So this was it, my first track day. Unless you count riding round Paul Ricard a few times after the Bol D'or, or even stranger riding half of the Le Mans track after the 24 hour race, when there was a fence across the track half way round - people rode round to the fence, turned round and rode back. So there was two way traffic of mixed nationality riders. I didn't stay out there too long. Or unless you count a couple of "Moped Mayhem" races, and if I were you, I wouldn't.
Found the Cadwell Park circuit without any difficulty at midnight on Sunday night, with me on the bike, and my super-duper motorhome with pit crew just behind (i.e. the girlfriend in the car). So much for the plan to get there in the afternoon, put the tent up in the light, get the bike prepared, and then have a meal in the Green Man pub that the D.O.C. instructions helpfully mentioned.
Got up early on Monday, took the sidestand off the bike, taped up the lenses, tied on my ridiculous heath robinson cardboard and string racing number plates and went off to scrutineering. That all went smoothly, so now there was nothing left to do but wait nervously for the fast touring session to start.
I have never been to Cadwell before, so I had no idea of the track
layout. We were using the club circuit, and for the first session we
were to have a couple of laps behind a marshal. These seemed reasonably
fast to me, but then we were off. All hell seemed to break lose. My
careful plan of gradually learning the circuit and slowly increasing speed
went out the window, as I just tried to go as fast as possible (without
crashing, which would have been terribly embarrassing) and of course ended
up being all over the place. Smooth lines, consistent breaking points,
right gear at the right time - who needs 'em ? Well me, actually. It
was a 20 minute session, and just as I thought I was beginning to settle
down it was over. Just as well, as I was feeling pretty knackered,
probably due to a mixture of nervous energy and adrenaline. I had enjoyed
the session, but I was slightly dispirited that I was one of
the slowest riders out there. Maybe I should have picked the touring
session instead.
I then watched the end of the quick session, and the start of the racing speed session. Within two laps the red flag was out. Couldn't see the accident from where we were, but the ambulance went out. They restarted the session a bit later on, and after a few more laps a nice yellow 748 went down. I didn't actually see the crash, but I saw the bike sliding along the track (at the exit of Charlies, for those who know the track). Red flag again. The rider had got up and walked away, but the ambulance went round and picked him up, and I later found out that he had broken his collarbone. At this point the organisers decided to have an early lunch, and restart the racing session afterwards. In fact throughout the day it was the racing speed session that seemed to have the accidents - is this normal ? I was expecting the less experienced mortals to run into problems.
My next session was at 1:30, and was much better than the first. In fact I actually overtook somebody. I was getting more used to the track, but couldn't find a good way of getting through the gooseneck at all. This is a chicane that follows a sweeping right hander. As you come out of this you get the start of the gooseneck which is a tightish right hander, followed by a quick left as the track drops away downhill. I was also struggling to find a fast way round the hairpin, I always seemed to end up pootling around it. Still most other people seemed to be just as slow, so I guess its a universal problem. It doesn't help that there is a big bump as you come round it where the track surface changes.
My third and final session was better still, although I was still pretty
erratic. Plenty of overtaking this time, including a 916. I also passed a
fireblade, but it was running on the grass at the time. All too soon it
was all over (though I'm convinced that we had more than 20 minutes in
the final session - either that or I was suddenly going 50% faster).
An enterprising photographer had brought along a mobile dark room, so like a sucker I bought some pictures of myself. Well its easy to splash out when you're in a good mood.
It was a great day out, extremely knackering, and it also brought home alarming deficiencies in my riding technique. So if you haven't done it, go out and have a go, its fun and its educational.
Chris Paine cmp@ist.co.uk
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