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2007 race reports and results. 2007: 4th EWC, 6th Clubman 600, on an R6
2006 race reports and results. 2006: 2nd Clubman Shootout (on SV650)
2005 race reports and results. 2005: 3rd Minitwin Rookie (on SV650)
Assen Eurpoean Women's Championsip Round 2, 15th June 2008
In an ideal world bikes don't break. But it's not an ideal world and the gearbox on my R1 just decided that enough was enough during the race at Assen. This was hugely disappointing to me; there are only three races in the EWC this year, I got third place at Misano and was very determined to get second at Assen. After a good start and some decent early passes and my best time lap so far, I was in second place and pulling away so confidence was high. On lap four I stopped being able to select gears so my race was over. I was loaded onto the recovery truck and sulked for a while before going to check on Deb, who got sixth in her class.
The gear box had been playing up all weekend but I had thought that it was down to misuse of the new quick-shifter, or even that the selector rod may have been rubbing against the frame slightly. It was hard to tell as the problem was intermittent, but it was definitely getting worse. After the having really bad problems in the first qualifying session which ruined a few attempted flying laps, Rob (Wittey who was spannering for Deb) suggested disconnecting the quickshifter and going back to basics. Unfortunately it's very hard to revert after you've got used to using one so my lap times were down for the second qualifying session, plus the problem was not resolved - which meant it wasn't the quick-shifter. I now had to cross fingers and hope the gearbox would last.
Apart from this major disappointment after such a big build-up, we had a great weekend. The rain threatened constantly but we were almost always bathed in sunshine. The paddock was relaxed and the Dutch organisation is always chilled and helpful (if only the Italians were the same!). We even managed to have a tidy awning with all tools hidden - not a bad achievement after all this time.
Thanks to David for putting up with the usual emotional roller-coaster that makes racing!
Looking pretty (even if the awning is blue) |
Ready for the race |
On the grid |
Brands Hatch Thundersport GB, Bikesportnews.com Ladies Race 30th May & 1st Jun
Circle Brands Indy circuit in 50 seconds anyone? A few weeks ago I didn’t believe I was fast enough, especially not to manage a best of 50.1, but that’s what I did, yipee, roll on the 49s!
The Feisty Racing team were there to compete in the first ever Bikesportnews.com Ladies Race with mixed classes of bikes and one race per day. I also competed in the GP1 class, which consists of 1000cc powerbikes, many fully tuned and with slick tyres.
We were very lucky to have dry weather almost all weekend after a very wet forecast, so no need to try the R1 out on damp tarmac just yet – I’m not really looking forward to it. After a good test day on Friday getting a few 51s, we had two qualifying sessions on Saturday where I was very pleased to find a best time of 50.8. This put me 2nd on the ladies grid and 12th on the GP1 grid.
For the first GP1 race I had the most appalling start and got beaten up even more into the first and second corners, with some mad bloke in orange weaving about dangerously (I thought) all the way into Druids– surely that’s not cricket? I felt as if I was last into the corner but in fact managed to lose another couple of places feeling slightly defeated already. I ended up a disappointing 17th out of 20, but again getting a little faster with a 50.6.
I had a great start for the ladies race and did my best to keep up with Jenny Tinmouth, but at the moment can’t catch her. Deb said she kept close for a few laps, but other than the back markers the first three places remained the same. I came second and Deb third.
Sunday was damp in the morning so we didn’t venture out for the warm-ups. My first race wasn’t until 1pm, the GP1. I had a mediocre start again and went backwards again at Druids, but then really knuckled down and started picking my way back up the field, even undertaking two at Paddock Hill. I had a great battle with two, finally getting the best of them, then after a couple of slides when getting tired in the penultimate lap I dropped one place down, ending 11th with a great time of 50.1.
For the last ladies race I lost a couple of places on the first two corners yet again, and took a good line into Graham Hill with the intention of getting past both on the exit to try to keep up with Jenny. Unfortunately the plan didn’t pan out when the tyre slid (probably not quite warm enough for that much throttle) and I high-sided at speed towards the Armco. Luckily I suffered only minor bruises and the bike survived remarkably well.
Next race is Assen 15th June for the European Women’s Championship.
European Women's Championship, Misano Italy, 11-13 April 2008
Susie gets 3rd
Click here for bikesportnews.com report from David Miller
Shocked, from the Fens, claims to own cup
11th to 13th April 2008 saw Feisty Racing members Deb Cartwright and myself, Susie Grayson, embarking on the first battle of the 2008 season within the European Women’s Championship (EWC). The stage was Circuito Santa Monica, otherwise known as Misano, a world-class circuit on the Adriatic coast of Northern Italy.
The EWC is run by Italians so the first round since inception has been in Italy – last year at Vallelunga, near Rome, in beautiful sunshine. This year we weren’t so lucky with the weather, with the forecast predicting rain, rain and more rain. Our hotel next to the beach was a bit wasted!
We arrived at the circuit on Thursday to set up, had the usual wait to get in while we did some fettling with my bike outside the circuit entrance. This included getting the forks out and taking them to a local bike shop (thanks Deb) to get the fork seals changed due to a leak – more on that later. We inquired into a garage but the €550 for a third of a garage put us off somewhat and we ended up with Deb using her van’s side awning and me under a cheap blow-away awning bought the previous day.
Friday was free practice day with an early start and stress from organisation, which, although we are used to it, doesn’t get any easier. The EWC time technical inspection session was hopelessly overcrowded with what seemed like all the bikes in the paddock and if someone didn’t do something no girls were going to get out for the first session. One of the girls took control and shouted at the right people, then Paola Furlan and Christina Campi, the organiser of the EWC came to help with the language factor. This resulted in Deb and I just making the first practice with our signed cards although with cold tyres and stressed heads.
The Misano circuit is a lovely sweeping track with three straights to give your body a slight rest; one of them has a kink which tests your nerve as you keep the throttle nailed at what must be over 170mph towards a gravel trap. I took my time feeling my way around the corners and picking up speed steadily. I found it to be very bumpy though, which gave me problems with head-shake coming out of corners. I wasn’t up to speed so didn’t think too much about it – a big mistake, in fact.
Our second practice wasn’t until late afternoon and after a very bad night’s sleep Deb and I tried to get some rest.
We also sorted out our Dunlop tyres. With rain imminent we had to get wets (rain tyres) onto our spare wheels as well as new dry tyres. I’m lucky enough to have had a lot of help from Dunlop and was provided with enough new D211 tyres for the racing weekend. Thank you Dunlop!
On my second session round the track and picking the speed up to just under two-minute laps, I was suffering very badly from suspension problems. I was getting awful chatter (bumpy front end) going into corners, some chatter mid corner and head-shake and bumpiness on the gas out. The head-shake was often bad enough for a tank-slapper (violent shaking of the front end) – this pushes the brake calipers apart, forcing me to gently pump the brakes ready for the next corner, otherwise I wouldn’t have had braking power. I managed about eight laps like this before coming into the pits to report ineffectively to David (chief pit bitch and long-suffering boyfriend). Nothing we could do at the time so I went out again and concentrated on learning the circuit as best I could given the problems.
We found there was another practice available and I needed all I could get as it was my first visit to the track, so I duly paid my €60 and got in the queue only to be turned away due to the lack of a technical inspection card – I hadn’t understood that we had to collect them after a session. Eventually I did get out but for only three laps so not really worthwhile.
By this time we were calling round for advice on suspension (thanks Mark@BSD and Bruce@FenWeaselRacing). We found the rear suspension was hardly moving and softened that up, checked the rear sag, also making sure the forks were on basic settings then softening them up a bit more. It was obvious there was something major wrong though.
We decided to go out for the first timed qualifying session on Saturday to see how the tweaks affected the ride. The answer was very little, although with track knowledge improving I did manage to get into the 1min 54s. The penny dropped far too late that the fork rebuild was the root of the problem. We had asked them to be built as they were, but this had obviously not been done. We wheeled the bike up to the Ohlins truck and looked downcast. A very helpful man called Bierro who spoke English listened to my tale of woe and took the bike from me. He pushed the front end down and laughed since it hardly moved. We were instructed to remove the forks and bring them back, so 30 minutes later the Ohlins team were stripping the forks apart. Another hour later the forks were back in the bike and ready to go, with the advice to return to Ohlins and report back after the next session.
Wow, what a difference! Still not fixed completely but at last the chattering in was seriously depleted. I’d also wound the steering damper on a good amount to counter the head shake and although it was still there coming out of one corner, it was much improved. At last I could concentrate on learning the circuit properly and duly dropped my times to 1min 52.5 best qualifying time, 3rd out of the EWC 1000 girls.
We popped back to Ohlins after and were advised to keep softening up the suspension gradually now. I’m full of gratitude for their free help – my fork internals aren’t even Ohlins (the rear is)! When we changed the tyres only then did we learn we were on the Dunlop specials. Suddenly I found out that I really need to push harder as these stick like glue.
Race day dawned cold and damp. We were out for practice at 9am with the race at 15.40, so an early start then lots of waiting around and watching the rain clouds, as well as the MotoGP in Estoril. The practice was a little damp and with just 15 minutes I just toured as a didn’t want to risk a crash just for the sake of a few rain drops.
Time to race, and in the dry. We shared our grid with the Italian Women’s Championship which has almost 20 competitors, many of whom know this circuit very well. Without a bit more experience at the track I wasn’t going to beat them so had to settle for being gridded 15th overall out of 31 riders, with Deb in 18th just behind me on 1min 53s. Former Feisty, Leila Williams had come along to support us bringing work colleagues Fiona and Susie, neither of who had been to a race before. We gave them tasks on the gird which they enjoyed mightily, though I did insist David had a stint as my brolly boy.
Susie with LSBF and temporary pit-bitch (and non-recovering alcoholic) Soozoo
Red lights out and Deb had a brilliant start, shooting past my left and outbraking loads of girls into the first corner. Mine wasn’t as good but I picked my way back up within half a lap and got Deb going into the last corner before the long back straight. Then I got into my stride and concentrated hard on catching the rabbit, Elisabet Zannini, with Lileth on her leathers. She was quite a bit ahead but I kept on and was determined not to back off., although with four laps to go I was tiring. A faster rider got past her and I could see her spirit breaking a little so homed in to make the most of it, got past with what I thought was a very brave manoeuvre going into the super-fast kink on the back straight, then head down to make it stick, which I did. The odd thing was my lap times improved when arm pump and fatigue set in, with a best of 1min 50.226. The finish flag came down and we all came in. I was directed to the podium spot and was ecstatic to learn I had achieved third place in the EWC Superstock 1000 category. Another cup to add to the collection!
"Are we there yet?" "Yes, dear..." |
Third step this time... |
Time for Champagne and a well-earned rest for myself and the crew. Or so we thought. Technical inspection was almost our undoing. Mine was picked out of the many and an intermittent electrical problem meant we couldn’t start my bike for the sound test. If we didn’t get it sorted we could be disqualified! David ran through the now torrential downpour to get a bucket of tools to the bay. We took the tank up and fiddled around with electrical connectors, just moving things until finally 10 minutes later she fired up. We passed the sound test, passed an additional check of the injectors (I had to remove the air filter) before we could finally put the bike back together and start packing away.
The bike will be looked at before the next race; I can’t risk that happening again. The next EWC round is mid-June at Assen in Holland, but we’ll be competing at the Ladies Race held by Thundersport GB at Brands Hatch 1st June, and have been encouraging other girls to join the fun.
Club Racing (pre-season shake down) in Hungary - Pannonia-ring 29/30 March 08
Besides sleeping or being in a coma, doing stuff when you’re tired is never a good idea, and when I rocked up at Hungary’s Pannonia-ring at silly O’ clock on Saturday morning, I was precisely that.
The day had started well. I had breezed through work and was ready to grab a train to Stansted and jump on a Ryanair flight to Bratislava-Vienna, grab a car from the airport car park and drive the hour or so into Hungary.
However, it was just the start of Another Feisty Adventure when my long-suffering boyfriend (LSBF) and I stood on the platform at Peterboghorror station and watched as the Stansted train, which we had been trying to get into for a good 30 seconds, rolled away.
Angry wasn’t the word for it.
We called back the taxi which had dropped us off, and paid a minor fortune for it to take us to the airport. “It’s just another Feisty Adventure,” I said to LSBF. His reply sounded like: “Of course dear, never mind, eh?” Well, that’s what I heard anyway.
One short flight and an hour's drive later, we rolled in to the Pannoniaring, woke Deb up, went and signed on that night as the office was open, and retired to our at-track hotel. Well, it was more like Stalag-luft 13 but it was a bed… Well, I say bed, it was more like an the front door to Steptoe’s Yard with many and varied rusty instruments of torture poking out of it. Ahem…
A bit later on Saturday morning, after being kept awake by people making a lot of noise and switching exterior lights on, we started prepping the bikes. Then it started to rain, so we retired to breakfast and discussed the weekend ahead.
Deb had been to the track on a number of occasions already, and had given me an overview which basically consisted of the fact that you need balls to go fast round here, and getting under 2min 15secs on a first visit would be a reasonable aim. The fastest boys are squeezing in under two minutes, but this is a hard track to learn with lots of places to lose time. I decided not to even look at the track before venturing out as I’m rubbish at applying what I see to actually cruising round.
By the time the tempest had died down and the track was only mildly damp, we had missed the first two sessions, so I decided to potter out on my own and take a look. Deb wasn’t wrong about this being hard to learn. More than most tracks I can see that you have to tag onto the back of the fast riders to find out the best way round – either that or keep coming back for a few weeks and use trial and error to learn it. The trouble with the first option is tagging on the back requires getting up to speed in the first place… when it’s damp… hmm. The latter just isn’t an option. Instead I just did my usual trick of shutting my eyes and crossing everything until things felt right.
The best bit was the lack of having to make any adjustments to the bike. Admittedly I was on completely the wrong gearing – far too tall for the longest straight – but that didn’t really start to bother me until the middle of day two. The combination of the forgiving R1, the Dunlop D209GP tyres and good basic Ohlins suspension settings allowed me to concentrate on learning – I had no issues with feedback at all. Given another couple of days on track to really learn the place I would hope to be easily hitting 2min 5 or under. Although you can’t tell until you do it!
In fact the biggest factor against me was my aching body! No matter what sort of exercise you put in off-season, nothing prepares muscles for the track except riding on the track. You can squat thrust and push weights all you like, disco dance all weekend or persuade your LSBF that you absolutely, positively must go on top, but your thighs will still scream for mercy after a couple of 15 minutes sessions pushing your limits on a track.
The weekend was sold as an Austrian club race, but in fact is similar to format to most European organized track days – you don’t need a race licence (in fact no-one even asks to see a bike licence) – and you can race if you want to. There are championships to compete in and for practices, the sessions at Pannonia-ring were split into those who circumnavigate in over or under 2mins 15secs. We had a few free practices sessions, timed practice (qualifying) and one race per day.
My first session on day one was a qualifying session. Needless to say I qualified near the back of the over-600cc field, but I did have another good couple of sessions before the race. For the race itself, the grid was pretty full and the first corner was full of brave chancers. For me this was a shake-down so I wasn’t taking any risks. I watched them fight for position then got into my stride, taking a few places back over the next few corners then picking them off gradually over the course of the next few laps. I had, however, grossly miscalculated the fuel situation – the engine started spluttering on lap 5 of 10. Oops. I managed to nurse it back to pit lane and ran out fully as I pulled back up to the van. I’d managed a best time of 2min 12secs; not too shabby but still not good enough for self-pride and world-conquering.
Having had a truly terrible sleep the previous night, I decided the solution was to sink a bottle and a half of vino collapso, much to the amusement of LSBF and Deb. It had the desired effect though – a full night’s kip. Day two dawned chilly but sunny with muscles requesting a nice cup of tea and a sit down. For some reason though, my limited mortality decided to play on my mind, translating into slow sessions from basic fear of hurting myself.
I blame Deb entirely for talking about how bad local medical care might be and how it played on her mind. It passed me by until that point!! I didn’t manage to shake the fear until the last session of the day – the race. Again I qualified badly but made up for it in the race, having some good battles and getting a best lap time of 2min 9secs.
Unfortunately a mechanical issue let me down again, as I felt the bike mis-firing down the start/finish straight yet again on lap five. I knew it wasn’t fuel as the light wasn’t even on! Well, after nursing it round the first two corners I opened it up again and the bike seemed to be fine. Maybe it was my body asking the bike to slow down due to fatigue. Anyway by now I’d lost my playmates and with them the drive to fight up the field again. I pottered round for another lap then called it a day.
If this outing has taught me one thing, it is that fitness is paramount. I’m still sore now so I have devised a plan for myself and LSBF (and you should see the enthusiasm in his face) which involves Pilates, swimming and squash. And plenty of horizontal jogging… but we’ve only got a week before the first EWC round at Misano.
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