Track Electronics

Got to love a set of flatslide carbs rattling away to themselves on the dyno especially when fitted to an R1 engine in this gorgeous Ryde chassis. We’ve built a bespoke wiring harness using an Ignitech ignition and stick coils, it started “on the button” and behaved on the dyno, the jetting was tweaked to get it out for some shakedown runs this weekend (Croft I think), then it’ll be back on the dyno to get it spot on.

So another troublesome European V-twin, this time something so rare its believed to be the only one in existence, Bimota’s Supercharged DB11VLX.

In 2012 Bimota had an idea to supercharge their Ducati 1198 engined DB11, its believed 2 were built but only this one survived but was forgotten about until a couple of years ago where it was discovered albeit missing a load of bits.

We first saw it early last year when the Bimota logo’s AIM dash/ logger needed wiring/ configuring, a simple job complicated by their being no workshop manuals or wiring diagrams as the bike never made it to production, for example there was no oil pressure warning as the space where the switch should fit was taken up by the supercharger hardware, we had an adaptor fabricated into the oil lines & a motorsport spec 10 bar sensor fitted so we don’t just have a warning but actual oil pressure in psi & bar.

With the dash working it was back to BSD in Peterborough where on the dyno it was obvious the bike had mechanical issues, they rebuilt the engine but soon realised the bikes standard Athena ECU & a Power Commander weren’t going to cut it in order to get it running properly, so back to us for a solution.

We’ve fitted an SCS Delta 900 ECU, then mapped each cylinder & finished by installing two wideband lambda sensors & are running it on close loop fueling to keep everything safe. The new ECU required a complete rewire but not to look new as the owner wanted it “to still look like a 10 year old prototype”.

The Delta 900 with it's CAN protocol will “talk” directly with the AIM dash so every sensor the ECU uses we can monitor/ log, on the dyno it became clear the cause of the first engines issue were high intake air temperatures (an unwanted by-product of compressing the intake air), after only a couple of ¾ throttle dyno runs the intake air temps rise to 80 degrees and keep going, we’ve had to offset this with very safe high load fueling and ignition timing.

Ideally the bike needs a cooler for the charge air but there is simply no space and it would take the bike away from what Bimota originally intended, rumour has it that they did get this one running, it did a couple of laps of the Milan ring road but surged, stalled, wouldn’t restart and was generally horrible to ride, this bike now starts hot or cold, idles & rides beautifully, perfect for the odd spin out or parade lap.

It's been our most challenging project but finally it's as good as it's going to get.

Lurking in the workshop since October a gorgeous Aprilia Mille Gen 1, it came to us with numerous running issues after a “new”harness had been built by someone who probably should not be allowed near bike wiring!
We identified a number of faults (Engine Temp circuit wired incorrectly/ Crank sensor ground wired through the sidestand switch!! and the MAP sensor was faulty as it was also wired incorrectly), this with other issues meant a new harness was the most economical fix.
There’s not enough space to fit a complete harness between the engine & frame rails so we split it down the right side then re-terminated using Deutche DTM & DT connectors, over the years a lot of bits had been altered from standard so the new wiring needed changing to match, these included the fuel pump, reg/rect, Translogic dash, Cordona QS, Power Commander (both had been hard wired), indicators & flasher relay.
Finally onto the dyno, the fueling looks good but individual cylinder mapping was way different, we re-mapped each cylinder ending up with a very healthy 138bhp, a good improvement on the standard bike but then this one does have the 1102cc conversion.

A variety of machines on the dyno last week, Monday a Kwacka H2SX mapped on Woolich Racing software, Tuesday morning a cracking little Aprilia RS50 for a check runs post engine rebuild then in the afternoon and Wednesday/ Thursday a Ryde sidecar with KTM890 for wiring & mapping then to finish the week a Husky 701 Enduro mapped using the Rapid Bike fueling module.

A bit of nostalgia on the dyno this morning, Simon Finlay’s beautiful Magnum 2 in for some carb setup, needles raised and down on the main jets have got it almost there, smaller mains on there way then it should be spot on.

The usual mix of bike engines madness through the workshop…
Empire Hillclimb car running a GSXR1000K8 engine, in for complete wiring.
Sidecar running a KTM890 in for wiring & dyno setup.
The GSXR1000 & S1000XR were both in for dyno setup using Woolich Racing ECU software.

So why do we do it, practice week & race day 1 bought 7 days of long hours, dyno testing, late nights finding solutions, cancelled practices, iffy weather (not to much this year), the ferry! & grandstand food prices!!
But when it comes together you almost forget about the bad bits…so here’s practice week with Dave Molyneux, Daryl Gibson & their KTM 890 sidecar running our electronics package comprising an SCS Delta 700 ECU with our custom wiring.

: Sunday Newcomers lap Dave leading them round, did that lap but overheated & had a starting issue, playing safe we replaced the ECU & relays, did some alterations to the wiring layout and charging system & after that electrically/ electronically all was good. (further testing of the removed fuel pump relay found it was faulty dropping 3 volts across the contacts so was most likely the cause of our initial issues)
: Monday Sidecar practice cancelled due to solo rider crash.
: Tuesday Sidecar practice cancelled due solo rider crash.
: Wednesday, overheated from Sulby but got a lap in.
: Thursday, overheated from Ramsey but got a lap in.
: Friday. temps all good, bike running well with fueling/ ignition etc tweaked, still more to come but that’s it were out of practice time.
: Saturday Race 1 red flagged 1st lap.

It’s my first time working with a sidecar at the TT, got to say it’s opened my eyes to the engineering & ingenuity these guys & girls employ to get the best from their outfits to say nothing of the skills/ guts of the competitors.

Check out the pic of Dave's data coming out of Union Mills on the run to Greeba, full throttle for almost 80 seconds apart from a small back off through Ballagary (well it was only practice!!), circled in yellow you can see the rpm momentarily "spike" as the rear goes light cresting the hill at Highlander.

The rescheduled Sidecar Race 1 starts tomorrow at 1:10pm tomorrow, best wishes to everyone for race week.

Finally, may I add our condolences to Mark Purslow & Olivier Lavorel's family & friends and wish César Chanel & Dave Moffitt best wishes on their recovery's.

So after probably our busiest few months ever TT2022 starts here, Hoping for a quiet time working with Dave Molyneux & his KTM 890 engined sidecar, it’s the first time on the roads for this machine so no doubt they’ll be some late nights!!, additionally at least 3 other sidecars & 9 solo’s at this TT have been through the workshop for a combination of wiring & dyno work, fingers crossed for them & everyone competing.

Been a bit of a mad rush this one but that's one Kawasaki Superstock EWC (world endurance bike) pretty much ready to go.....lighting wiring looms built by Track Electronics were a work of art as per usual 👌👍