So today I drove down with a mate (with the Bandit 1200) to the Alexandra Palace to have a look around the show. This was formerly the Road & Racing show or something similar but has evolved from being a trade show for bike racers to a mini-version of the main NEC November bike show (and that much further South too).
Disappointing to see that Kawasaki didn't see fit to have a ZRX on their stand. Triumph, on the other hand, had one of the quite amazingly wonderful
Daytona 675 on theirs. It had a different saddle - presumably from their options list - and a seat cover for the pillion that added to its good looks and no doubt comfort too.
Very narrow-waisted, being a triple, but for such a small bike it was amazingly comfortable for a six-footer like me. I really, really want one for trackdays now.
The Blue Flame Perfomance stand also had a 675 on their stand fitted with their exhaust which appeared to have two stoppers for the outside exhaust holes held in place with circlips, presumably so you can remove them for more power and noise.
I ended up with a bargain: a pair of Bridgestone BT012SS tyres (like I already have fitted for fast road/trackday use) for £150. Cheapest online deal I can find is £185 and I usually pay over £200 for a set.
I also bought a rear brake line kit - BSR Aerotek braided hose and fittings - and as I walked away from the stand, there was a nagging doubt about it ... confirmed when I got home and discovered the same set sitting on the shelf in the garage!
The final purchase was a full-sized numberplate for the bike trailer to match the
ST200's as I'll be towing with that this year, with a mention of the
Motorcycle Prizes web site URL along the bottom.
Brands Hatch, 11 July 2005 - On-Board Footage
If you want to see how slowly I was riding at Brands,
here's the video, uploaded to Google Video.
Donington Park, 16 September 2005
My first time ever at Donington but as the Fast group had been selling out and even had some reserves, I was riding in the Intermediates, aka the group most likely to crash (this is because - according to legend - it's the one where people too proud to book into Novices go and/or it's where the self-styled heroes go so they can beat all the slower riders). In truth, I'm better suited to the Inters. as I'm not as fast as I was and I ride a bike that's much, much heavier than the rest - imagine a sportsbike with a rider and pillion and that's about the right weight...
We don't allow laptiming at our trackdays, but one of the
ZRXOC Team Phat Bastid Supporters Club contingent clocked me at under 1:37 for a lap.
Donington Park is now one of my favourite tracks as it's a lovely one to ride and not 'Mickey Mouse' like some others. Problem is, it's another 'premium' MSV-owned circuits so it's an expensive day, especially for a so-called Noisy day: despite being next to East Midlands Airport, the locals complain about bike noise, so there are normally noise restrictions in place.
That and they prohibit on-board videos, the buggers.
Photos in the usual place:
and
Mallory Park, 23 August 2005
MondayBack after our family hols. Mum drove up to collect the kids to take them off to hers for a couple of days via Banham Zoo. Hmm. Shouldn't "hers" be "her's"? Anyway. It rained bucketloads which made loading the Fester with bikey gear and then loading Blue Rex onto the trailer a tad worrying. Still, by mid-afternoon, I was ready to head off to Mallory and - shock! horror! - Mrs. Blue was coming with me!
The journey to the Royal Arms near to the track was a pain in the arse as
some fecktard had decided to park his lorry on top of a car just past Thetford on the A11. We diverted into Thetford but found traffic queues, so did a U-ey and then went towards Brandon only to find that at a standstill, so did another U-ey (all with the bike and trailer, remember) and then decided to check the A11. The ½ hour peeing about had been enough time for the road to have re-opened so off we went.
Got to the M11/A14 bit at Cambridge and found that at a standstill {sigh} so diverted through Madingley onto the A428 before heading up the A1. The last section of the journey went fine and we arrived at the hotel by about 6-6.30pm to find a bunch of others sitting out with beers, so we joined them, drinking until we all went in for Dinner at 8.30pm.
One of our group was getting married so was treating Mallory as his stag do, so he bought £100 of champagne for us (to go with the cost of the hotel, the trackday, hiring the bike, etc.). It was his first trackday since shattering his elbow at Mallory three years or so ago. Hooooge meal and then to bed. Way too hot in the rheum so a fitful night's sleep.
TuesdayUp at 6.00am to get ready and packed for breakfast at 7.00am and away to the track for 7.30am. Marvelous weather. Assembled the trackdayers for the briefing at 8.45am and onto the track for the first fast group session at 9.00am. One older rider highsided at the Devil's Elbow almost taking out his daughter's bloke who was about to overtake.
One or two more red-flagging incidents, then the big one.
Novices group, so should have been safe as houses. One bloke (who'd been at the Royal Arms the night before), loses the front end of his Ducati Monster at Edwinas. Aforementioned stag on the hired Honda SP1 drops it avoiding him and a third rider who's managed to stop. Fourth rider (also at the hotel) on an Aprilia Falco manages to stop too, but fifth rider (ditto) is approaching at a much quicker rate and cannot brake in time. His bike hits the Falco and then launches about 10 feet into the air taking Duncan with it and knocking the bike out from underneath the fourth rider. Red flags waved, both ambulances go out to collect Stag and Duncan. Duncan's wife just happened to be spectating at Edwinas and caught the whole thing on video...
Stag is brought to the track medical centre but is fine if very battered and bruised. Duncan is taken straight to Lecister Royal Infirmary leaving a distraught Janie behind. Hugs from me and Mrs. Blue help, apparently, before she drives off to the hospital. His bike is totalled but the marshals shove it into a pit garage and I drag his trailer in there.
Rest of the day goes OK and an incident-free journey home.
Photo
here
Brands Hatch, 11 July 2005
I still didn't trust Blue Rex's front tyre after the Mallory 'off', so a day at Brands on the Indy circuit which is quite short and twisty was probably not a good idea, especially as I would be in the Fast group...
Fast? I'd have been quicker pushing the bike around Clearways.
Photos
here and
here. Footage showing just how slow I was will be on Google Video shortly.
Catching Up
Sorry, dear reader, for not updating this for a while. I'll try and catch up with everything soon.
Perceptions
Tonight at 9.00pm on BBC1, there's another episode of the documentary "Traffic Cops" which tends to show lots of chases in "Police, Camera, Action" stylee.
What caught my eye in the TV Times was this summary:
"Meanwhile, officers on the motorway embark on a high-speed chase - pursuing a reckless motorcyclist who is in danger of causing an accident."
So I looked at
DigiGuide, that says:
"On the motorway, the chase is on for the motorbike from hell."
Ditto with the RadioTimes online and the BBC's web site.
I see plenty of footage of people ridng like knobs but I am curious as to just how awful the riding will be to deserve these sorts of reviews.
We'll see.
