I’ll start by saying that five days after the event, I still think it was an awesome days racing and I want to do it all again soon. Okay, so it doesn’t have to be raining next time, but at least I’ll be better prepared if it is.
So I rolled up to the Friday test day and did my usual, pootled around with the slower group just trying a few things out like lines and braking points, simple stuff like that. I felt comfortable enough to say that I felt like I was going quicker than I ever had before, and a check with the handraulic stopwatch in the last session did indeed show I was un-officially quicker than my PB. So I was well chuffed with that. But Saturday was forecast to be a different day altogether…
Woke up on Saturday morning to see water everywhere out on the farm, and figured I needed to get down to the track early and get myself sorted. With fresh memories of my ‘failed’ attempt at the wet Round 2 where I pretty much chickened out on Day 2 of the meeting due to water on the track and lack of confidence in changing the wheels out and in, I figured it was time to man-up and get on with it.
So out with all the tools and replaying the YouTube videos in my mind, and the easy tasks were completed in no time… front and rear wheel s off, and marched over to Kerry to have the Pirelli Wets fitted in time for the qualifying session. Kerry put me at ease, responding to my clearly nervous questions about rain racing with only the slightest hints of sarcasm, and only when there was no-one else around. Came back to the garage and got the rear fitted with the help of my pit-mate Luke, that seemed to be a helluva lot easier than expected.
I then wasted a whole lotta time and energy trying to find the spacer for the left-side of the front wheel. Raced (okay, ‘raced’ as much as a 95kg 43yr old can race) back to Kerry’s truck looking for it, plodded over to Flame and Dion’s pit looking for one as I had earlier given them a spacer that ‘might’ have been Flame’s. Nothing to be seen anywhere. Now some of you knowing so’n’so’s will be reading this now and mumbling to the screen ‘but there’s no spacer on the front left of a GSX-R600 you muppet, it’s part of the axle’.So anyways, after realizing the error of my ways, giving myself a couple of upper-cuts and taking a few deep breaths, I set about fitting the front wheel and was finished in time for the riders briefing.
Qualifying
So, first time out on wets and while I don’t recall it actually raining at the time, it really was quite interesting to see what the tyres were like and how I would handle the conditions. In reality I just wanted to test them out and get a laptime to qualify somewhere on the grid. I put a little bit of pressure on myself by pulling in after the first lap to have a chat to the officials about something, and then had to go complete another sighter before I could cross the line and get a time. I qualified 10th on the grid with a 2:51.334 which was 25secs slower than Roger and his R1 on pole. I was happy with this position as it was roughly where I usually start the Clubbies races, and my confidence in the Pirelli wets was awesome… My three completed qualifying laps went from 3:43.9 to 3:16.302 to the 2:51.334, I really like these tyres.
Race 1
So, that track still looks pretty damp in places on the sighting lap, and I’m thinking that because I’m not exactly doing MotoGP speeds, then I’m not going to have to go hunting water to keep the wets cool during the race. But on the grid, my mind is working overtime trying to figure out what the tyres will be like braking and tipping in to turn one for the 1st time. I was soon to find out that they were far better than me, and while I got off the line really well and was maybe 5th or 6th braking for turn one, I was last by the time I actually got to the corner!
I spent most of the race trying to catch the group of three (Peter, Richard & Lance) about 3secs in front of me, but we were doing pretty much the same lap-times and it wasn’t to be. I seem to make up a lot of ground on them over on the extension and lose it all again on the original track. I still haven’t got these banked corners sorted in my mind.
Result: 12th with a Wet Long Circuit PB of 2:31.817
Race 2
Sitting in the garage and listening to the calls that our 2nd Clubbies race would now be before lunch rather than after it, it seemed that it hadn’t really rained for a couple of hours and people were saying there was a decent dry line developing on track. I was getting a little anxious with this, because with only one set of rims this was not going to work out well. So yes, it was me doing the rain dance and my call was answered! It started as I left the garage, got a little heavier as we did our sighting lap, and absolutely pissed-down at almost the same time as the lights went out.
Turn one was interesting with Robert Ramshaw on the BMW HP Sport having to take evasive action to not collect Richard Clulee on the Aprilia RS250, and then it was on for young and old… well, old in our cases. Richard and Robert went at it in front of me for about four laps, and they seemed to change positions every corner before Robert got away on the big Beemer and left Richard and I to play for the last two laps. I ended up getting the better of the duel, and ‘won’ 9th place by just .492secs.
All in all, a really good day out on the track where I gained some great experience changing wheels, riding in the wet and on the wet tyres. I also hope that this experience will make me a better rider in the dry… only time will tell.
Big thanks to all the sponsors for the series, to Clive and all of his merry band of officials within VMCC, to the marshalls for sitting out there all day in the pissing rain for our benefit, to Kerry for the tyre changing and to Shaun for the Pirelli wets, … it might have taken me a while to get them on and used, but we got there in the end.
Also thanks to Luke for his assistance in the pit, and my mate Grant for helping us out all day.
See you all at Round 5!
Cheers, Mark
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks