Yo guys there's quite a few of you who either know me or have heaard about me (mostly due to my crashing) so no introduction needed.. Doing my ACU on Feb 23rd with Hottrax, planning to race in the Motogrande Pre-National 600cc Class in 2014. Already bought the bike and just passed my driving test so also getting a van over the winter.. Here's stanley Spec: Ktec front Internals Maxton Rear Shock SES Rear Sets Full Micron Serpernt GP Braided Hoses Sprint Steering Damper Brembo MC Quick Action Throttle Lots of go faster stickers!!
ROUND 1 Brands Hatch Indy 21st-23rd March Right I'm gonna stop being lazy and give my review so here goes... Before I talk about anything I have to say 2 things: *1- Brands Hatch is an awesome track, if you haven't been yet- go!! I only did the indy circuit and still found it fantastic. My favourite corner is surtees, very much like coppice at cadwell you can fly though it hanging off and dragging your knee, lovely. *2- The Hottrax Motogrande Championship is incredibly quick, I thought I may be slow in comparison to some of the riders but the lads I was on track with literally made me feel like I was back in the novice group on my first trackday. I'm no slouch in fast group normally but this was a joke. There are guys at the front of the pack lapping in 48 seconds (3 seconds of Shakey's BSB lap record) and on 600cc bikes!! Lost count of how many times I've been overtaken this weekend. Tbf some of these guys are national riders and have done many many races, this was only my first. In terms of novices from memory there was only 4/5 riders on the grid in orange bibs, me included, one of whom won last years NL Newcomer 600s apparently. There was also some well known riders there- Michael Neeves in the Motogrande 1000s, gary johnson in modern classics, hudson kennaugh i endurance and danny webb although I'm not sure which class he was in. So now for the action- Friday Practice Glorious weather on friday, gave me a chance to get out and learn the track as never been there before. First session was wet so the track was fairly empty, had a tootle about. As soon as it dried up out came all the lunatics... Started off doing well over 1 minute laps, didn't know the lines, braking points etc.. 3rd session out I had my first "racing incident", coming round clearways and a rider comes straight round the front of me chopping my nose off, little wobble but stayed on (was quite impressed to say how far I was leant over). Tried to put it out of my head and carried on having fun, kept on grounding out coming onto the start/finish straight so lifted my right rear sets up to the highest setting which sorted it. Managed to start putting it together but people kept coming fast just soo much faster, I was looking at them going round the corners in front of me just thinking "how do you corner THAT FAST??" But hey ho it'll come, finished up practice doing consistent 58 second laps. Saturday Woke up full of man flu, as much as I have insulated my van it was feckin freeeeezing on friday night and I got about 4 hours sleep. Qualifying started and was in the wet which for me ain't good. Again all the luneys came out on wets flying past me but I'd come to terms with the fact that I might be quicker on a pushbike so I cracked on with it. Ended up qualifying 28th on the grid out of 35. We all got bumped down a place for some reason? Never found out why. Qualifying is so important because it sets your place for both races that day. Wasn't too fussed being at the back, it meant I could just relax and enjoy the start. Race 1 was awesome!! Had sooo much fun, the start was really good and there was a few riders I got to battle with. One moment I remember was a guy coming round me at clearways with his elbow down, awesome to watch but made me well jelous!! My best lap was 56 seconds. Ended up finishing 13th in class out of 19 riders. Race 2 again was epic. Got away better at the start this time, had another incident with a rider coming round the hairpin and hitting my leg with his crash bung/bike. This time I smiled, it is racing after all. It made me want to go faster!! Just as the 9 lap race finished the national leader lapped me and did a nice stand up wheelie down the back straight. There really is some highly talented riders in this championship. Again 56 second laps. Sunday Qualifying was in the dry this time. Got out and did some OK laps, can't remember if my time was 56 or 57 but it was lower than saturday and I ended up in the same place on the grid!!! Race 1 finally got out at 14:30 due to lots of crashes and the weather constantly changing (huge hail stones at one point). Was really enjoying this race, got away well but still didn't make any ground on the clubman or national boys. Session got red flagged as a guy went down and got run over coming out of surtees. Never found out if he was OK... The race restarted for a few laps and I had some great fun again, learnt a lot about how much faster you can go round corners and how much you can push your front tyre. Was just concentrating on a couple of corners really due to still not properly knowing the track. Race 2, by this time I was completely shattered. I had already got 2 signatures for the weekend, managed to have a great time and keep the bike upright. All on probably less than 10 hours proper sleep since thursday. Went out on wets and got a good start, a few laps in the track just seemed to dry out. Many of the guys on sponsored bikes were just going at full pace in the dry on wets, presumably because they could afford to. I had a couple of wobbles half way through and decided to call it a day and come in, partly because I wanted to save my tyres (money is tight) and also partly because I didn't want to push my luck and drop the bike. All in all learnt a hell of a lot over the weekend. I'm sure I will be faster at cadwell. The R6 is a great bike and by last night I had learnt this. Big thanks to paul the 6th for braving the cold in the garages (achieved mainly through stella artois and brandy) and helping me out all weekend. Thanks to wedgie and his mate for helping with all the tyre changes!! Come away feeling very slow but planning to stay in this class for now as it's where I will learn the most the fasest!
Very pleased for you YT and with what you have learnt this year I think you will have a great time ,and do well.
you really don't think I'll be coming all that way just to see YT fall off do you Martin? I can see the pics here after theres gotta be some evening beer and at least a trackday planned afterwards.... Too long a trip just to see YT fall off
