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| #1  19-Feb-2005, 21:44 | ||||
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| A chill day in Norfarrrk! What a day! Met up with Dickie last night for a couple of pints in our B&B, about 3 miles from Snetterton. Despite being a bit chilly outside the rain seemed to be drying up and the forecast was better for Saturday..... Woke with daybreak, got up and looked out the window. Quick double take. Rub eyes. Look again. No, the van really was covered in a few cm of snow!  Not to worry, bugger all we could do about it, so a top brecky and in the wagons to get trackside for scrutineering. Driving into the circuit and all you could do was laugh. White as far as the eye could see, and horizontal driving snow! Found one of the few remaining spots right next to race control and thought sod it, better get on with it. Quick purchase of numbers and backing boards and we pushed the bikes round to scrutineering. As anticipated they were being pretty lenient and even Dickie's bike made it through without any lockwire! We were told things were running late due to the snow (there's an excuse you don't want to hear at a TD!) so off to the cafe for a coffee and more laughs about drifting, skiing and studded tyres.... Coffee in hand, we looked out as the snow set in thicker than I've seen in many, many years. Undetered we went off for the first of the classroom sessions with the Bemsee race director (Dave ???), and then out on track in full wet-weather gear, with snow on the sides of the track and slush filling the dips in the track. All in all it wasn't too bad with the bike only stepping out on contact with white lines. By the time the second track session came around there were dry lines starting to appear, and by the third the lines were wide and everyone was running at 80%. Still bleedin cold, but the tyres were proving more than up to the job. Without a shadow of a doubt the best bit of the day came with the grid start. We did the full setup with grid formation in the pits, sighting lap, line up on the start-finish grid, warm-up lap (  ), and then the proper grid start, all with me in last place (smallest bike on the grid).What an absolutely blinding way to spend your money!  When the lights went out there was nothing but 1m of track on the outside to think about. I made a fair few places and dropped into Riches to take a couple more. Despite there being about 35 people on the grid it didn't seem too hectic. There was enough space available to really move around, even mid-corner. We fell into formation under a course yellow for a few corners and then it was full bore, with most people thinking they were 5 points off a WSB win!The remaining laps were spent duelling with a Minitwins entrant, with the baby duke taking hold on the corners but being taken back on the straights. I was gutted when the flag dropped, despite not being able to feel my fingers, thumbs, or left leg! I can't wait to do it again. A great day, very well organised, showing what a massive difference exists between the perception of racers and race organisation, and the reality. A more friendly, unaffected bunch of fools you couldn't hope to meet. Massive thanks must go to Tony at Brancato Engineering who not only spent late nights and early mornings getting the SS bellypan mould ready, but turned out a first rate product despite the severe time limitations. He also made an number of adjustments to the bike while we fitted it that helped her though scrutineering and made her feel much better prepped. Cheers Tony.   |
| #4 20-Feb-2005, 12:17 | ||||
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| yes was a great day. nice to meet up with ali and see how far i'm already off the pace! was a tiny bit alarmed to see the 'heavy frost' on saturday morning and the following snow storms as we reached snetterton and tried to set up. my preparation for this had consisted of; well **** all to be honest! managed to get my lights and sidestand off and half bodge my bellypan on and that was that, so was fully expecting to be told to sling my hook by the scrutineers but they were very helpful and listened to all my pre prepared excused very attentively and decided to let me get out on track. classroom sessions were very much as expected but i must say that bemsee come across as a very well run club, very much concerned with the safety and enjoyment of its members, i would certainly have no doubts about racing with them should the need/opportunity arise. trackwise, wasnt too much fun for me initially, new bikes first time on track, tyres not properly scrubbed in, new track for me, snow/rain, freezing cold! my excuses are endless! had a bit of a slide coming out of sear which didnt help too much either. lines were all over the place but thats nothing new. wimped out of the second last session to save myself for the last one with the grid start. was somewhat nervous when being told about it; although not as nervous as the guy on pole i recon. was given a grid spot near the back with the instructors close behind. did the sighting, did the warm up and then sitting there waiting for the lights to go out with what seemed like thousands watching me; about 70 actually! lights go off, and to my surprise so did I absolutely bloody loved it. gave me a whole different mindset for that session and with the dryish conditions really started to feel more at one with the track.cant wait to get back there now to really see what i can do. great day and looking forward to the racing proper now even more. |
| #5 20-Feb-2005, 18:06 | ||||
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| Well done Ali and Dickie. Riding six hundreds round Snetterton in the snow. That has to be one of the maddest things a biker can do. Great to read your right ups. It all sounds fantastically exciting, in spite of the *****ty conditions.  |
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