F350 Grids

[Karl]

What engine did George Hardwick have was it a Suzuki RGV 250 (320cc???).

Was it any good.

What about the Italian engine, something like Ringini

[martyf350]

i do believe hardwicks bike will be out this year, i think its an rgv250 bottom end with 350 barrels on that george machined himself

and im sure some1 somewhere did have a ringini engined outfit,i could be wrong tho

[oldbelly]

John Crick used a similar engine for a few years, RGV bottom end Hummel cylinders. I know John had to work constantly to keep it going. That is always going to be the case though with a 350 if its ridden hard. When I borrowed the 350 to do the TT and Southern in 90 the cranks were only lasting 280 miles. That was using Motul fully synthetic oil. Martin Whittington and Martin Clark used Rhinginis with some success and Im sure Eddy had his hands on one at some stage. Come to think about it that may have been the one that Martin Clarke got after .

[Big Tim]

Martin Clarke (from Garforth) and Martin Whittington both went well on Ringhini outfits.

John Crick also either won or was runner up, in the F350 Championship on an RGV based outfit too.

[Big Tim]

You beat me to it, Geoff !

[Karl]

Think Steve Judkins might have had a Ringini as well, Sidecarmich????

[steve-e]

I passengered Martin on the Ringammy thing a couple of times, I remember especially Snet. Seemed on a par with the TZ's at the time but nowt special. Ate a disc valve in the race at Snet I think.

[G JONES]

What engine did George Hardwick have was it a Suzuki RGV 250 (320cc???).
Was it any good.

Think that was based on a TZ 250 v-twin with 350 top end...picture here...
http://www.georacing.co.uk/services_engine.htm

[bruce moore]

gorden,haveing raced karts for many years previous to sidecars i often thought a kart tuned 250 rotax would wipe the floor witha TZ,the way they are tuned,with amazing tourque they would pull out of corners with ease(im talking kart tuned not bike tuned,be totaly unridable in a solo chassie).it used to be an amazing sight watching the world championship race at the British GP at silverstone,unbelievably fast,i believe a 250 rotax was clocked at close on 160 mph at Daytona in a superkart,well that was the rumers when i raced karts !
when i started racing 350,s Rotax spares were very expensive compared to Tz,not sure about now.
Karts changed to the Rotax engine,because with having both cylinders firing at once it had more punch out of corners,the Tz250s,sounded mint but were all revs no guts

What about a Rotax Motor ?

You have a good question there - the rotax should have been a good option - you will remember probably better than me - but I can only remember - I think Colin Hopper ? using a rotax back in the day...can't remember anyone having particularly good results with one - although in the Kart world they are successful - or at least were at one time.
If you are prepared to take a wider look at the two stroke world - there should be lots of good options - with the GP 250 class having been killed off by the big H - there ought to be lots of 250 motors being "thrown" away
I am convinced that if even a fraction of the development time / money was spent on putting a 350 motor together with "newer" technology - then with a good handling, light chassis - you would have a very competitive outfit...mind you - as there is a ban on using a two stroke at the TT - what's the point ? - maybe not worth anyone doing for a domestic championship ?
There's still lots happening with two strokes in other areas - just seems in this particular sport - we seem to have been convinced that bigger is better...

[Karl]

The old Rotax's were tandem twins rather that parallel, would they cause any issues in a sidecar.

[steve-e]

It'd be alright if you were always sideways

[bruce moore]

[just think the expense at the time and lack of knowledge was the main reason,+there was loads of 350 engines available for the sidecar world to use.quote="Karl"]The old Rotax's were tandem twins rather that parallel, would they cause any issues in a sidecar.[/quote]

[dickyholdsworth]

The George Hardwick was indeed based on a TZ250 with his own barrels to bring it upto about 342cc ish.
John Crick and i ran RGV 250 bottom ends with Hummel barrels on that brought them upto 320cc this idea was started by the Hemaroid brothers and produced far more power than the TZ350 i saw a dyno sheet for this engine with a peak power of 90bhp but it was not reliable i ran it in 1998 and 99 and finished one race John was about the same we used to collaborate on ideas and parts to try and get the thing reliable i gave up and went to F2 600cc in 2000 the money i spent on that thing i could have bought a brand new all singing all dancing F2! John carried on, he is a stubborn sod and finally got it reliable enough to win the F350 championship so good on him, he is a good engineer.
Last i heard Tony Hewitt had the George Hardwick bike, a beautiful machine but still a bit fragile

I know there are some Rhingini motors sat under a bench in the Tickhill area

[martyf350]

tony hewitt has definately got georges old bike and has had problems with the ignition but i spoke to him a while ago and its all sorted and hes hoping to b out this year

[Eddy Wright]

I dont think anyone tried a Rotax Motor. John Hartell, Colin Hopper, and Joe Heys had Armstrong 350cc Engines which are very similar to the Rotax unit.

Neil Mcenzie I think it was, also had a 400cc version in a solo. The rumour in the F2 paddock at the time was that Colin Hopper had a version of this 400cc motor probably started because they were so much faster than the TZs. Hopper had done a deal with Armstrong, and bought all their stocks, but eventually he ran out of things, and it all came to an end.

Colin also made a complete f2 Hopper/Armstrong outfit for customers Martin Clarke started racing on one, and had some success.