Members racing thread

[graeme4130]

hebegb said:

mckeann said:

Gavia said:

Bring a pushbike, I'm riding it slowly rather than walking it.

good idea, will try to remember

I'll ride it too Neil, but won't be down til after work so by 8ish ....hope to catch you , if not , no worries ...ps poor old Gav.don't fancy 40 mins an hour of this - more bad luck at Anglesey !

I wish more circuits had web cams

[graeme4130]

mckeann said:

How long do the sprint races last with NL and other uk clubs??

A mate is racing at Knockhill next weekend. He's getting 2 practice, 2 qualifying, and 7 races over the 2 days of racing. But all the sessions are either 10 minutes or 10 laps (which at Knockhill is about 9 minutes)

I expected races to be more like 20 minutes?????

Pretty similar
At nl rounds you'd typically get 1 x 10 min qualifier and then 3-4 15min races over a weekend

[graeme4130]

Hopefully you won't be needing that wet mojo next Saturday, but this is England, so it could flipping snow
Don't forget my warmers

[graeme4130]

I see final instructions are now out for dony race
Rule 18 says person refuelling bike and person holding fire extinguisher should be wearing overalls and a helmet


This outfit should cover that, no ?

[graeme4130]

Who was legends 2 ?

[graeme4130]

mckeann said:

there was initially only 2 riders signed up the legend team, and I was drafted in to be the 3rd rider. Then a few extras appeared and we had 6 at one point, so 2 teams was flouted. At current time, its back to 4, so the second team was dropped. I'll be racing one way or another


Another spell in the gym tonight. 30 mins of rowing machine, 45 mins of weights and stretching. Not that I'm competitive or anything

I'm up and off to Barcelona for 5 days of drinking practice

[graeme4130]

mckeann said:

I think you already have plenty of fitness in reserve. You've also probably done more trackdays this month than I have this year :P ( 8 by the way)

I haven't done half as many this year
I think maybe 8 or 9 track days and two race weekends + 5 laps of Oulton last weekend

[graeme4130]

Gavia said:

Is anyone doing the trackday at Donington on Thursday? No test day ahead of the big race. I'm there riding sensibly and being a rolling roadblock for others.

I'm up there for that one

[graeme4130]

It's improving
Looks like Thursday will be damp, but Saturday will start off damp with qualifying, but should be fine for the main of the race

[graeme4130]

I don't mind if it's wet, it's that crappy patchy wet and dry track that I really hate

[graeme4130]

Getting ready ?

[graeme4130]

The ever (un)reliable BBC shows it as being dry all day now, which I'll take

[graeme4130]

Full entry list is online now

[graeme4130]

mckeann said:

How did everyone get on with testing yesterday????

Forecast looks like heavy rain Friday evening, but dry all day Saturday so might be a damp start in qually but should hopefully be dry for the race.

Gavia, Presumably if it's horsing it down with rain on Friday night , the track cycle will be getting abandoned?

Decent day yesterday. Not a single red flag in fast and I think I only saw a couple of yellows, so pretty good going considering there was lots of racers.
Didn't see any of the boys on track, but did pop down to their garage to say hi.
I should be up there for around 5 tonight

[graeme4130]

Gavia said:

mckeann said:

Any new PB's ??

I wasn't pushing, as didn't fancy explaining to the other show their race was ruined by my lack of ability.

No chance of riding the track on pushbikes if it's wet, as I'm a complete wimp with that too

No new PB's here. I had a go at trying to ride at 90% for 15mins as I know I can then hold that pace roughly for 45mins
I consistently did 1:43-4 at 90% so that'll be the aim to stay around for the race (although that'll never happen and I'll be getting gradually slower as the race goes on and I'm battered)
I'm not staying on site, but we'll be sticking around Sat night after the race
There's a trackday on Sunday, so they want the garages clear after the race and they'll move everyone to the other paddock who's staying over

[graeme4130]

That was a lot of fun.
Team 113 started off real well, and ran 45-50min stints keeping consistently on the clearest laps between 1:41 and 1:43 and eventually got up very briefly to 3rd in the Club1000 class, and then one of our team members started to pick the pace up a bit to get us some comfort time dropping into 1:39/40's, and in Protest, his RSV4 decided it no longer wanted to work and cut out on the side of the track just before coppice. We lost around 5 laps or so with him getting the transponder back to the garage, and eventually finished in 6th, which is still super good for us, and we've have taken that before the race, so made up
I did see Mckean out on the circuit a few times and stuck with him for a bit, but he was too quick for me to keep going at that pace for more than a couple of laps.
I'll get some pics up later today
Good to see you all and hope you're all feeling as f**ked as I am today

[graeme4130]

Shame our pace didn't match how full factory we were

[graeme4130]

moanthebairns said:

That's it really, a big wake up call, its fk all like a trackday. I need more dry track time. I tried on my 11 year old shag heep of a daytona which I have occurred literally no expense on, up against a fking competitive class, at least i have that.

You did it though mate, and that's what counts.
It was a real baptism of fire for me too. I've quite a few mates who race, so I knew the pace would be quicker at my first race earlier this year, but I found it dragged my pace up a bit although I was stting myself the whole time and probably didn't breath from the start lights to the finish flag.
When's the next one then ?

[graeme4130]

Fleegle said:

Mixed feelings about the weekend. It was a great experience and a fking disaster in equal measures. The journey up there was an absolute nightmare. What should have been 2.5hrs took 6 hours. Every road was at a standstill. Once we arrived the van was unloaded into what little space they had allocated us which added to my frustration. I didn't hang around for beers as I had booked myself and Mitzy into a local hotel for the weekend. We managed to get their just in time before the kitchen closed, so I chucked some training food down my neck (okay....a burger) and hit the sack

An early start to the circuit and arriving I thought I had gone to the wrong garage. It was full of big aluminium aero cases. I thought the McClaren Formula 1 team had rocked up. Talk about overkill.

I went out for Qualy and couldn't really gel. I last did the track approx. 2 years ago were I was able to stick 45's in all day long, but was really struggling at 56. My first session out and just as I'm trying to find a rhythm the safety car came out in front of me. This was out for about 3 laps before I got the green to pass. The pace we were running had cooled the tyres down so I took it steady for a lap before aiming to the catch the group. Once the car was in I tried to find my pace again. Unfortunately I ran on at Coppice. I was having a real fight with the front end. I managed to get back on track after about 30 seconds but wasn't happy with the front. A couple of laps later I saw my pit board IN so thought they must have seen a problem with my bike, as it turned out there was miscommunication from the pit crew.

I was running Metzellers for the first time, and once in after the first session the pressure was checked to discover that both front and back were about 5psi high. I was hoping that was the answer to my difficult front end but the second session disproved that theory when again I was fighting the front after tipping in. This time though it resulted in the front washing in the gravel. The bike wouldn't start immediately when it was picked up so it got pushed to the fence. After a few tries it fired up and I slowly made my way back to the pits.

The guys had a look at the front end again and couldn't find anything wrong which made me wonder if I was attacking Coppice wrong. Next time out I tipped in earlier and clipping the apex which seemed to work better but still felt the front trying to stand up. This was odd as it didn't happen at any of the other right handers. This started to get in my head a bit ! I did a full 35 mins this time and probably could have squeezed a bit more out, but my times were still short of what I know I could do. I hit 51's a few times but just couldn't get round any quicker.

Overall it was a great experience but left feeling quite frustrated. I don't gel with the ZX10 the same way as I did my old R1 and maybe that's part of the problem. Add to that I'm 53, fat and unfit !!! Maybe its time for me to throw my licence in and leave it to the quick lads who were there.

Well done to Gavia and Hebegebee for throwing in good consistent laps, also to McKeann and Graeme on there results. A big thanks to the guys who looked after us in the pits, they were calm when all around them was tense riders.



Here's my No.1 fan who's questions kept me amused all day, especially " Grandad, why's your bike all dusty?"

Good to meet you at the weekend. The garage allocation was a little cramped in places, and I'm not sure how they worked it out. I know the FWR guys well, who we shared a garage with, and when they'd spoken to NLR about them sharing with us, we assumed we'd be on one garage and they'd be in the other half, but it turned out we shared the same side with another team with 4 bikes in the other side, so it was cramped to say the least.
I feel for the guys that had to share a garage with a team they didn't know, as at least with the FWR boys, we could work a plan out in advance of what to do and make sure we didn't end up doing changeovers at the same time.

Regarding coppice, I never know the best line. I tend to hang out a bit late and miss the first apex curb so i can drive at the second one, although I followed Mckeen around for a couple of laps and his line was totally different, but faster then mine. I could just about catch him down the back straight (new ZX10R vs old ZX10R and a 15kg weigh difference ), but then he'd use pretty much all the curbs on both sides going into Foggies, whereas I'd try and straight line it as much as possible and just hang on. I guess that's why he's faster then me
I've got a mini fan too , although mine does more donut and burger eating than actual pit crewing

Edited by graeme4130 on Monday 31st July 11:07

[graeme4130]

Gavia said:

I bought myself a race completion present. Happy days

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Very nice. I hope you're halfway through those rears already as those things are made for burnout's and drifting out of corners
I had the 4door version as a tester for a couple of days a while back, and loved it. Just a shame they don't do it in an estate as I need a boot in my life