NovaBike Newsletter - NOVEMBER 2012
2 - NovaBike Newsletter: November 2012
Foreword
In this edition: NovaBike04
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British Superbikes
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Race of the Champions
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The new team of NovaBike
held in Assen for the first time. Last race of the season, how did it go...
Sponsors in the spotlight
Short presentation of two of our partners/suppliers.
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In this edition the newest teammembers will briefly introduce itself and their goals.
The last two races, being the British Superbikes event and the Race of the Champions, will also be covered. We would like to thank all the sponsors for their support and trust in NovaBike during this season! In terms of raceresults this was not exactly a
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satifying year.
However, as a (student) team
we have learned a lot this season and gained extremely
valuable
(hands-on)
experience.
With full motivation and eagerness we are hoping to see you again next season! Follow our progress on Facebook,Twitter and Youtube!
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Novabike04
A new team, a new bike and the same goal: winning!
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In early 2012 the NovaBike03 team started to recruit new teammembers for the Novabike04 team, which was to start as the new academic year began in September 2012. Interest drinks were held at the D:DreamHall, where the offices and the workshop of NovaBike are located. There was a overwhelming turnout and the NovaBike03 had to carefully make a selection out of the many applicants, resulting in the new NovaBike04 team. As the name implies this is already the fourth team of NovaBike and it’s now their turn to make boost NovaBike to a higher level. At the moment the NovaBike04 team consists of 24 members. Four of them are full-time members. They have put their studies on a hold and are dedicating a whole year to NovaBike. The teammanager this year is one of the full-time members. His name is Maurits Rouppe van der Voort. He is a third year student at the faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, which makes him just the man for the job! The other full-time members are Frank Vermeulen (Chief Engineer), Bastiaan Ouwerkerk (Hardware) and Joris Koudijs (Chief Electronics).
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Frank and Bastiaan both have their Bachelor of Science degree with honors (cum laude) in Mechanical Engineering. Joris is combining his minor for his study (also Mechanical Engineering) with a full-time year. With NovaBike they can apply their knowledge to practice, while also managing their departments. The rest of team consists of mixed students from various faculties of the Technical University of Delft. Studies such as Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Design and more. The whole team will be introduced soon through www.novabike.nl. With the team comes also a new bike which will be named the “NovaBike04”. The planning is that the NovaBike04 will be ready in the summer of 2013 and will be used for the last two races of that season. The other races will be raced with the NovaBike03 which will be finetuned simultaniously with the development of NovaBike04. The NovaBike03 will also be used as a testplatform for new parts for NovaBike04.
British superbikes
for the first time held at TT Assen
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From Thursday the 20th of September till Sunday the 23rd of September, the British Superbikes event was held for the very first time outside of Great Britain: at the TT-circuit in Assen. Part of the NovaBike team left on Thursday to Assen. Among them several NovaBike04 teammembers, this was to be their very first raceweekend, fortunately they were in good company with NovaBike veterans Maarten Godri, Yoeri Sigterman and some other NovaBike03 members. Although we arrived earlier than our driver for the race, John Bakker, the KNMV allowed us on the paddock making it possible to start building up the tents and settling down. After John arrived it was time for the technical inspection. Having a new exhaust system on the bike , which we hadn’t put through a sound check yet, we were a bit anxious for the inspection. Fortunately, there was nothing to worry about, as the bike passed the inspection with flying colours. The next day, Friday, we started with some adjustments on the suspension and the riding position with the help of directions of John. For the first Qualifying Practice later in the afternoon, the bike was also being subjected to a overall inspection.
Since John needed to get used to the bike, he started the QP calm and steady. After some rounds John started to pick up the pace and the laptimes began to decrease. A 1:59 lap, followed by 1:57, pushing the bike harder a laptime of 1:56 was achieved. Even a laptime of 1:55 was being set. With these laptimes on the NovaBike, John was able to keep up with other riders. On the faces of the team, while watching John driving by, a smile began to show. It was looking good and we were getting confident about a satisfying QP-round. Several rounds after setting the 1:55, John started to stop passing by. A phonecall of Yoeri Torel made clear that the bike caught fire, forcing John to jump off the bike. Thankfully John was uninjured and the only damage was to the bike. Luckily the fire was extinguished quickly by the marshalls, minimizing the damage to the bike. Analyzing the bike and the damage, it made clear that an injector let loose due to a tear in the crankcase cover, spilling bio-ethanol over the exhaust causing the fire. Since the race was on the next day (Saturday), the teammembers began to feel the pressure to get the bike up and running again. Having spare parts brought in from the workshop in back in Delft, the
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team began to work on the bike. It was clear that this would be an all-nighter. Maarten Godri managed to rebuild the whole wiring harness in one night and also Yoeri Sigterman did not get much sleep. The next morning (Saturday) the NovaBike was roaring again. After passing the technical inspection the team rushed to get the bike ready for Race 1. Unfortunately, the bike didnt run smooth and the enginepower began to drop. John left the race after one round and entered the pitlane.
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In the run-up to the Race 2 later that afternoon, the team worked hard on the enginemapping to get the performance back to normal values. While the engine problems were mostly solved, another problem arose. The fueltank was scraping against the airbox and as a result the tank was leaking minimally. Considering what happened during practice, the team decided to renounce Race 2.
Race of the champions final race of the season » The last race of the season was held
on 6 and 7 October: The Race of the Champions (RotC). In the weeks before the RotC, the NovaBike was completely disassembled. The parts were cleaned, checked (repaired or replaced if necessary). Finally, the bike was assembled back together and tested on the dyno. The team and the bike were ready for the race! The team left on Friday to the TT-circuit in Assen. Our rider for the weekend, Ricardo van Duijn, was scheduled to arrive a day later. Although the rider needs to be present for the technical inspection, the KNMV made an exception for NovaBike. The inspection was passed without any problems. Saturday. Qualifying Practice day! The rain was pouring down when the teammembers woke up. It was going to be a wet QP round. The bike was fitted with the rain tires and adjusted to Ricardo’s wishes. Since Ricardo was considerably shorter and less heavy then the other riders that have been on the NovaBike, there were quite some adjustments to be made. The first Qualifying Practice went smoothly! In the first laps, Ricardo needed to get used to bike. He managed to get 10 laps out of the first wet QP with a best time of 2:14:565, good for a third position. The second Qualifying Practice was going to be on a dry track. The tires were changed accordingly and some adjustments on the suspension were made
based on the feedback of Ricardo after the first QP. Ricardo started QP2 with high hopes of the team. It didn’t take long before the hopes were fullfilled with a NovaBike laprecord on the TT-circuit of 1:53:358! There was a moment where the team stressed out a bit. Ricardo stopped passing by, but fortunately this was due to a stalled engine while shifting from 5th to the 6th gear. Ricardo managed to secure a third position on the NovaBike. He was very pleased with the way the NovaBike handled. The only complaint was some chatter. Some adjustments in the enginemapping were made to make sure the engine doesn’t stall again. After some good night rest, the team and Ricardo prepared for the warm-up and the race on Sunday. By arriving early at for the warm-up, NovaBike was the first one to got on the track. And what a warm-up it was! Ricardo managed to improve the NovaBike laprecord with a time of 1:52:590! Ricardo also mentioned that the chatter was gone after some adjustments to the suspension. This was going to be a promising race! Race! Ricardo had a decent start on the NovaBike and pushed the bike as fourth into the first corner. He quickly reclaimed the third position and had only two riders in front of him. Things were looking exceptionally good, until Ricardo entered the pitlane while pushing the bike. The engine stalled again and the team hurried to solve the problem.
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Yoeri Sigterman discovered that a cable from the battery to the powerregulator was broken. The bike was then rolled back to the paddock. The data was analysed from which could be concluded that the cable was already broken during the warm-up. The battery didn’t charge during that time and when the battery died, the engine died. In the following days the cause of the cable breakage was investigated. From this investigation it was clear that the breakage was a consequence of fire from the race during the British Superbikes event. Solder tin melted and creeped into the cable, making it too stiff, causing it ultimately to break.
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Race of the Champions was the last race of the season. It’s a real shame that just one small cable kept us from a promising result. This shows once more that just the smallest things can be crucial. We can however, look back at a fruitful race weekend. A new laprecord is set for NovaBike on the TT-circuit in Assen. Also the chatter is resolved. We’ll be working hard this winter to improve the reliability of the bike and finetuning it. See you on the track in the next season!
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Writers: Stefan Brone Editor: Stefan Brone Style Formatting: Stefan Brone
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