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Snetterton Circuit, Bemsee ACU 8th Race Meet: Clubman Minitwins – Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th July 2007
Race Prep & Practice Day
I went out with Tim Jones (Mr MiNiTiM) on the Wednesday at Brands Hatch for a track day. He sat me down beforehand and went through the track and then we did a dosido of him following me on track and then my following him. He had some really great feedback and was really positive throughout the day. We had a laugh and I learnt how to assess myself and the bike a lot better. I also learnt how to start putting into practice the things I know but haven’t been able to actually pull off. So although the lap times I was doing weren’t my best (particularly as it rained something chronic) I did actually learn a lot from him. He has become a good racing friend/mentor and I have a lot of respect for him. I ended up doing the evening session as well as the day session (I hadn’t realised that there was an evening session too) and really enjoyed it!
So what Tim and I had been working on went into place on the practice day at Snetterton. The new fairing that Id put on the bike looked fantastic, thanks to the efforts of SDC and OddBall Paint so I was looking for some good photos of the weekend for my sponsors, SPI Associates.
The practice day also saw Steve "Spinoff" Tibbs highside right in front of me. He was very grateful that I managed to stop before I ran over his head. I had a lot of respect for the fact that he still went out the next day, albeit with a broken thumb and strapping his shoulder in place with gaffer tape. The guy just wants to get rid of his orange jacket! So he didn’t push it and just brought her home over the weekend.
Race 1: Poor Start Better Lap Times
After a bit of a faff in the morning, it transpired that my tyre warmers were not switched on and so I went out in qualifying on cold tyres, which I saw as a challenge! Warmed them up slowly and got up to almost race pace when the chequered flag came out. Still I qualified in 21st (16th rookie) which, for someone who doesn’t qualify well, isn’t too bad…I guess I also have to be grateful I didn’t crash…
This was a good race. I had a good mental attitude and was battling it out with Del Saunders (the guy that knocked me off in practice last Snetterton round). He won the battle this time, pushing me down a place, but I was happy with that because Id done a 1m 25 lap, my best so far and miles better than the last time I saw Snetterton. He commended me on my riding too, telling me he couldn’t catch me round Richies Corner which meant a lot coming from one of the people in the series that I admire. He also did the usual Minitwin 'up yer bum' salute, very cool, which put a grin on my face.
Race 2: Bit better
Had a real tousle with Adrian Livesey for this race. He said to me afterwards that I was better on the brakes than he, but that he had better drive out of the corners, which Tim and I had been working on. I am lazy with the throttle, so I think I'm going to get myself a sticker and put it by my rev counter, saying "PUSH ME". I think it's because we tend to spend so much time working on the corners, that the easy stuff like putting the gas on on the straights goes out the window. Still we had a good brawl but the damn lightweight beat me by a whisker at the last millisecond on the straight, pushing me back to 17th rookie. Still I was happy with the lap times coming down to my best so far.
Race 3: Can I see 1m22?
Much to the disbelief of a few people, Id set myself the target of 1m 22 laps for the weekend. However, this was starting to look like a possibility. However, I had a terrible start. Bike didn’t pull away at all and I'm used to wheelies on the start line. I guess this was down to the 15-44 sprocket change and my not being used to it yet. Once I got going, I made up 4 or 5 places to claw back my loss, which made me feel that Id done ok and had lots of improvement to make. I had a particular couple of battles with Phil Sabin, overtaking him on Corams several times (my favourite overtaking place) and I was told that I undertook someone at Richies too and that I was giving people far too wide a berth. Again, this comes down to my lack of trust in other riders and general road head that I seem to want to hang on to.
Still, I made 15th rookie, which was my best result all weekend and got myself one point in the championship. I'm 18th out of 30 at the moment, which will probably change now that Mr Livesey (Mr Yes Evil) has picked up his game a little. I think I'm going to have to REALLY push it at Brands GP (and maybe get Rich put on the van insurance just in case…).
Race 4: Yellow Flag but seeing only red
This time I got a MUCH better start thanks to a quick bodge from the ever ready to help Mr Wittey. I could still see Bully on lap one and was getting far too excited. In fact I got so excited I went straight on at Russells, giving Cherie Christian and Phil Sabin time to pass me. However, I got it back together and went back in pursuit. Another battle with Mr Sabin proved fun, marred by a big incident involving Dan Gray and Craig Ashall, which I didn’t even see, resulting in a yellow flag. Unfortunately I didn’t see the flag either and got docked 10 seconds for overtaking Phil on it as a result. I ended up 17th rookie, although I should have been 14th and 19th overall instead of 22nd.
Well I felt that I had progressed all throughout the weekend, especially given the high grid attendance and lack of my favourite rain! Now I just have to find somewhere that I can do some practice starts because there really isn’t anywhere that they allow you to do this in the country! A number of people commented to me this weekend that I am looking MUCH better out there and that there is a vast improvement. My lap times are down by 10 seconds a lap on the last visit. I didn’t make 1m 22 but I know that I will next round (we are doing snet three times this season). This gives me a warm fuzzy feeling, considering that Snetterton is my weakest circuit due to two bad crashes there: one at Richies at 120mph trying to catch Syco Langford on a track day last year (come on Gabs, you're on an sv thou, he's winning the rookie 600s! what were you thinking! lol) and one already mentioned at the esses, which was my first (enlightening) introduction to the entertaining Mr Saunders (whom I think is now losing the crasher award to Mr Tibbs).
Thanks to everyone who came to see me – it was lovely to see you and I really appreciated your attendance, especially when for some of you it took 5 hours just to get there!
Trying to decide what to do for next year now too. Many options and cash arranging to sort.
Stats:
Qualifying: dry, 1m 28s 357 (best lap, lap 5) 79.532 (best speed), 21 (result pos)
Race 1: dry, 21 (start grid pos) 1m 25s 238 (best lap, lap 4), 82.442 (best speed), 22 (result pos, 16th R)
Race 2: dry, 22 (start grid pos) 1m 24s 287 (best lap, lap 4), 83.372 (best speed), 23 (result pos, 17th R)
Race 3: dry, 23 (start grid pos) 1m 25s 209 (best lap, lap 7), 82.470 (best speed), 21 (result pos, 15th R)
Race 4: dry, 21 (start grid pos) 1m 24s 092 (best lap, lap 5), 83.566 (best speed), 22 (result pos, 17th R)
Non budgeted costs of race:
None.
Next race: Brands Hatch GP, 21st & 22nd July.
Next race prep required:
Mentally – Made leaps and bounds since the track day with Tim Jones. The fact that I missed a yellow flag is indicative of my newly found concentration…
Physically – Now I've got some cash flow sorted, will get the proper drinks and do some sessions at the gym. Ponced one of Moosie's and this worked well for me!
Bike – Fairing is being burnt by my exhaust so I will take it to SDC at the weekend. Other than that, fine.
Lydden Hill Circuit, Bemsee ACU 7th Race Meet: Clubman Minitwins – Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th June 2007
Race 1: 13? Unlucky for some…
Practice on the Wednesday was a bit wet towards the end and only Steve Tibbs and I managed to stay out there. I really enjoyed that last session and felt like things were starting to come together. Friday, we sunbathed, shopped and attempted to go to the beach but a downpour happened just as we got there, which was odd as it was beaming in Lydden.
In qualifying, I made 50.55, which I thought was pants but hey I wasn’t last. That put me 20th on the grid, just behind Steve. Unfortunately Yvonne Baird crashed and I think it was this race where Paul Martin crashed and looked like he was out for a while. He was up and about later, but we were all worried there for a minute.
The great thing about this race was that I managed to get in front of Steve, who had been doing really well all season. I guess he had been helping me a bit too much, but he wasn’t happy about my position! I guess his comment to Rich that he would be the first one back into the tent came back to bite him.
Race 2: Lap times improving!
Steve and I had a real battle here and he held out his hand to me at the end of the race, glad that we'd had fun. Wed be over or undertaking each other at almost every other corner so it was fun! This pushed our laptimes up somehow, but he got in front of me on the penultimate lap and I guess when he saw the last lap flag come out, that was it. I was really happy with this race – it had everything: good lap times, overtaking people usually way in front of me, a little competitiveness with a mate and still a good result. Oh and no crashing!
Race 3: As I say, unlucky for some…
This one I didn’t start so well. Id had a track walk with Mark Hill in the morning and this had helped a little with my confusion at my lack of exit speed on paddock. I was also thinking more about racecraft and about how I needed to defend certain corners. I think Im really starting to get this (but the more I get the more I realise there is so so SO far to go!).
Unfortunately, Steve crashed on this one. He was involved in a crash with Adrian Livesey, where Adrian had had a bit of a moment, thought he had saved it and then flipped off in front of Steve. It transpired that Adrian broke his ankle and Steve had numerous fractures, exacerbating an injury that he gained at Snetterton. I spent the next couple of hours trying to help them both organise getting home. Lap times slightly slower following the restart, possibly due to the fact that my fairing KEPT scraping on the ground round some of the right-handers. No matter how much Rich cut out, it kept making that noise that I fear only too well from my road experiences.
Race 4: The only way is up
This last race I felt wasn’t what it should have been. I was still thinking about the boys and how I was going to get them home. This was enough for Mick West to overtake me, almost on the last lap. Well I guess everyone has had time to improve as well as me! He was flying! Congrats!
Overall, though, a good weekend. Rich thinks it’s the start of my new racing career stage. Well that would be nice!
Stats:
Race 1: dry, 20 (start grid pos) 49.304s (best lap, lap 3), 73.016 (best speed), 16 (result pos)
Race 2: dry, 16 (start grid pos) 48.758s (best lap, lap 7), 73.834 (best speed), 17 (result pos)
Race 3: dry, 17 (start grid pos) 49.269s (best lap, lap 3), 73.068 (best speed), 16 (result pos)
Race 4: dry, 16 (start grid pos) 49.720s (best lap, lap 7), 72.405 (best speed), 16 (result pos)
Non budgeted costs of race:
Nil – I kept my non crashing streak going!
Next race: Snetterton, 7th & 8th July (VIP!).
Next race prep required:
Mentally – This round was a lot better than previous ones. I think I have reached a point where my technical expertise needs to catch up with my mindset!
Physically – My fitness is good. No real tiredness issues, aside from immediately post race. Will keep on with my plan, which includes incremental improvement.
Bike – My fairing was delayed by a combination of cash flow problem and logistics due to my van not being available. So fairing will go on before Snetterton. Sponsors stickers also need to be made as our supplier is currently unavailable.
Pembrey Circuit, Bemsee ACU 6th Race Meet: Clubman Minitwins – Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th May 2007
Race 1: Really not happy
Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get onto the track day beforehand and didn’t realise that there was no practise day until it was too late, so didn’t get any practise in for the first race. Well I managed not to bin it and treated it as learning the circuit but everyone commented on how I really didn’t look happy. This plus I had a really bad cold and hadn’t slept very well at all. I treated this as track time.
Race 2: Still not happy
Unfortunately the unhappiness perpetuated itself and despite an attempt at snoozing, I was still not really with it at all. I was starting to pick things up – Sooz and Steve Tibbs, one of my minitwin peers, had been trying to talk me through the track but I was just not having it. Still I went out there and improved a little from the morning. I was very grateful to have Richie mechanicing for me. That meant I could just leave the bike to him and concentrate on me.
Race 3: Duck to water
I absolutely ADORE the rain. In fact I like racing in the wet even more than in the dry! I like the aquaplaning, the rumble strips out of the second hairpin, all of it! What I Iike most though is that everyone else is slower in the rain. This plus the fact that I had gone to bed early and looked after myself made for a much better race. I felt a lot happier and a lot more like myself. When I came back in, Moose, Sooz and Trix had their Feisty umbrellas out and were twirling them at me coming into the paddock. Crazy but lovely and I did appreciate it very much. After all the hard work, its little things like that that can make my day.
Race 4: Best result so far
Ok the turnout at pembrey was pretty pants to be honest. Less than 50% of class size attendance. I suppose that that’s because of the distance, the fact that loads of people crashed at Brands and the fact that it was raining something chronic. However, despite a couple of teething problems with my affinity to the circuit, its alright and really I thought there should have been a bit more effort. Well it showed up the racers who were really into their racing and those that weren’t so bothered.
So I got my best result so far, but I wont dress it down to because there were fewer people. Although this was the case, those that were there were probably of higher quality and so to get the result I got meant a warm feeling inside. I think I did well to learn the track as fast as I did, given that I have very little natural talent for this sport. However, as usual, my personality is better suited to adversity than to easy things, so I will always do better when presented with difficult weather for example than when its tepid and sunny…a good weekend overall! Plus…I LOST MY ROOKIE VEST!! YAY!
Stats:
Race 1: dry, 20 (start grid pos) 1m 17s 367 (best lap, lap 2), 67.750 (best speed), 17 (result pos)
Race 2: dry, 17 (start grid pos) 1m 14s 749 (best lap, lap 3), 70.123 (best speed), 19 (result pos)
Race 3: wet, 19 (start grid pos) 1m 21s 259 (best lap, lap 6), 64.505 (best speed), 15 (result pos)
Race 4: wet, 15 (start grid pos) 1m 17s 968 (best lap, lap 5), 67.228 (best speed), 13 (result pos)
Non budgeted costs of race: nil
Next race: Lydden Hill, 16th and 17th June.
Next race prep required:
Mentally – Need to chat to Tim Jones again. He really is a star. Need to formulate a plan.
Physically – Lots of swimming and some advice to be taken on nutrition.
Bike – Need new fairing for my sponsor.
Brands Hatch Indy Circuit, Bemsee ACU 5th Race Meet: Clubman Minitwins – Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th May 2007
Race 1: Schizophrenic weather…
What IS it about practice sessions? One of the scrutineers told me to put gaffer tape on my throttle grip because he could feel the wire that was holding the grip on digging into his hand. I complied, but during practice it unfortunately worked its way to the end of the bar and stuck the throttle open. I kind of noticed this during the first lap, but I was hoping to improve my times, so I went with it. However when I got to Druids and clicked down my 2 gears, I found there was no engine braking and ended up braking too late into Druids, meaning I low-sided into the kitty litter…Fortunately there was almost no damage to the bike – nothing that a hammer and a spare peg couldn’t sort.
This was really annoying though because I really like the wet (and Brands Indy) and I was hoping to get a good lap time in for my position on the grid. This was important because the rules have been changed so that instead of championship points setting up the first grid of the meet, a 10 minute qualifying fastest lap does. This is intended to make it fairer on the rookies at the front who are faster than the clubmans, who, because of their different series, obtain a different points system which puts them higher up the grid than the rookies.
So after that we were trying to decide whether the tyres should be wets or dries. The weather kept changing from dry to moist to wet to dry. SV wheels aren’t that easy to change and so it was rather a polava. In the end
Race 2: Make your mind up!
The weather kept changing from sunny to raining and this meant that we were constantly on tenterhooks as to whether we should run wets or drys or a combination of the two.
I felt a bit better in this second race but I am rather disappointed in myself as on my first track day ever (at brands at the end of last year) I was doing 57 seconds. That was admittedly on an SV1000 instead of a 650 but it was my road bike and my first track day and now Im doing slower on a race prepped machine lol. Still, my sponsors were very supportive and pitched in to help me. Feisty were hosting a VIP event at the Vauxhall suite so we were all preoccupied with that too. It takes an awful lot to organise something like that.
Race 3: up 10 places…
The second day was a lot better for me. I was starting to get the hang of this overtaking lark and to get the starts in order. In fact I pulled a wheelie off the start because I was so eager to get into the first corner (which I love). The fact that you bottom the suspension out at the bottom I really enjoy and then the late braking into druids is fun too. I like to take a slightly defensive line there as you can come out quite wide and still get on the gas fast for the left hander. I like the left hander and don’t brake for it at all so tend to catch people up on this part of the circuit, which is odd as I crashed at druids both times Ive been here.
For some reason Ive developed a bit of fear over clearways and coming into the straight that wasn’t there last time and when I got my knee down there I lifted it straight back up in comparison with last time when I pushed it down even more, making the front nice and light and easy to tip into the straight. Ho hum, must work on that with Mr Jones (my new mentor…).
Race 4: um, can I get a seat please?
This was going well, I got a good start into druids, picking off about 4 people and then my seat came loose. Because I didn’t know what the problem was (fairing attachment or sub frame attachment) I rode on the tank and pegs for the whole race as I didn’t want to come back in. Still I made up a position off the grid and worked through (yet more) adversity. That goes to show that I need the new rear sub frame Ive been discussing with Rob Wittey really badly.
Stats:
Race 1: dry, 33 (start grid pos) 1m 01s 150 (best lap, lap 5), 72.188 (best speed), 31 (result pos)
Race 2: dry, 31 (start grid pos) 59s 938 (best lap, lap 3), 73.648 (best speed), 28 (result pos)
Race 3: wet, 28 (start grid pos) 1m 03s 188 (best lap, lap 5), 69.860 (best speed), 18 (result pos)
Race 4: wet, 18 (start grid pos) 1m 02s 573 (best lap, lap 2), 70.547 (best speed), 17 (result pos)
Non budgeted costs of race:
nil (I did crash in qualifying but I had a spare peg, a Conrad and a Rob Wittey)
Next race: Pembrey, 26th & 27th May.
Next race prep required:
Mentally – Really need to get out of my road head overtaking.
Physically – Lots of swimming and some advice to be taken on nutrition.
Bike – Need new fairing for my sponsor.
Cadwell Park Circuit, Bemsee ACU 4th Race Meet: Clubman Minitwins – Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th April 2007
Race 1: Nice forks!
SDC rebuilt the forks on my bike. And…oh…my…god…did it show. I was SO much happier with the bike. I started on the grid at 31. Oh the joys lol. Spangly new SC2 tyres for bikie, front and rear. I was still learning the circuit (As is the Cadwell way) and making lots of mistakes. A track day I'd done here about a month ago was giving me times of 2m11s. I was really unhappy with that and was desperate to make it up. One mistake I was making was that I wasn’t accelerating out of the start straight enough into the fast left right, so I started working on this first. I was so pleased because at the end of the day I got a 1m58s, which proved to myself that I hadn’t been dreaming and that there had been something wrong with the front end of the bike. Of course, to compensate for the forks, we had fiddled with the brakes and the seating position to try and help but this now needed undoing as Id sorted the source of the problem… So I raised my seat by about 4 or 5 inches. Lol its now perfect!
Race 2: Gotchya Tonksy!
One of my targets this weekend had been the very amicable Mr Tonks. Having been quite frustrated by the sight of his arse for a number of laps, he then took it upon himself to go grass tracking coming out of Park, leaving me free to hunt down Mr Sabin. I did a fine job of this until we got to hall bends when I decided to change down two gears instead of one by accident, giving the marshals a really good arse wiggle in the process…oh well, I didn’t get any complaints. I was really happy with the finish as I ended up 23 on the grid, which, from 31 earlier, was quite nice. Unfortunately the lovely James Ashby (he’s reading this) came off at some silly speed, creating much damage to his bike but thankfully none to himself…
Race 3: First Championship point!
I was a bit nervous at the start as a number of the fast guys, including Mr Ashby were right behind me and I knew they would want to get as close to the front as they could, but thankfully he sailed past with no contact, unlike the other two, whoever they were, who decided to clip me on both sides. Anyway, more race experience, eh. This was an interesting race, also, because it was in the fog and we had been out first in practise and had to keep wiping our visors in order to see… Still I was mainly working on the corners on this one but was frustrated as I felt I was going slower than yesterday. It was also red flagged and cut short to the four laps we had completed at that point. When I picked up the results sheet, however, I found Id been going a second per lap quicker, which buoyed me massively and completely changed my outlook for race 4, particularly as I picked up my first championship point. I think my mates who had turned up to watch were happy to see this change as they’d seen how frustrated Id been after the first race of the day.
Race 4: More Target Practice
Well I had a few targets for the weekend. Cherie Christian didn’t know it, but she was one of them (she’s never even met me, poor thing). This last race was finally the kind of race I wanted. Although I didn’t get a great start (must work on those) I found myself behind Cherie on the first lap and was really hot on her tails for about 3 or 4 laps. I was so close that if she or I made one mistake we would both have been for the kitty litter. I showed her my nose round Chris curve a couple of times and Im sure I would have (eventually) overtaken her, were it not for my missing a gear coming out of the chicane just after Mansfield and losing a place to (the very nice) Christian Jackson. I was lucky not to bin it to be honest and am happy with myself for saving it. I was on a mission!! Aside from physical targets, I had aimed to get under 1m55, a time Feisty team-mate Chris Cuckoo had set me…I got 1m53 in my last lap, trying to catch back up to Cherie and Christian. I would have done too, were I not so bad at hall bends through to barn! Ho hum, something else to work on… What I’m learning is that there’s always room for improvement…ooooh Brands next…cant wait!
Thanks to Mandie, Stu, Ducky and their mates for coming to see me. MUCH appreciated and there is more beer where that came from!!
Stats:
Race 1: dry, 31 (start grid pos) 1m 58s 579 (best lap, lap 5), 65.880 (best speed), 27 (result pos)
Race 2: dry, 27 (start grid pos) 1m 57s 827 (best lap, lap 4), 66.301 (best speed), 23 (result pos)
Race 3: dry, 23 (start grid pos) 1m 56s 761 (best lap, lap 2), 66.906 (best speed), 23 (result pos)
Race 4: dry, 23 (start grid pos) 1m 53s 857 (best lap, lap 6), 68.612 (best speed), 26 (result pos)
Non budgeted costs of race:
nil (that means I DIDN’T crash! Yay!)
Next race: Brands Indy, 12th & 13th May
Next race prep required:
Mentally – Getting a new set of balls! Shiny titanium ones! Remove my frontal lobe while I’m at it!
Physically – Lots of swimming and some advice to be taken on nutrition (carried over from last meet, still not done) (oops)
Bike – some 10mm bolts and nuts to formalise my new seat height. The very gallant Rob Wittey has suggested a new frame mount for the seat that he can help me out with but Im afraid I just don’t have the money for that at the moment. Im about to shell out £500 on the work that’s just been done on the trailer so that I can sell Moosey’s for her…We’ll see eh…
Snetterton Circuit, Bemsee ACU 3rd Race Meet: Clubman Minitwins – Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th April 2007
Race 1: Aftermath
Well the practice was interesting, I ended up in an ambulance, but Mr Saunders came to apologise and to let me know that it wasn’t his fault. Apparently I turned the immediate area blue with my swearing and they mistook me for Debs *ahem* sorry mate, but what part of the 6ft1 verses 5ft sommat did you miss!!?? Oh well no broken bones etc and £12 for a new foot peg.
After missing most of the practice, I was still getting used to the circuit in race 1 and the bike had a number of changes made to it by my trusty mechanic, Rich. Changes included: lowering handlebars, changing the seating position, adding some padding to the front of the seat to assist in braking and the fact that I am over 6ft, an oil change, sprocket change to 15-44 and miscellaneous non mechanical changes. I still had the practise crash and the road crash from the week before in my mind. I made a mental note to prepare a bit better mentally for race two. There were a lot more people registered for Snetterton than Lydden and there were 40 places on the grid this time.
Race 2: A little better…
My times in race two weren’t that much different from race 1. I don’t really know why not but I do know that I had a lot on my mind. A mate of mine came to see me afterwards and that was nice. He's an ex racer so he was giving me some tips for race 3. I was happy that I didn’t come last again, although Im starting to get a bit frustrated by this point that Im not doing better than I am. To get a solid start position I need to achieve a 15th place, which is not looking all that possible right now. I really need to work on my starts too. But the bike is a lot better than it was.
Yvonne Baird and I have built up quite a nice rapport. We seem to see each other a lot of the grid and seem to be having similar problems. She was having some mechanical problems today, so the Feistys were trying to help her out. I was hoping that she managed to sort herself out for Sunday.
Race 3: Ok, now we're talking…
This time, I managed to put into practise what my mate had said, some of the stuff that Rich had pointed out about my entry and exit points on a couple of the corners. I felt a lot better and was actually starting to get into contention for 15th place in the rookies, the three guys in front of me actually holding me up on the corners. If the race hadn’t had a restart and only been 4 laps long, I would have been able to knock 3 places off my starting position. It was a good race, feeling a lot better with the bike and all round jumping and happiness. I also broke my weekend aim of the 1m30 laps so that added to the elation.
Race 4: Don’t forget fuel!
After the high of the progress in race three, I was looking forward to a good race 4 too, however, I forgot a couple of basics (water and the fact that it was 26 degrees) and this really showed. I got really really tired and was lucky that there was someone after me that was a lot slower. I had a bit of a moment too, when one of the front runners lapped me. He tried to overtake me on one of the chicanes but misjudged it. Luckily I saw his shadow and let off so that no collision occurred. By that point I just wanted the tick off the vest.
Overall I did achieve what I set out to do, but I am still a little frustrated at the results and my lack of progress. I'm used to being really good at sport and coming first in most things. I know that this is different, but Im obviously not a natural so Im going to have to work hard at it and get as much help as I can. Well I am here for the learning curve more than anything anyway, so that’s what I'm getting. Roll on Cadwell!
Stats:
Race 1: dry, 33 (start grid pos) 1m 32s 116 (best lap, lap 6), 76.286 (best speed), 34 (result pos)
Race 2: dry, 34 (start grid pos) 1m 32s 736 (best lap, lap 3), 75.776 (best speed), 29 (result pos)
Race 3: dry, 29 (start grid pos) 1m 29s 110 (best lap, lap 3), 78.860 (best speed), 28 (result pos)
Race 4: dry, 28 (start grid pos) 1m 31s 101 (best lap, lap 2), 77.136 (best speed), 29 (result pos)
Non budgeted costs of race:
£12 footpeg
Next race: Cadwell, 28th & 29th April.
Next race prep required:
Mentally – Getting there on the trust of other riders and general racetrack awareness. Experience will improve this, I am told. Got a lot on my mind, but when I actually follow the advice on what to do about this, it works. Just need to be more disciplined.
Physically – Lots of swimming and some advice to be taken on nutrition.
Bike – Taken it into SDC to see if there is anything that they can do to help. Gary really is a sweetheart.
Lydden Hill Circuit, Bemsee ACU 2nd Race Meet: Clubman Minitwins – Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th March 2007
Race 1: Pop goes the weasel…
All Hail Sooz and Rob Wittey!! Sooz because without her finding me a spare bike, I would have missed the first race and would not have had Rob's help; Rob because he waved his magic wand over my popped bike in time for race 2!
Ian Sollieux had just crashed so Sooz managed to scrounge his bike off him for me. So on went a replacement rear set for the crashed one, changed the transponder over, got it scrutineered and went out with about 10 minutes to spare…*phew*!
What had happened was that the water in the bike had frozen at some point between my track day at Mallory last weekend and Saturday, with the cold nights we have been having and this had popped a core plug, meaning that the oil and water in the engine mixed and ended up in my air box. I'm lucky it wasn’t anything worse but we only found out the problem on the practice. So while I was out on race one, Rob and Sooz were scurrying around fixing my poor bikie: oil changes, cleaning carbs, the works…
So, race 1, Ian's bike is naked and all the weight is between the middle and back of the bike, so I found that a large difference. I also found that his clutch had absolutely no bite point so the start wasn’t good. And I probably lost about 3 or 4 seconds just trying to get off the grid.
Round about lap 5 I was starting to understand that the bike had a completely different agenda from me, so I decided to just hang on and come in clean and get a tick off the orange jacket. As it happens two people were slower than me even just treating it as a rideout and 5 people didn’t finish, so I was 7 up on the grid for the next race anyway.
Race 2: I'm singing in the rain…
Finally!! On my own bike! Someone smacked into the side of me on the grid, but with the wets on, this was fine as the bike just handled the shove and although I, again, probably lost 2 or 3 seconds, it was still very planted for me. I think it helped that I couldn’t see it coming (from behind me, no mirrors), so I didn’t have any time to tense up beforehand and so I stayed on.
I found a lot of people braked very early in this race, I was overtaking quite a few people, however, I was noticing, that although I had the corner speed to run with the lead pack, my speed on the straights was about 10 miles an hour lower. This could be due to a little bit of confidence lacking on my own braking skills. However, I felt more confident in the rain than in the dry. This is perhaps due to my (relatively extensive) all weather road riding experience.
I came in a solid 19th which I was pleased about and was looking to get a better head off the grid for tomorrow, hopefully coming in about 15 if possible, particularly if it was raining. 5 people finished behind me, with another 5 DNF, unfortunately one of whom being my good friend Clint Webb (aka Bully) who is also a good friend of Feisty racing – but he did the manly thing and came in rather than push the bike (he was having a couple of problems).
Race 3: Oooh this is fun…
Not a good start, because I didn’t realise that I had to get a practise card for the second race day as well as the first! Doh! Plus there was a strong wind, so we had to cover the tyre warmers with blankets as they were losing heat.
And this was a turn out for the books because my mechanic, Richard Arnold turned up!! I'm hoping he will turn up more because he is a big help too. He saw that my rear wheel spacers are slightly out, which is causing my sprocket to get chewed up. He also spent about half an hour polishing my bike, so it's all nice and shiny! And he has promised to help me with some preparation next weekend for my next race.
The race itself was quite good, I was overtaking some people, but it was a much faster race than yesterday with it being dry. Again I had the problem of a lower top speed but good corner speed. I felt I was braking far too early, so I think I need to move my braking markers forward a little. I've got devil's elbow (the only left hander) sorted – its my favourite overtaking place and the hairpin I'm faster than a lot of others on, because I'm going in slower but can slingshot out a lot faster. What I am also noticing is that I'm braking for Paddock bend, which I wasn’t doing in practice and sometimes I'm changing down to second for devil's elbow which is slowing me down.
Overall, though, the consensus is that I did good. Three people finished behind me and 6 DNFs. Unfortunately Bully came off a highside at the hairpin and I saw the aftermath as I came through.
Race 4: The only way is up
I got a really bad start and then someone banged into the side of me (again) so I really need to push the starts to get ahead of the scramble area or start pushing back. Rich changed the bite point on my clutch to see if it would help with some drive up to north bend (the hairpin) and to some degree I think this worked, but it meant my start wasn’t as good as I was still expecting the bite point to come in earlier.
The illness and events of the weekend had finally caught up with me. I felt a lot slower this race. Sooz said when I came in that Id looked tired and although I didn’t feel it, I think I must have been. I also didn’t really wake up until about lap 3 and I was catching up with the others on corners but again, somehow on the straights I kept losing ground. I don’t think it helped that there was a bike left in the middle of the hairpin for 3 or 4 laps at the end and that I had to avoid 2 crashes that happened in front of me.
I got lapped near the end of the race, but noticed that my corner speed was just as good as the leaders', but on the straights I was getting left behind. That blue flag was getting waved at me frantically so I wasn’t being particularly cut throat with my positioning and I decided to just bring her home. I came in last on track, which I was a little peeved about, given that Id managed to avoid that all weekend. Five people didn’t finish so my grid position wasn't too badly affected. This one Ill put down to experience. I do not intend for it to happen again!
Stats:
Race 1: dry, 20 (start grid pos) 56.499s (best lap, lap 4), 63.718 (best speed), 21 (result pos)
Race 2: wet, 21 (start grid pos) 56.669s (best lap, lap 7), 63.527 (best speed), 19 (result pos)
Race 3: dry, 19 (start grid pos) 51.763s (best lap, lap 3), 69.548 (best speed), 21 (result pos)
Race 4: dry, 21 (start grid pos) 53.291s (best lap, lap 4), 67.554 (best speed), 22 (result pos)
Thanks to Chuffster for the picture
Non budgeted costs of race:
£75 of oil
£20 rear brake pads
Many beers for Rob
Many G&Ts for Sooz (!)
Next race: Snetterton, 14th & 15th April.
Next race prep required:
Mentally – Need to trust other riders on the track more (remember I'm an all weather road rider with a couple of road crashes under my belt) and psyche myself up a little more on the grid waiting for the lights to go out. I don’t want to panic, but need to get the adrenalin pumping before lap 3! I'm too chilled out at the moment! I also need to take more opportunities. I catch up with someone and then anticipate (in a very road rider manner) that they will turn into the next corner (doh!!). I need to nip in carefully before they do and trust that they will accommodate me – this is a race after all! This is particularly important on the first couple of laps! I need to stop giving people so much space and backing off!
Physically – Almost happy with my fitness, must get rid of this cold and work on my upper body strength at the gym. Need to work at starts so will practice on my road bike at lights over the next week or two.
Bike – New rear wheel spacers, new 46 sprocket (although 44 for Snetterton I already have so its not urgent and I have a 45 if I decide 44 is too long), change sprocket over, run water through the bike, cut new fairing so that I can lower the handlebars, switch one of the clip ons over to a longer one, lower the handlebars (I'm too tall for the length of the bike in the current position to hang off more), put all the stickers that Sooz has just given me from the lovely people at the Window Film Company on my new fairing.
Mallory
Park Circuit, Bemsee ACU License Day - Sunday 18th
February 2007
Girl Guide?
Hmmm…always be prepared…
"Morning"
"Morning"
"Ok I'll be honest. There is only one thing I
know I don’t have"
"What's that?"
"Um…a metal dog tag"
"Is there any other kind?"
"Yes – this cardboard one I made last night
– look, see!?"
"Ah." [Goes off to check with Head Scrutineer-er
dude] "He is prepared to accept it for today
on the condition you get one urgently".
[Mentally puts tail between legs].
And so I failed the Guides 101 at the first post.
This wasn’t too bad. Id had problems getting
a screen and lock-wiring the engine sump and a few
other bits and bobs. You have to be SO organised to
race. It's not just a matter of turn up and get on
the bike. Well it might be for Mr Rossi, but then
he has a helicopter too, so I guess this is by the
wayside…
Luckily I had the wisdom and support of 4 members
of the Feisty clan – Radka and Mr Radka, Trix
and Mr Trix were there. Also beforehand Id had the
incredibly forthcoming help of Sooz and Debs who had
also been preparing for the wonders of Calafat in
Spain so God knows where they found the time to help
me but they did! Cheers to all of you, guys!
Don’t crash!
This was my motto for the day. I was on a bike that
was completely new to me, the track was cold, someone
messed up the chicane by spilling oil all over it
(twice), I hadn’t ridden a bike for about a
month, Id not been to the gym for a few weeks and
I still had my high-side at Snetterton in October
at the back of my mind. Up until that point, any altercation
Id had hadn’t been my fault. I've only been
riding since April 2005 and didn’t get my license
until December 2005.
The high-side was the first time I realised Id pushed
just that little bit too far trying to catch one of
the clubman 600 guys. But hey, I came off at about
120mph, braking FAR too late for the corner and my
mother got to feel what its like to have your heart
canoodling with your lunch. Still I just got up and
walked away – in fact I got the bike fixed and
went back out the same day. But that's still a big
thing to overcome when there is so much temptation
not to ignore people racing you. And almost everyone
was racing at Mallory.
Theoretically speaking…
The day itself was a mix of lectures (on flags, rules,
documentation, nutrition, start-ups and other odds
and sods) and track time. Thankfully they kept the
lectures to short 15 minutes or half hour slots. Aside
from the dog tag I had only two forms of documentation
to worry about: my practise card, which got me through
scrutineering and gave me a track pass and my ID which
was my driving license photocard to produce at the
start of the day. Once these had been sorted, everything
was done by my bike number, which, for the day, was
62.
I think the lectures were quite good. Bemsee also
made sure that we were focussed on the exam requirements
which we, as the green group, would take at about
3pm that day. The atmosphere was informal and there
was some banter but also a number of really good questions,
particularly a few from a kid that cant have been
at secondary school long.
Rubber side down
So Mr Radka (aka Bully, who is also racing this year)
and I prepped for being on track. Id made him miss
the first session due to my needing his help to get
my bike through scrutineering. He was really great
about that.
We then discovered that my tyres only had 20psi in
them. That will be why they felt really odd on the
first session then. Well I don’t mind all these
problems on the first run. It's when I'm halfway through
the season making the same mistakes I shall be annoyed…
Second session was a lot better. I was cramped on
the bike because the fairing I have was interfering
with my handlebars and we had had to raise them to
get the bike through scrutineering. Surprisingly,
I wasn’t too bothered by the scrap of foam that
was passing as my seat. I think I was (rather masochistically)
enjoying the fact that the bike is more uncomfortable
than a road bike to ride.
Come off the bike
Having spent all morning trying to stay on the bike,
it was with much trepidation that I attempted to comply
with my instructor's requirement to come off the bike
more. Being Sarah Jordan, she didn’t mean crash,
but that I wasn’t hanging off the bike enough,
particularly on the left hand corners. Well I'm used
to being told this by Sooz. In fact I think I spent
the whole first 2 or three hours at Brands without
moving out of the seat. I knew what was required to
come out of the seat, but Id just decided to learn
the circuit first. She was really surprised when,
after she told me to move around on the bike, I knew
exactly what she meant and could put it into practise
immediately.
At Mallory of course there wasn’t really much
excuse. I was hanging off, but I was being really
cautious. I think I counted 20 people crash. At least
3 crashed in front of me and there was another guy
whose exhaust was so smoky I couldn’t see for
half the track. It turned out that someone had filled
his bike with diesel from a jet wash by accident…not
good…
So I tried to hang off a little more. I did get faster
and was more comfortable and started overtaking quite
a few people. But it wasn’t a race day and I
was still getting to know the bike and there was the
handlebar/fairing issue. There was no way that I wanted
to crash. Amongst other things (like the fact that
its bad form) I really can't afford to push like that
at the moment. There is some truth in the phrase "if
you're not crashing you're not trying hard enough"
but I don’t want to take it as red.
First Contact
Someone then clipped me, cutting me up before the
hairpin which was a little interesting. I overtook
him entering the straight round the outside just to
make a point and then let him go in front again for
the oil slicked chicane. I was noticing throughout
the day that I was faster on the corners than a lot
of people, but that I was braking sooner than I have
done in the past. Sarah said that this was just down
to picking markers and working on those in progression.
I also noticed a couple of times that although I
was taking good lines, I was leaving the door open
for people to overtake me, so that’s another
thing to work on. I find I'm good at following what
people tell me to do. I do listen and I do take things
on board, so I'm sure that with some more track time
and the sight of one of the bike-arses of one of my
Feisty Team mates firmly imprinted on my mind, I'll
be better and improve more and more.
No photos please
To top all of that, I was asked a load of questions
and had some photos taken for Bemsee, as one of the
Feisty Rookies. I'm sure I looked ridiculous as my
hair has a tendency to shape itself into a set of
horns when I exert myself or wear a lid.
I can't decide whether I'm panicking or really excited.
I think my practical side has kicked in (as is always
the case when I'm under pressure) and has decided
to wait to tell me that I'm racing until I've done
everything else first. Of course that means Ill not
realise I'm racing until race day. But for now, I'm
just happy that I do have a future and that it's very
very pink…
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