Oulton Park Track Day - 12th March 2003

Thought that it would be a good idea to get some time on the big Suzuki and not have to race it the first time I sat on it, and as it turned out, I'm glad that I did.........

Booked a Track day with Track Time Promotions for Wednesday 12th March at Oulton Park in Cheshire......... Main reason for picking Oulton was that it's a good technical track, but mainly because it was the closest...... Me good mate, Stuey Bainborough wanted to come with his R6 (My Old No2 Bike), but had to eventually decline as other priorities came up (new washing machine & tumble dryer!)...... Anyway got all booked up and was going on my own, till Scotty Boy decided to come, then not, then come again...... He had bent my ear into letting him have a go on the R6, while I was out on the Big ex TAS Suzuki...... So decided that he could wobble round for the afternoon session only as I'm trying to keep the mileage down on it...... 600 odd miles, then it needs a rebuild, something Scotty doesn't seem to appreciate, and after it blew up before that deadline last year, even after I had pampered it, so I want to keep a good eye on it this year......

At the eleventh hour Stuey decided to come minus his bike just to help me out, and I was really glad for his help as he knows one end of a spanner from the other...... Only thing that concerned me was the sleeping arrangement...... My van isn't kitted out with any bunks, so it was decided when we got to Oulton, we would park outside and me and Scotty would sleep between the bikes, me at the back of the van and Scotty nearer the front, while Stuey would sleep across the front seats with the handbrake up his arse...... had to fashion a bridge to stop this from happening, otherwise we would never have got the smile off his face...... Har Har.

Boat journey was pretty good considering it was a force 7 or 8, for once the stabilisers on the barge must have worked and we got to Oulton at about 0145 hrs after a 30 mile detour courtesy of Scotty who reckoned he could ride shotgun and read the map......(never again)...... was a bit unfamiliar coming from Heysham, but thems the breaks......

Woke up a couple of times in the night with the condensation from the three of us dripping off the roof of the van, slap bang on me noggin...... typical...... had to get up twice to wipe the roof down with a rag, ended up jamming a rag across the roof to try and soak up the moisture...... it seemed to work. Got up at 0700 hrs when they opened the gates with a bloody stiff neck, not a great start.

Parked up, and not long after a couple of other Manxies (Simon 'Goose' Fulton & James Kirby) turned up and parked alongside us...... There was three groups organised for us today, the Novice, The Intermediate and the ACU Group...... Told Scotty to go and put his name down for the Novice Group, and as it was full (I told him to book it!) he went down as a reserve...... Both Goose and James were in the Inter Group and I was in the ACU one...... so at least we would all have somebody to watch...... James noticed that my rear tyre was pretty close to the swinging arm, as I had put new gearing on and kept the same chain on don't know how I didn't notice it, but had wanted to shorten the wheel base so as to quicken the steering, but as I was to find out later, the Gixer steers really well for such a big bike..... so went and signed on and then set about getting the bike fettled and the chain changed for a longer one...... good job I had brought a spare...... Halfway through doing it had to go to the briefing at 0830 hrs, I was a bit concerned as the ACU Group were first out on the track at 0900...... Got to say that I was less than impressed with the blokes attitude who was running it, he was bang out of order the way he spoke to everyone, and had he spoke to me like that directly, I would have had no hesitation in twatting him...... what an obnoxious w*nker ...... no need. With this firm there seemed to be absolutely no way that you would qualify for a refund/credit, and he seemed just too keen on finding any excuse to sell your place on the track to somebody else the first chance he got......... must say though that the rest of the lads that worked there were 'Bob On'...... Just this dickweed in particular. Had a word on Goose and James about the track after they had asked, as I've been here a few times before, and told them where I thought that the most dodgy parts were...... 'Old Hall' is a corner that I don't like, and Knickerbrook and Lodge can also easily catch you out, but you have to treat the whole place with respect, so many places that you could lose the front, and then you would be in trouble...... hoped that they would take this info on board.

Anyway it was 0910 by the time we got out of there, and when I rushed back to the bike Stuey had it all fettled, warmed up etc etc...... What a relief, he's absolutely top help that bloke. Was first out on the track, and this was the first time that I had ridden a bike since October last year, over 5 months, and Jesus was I rusty. The bike also handled like a bag of shite...... everytime I changed down a gear the arse end just hopped all over the place, but I knew why, but had to take it out to try it first...... Jefferies ran the rear shock with a 9.5 kilo rear spring, and Mark at TAS Suzuki had changed it for the same as Lougher had used, which was an 8 kilo item...... as I'm more of Lougher's weight than Jefferies, I thought that this would be a good idea, so he had pinched a spare spring from Lougher's bike, and put it on to mine, but all the suspension settings were left the same and the bike certainly didn't like it...... They had put in a new chicane at Knickerbrook, and its absolutely terrible...... they are asking for trouble putting this in and it must put on loads more time per lap, its really tight coming out of it, and once or twice I clipped the chamfered kerb on the exit which put the back wheel in the air...... gonna be some crashes there I reckon. I had left a set of scrubs on the bike, and I think they must have done at least the Ulster GP, just to keep my head in check and not try too hard, but was still surprised when my lap timer indicated a time that was 20 odd seconds slower than I had done round Oulton......... shock, horror.

Altered the suspension a lot, making notes along the way, but came to the conclusion that the spring was a tad soft, so stiffened it all up, and waited for my next go...... The intermediate group weren't out that long before it was red flagged ...... James (the muppet) came off his CBR600 at......... you guessed it 'Old Hall'...... he must have thought he could take it like he was still on his 250...... but alas, no......... fraid not yissa. Then it was 'nee naw nee naw' as he was off to Hossy in the meat wagon...... suspected broken collarbone, and a few other bruises, his bike faired really well when I had a look at it, just cracked the fairings…… but I know after my experiences that once you check it over properly, it could have bent something you hadn't noticed at first. Had another two sessions before the lunch break, and was still not going much quicker, and after a bit of a slide, decided on putting the new tyres that I had brought on to give me a bit more confidence as I felt that I had no grip, although it was a nice day the track temperature wasn't that great and there was sand and dust blowing all over the track, most noticeably at 'Shell Oils Corner', so never really wanted to chance me arm too much.

Jim Moodie had tipped up in his helicopter, which was parked on the grass in front of the old M.Benz, so we guessed the V&M, I mean Val Moto squad would be there as well, took me ages to find where they were as the had only come in a white van and the Triumphs only had plain white fairings on them...... had a brief chat with Paul, Val Moto's race mechanic. I said to him that I felt like I was going backwards, as my times were so far off from what I had done before, at 1' 58 laps, and he set my mind at rest when he said Moodie and Jones were in the 1' 50's as well…… reckoned that new chicane has put on at least 10 seconds a lap…… they were probably doing 1' 50 laps compared to my 8 seconds slower but at least I was in the ball park so to speak…… Can go well quicker with my race head on…… but today was all about time on the bike, and as I didn't even have any crash mushrooms fitted, I didn't want to slide off and ruin the shiny expensive paint job.

Scotty was called up and ironically he took James's place in the Intermediate group…… bit disappointed that it wasn't the Novice group, but at least he was going to have a go…… told him to watch out as there were some people in that group that shouldn't have been, they were way faster than the others…… but whatever floats your boat. Told him to go out with the instructor at the back, imagine my horror when he came down Cascades behind the instructor in first spot…….. Aaaaarghh. The rule was you were not allowed to overtake on the first lap, so there was Scotty on my V&M R6 holding up 39 other blokes…… must admit he had his head screwed on and never tried to ride out of his depth and just let the other blokes go past…… while leaning on the fence with me race coat on, a bloke came up and introduced himself as Pykey…… as soon as he said his name, I knew who he was, another contributor to the Real Road Racing.com message board, had a chat with him whilst I kept praying for Scotty to appear each lap, which he duly did, he was wobbling round okay, Goose passed him down Cascades, but he never rose to the bait, I would have throttled him if he did. Had to say ta-ra to Pykey as I wanted to be in the paddock for when Scotty tipped up…………………… he said he was knackered. I think he enjoyed the experience, but was more scared of falling off it …… but he had another couple of sessions to go.

During the dinner break, me and Stuey changed wheels and we were ready to go, went out and warmed the tyres up for a couple of laps then tried a bit harder, but was still backing off way too early…… going up Clay Hill on one of the laps and the left hander before Druids, Moodie flew past me around the outside, Jesus he was going some, just watched him bugger off into the distance, he had the thing so far over it was awesome to watch, and there was me struggling to get the feel for any grip………

Decided my next session would be on the R6, just to give that a run round and did about 5 laps on it…… it felt weird compared to the big Gixer, tiny by comparison but more familiar, on one lap exiting Cascades, Craig Jones, Moodies new team mate pulled alongside me and started to drag past, but I gave the bike a good handful and was actually pulling back past him, the ol bike still has the legs then…… cooool…… Going around his outside at Island Bend, was I decided, not a good plan, so I backed off and watched him nail a couple of others in front of me and bugger off too…… the young feller me lad seems to be well on it. It turned really cold and the wind picked up, and as me nose was running decided on calling it a day, and pulled in…… felt like I was riding like an old woman, but was glad to get some of it out of me system, if I rode like that at my first race meeting this year, I would have died with embarrassment …… so it was a worthwhile trip…… Scotty was umming and aahing about going out for his third and final session, but did and it turned out to be his most enjoyable one, that's always the way innit?

Packed up the van and headed for Heysham, while Goose and Co went to find the Hossy that James was in…… Got to Heysham with Stuey driving and parked up and went into Lancaster forra few half shandies, then it was back to the boat, which was delayed an hour, got our heads down in the children's crèche which was all nice an padded an that, doubly comfy when I took me quilt and pillows up, much to the jealous looks of the others passengers……… the ol head isn't just a hat rack you know……!

Going to do one of the track days that precedes the first Jurby round on march 30th, hope to fine tune the suspension settings with the help of me good mate Slick Bass, even ordered another couple of rear springs to give us more scope…… Hope to get up to speed whilst doing that…… need to get these cobwebs well and truly blown away……

So, tune in next time for another very exciting, taking the scenic route, sleeping with the kiddies toys episode of………… Tommy Clucas Racing.