| Mat2hew, I think every racer in the world is reading your thread and politely suggesting you have a re-think on your travelling home plan. One or two go home if they are VERY local, eg Lil and JPM at Oulton, some do a B&B, but 95% stay in the paddock in caravans, mobile homes, tents and the back of the van - I've seen some sleeping in the back of cars, but don't recommend it for a comfy nights sleep. My first year of racing we bought a caravan for £150 and three of us stayed in it for the whole season, nice and dry and warm and comfy and we sold it for £80 at the end of the year. The ‘Loveshack’, ah the memories
Looking at the circuits, most of your 'close' ones are still 3 hours away if we're generous. So your Saturday race is towards the end of the day, maybe even last race, so you finish at 5.00pm let's say. Are you going to pack up all your gear or chance leaving it unattended whilst you are 100 miles away? Let’s say you pack it away again and you are off at 6.00pm, (which for most of us is past beer o'clock). Let's say it takes you 3 hours to get home. Can you park the van safely with all your gear or do you have to unload into the garage? In any case, it's 9.00pm and you want something to eat and an early night because you have to be up at 5.00am for your 3 hour drive to get there for 8.00am to get set up and ready for 9.00am practice session. In the meantime, everyone else has shared a load of banter and beers and had a good nights sleep. Racing is knackering in any case, so I think you might try it once and realise you can't concentrate and are therefore not safe to be around on the race track on a Sunday, let alone driving home (again) on Sunday night. Good luck getting up for work on Monday morning. Plus you will have saved a stack of dosh over the season if you stay. Also, what if you want to repair or make adjustments to your bike, when are you going to do it? Also, even although the paddocks are a bit quieter these days, if you arrive on Sunday, you are unlikely to get your old space back as someone will have parked in it and you’ll be on the fringe of the paddock on your own unable to hear the tannoy and a long walk to the loos etc.
All I do it take my pillow and spare duvet and a roll up mattress and sleep in the back of the van. Have just enough beer to take the cold off, iPod on and that's me for the night. Luvvly jubbly.
As said above, the paddock banter can be better than the racing itself. A weekend away with a load of mates around bikes and watching racing close up. Doesn’t get much better. I reckon you’ll either change your mind or try it once and never do it again.
WeeJohnyB  |