flashart
20-04-2007, 13:50
Well seeing as there’s a couple of people doing there first race soon I thought I’d do a short report on what was my first race last Saturday and show its nothing to get worried about.
The nerves start the week before the race when you begin second guessing yourself, have I done that right, does this conform to the regs etc, basically as long as the bikes not falling apart, you’ve lock wired the sump plug/filter n the oil filler cap and you have your catch tank your pretty much there.
One of my main worries was race numbers as nowhere seemed to sell numbers that conformed to the regs but these can be bought at the circuit on the day for about 80p each
The day before you go make sure you have all your documents packed, dog tag ready and either wire your key to the bike or put it on your van keys (hardly likely to forget them ;)) and don’t forget your fetching orange bib and take some cash if hiring a transponder as most/some clubs will only accept cash deposits now.
If your doing Brands DO NOT fill the bike up the day before even though it seems a good idea as you have to push it up paddock hill to the scrutineering bay (as I found out), scrutineering normally starts at about 07:30-08:00 and everyone gets there for then, I found out though if you leave it for a while the queue gets a lot shorter, you can get your kit scrutineered before you get your bike done too so if you have someone with you get them to queue with the bike while you go n get yourself done. Once you’ve got both your stamps you then have to stand in another long queue to sign on and get your transponder……..then wait to be called on to track.
Qualifiying:This is where the easy bit starts (I found it a lot less stressful on track than doing all the queuing/waiting) I went for the 10 min(ish) qualifying, 2nd lap out I knocked it down too many gears along the back straight and locked the rear (slipper clutch now hopefully on its way) this sent me off grass tracking but I managed to keep it upright (managed a 2:48 lap of Brands Indy as a result :eek: :slap:) for the following few laps it felt like the rear wasn’t bolted up right and was steering itself, I put it down to picking something up on the grass and did what I could, I managed a 55.3 which put me 23rd on the grid out of 33 for the race (was not happy)
Getting back to the paddock after is where I learnt my first valuable lesson, always check your own tyre pressures unless you really trust the person doing it, found I was running 8psi (ish) too much front n rear so knocked em down to what I wanted had a few drinks (cheers for the red bull mad matt :thumbsup:)and waited for the race.
Race 1:Went to my grid slot (23rd) and waited for those lights to come on and go out (this is where the real buzz starts :D) lights go out and I made an absolutely cr@p start, never really been too good at them but this was bad, think I lost about 4/5 places in to the first corner, over the next few laps I picked people off getting down in to about 18th and was catching a group of four when it was red flagged and that not counted so we restarted to do a 5 lap race, another piss poor start (think I lost about 3/4 places this time) but managed to get back to 23rd by the end of the first lap and making ground on the others moving up to 21st, this is where it all started going wrong, coming up to druids I at first thought the rear was spinning on the power so couldn’t get past the bike in front, then it done it again down the back straight at this point I figured it was the clutch slipping so had to do what I could for the rest of the race, corner speed was soo much more than the bike in front but just couldn’t get them on the straight, last lap I thought I’d try n stuff it up the inside at druids but it kinda went wrong and I ran wide loosing me another place so I crossed the line 22nd of 33, again not happy but not too disappointed as I’d achieved what I came to do, race and go home in one piece and with a rather bad slipping clutch.
Fortunately I had a spare clutch in a nice safe place with all the tools I needed to change it, unfortunately it was 110 miles away in my garage so I had to miss race 2, but there will be other times :thumbsup:
Was'nt that short in the end was it :lol:
The nerves start the week before the race when you begin second guessing yourself, have I done that right, does this conform to the regs etc, basically as long as the bikes not falling apart, you’ve lock wired the sump plug/filter n the oil filler cap and you have your catch tank your pretty much there.
One of my main worries was race numbers as nowhere seemed to sell numbers that conformed to the regs but these can be bought at the circuit on the day for about 80p each
The day before you go make sure you have all your documents packed, dog tag ready and either wire your key to the bike or put it on your van keys (hardly likely to forget them ;)) and don’t forget your fetching orange bib and take some cash if hiring a transponder as most/some clubs will only accept cash deposits now.
If your doing Brands DO NOT fill the bike up the day before even though it seems a good idea as you have to push it up paddock hill to the scrutineering bay (as I found out), scrutineering normally starts at about 07:30-08:00 and everyone gets there for then, I found out though if you leave it for a while the queue gets a lot shorter, you can get your kit scrutineered before you get your bike done too so if you have someone with you get them to queue with the bike while you go n get yourself done. Once you’ve got both your stamps you then have to stand in another long queue to sign on and get your transponder……..then wait to be called on to track.
Qualifiying:This is where the easy bit starts (I found it a lot less stressful on track than doing all the queuing/waiting) I went for the 10 min(ish) qualifying, 2nd lap out I knocked it down too many gears along the back straight and locked the rear (slipper clutch now hopefully on its way) this sent me off grass tracking but I managed to keep it upright (managed a 2:48 lap of Brands Indy as a result :eek: :slap:) for the following few laps it felt like the rear wasn’t bolted up right and was steering itself, I put it down to picking something up on the grass and did what I could, I managed a 55.3 which put me 23rd on the grid out of 33 for the race (was not happy)
Getting back to the paddock after is where I learnt my first valuable lesson, always check your own tyre pressures unless you really trust the person doing it, found I was running 8psi (ish) too much front n rear so knocked em down to what I wanted had a few drinks (cheers for the red bull mad matt :thumbsup:)and waited for the race.
Race 1:Went to my grid slot (23rd) and waited for those lights to come on and go out (this is where the real buzz starts :D) lights go out and I made an absolutely cr@p start, never really been too good at them but this was bad, think I lost about 4/5 places in to the first corner, over the next few laps I picked people off getting down in to about 18th and was catching a group of four when it was red flagged and that not counted so we restarted to do a 5 lap race, another piss poor start (think I lost about 3/4 places this time) but managed to get back to 23rd by the end of the first lap and making ground on the others moving up to 21st, this is where it all started going wrong, coming up to druids I at first thought the rear was spinning on the power so couldn’t get past the bike in front, then it done it again down the back straight at this point I figured it was the clutch slipping so had to do what I could for the rest of the race, corner speed was soo much more than the bike in front but just couldn’t get them on the straight, last lap I thought I’d try n stuff it up the inside at druids but it kinda went wrong and I ran wide loosing me another place so I crossed the line 22nd of 33, again not happy but not too disappointed as I’d achieved what I came to do, race and go home in one piece and with a rather bad slipping clutch.
Fortunately I had a spare clutch in a nice safe place with all the tools I needed to change it, unfortunately it was 110 miles away in my garage so I had to miss race 2, but there will be other times :thumbsup:
Was'nt that short in the end was it :lol: