The setting is superb and well worth the long drive we have to endure to get there.
The awesome 1st turn, Coppice corner. Not for the feint hearted!
We left home at 6.30am and got to Steve Spencer's place for about 10am to find a nice clean engine sitting on the bench ready to go in the frame. All went well until we fired it up at about 12 noon, to find it running really rough low down in the rev range and struggling to not cut out. Higher revs seemed ok. We spent the rest of the day until 6pm trying to get the thing sorted and with some improvement, and all of us starting to get tired, we decided to take our chances and make a run for the circuit.
I really have to hand it to Steve for his efforts. It was a long day and most perplexing for him as he was convinced all should have been sweet.
We finally arrived at Cadwell at about 10pm and met Chris who had been waiting for us to give him a bed for the night. Gyles and his Guzzi were to arrive the next morning after he had spent the day trying desperately to get his bike fixed ready for the weekend. All with the Italian giant for was to be ok Gyles for the weekend.
So, Saturday morning I got up really early to get myself and the bike sorted and ready for first practice at 9am. Thunderbikes were to be the first out on track for this weekend, leaving no time to mess about in the morning but plenty of time in the afternoon once we were finished racing. I managed to get myself and the FZ organised well, and in good time for both scrutinising and signing on, leaving me ample time to get myself fed and watered and psyched for first practice at 9am.
It was a bit chilly and misty this morning but not enough to dent my confidence in putting the new motor and its host chassis, through its paces. Having been to Cadwell for a couple of trackdays last year, I was already familiar with the circuit, so could go at it early. I made full advantage of practice and quickly got the hang of the track layout and was feeling confident for the coming races.
The only bug was the bad tick over and likely hood of the bike cutting out, and with no starter motor, the thought of stalling on the line was worrying.
Sure enough, it did stall on the line at the start of the first race. I quickly raised my hand and began to push start the thing myself before any officials could get to me. She fired in a very short few metres and as I started to push backwards to my grid slot, I was confused to find a lady official insisting I pulled to the side of the track. I tried to argue I had time to take the start but she was having none of it, pointing to my bike I realised the reason was the overflow pipe from the cooling expansion bottle was flapping about. I was absolutely furious, Max Biagi? you ain't seen nothing! I can, in hindsight, see why she "blacked" me but at the time she was the devil himself.
I spent the race by the start line in the biggest sulky paddy I've had since I was a little kid. One official came over and asked if there was a problem.
"I'm just having a kiddie tantrum mate" I said.
"well you know it could have been something more serious wrong with your bike" the guy said, as I complained that it was a trivial thing that could have been sorted with a quick tug to remove the offending article.
Well it's all part of racing and the general learning curve of it all I guess. A hard lesson but one well learnt!
The next race of the day almost completely made up for it.I got a brilliant start and had my first real race of the season.Instead of going backwards from my good start, I went forwards through the field getting by quite a few riders on the first 2 or 3 laps and spent the rest of the race trying to work out how to get past Gyles and the big guzzler who was slowing me down quite a bit. He was still learning the circuit and I knew it so had that fact as an advantage.I eventually managed to get by and finished the race in 13th from the back of the grid where I had started in 23rd.
Hunting down the Guzzler!What a great result for me.The bike ran strong,revving right out and being far more powerful than it was before.Steve has done a great job to give the level of power it has for just a standard engine. The handling was better too. The newly re-worked forks now have a little more adjustment and I was able, over the course of the weekend, to dial out the low speed problems I had at Lydden and progressively got faster as the weekend went on.
Sunday I woke from an excellent nights sleep to a very murky morning.After a short foggy practice, the damp air that shrouded Cadwell Park held us in the Holding area, waiting for our race, for what seemed like hours while we waited for the marshalls to decide if it was safe to race. Each marshall post needs to be able to see the next for safety, and once this was established, we were cleared to race. This was to be another storming race for me. Another good start for me from my 13th place, I was up to 8th by the end of the first lap. I had no idea at the time, where in the order I was. I was soon passed by Steve Joy on his Ducati 748. I found I could stay reasonably close to him and spent the next 4 laps looking for a way to pass when suddenly, his hand went up, and he pulled out.
On the next lap I was passed again, this time by Craig Ashall, who I just couldn't hold off and was running a good half a second a lap faster than me. That's where I stayed.. in 9th.
When I returned to the paddock and realised I had finished 9th, I was thrilled. I had not expected to see the top 10 this early in the year, if at all this season.
Starting from 9th for the last race of the weekend was awesome. I was totally unsure of what was to come, would I get swallowed up at the start or be able to hold my position and if so, for how long?.... I resolved to just go with the flow and see what happened and do my best.
I was feeling rather fatigued after the 1st race of the day in which I had ridden really hard and as well as I felt I could.
By the the mountain on the first lap I was told I was in 7th, but this was not to last as by the start line to begin lap 2, I had dropped to 11th. Then I fell to 12th which I managed to maintain for a few laps until the last couple of laps. I was getting very tired and messed up by out braking myself into the silly chicane and let a couple of guys get by. I held my position and managed to finish in 14th.
I was disappointed with my fitness, but I was very happy with myself for 3 races and 3 points finishes.I was also happy with the bike for the weekend as I had not had a lot of hope of things going as well as they had. I had anticipated all kinds of trouble from the bike.
Still, the engine has a real bad problem at low revs while at a standstill. I suspect sticky carb slides to be the problem as the revs take a while to settle after blipping the throttle. There's also a flat spot at around 8 or 9000 revs, the transition from needles to mains so we reckon on upping the jet size a little to cure this.
Another problem is turn in and ground clearance. Although better now, it still needs more.The rear ride height is at it's max, so some shorter linkages in the rear shock and/or a longer ride height adjuster are needed to raise the ride height and then in turn, this should help the bike to steer quicker and turn in to the corners better.It will also stop the grounding out of the exhaust and catchtray that has been happening,even though we are now running Steve Spencer items, which are a vast improvement.
There is still loads of development to come from the bike, both in handling and the suspension, the engine with more power to come and also from my self, both performance wise and through fitness. By lap 5 of the 7 lap races at Cadwell, I was getting tired and after the first race of Sunday, I couldn't get myself off the bike, I was so sapped of strength.
During the last race, on the last lap, Phil was taken out by another rider as they entered the fast first turn at Coppice. As I came past I could see he was hurt.It was very worrying, waiting for ages for him to be let out of the medical centre. Thankfully, apart from being badly bruised in many places, he was ok, no broken bones or long term worries. The bike was a bit of a mess and once home, Phil found out that apart from a few bolt on bits that are no problem to replace and a smashed up fairing, that the gear box had been damaged. This is to put him out of the next race at Brands Hatch while we wait for his other engine to come back from the tuner....... BUGGER! to say the least.
Coppice is bloody fast!....It was a massive relief to find he was ok but it really sucks that the next race will be a miss for him.
There was also an accident in the paddock, in the Guzzi camp. Young Chris. chief pit crew and general muscle man, couldn't hold his drink or his bike and ended up looking a bit silly!
He made us all piss our pants though!
I know ..... looks very suspicious eh?Makes you wonder what they get up to in East Anglia!
Top bloke is Chris!He can certainly get through some beer, and some food! but he comes in very handy when things need lifting. Who needs paddock stands when this guy is around!
I must say a big thanks to Chris for bump starting me all weekend. Cheers big guy!!
Gyles and his Guzzi came away with 4 finishes and 5 points, a relief I am sure after 3 non finishes at Snetterton.
Phil came off worse, just missing out on points and the big crash mentioned earlier.
I feel luckiest for a change, especially after arriving at Cadwell with no confidence in the bike even making it to the start. So with 12 points on the card (points at last! hoorah!) and 3 excellent races, in terms of excitement for me, I had a great weekend.
Can't wait to come back to Cadwell in August!
If I can get all the jobs done in time for Brands, I will be hopeful of some similar results next time out. Maybe a bit optimistic, but I feel I need to aim high and keep pushing to go forward.
A real shame to not have Phil there with me on track. Here's looking forward to his new engine!
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