Silverstone 5,6&7th April 2002
Andrew and I had booked onto the practice day for the 5th,
as per usual neither of us got much sleep the night before. This insomnia is
normally caused because of a mixture of excitement and anxiousness, although
these were once again my reasons, Andrew didn’t sleep a wink no, not due to
papping himself, but he had chronic tooth ache!
Although sleepy eyed, we arrived on time and with no major
problems. We had purchased a new
awning since the last round … actually circus tent is probably a better
description … it is massive!! An hour later and it was erected. We then realised we didn’t have long until our first
session so kinda chucked all the remaining kit in the awning.
We raced at Silverstone last year (2001), so the track
wasn’t totally foreign. Silverstone
National circuit isn’t that complex, but has a couple of corners that are
difficult to get right, namely Copse Corner (a right hander at the end of the
start finish straight) and Brooklands (left hander at the end of the
backstraight). Copse is a blind but
deceptively fast corner and it is easy to over brake into it and loose pace.
Brooklands is double apex and you can easily run wide if you pick the
wrong line. The practice day gave
me plenty of time to find a solution to both corners I was happy with.
By the end of the day we were pulling in respectable times, but boy was
that track abrasive and destroying tyres!
Race Day
(Saturday)
Race 1, Clubman 600 Start position: 5th.
As I was running 5th in the championship I get
this place on the grid, second row on the outside.
Got an ok start and pretty much held my own round the first
few corners, maybe dropping a place or two.
After the first lap and things had settled down a little I got to work, a
couple of laps later I was running in 3rd … lovely just where I
wanted to be! I had learnt from
Brands that I can’t be complacent when in this position early in the race and
had to continue to push hard. Was
gaining ground on 2nd place bloke, so knew I was still setting a
reasonable pace.
A couple of laps later and I was ontop of back
markers, managed to get past about 4 no problems, but then came across one
coming into Maggots Curve/Beckets Corner the timing was such that there wasn’t
really enough room to 100% cleanly get past, yet if I had slowed enough to
follow them in then I would have lost a couple of seconds on that corner alone (realising
someone will probably be hunting me down and would take advantage).
I figured it was a close call, but hey, he will simply have to get out of
my way … I stuffed him up on the brakes, went up the inside and turned the
bike in, I knew I would push him wide doing this, but hey he was a lap down and
would have plenty of opportunity to see me to take evasive action… but oh no,
he must have decided to turn in normally anyway … there was contact and my
bike sat up, I had to run wide and off the track … although I kept it upright
on the grass and managed to turn the bike round and re-join I was not happy, I
had lost a good four or five places and god know how much ground!
Managed to get my head down for the remainder of the race to re-coupe 4th.
I came off not a happy boy having 3rd denied yet
again!!! To add insult to injury I couldn’t get the bike on the paddock stand
either. The backmarker when we hit had whacked into the stand bobbin and bent it
badly (nice darkie left on the swing arm too :) ).
Race 2, SuperSport600 Start position: 31st
Manic!
Race 3, Clubman 600 Start position: 4th.
All fired up from the denial of 3rd in the
previous Clubman race I was determined to right the wrongs! Got away from the
line ok and after the first lap was running about 6th (I always have
to settle in for the first lap). I
got to work and started making progress up the field. Came across the bloke running in 4th and tried a
move on him round Maggots, like in the first Clubman race it was a bit marginal,
especially as the speed differential was less this time, but I committed to
doing it and went past on the brakes, he was so late braking that I had to run
deep in the corner, pushing him wide, we did come together, but don’t think it
was enough to knock him off (I hope) … I stuck my hand in the air to apologise
as I don’t like NOT doing 'clean' passes, however like I said I had committed
myself and it would have been more dangerous to bail out by that point.
Tracked down Mr 3rd and disposed of him.
Great, this is where I should be I thought, again not
wanting to get complacent I kept the pace hot and hunted down Mr 2nd
place, who was a good 100 meters ahead. Caught
him coming into Brooklands complex on the last lap and was right up his chuffer
round Luffield hairpin (First apex of Last corner), could have put a move on
coming out of Luffield into Woodcote (Last corner/kink) as I was quicker than
him at this point, two thoughts went through my mind though 1: I am in 3rd
I don’t want to push it and loose it and
2: I would have to have taken a wider line round Luffield to get the
‘squirt’ required to power out holding the line for Woodcote to make the
pass, this would leave the door open for Mr 4th place if he was
close enough (obviously had no ideal if he is 20mm or 20 bike lengths behind at
this point) who could consequently stuff me up.
I aired on the side of caution and kept it tight round Luffield following
in Mr 2nd places tracks. Crossed
the line in 3rd and was relieved that finally I had got the place I
felt I had deserved for the past 3 clubman races!
Race 4, SuperSport600 Start position: 18th
Even more Manic!
Race Day 2
(Sunday)
Race 1, Clubman 600 Start position:
3rd.
Woke up in the morning a bit more nervous than normal as I
wanted to continue the success of the day before. Decided to take a link out of Andrews chain in order to
enable shortening his
wheelbase and make the bike turn in quicker. This should be a 15 min job, but
didn’t go to plan … the clock was ticking and the racing was nearing, I
started to get a bit stressed and wished I had never started the job.
Managed to get it sorted with about 20 mins to spare.
I was now even more nervous and for some reason the problems with the
chain had knocked my confidence, although nothing to do with riding the bike it
did seem to affect me.
Lined up on the grid and told myself to just take a lap or
so to settle in to get my confidence back rather than push it when I wasn’t
comfortable.
Got away from the line ok, was about 6th after
the first lap and was reasonably ok with that under the circumstances, just
starting to settle in now. Entered into Copse on the beginning of the 3rd
lap and the front hit a bump I had previously never had a problem with/found and
it just let go … it spat me off the inside peg and I was hanging off the bike
knee/leg scrapeing along the ground … I was no longer riding that bike round
the corner it was dragging me … after a bit of a oooohhhh flock here we go and
thinking that Andrew was gonna be p*ssed at me ... I had committed my mind to
say 'well this is it' and was just relaxed and waited for the off to happen
rather than fight it ... that is the honest truth, I really had given up! ... then amazingly it came
back ... I clambered back onboard and powered up out of the
remainder of the corner. I left
some really kool darkies on the track where the bike had
slid/hooked/slid/hooked/slid ... a series of 3-4 darkies about 2 foot long .....
This little move lost me a few places and my rhythm, took another couple of laps before my sphincter had resumed its normal shape
too … the best I could do was get 8th place.
I was totally gutted and came in very miffed.
I was duly met by good old Matt Cotton (our usual spanner monkey) he said
"what was all that about fella??", you were running 2nd in the
championship this morning … If I wasn’t annoyed enough already just
realising I had thrown the championship away made me really angry! For about the
next hour I had the face of thunder! Think
people knew I was less than chuffed and pretty much left me alone (thankfully).
After calming down a bit and collecting all the toys that I had thrown out
of my pram I started to think a bit more positively … I was lucky that I
managed to rescue a few points … and that I should be grateful ... it could have so easily ended in tears at
Copse!!!
Race 2, SuperSport600 Start position: ??th
These boys are nuts!
Oh and some kool Carnage!
Race 3, Clubman 600 Start position: 8th.
As mentioned earlier the track was really abrasive and was
ripping tyres to shreds. I don’t have much of a budget for tyres and currently
trying to find a cheaper supplier, so try and scrimp where I can. I had been
using two different sets of tyres, one set was already pretty worn before the
weekend so I decided to use that for practice. I don’t need to bang in really low
laptimes in practice (although I would like to be able to) and would save my
'good' set for the racing. When I
say ‘good’ set, they were still 2nd hand tyres, I had used them
for the round at Brands the month before. They
were in pretty good nick still thought and perfectly serviceable.
After realising how the track was ripping tyres I concluded that my good
tyres wouldn’t last all 8 races of the w/e so had been using the now totally
knacked set I had from practice for the SS6 races (not to worried about results
in that) and the better set for the Clubmans races. Although I had got the tyre
I was using for the SuperSport races turned round on the rim to wear the other side (predominantly right hand
track) it was still giving reasonable grip considering, so I figured that I might
have to do the same with the other one.
The 'good' set were now decidedly second hand and had
been sliding pretty bad in the previous race on right handers.
I took the decision to get it turned round, I don’t like doing this
really as you are not supposed to do it, this would give me the grip back on the
RHS where I needed it though.
Started on the 2nd row and was a bit fired up
after the mornings disappointment and wanting to make amends.
Got away ok and held my own round the first few corners, approached
Brooklands (Left hander) and turned in, the back started to slide, didn’t dare
crank it over any more or it might completely let go, I had to run wide at this
corner and lost loads of ground and momentum. (Wished at this point I had had a
new tyre!)
Fought hard for the rest of the race and managed to secure
5th place, finished only 3 hundredths of a second behind 4th
place bloke and got the fastest lap of the race!
Race 4, SuperSport600 Start position: 20th
The Supersport races for me are just for fun and to get
more tracktime/experience, the Clubman championship is what I am fighting for.
Andrew and I had agreed we should have a bit of a battle in this race,
Andrew was starting a few rows behind me so I was to hold back to allow him
catch up quickly. We did just this and he came shooting past.
We had a real hoot f'ing about, I would shoot past then
leave the door open and Andrew would stuff it up the inside ...
On the last lap I was following Andrew and watched him
squeeze up the inside of this bloke ... the other bloke refused to concede so there was contact,
they probably bashed fairings for a good 3 seconds before the front end went on
the bloke, I was directly behind and saw the whole thing, I have to say I p1ssed
myself with laughter (obviously in a weird mood), I could see it happening from
the off!!! I took a different line to avoid the probable ensuing carnage and
wasn’t surprised when it happened ... I just sat there and spectated ... what
a hoot!!!
Totally enjoyed that race as it was simply to have fun and
no pressure on performing. The
bloke had supposedly done the dirty on Andrew in previous races so it was just
deserts!
Roll on Snetterton!
