After spending the 2021 Hill Climb season helping a friend with his single seater I decided in August 21 to make the leap myself, I purchased this 1995 (chassis 47) Jedi MK4 with a Kawasaki ZZR1100 engine with flat slide carbs off a competitor that was hanging up his helmet due to medical reasons;
It came with a spares package, and a trailer so was a brilliant start. Once home I started to go through the car and replace a lot of bolts and sort a few wiring issues, a couple of weeks later we went to Bishopscourt for a test session, we noticed there was a running noise up at top revs and the car was running very hot after just a few laps so there was a lot of waiting around. Once home a friend who races bikes came over and set the carbs for me and tried to set the ignition system but the tool was missing.
First event was mid September 2021 at the British round of the championship at craigantlet, talk about jumping in at the deep end, the day went well bar the lack of top end grunt was really hurting me up the long straight, and then in the final run the engine bogged down and spluttered through the first corner costing me a shot at 3rd in the class, but for a first day out I was happy with 4th in class and 15th overall (of the NI championship runners)
A couple of weeks later was the NUCC sprint at Nutts Corner so I entered that to get some more seat time (I don’t enjoy sprints as much as hill climbs). In the gap between the events I had managed to get the tool for setting the ignition timing and found that it was a mile off, which was causing the slight flutter up top and wasn’t helping my top speed. So the car was much livelier at Nutts Corner, but unfortunately the bottom end of the engine let go in the final run of the day, we think this was caused by the previous owner allowing it to run extremely hot (the radiator was too small).
So back to the drawing board, do we replace the engine with another ZZR1100 or change it completely. Initially I decided to buy another ZZR1100 and get the car out again ASAP but that plan fell apart when the seller realised they had actually scrapped the engine they were going to sell me, they then offered me a full Gen1 Hayabusa kit for humble money, this turned out to have part of the crankcase missing, so back to the drawing board again and we decided that with such a small and light car a GSXR 1000 engine would maybe be the way to go, they are approx 20kg lighter than a Hayabusa, 35kg lighter than a ZZR1100, and make similar power (less torque though) to the Hayabusa. So I started to look for a 2007/2008 engine but the cost was astronomical so settled for the 2005/2006 model which is 1/3rd of the price and only slightly less powerful. Along with that I gathered up an MBE ecu along with an SBD loom and MBE digital dash so the electronics side of things would be totally plug and play.
Just before Christmas 2021 we started the strip down to sort the new engine mounts and it unfortunately didn’t go well, there was a lot of previous damage on the chassis we had to address along with doing the new engine mounts.
Once the chassis was sorted it and all the chassis parts went to IC powder coaters, the suspension components went to Nu Luk to be cerakoted and new rod ends were ordered along with a set of Quantum Racing suspension.
Rebuild time;
So at the start of April the 2021 Northern Ireland Hillclimb season started at Croft above Holywood, the car was finished the afternoon before so there was no time for any testing, first practice went well and I came down the hill to be told I was 3rd fastest, I laughed that off assuming it was in my class but no it was overall, this continued until the timed runs where I ended up 5th overall and 2nd in class, talk about beginners luck, but the car was utterly brilliant and inspired so much confidence.
Once home I gave the car a clean, a bolt check, fluids level check and sorted the gear shift lever for the next round which was on Saturday past at Craigantlet, unfortunately rain was the name of the day, having never driven the car in the wet I was very nervous, first practice was wet but not really wet so I went out on slicks, then the rest of the day was on cut slicks as moulded wets are not available in my size, but the car performed really well and ended up 4th out of the Northern Ireland runners and 1st in class.
The next round is in 2 weeks at Drumhorc near Banbridge so really looking forward to that.
It came with a spares package, and a trailer so was a brilliant start. Once home I started to go through the car and replace a lot of bolts and sort a few wiring issues, a couple of weeks later we went to Bishopscourt for a test session, we noticed there was a running noise up at top revs and the car was running very hot after just a few laps so there was a lot of waiting around. Once home a friend who races bikes came over and set the carbs for me and tried to set the ignition system but the tool was missing.
First event was mid September 2021 at the British round of the championship at craigantlet, talk about jumping in at the deep end, the day went well bar the lack of top end grunt was really hurting me up the long straight, and then in the final run the engine bogged down and spluttered through the first corner costing me a shot at 3rd in the class, but for a first day out I was happy with 4th in class and 15th overall (of the NI championship runners)
A couple of weeks later was the NUCC sprint at Nutts Corner so I entered that to get some more seat time (I don’t enjoy sprints as much as hill climbs). In the gap between the events I had managed to get the tool for setting the ignition timing and found that it was a mile off, which was causing the slight flutter up top and wasn’t helping my top speed. So the car was much livelier at Nutts Corner, but unfortunately the bottom end of the engine let go in the final run of the day, we think this was caused by the previous owner allowing it to run extremely hot (the radiator was too small).
So back to the drawing board, do we replace the engine with another ZZR1100 or change it completely. Initially I decided to buy another ZZR1100 and get the car out again ASAP but that plan fell apart when the seller realised they had actually scrapped the engine they were going to sell me, they then offered me a full Gen1 Hayabusa kit for humble money, this turned out to have part of the crankcase missing, so back to the drawing board again and we decided that with such a small and light car a GSXR 1000 engine would maybe be the way to go, they are approx 20kg lighter than a Hayabusa, 35kg lighter than a ZZR1100, and make similar power (less torque though) to the Hayabusa. So I started to look for a 2007/2008 engine but the cost was astronomical so settled for the 2005/2006 model which is 1/3rd of the price and only slightly less powerful. Along with that I gathered up an MBE ecu along with an SBD loom and MBE digital dash so the electronics side of things would be totally plug and play.
Just before Christmas 2021 we started the strip down to sort the new engine mounts and it unfortunately didn’t go well, there was a lot of previous damage on the chassis we had to address along with doing the new engine mounts.
Once the chassis was sorted it and all the chassis parts went to IC powder coaters, the suspension components went to Nu Luk to be cerakoted and new rod ends were ordered along with a set of Quantum Racing suspension.
Rebuild time;
So at the start of April the 2021 Northern Ireland Hillclimb season started at Croft above Holywood, the car was finished the afternoon before so there was no time for any testing, first practice went well and I came down the hill to be told I was 3rd fastest, I laughed that off assuming it was in my class but no it was overall, this continued until the timed runs where I ended up 5th overall and 2nd in class, talk about beginners luck, but the car was utterly brilliant and inspired so much confidence.
Once home I gave the car a clean, a bolt check, fluids level check and sorted the gear shift lever for the next round which was on Saturday past at Craigantlet, unfortunately rain was the name of the day, having never driven the car in the wet I was very nervous, first practice was wet but not really wet so I went out on slicks, then the rest of the day was on cut slicks as moulded wets are not available in my size, but the car performed really well and ended up 4th out of the Northern Ireland runners and 1st in class.
The next round is in 2 weeks at Drumhorc near Banbridge so really looking forward to that.
