Of course time is of the essence to get everything sorted between meetings and does not leave me with much spare to get these pages filled. I will do my best though.
Once upon a time, I spent the days and sometimes weeks, before a meeting worrying about the weather, wishing for it to be dry. Not so this time. To start with, I had spent a lot of time making an awning out of a very large discarded sail scavenged from a boat yard. A few lengths of timber and a mass of press-in eyes later and we had a waterproof extension to the van! And secondly, I was really hoping for some wet riding to hone my skills. I was not disappointed with either the awning , the weather or my riding in the wet.
The all new gypsy tent!Friday was hot paced. Not the riding but the frantic spannering going on in our pit. I had an electrical gremlin that drove me nuts. Luckily there were plenty of electrically savvy people on hand to go over the wiring. I know nothing about the subject. After 6 sessions, it was finally traced to the CDI. Phil was having drama after drama with his FZ too. After Having blown his motor a couple of weeks ago at Silverstone while testing, he had acquired another only for it to leak oil, the water, then oil again and so on for much of the day. He did manage to get it dry by the afternoon.
It took a long time before I finally got my head around this little circuit and it wasn't really until Sunday that it finally clicked. All that activity during Friday practice hadn't allowed me to focus on riding until the late afternoon.I have my on-board camera and Phil Read jr. to thank for finally getting it in my head. Phil took a look at the footage and set me straight on a few lines that I had got wrong. It helped me knock almost a second off my time from the two previous days. Thanks Phil.
The weekend was vastly enhanced by the addition of the awning. It worked like a dream and for less than £100 too!
It rained heavily on sunday but kept every drop out and meant we had acres of room in the van.
We spent Friday evening in comfort inside our new home, stuffing ourselves with all our favourite French foods and just a small beer. What a contrast to being cramped in the van!
Saturday warm up went well and with a grid slot of 11th, I was hoping to do well, but not too confident of a top 10 finish. This circuit is very hard on the body, most riders agreed.and it demands a good handling bike with quick steering. The bike handled ok but it still wants to run wide in and out of bends. Race 1 was ok with some good battling going on, which was fun. I got my usual good start but was soon overtaken.I ended up 12th.
A very similar scenario in race 2 and one better finishing in 11th this time, although I had some really excellent racing with a few guys out there. It was just fantastic fun and I came back with a big grin on my face.
A further big grin came across my face on Saturday evening as I pulled my leathers back on and headed for the collecting area for a ride in the passenger seat of an F1 side car. The club had arranged this prior to the meeting to raise money for charity. What a great Idea too. It was a chance I was not about to miss and had signed up for minutes after I had discovered it was going to happen. I was not disappointed.
Getting some instruction.It was absolutely awesome. A truly great experience I will never forget. It has given me a new and completely different understanding and, respect for those sidecar guys.
Fast and soooo much grip!With the sun going down at 11pm in France, we all had a late night on Saturday. With all the Thunderbikers camped close together, there was plenty of partying going on in the holiday atmosphere. With the bike prepped ready for Sunday I enjoyed a nice relaxing evening. Phil had a bit of work to do involving the extraction of his rear shock. Steve Jordan kindly adjusted it to get rid of the excess amount of sag that was causing his FZ to behave like a kangaroo. All was then well and we were all positive of a good day to follow.
The Catch tray had been cut from the Laverda fairing!That's the thing with racing, all can seem well, the bike is in good shape, riders feeling fit and up for it and the BANG! you motor explodes with the force of a hand grenade on Sunday morning warm up, 3 laps in. Well, that's what happened to Phil's FZ. What a mess! A conrod had gone through the front of the engine cases and the rear, smashed the water pump housing and the generator and took out some of the water piping. The barrels were smashed too. The hole in the rear of the cases was massive!
Nice Crank. Shame we can see it.
So that's 2 engines in 2 track outings for Phil's FZ. He is currently working on his trusty old Laverda for the next meeting. I guess I'm going to have to graft the belly pan back onto the fairing that he had cut off to use on the FZ! Ah well, as long as we can get him back out on track.
Scratching your head won't help this mess John! :-)My day was rather better. In fact it would have been better than Phil's no matter what had happened bar a disaster of my own.
Once we had Phil's bike back in the paddock, I prepared myself for action.
I was a little disappointed but not surprised to have finished outside the top ten the previous day, and was quietly confident of a better performance today.
This Ducati and I were almost swapping paint all weekend. Great stuff!With the headaches of Friday practice, I had not got my head around the circuit and after a session examining my on-board camera footage with Phil Read, I realised with his help, I could take a second off my time and put up a better challenge this time out.
Ever get the feeling you're about to be overwhelmed?The 1st race was going to plan, I was lying 10th when I was overtaken by a rookie wild card while under yellow flags. Once in the Green zone I re-took the position only for the guy to retake me again. I realised there would be a ten second penalty waiting for him so I let him go as there was nobody behind me, and no risk of being overtaken again. After the race, I found he had 14 seconds on me I had to accept an 11th place finish.I guess I had miss calculated how long ten seconds is!.
I had none the less really enjoyed the racing.
Race 2 would be a little different though.
The Sky began to look very threatening. 4 races to go before we were due to be called and it rained enough to make the track wet enough to need to be running full wets, but then the rain stopped and the sun came out. In the distance the cloud was heavy and heading straight at us. We all continued to fit the wets and as it turned out, it was the right thing to do.
As we took the start, the rain stopped and the sun came out again, bloody weather. The track stayed wet all race however. I was relishing this and hoping for a good result. After last seasons hate of the rain, I have learnt to like it. I had decided to push from the start and try to make a break as high up the order as I could. I got a good start and stayed with the pack ahead. Into turn 3 and the bike in front went down, taking another with him. Not good for them ( they were ok ) but a helping hand for me. The pack in front had got away on the first couple of laps but as the race progressed I managed to reel in a CBR600 and Gyles on his Guzzi. It was great racing and very close between the three of us. I spent several laps trying to find a way past the two guys. The CBR didn't seem too much of a problem but the Guzzi is so fast down the straight that there was going to be a real challenge getting along side. Going into turn 2 with just a couple of laps to go and I hit a gearbox full of neutrals and lost the guys ahead. There was no chance to recover, so I decided to play it safe and cruise to the flag.
It was the most enjoyable race of the weekend for me and a best finish of 7th. This has raised me to 12th in the championship. I had been just 1.2 seconds off the guys at the front during this race and felt I could have gone a little faster too. Very encouraging as I felt I had not gone as fast as I could have all weekend in the dry. Even though Phil Read had helped me cut nearly a second off my time, I came away feeling as if I could have done more.
I feel as if I have to give it 110% at the next round at my favourite circuit, Cadwell park. Although I'm told it will be my 2nd favourite once we have been to Oulton park.
It was a great weekend. Great to be back. Now we have 3 race weekends in the space of 4 weeks!
I got some good footage on my on-bike camera and since this circuit is not owned by MSV, I will be able to upload it onto the internet. I hope to be able to so soon. Please bear with me as I have to first convert the files to a compatible format ( gulp!) and find time to do so. Then I will have to edit it to keep it within size limits (gulp!)
I can use my camera on my bike at MSV tracks but I have to sign a disclaimer stating I will not use the files on the net or anywhere else except at home. Croix is the only non MSV circuit we visit all season. It's a 25 grand fine if I disobey! (GULP!)
The atmosphere in the Thunderbikes paddock was fantastic. There were several riders experiencing problems over the weekend. Rookie Colin on his shining Blue ZXR had fuel problems all day Friday, The green ZXR of Robs was also full of woe. Andy's Ducatic was giving him electric trouble and he spent all Saturday evening rewiring the whole bike. Gary let him ride his spare bike in race 1 Sunday before the Duke was fit for race 2. There were all kinds of borrowings and lending going on. It was fantastic to see everyone helping everyone. True friendly spirit going on. I was helped by several people to get to the bottom of my electrical gremlins and everyone was distraught with Phil's catastrophic engine failure. I think it's amazing how everyone was. It makes it an even more wholesome experience to racing in this class. I just wish normal life could be like this. It would be much more of a pleasant way of life if it were.
All Thunderbikers should give themselves a big round of applause!
