As forecast, the rain lifted and our guests didn't start to arrive. Mel Reed phoned to say that her extensive pre-trackday machine preparation had neglected to check that the bike actually started. She phoned the RAC while I tried to find a battery for a ZZR600 on a Sunday morning (easy, as it turned out - and a bargain at £73).
Shortly after Mel turned up and we'd done the thing with the battery, five more bikes arrived (comprising Gary Dickson's R1, Graham Arnold's Thundercat, and non-Ixies in the form of Richard Cooke's blade, Adrian's K1, and Rachel's ZZR600). I've absolutely no doubt that curtain-twitchers in our road will have used the phrase Hell's Angels to describe them :-)
Gary had brought the video of Helmut Dahne's record 7:49 lap of the Nordschleife, and it was while we were watching that the final member of the group, Amanda's colleague Andy Done, rolled up on his CBR600.
We lunched on finest pizza, and I changed Andy's front brake pads (scary to think there's someone with less mechanical knowledge than me). Then we loaded up the bikes, played the shall-we-or-shan't-we game with the waterproofs, and set off a little after 3pm.
Awake at 5am again ..., this time trying to decide whether the noise I could hear outside was the splashing of car tyres on wet road. When I eventually gained control of my body, I looked out of the window to find the morning was cold and clear, and the noise I'd heard was the wind in the trees. Phew!
Breakfast at 7am, and then the bikes were loaded and we rode the 5 miles to the track. When we go to Bruce's track days, Amanda does the signing-in and she was immediately to work while I prepared our bikes. Bruce's organisation was a bit shabby last year, but this year it's as good as most. He still - in common with Ixion - insists on scrutineering (which no other organisers do), but I spose you might as well check, and in fact a few machine faults were discovered.
Unfortunate then, that turning into the circuit the trailer wheel fell down a crater in the road and flipped the trailer; And that the bike was so well tied on that it smashed into the ground, supporting the trailer in it's inverted position as it was dragged along; And that it sort of slewed around, scratching his car; And that he whizzed off to Lincoln to get a new brake lever, and while whizzing back was stopped for doing 95mph in a 60!
Probably no need for Dave to buy a lottery ticket for a while ...
I've found a really comfortable way of slumping on the ZXR - I fold my arms across the tank and rest my head on the screen. I actually fell asleep while waiting for a 996SPS to be cleared up ...
Waiting to go out in the first session after lunch, I felt a tickle in my helmet. Not a lot you can do about that, apart from move it about slightly and hope the lining rubs it. The group started to go out on the track and I hoped the itch would go away, but then I felt it again in a different place! I pulled over and ripped my helmet off, to find an earwig crawling about inside ... yuk. I don't think I'll leave my helmet on the floor of Cadwell's canteen any more :-)
Some days - like Ixion@Cadwell.98 -
I'm really flying, but I've learned that some days I should throttle back and
live to fight another day. I felt really good on this trackday, but I was
just lacking that last little bit of confidence and feel to drive early out
of Charlies. The rest of it felt pretty good though ... and when Dave finally
got his bike on the track, I managed to sustain the long-running theme where
I outbrake him into Mansfield :-)
Amanda was going very smoothly but not hugely fast - as always! But saying that is to forget the huge improvement she's made this year. Now she's getting more comfortable with hanging off she can start to build confidence with leaning over at speed. Bruce let us go out together in a few sessions, and it's so frustrating, because she does everything right - the only improvement she can make is to do it faster!
Like an idiot, I missed part of a session when I ran on to reserve fuel between Park and Chris curves, and then some more when the session was red-flagged and then restarted while I was off getting petrol. I did, however, miss the dressing-down which the group received for some perceived agressive overtakes on the approach to corners. A bit of a shame, because it may have been me who performed a couple of them <ahem>.
Our previous two trackdays were at Donington and Silverstone, and despite having been to Cadwell many times before, the track looked really narrow for the first few laps.
I love being at the back of a convoy of bikes, seeing the staggered lines of tail lights on the straights, and then seeing them smoothly merge in to a single line which traces through a series of bends ...
It's about time they finished the roadworks on the A1 south of Peterborough, but at least the 50mph limit gives a chance for stretching legs and relieving other aches - I stood upright on the pegs for a couple of miles. It's wierd when you can look down over the fairing and into your own headlight :-)
We're planning to do fewer trackdays next year, at a wider variety of circuits. However, next year the ZXR will be swapped for an R6, so I may change my mind :-)
