I could go and race
Faith’s 450 with no
changes to the 'bar,
suspension or chassis
SPANNER MAN SPEAKS
LEE HOGAN: How quickly did Gavin get back into the groove in
Australia before round one?
BLAIR MEYER: Both Gavin and Jimmy flew in five days before
round one of the championship so our main goal was to get the
race engine package sorted. The tyres weren’t tested properly
until the mid-season break as we just had no time. We had a
gearing start point and fine tuned it from track to track.
LH: Was there anything in particular that threw the boys a bit?
BM: For Gavin it was no issue being back in Australia. He has
raced many years in a row here and he is comfortable with
everything about the place. The climate, the tracks, his
competitors etc! It was really just the jump in bike size from the
250 to the 450 that Gavin had to wrap his head around. And also
a whole new field of competitors whom he hadn’t raced before.
LH: Was Gavin particularly fussy when it came to suspension
set-up on the 450?
BM: We spent one and a bit days testing the suspension when he
arrived. He knew what he wanted but just wasn’t sure how to get
there. After a solid first day we were very close and finished it
off the second day with a few small changes and he was happy
after that.
ADB: Being a Dunlop rider back in America did it take Gavin long
to get used to the Pirelli tyres?
BM: Coming from the USA and having only used Pirelli when he
was in Australia each year he took a little bit to get used to
them. He started off with the trusty old MX32 for three rounds
front and rear and at the midway break he tried the hardpack
486 and absolutely loved that.
LH: How was Gavin’s personal set-up on things such as the
handlebar and lever positioning?
BM: Like all riders he fine-tuned his ’bar position and lever
position at each round very slightly but, overall, Gavin has a
fairly neutral set-up. Particularly for a reasonably tall rider with
long legs.Lee tries to bottom out the SPMX suspension package 1
LOCATION
The track we used to test Gavin Faith’s bike was on a private
property deep in the south-eastern fringe of Melbourne. A
property tucked away nicely, surrounded by country roads and
farm houses with not one, but two tracks to choose from. One
of them was a manicured arenacross-style track with the other
an outdoor track with loamy dirt, fast corners and a few bumps
to unsettle the bike. I swapped between tracks throughout my
day of testing, making sure that I got plenty of time on both. A
little bit of moisture was put down on both tracks for me by the
owner and a few corners fluffed up especially to be blasted to
smithereens to try to nail the coveted ADB cover shot.Hogan goes off to find more peak horsepower 2
|APRIL 20 16 http://www.adbmag.com.au