Norvern mankeys[0] go fast(ish)

At Croft, yesterday, in glorious sunshine.

Things we learned are;

1. It is physically impossible for me to get my knee-down. With the bike
leant over to the edge of the tyres and me hanging off like an ape my knee
remained in the air. I blame society. Society and Bear.

2. Sports bikes outnumbered Bandits by roughly 200:1

3. The bloke in the novice group who, apparently, was running in his race
bike was running it in by nailing it down the straights and then taking a
crap line through every corner, very slowly. How does that work then, eh?

4. The fast boys aren't just faster than us, they've got more kit and, damn
it, they're just better.

5. The bloke in the novices groups on his 50cc 2-smoke race bike wasn't
running it in. In fact I don't think he slowed down for anything ... not
even the hairpin. It is surreal and humiliating, in equal measures, to be
giving it "everything" through a corner and then seeing a 6 foot bloke
crouched over a blue hairdryer coming round the outside of you.

6. Eddie and I are about as fast as each other - he could get passed me,
using sheer grunt, down the start/finish straight, but I could get passed
him on the back straight (as long as it was the slow-down lap).

7. The bloke with the Fireblade who was parked next to us was really very
slow.

8. More! More! MORE!

[0] Well, me and Eddie.

--
AndrewR, D.Bot (Celeritas)
Kawasaki ZX-6R J1, Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo
BOTAFOT#2,ITJWTFO#6,UKRMRM#1/13a,MCT#1,DFV#2,SKoGA#0 (and KotL)
BotToS#5,SBS#25,IbW#34, DS#5, COSOC# Suspended, KotTFSTR#
The speccy Geordie twat.

 

The organizer mentioned in the briefing that there was somebody running in
their bike in the novice group and that once they'd done that they'd get
moved up to a faster group and, in the meantime, they'd just stick to the
left hand side of the track.

What this bloke (who stayed in the novice group all day) was doing though
seemed to be sticking to the left of the track on straights and then
sticking to the middle of the track on corners.

I followed him into one right hander which he approached squarely in the
middle of the track, ignored the apex and clung to the middle[1] and then
neatly positioned himself in the middle of the track for the exit.

Nah, we only had 5 or 6 last night.

[1] Yes, yes I _know_ I could have / should have gone through on the inside
but (a) I'm not that confident and (b) I don't think either of us had a good
idea about which bit of the track he was going to go for next.

--
AndrewR, D.Bot (Celeritas)
Kawasaki ZX-6R J1, Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo
BOTAFOT#2,ITJWTFO#6,UKRMRM#1/13a,MCT#1,DFV#2,SKoGA#0 (and KotL)
BotToS#5,SBS#25,IbW#34, DS#5, COSOC# Suspended, KotTFSTR#
The speccy Geordie twat.

 

9. I found my bottle. I think I lost it during last year's accident. It
took me until the last session to find it, but it's definitely found
now. Oh, yes.

10. Even when you're hanging off as far as you can, with just your big
toe on the footrest, Bandits still don't have enough ground clearance.
Rear-sets next, I think.

11. It's really fucking annoying to be chasing someone on the latest
[Fireblade|Gixxer Thou|ZX10R|R1], close right up on them through a set
of corners, then have to watch them **** off *again* the next time we
get to a long straight. Bastards.

12. What the hell are all those people with fully race-prepped bikes
doing in the Novice group, eh?

14. I really wish I'd done this when I had my Falco (R.I.P.).

15. See 8.

 

You've taken the centre stand off I assume ? I got a nice increase in
ground clearance from that.

JL

 

I don't think the centre stand was a problem, possibly because it's got
an aftermarket exhaust.

I was scraping the footpeg and the outside of my boot, so the only
solution is rearsets - which I think would also make it easier to move
around on the bike.

 

Nah, the pegs are too low, although as the pegs do fold up there is a
little extra to be gained as they do so. It does kind of mess up the
pegs tho.


--
Martin:
"For a minute there, you bored me to death."
VTR1000 Firestorm
TDR250 http://ukrm.net/BIKES/Yamaha/tdr250.html
martin dot smith nine zero three at ntlworld dot com

 

Eddie says...

Had you ever thought that maybe, just maybe you ought to buy a more
suitable bike, rather than the one you have with a shedload of
modifications to make it do what you need.

 

I'd love to buy a more suitable bike, just for doing trackdays. Are you
going to provide finance?

In the meantime, I'd hardly call rearsets a "shedload of modifications".

 

Actually, mentioning "finance" and "rearsets" in adjacent sentences
reminds me: **** me, they're not cheap, are they?

Anybody recommend somewhere that can supply some fairly basic ones? I
don't need the multi-adjustable, super-lightweight anodised things, just
something that does the job.

Hmmm... maybe I can persuade the F-i-L to molish some for me. I'll have
to have words - he owes me some favours for IT support services.

 

Clare's bike knows Croft fairly well.

 

Andy Bonwick says...

I'm a special case, they don't make bikes to fit me.

 

I've a feeling she might not be too impressed if I sling it down the track.

 

For the money you spent buying that Bandit, you could have had a
lovely ZX7R.

 

But that wouldn't be suitable for many, many other purposes.

 

Yebbut as long as you could get it home and back into the garage it could be
_years_ before she noticed that it had been trashed.

--
AndrewR, D.Bot (Celeritas)
Kawasaki ZX-6R J1, Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo
BOTAFOT#2,ITJWTFO#6,UKRMRM#1/13a,MCT#1,DFV#2,SKoGA#0 (and KotL)
BotToS#5,SBS#25,IbW#34, DS#5, COSOC# Suspended, KotTFSTR#
The speccy Geordie twat.

 

Jesus, the day suitability is one of my bike-buying criteria, I'll
give up!

 

Oh pish tosh. What on earth is a 7R unsuitable for?

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Champ

ITYF that whole class of motorcycle is completely unsuited to riding
down a 1 in 4 track which consists of two smears of tarmac covered in
moss, mud and gravel, with a ditch/culvert thing in the middle.

HTH.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - Manufacturer of the "Champion-105" range of rearsets
and Ducati Race Engineer.

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
ZZR1100, Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"

 

1. Brushing your teeth.
2. Presenting a lively Saturday evening talk-show on BBC1
3. Lunar landings.
4. Writing a thesis on the influence of feminism on the surrealist
movement.
5. Throwing out of your bedroom window at night to scare away screeching
cats[1].
6. Winning fights in pubs.
7. Entering "Best 1950s British bike of 600cc or less" competitions.
8. Using as a cunning decoy when the family gerbil has died and you don't
want your small child to know.
9. Use as a wide-screen TV with surround sound and picture-in-picture.
10. As a penis substitute ... erm, hang on.

HTH

[1] Although I'm sure it would if you did.


--
AndrewR, D.Bot (Celeritas)
Kawasaki ZX-6R J1, Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo
BOTAFOT#2,ITJWTFO#6,UKRMRM#1/13a,MCT#1,DFV#2,SKoGA#0 (and KotL)
BotToS#5,SBS#25,IbW#34, DS#5, COSOC# Suspended, KotTFSTR#
The speccy Geordie twat.

 

AndrewR says...

When we were at Snetterton a bloke we shared a garage with was running in
a TZ250 by doing a session in the novice group. A real eye opener to be
passed by one of those in a corner.

He then pissed off to the fast group to go and bait the 'big boys'