TA4 Cadwell today - any reports
 

Anyone heard anything from Cadwell today yet? Is the weather OK, no fallers, everyone having a good day?

Still no-one?

I've left a voicemail and sent a few texts ... but nothing yet.

Is it raining there today?

Maybe they've all drowned in the dip! :lol:

yeah, what Tim said!

got myself black flagged for wheelying over the mountain this morning!:rolleye: behaved for a while after that!

Grip situation improved as the day went on, this afternoon was good fun!

:saint:

OK, I'll step up to the plate here then.

Morning started off a bit wet - just drizzle though and the track was wet. The start/finish straight is "low" and there was running water along there for a while (all straight line and upright though).

2nd session and the racing line was starting to dry in a lot of places. Still potentially slippy under the trees though.

By mid/late morning the whole track was dry and fine. The sun never really showed itself, but it stayed mostly dry for the rest of the day and the afternoon sessions were cracking! Picman was there so I will expect plenty for good photos to appear later.

There was the 15 minute session just before lunch for "track virgins". The 15 minutes was gained from the 3 first sessions that were cut short by 5 minutes each. Kirst and 4 others did that one, each with thei own instructor. What a brilliant opportunity, and it show in her increased confidence on the ride home this evening. Kirst is now thinking about maybe an Apex track day sometime. Nice one MT, thanks for organising it and Kirst says thanks to Richard for his patience! :)

There were a few spills, but nothing really serious I don't think. I did see Wheelspin nursing a wrist and ankle late in the afternoon though, not sure what his bike was like. A couple others ran out of track in places and took to the grass. I am sure others will elaborate when they get back though.

There were some others new to the track in the Novices I know, and all power to them for gooing out on the wet first session and sticking it out. You could see the improvement during the day as the confidence levels increased. Rockhopper's Lynn was one of those. Well done, look forward to seeing at the next TA. :)

I'll go and dig out the CD from Picman in a moment and post the group shot.

[Edited on 25-7-2005 by HW]

The TA4 group in the holding area at lunchtime.

(credits to Picman)

Kirst climbing the Mountain for the first time in the "Track Virgins" group.

(credits to Picman)

Me coming round Mansfield. Yes, new fairing too. Courtesy of Dave at HC Racetech. It fits, properly (on 749S, '03 model), it's the right price. Well pleaed with it. Didn't get time to get the decals on it, but it'll give me something to play with for the next outing. :)

http://www.hcracetech.co.uk

All our pics from today on a website

http://82.70.86.166/handk/images/trackdays/cadwell_ta4/
(credits to Picman)


[Edited on 25-7-2005 by HW]

[Edited on 25-7-2005 by HW]

Kirst,you seem to be looking at the cameraman,....look where you are going!
Henry,you are past the apex,get your fingers off the brake and get on the throttle!
Aah,I'm only ****ed off because I could'nt be there!:mad:
Hope Wheelspin is ok.:(

Keef,marc was still in Louth hospital at 8.00pm (with Rooney).monty said there was four "offs" thru the day,with the last one being the worst(stretcher) don`t no who that was tho.

;)

I didn't get chance to speak to Marc because he was on the phone when we were leaving. Hope you're OK mate. I did see the ambulance go round at the end of one of the Inters sessions. I had no idea who though.


[Edited on 25-7-2005 by HW]

A stretcher job,I heard.:o
Hope the unfortunate rider is ok.

All in all it was a another cracking DSC trackday. It started raining as i was loading up the trailer at 1.pm on sunday and it didnt stop till 10 on monday. We were camping and it was blooming awful! Everything got wet and it was freezing cold. It was lovely and cosy during the night though! Many thanks to Chris Bushell for a superb piaella as well (must give you some money for that chris).

Monday dawned bright and early and yet again it was pouring down. If i hadn't taken the bikes off the trailer on sunday i think we might have just gone home, it was so bad i could have cried.

I really wanted to kep an eye on Lynn as it was her first trackday after only having her licence for less than a year but i decided to go for it and get out on the track myself.

Now normally i wouldnt ride in the wet so i decided to use it as a learning exercise on riding in the wet. There was actually quite a lot of grip and by the third session there was a dry line appearing. I was still getting mugged by DD bikes though!

After lunch the track was dry everywhere so i thought i'd have a play on Lynns Monster. Hmmm, great fun but scary becasue the speed diference to the other bikes in the group was so huge. The lack of a rev counter was a problem as well. Oh and i ran out of ground clearance and got my toe stuck on the road and ended up on the rumble strip at the old hairpin. I decided that was a good time to call it a day and come in.

The day was rounded off by Margie and Katy scattering Morts ashes at Hall bends, what a superb place to remember someone who i think of as one of my best friends.

Thoughts for the day:
Tyre warmers are fantastic
The DD boys are seriously quick
Bog standard M600's are superb fun to ride
The DSC is full of great people, such an HW and Kirsten, Rushjob, Nelly, Dukerob, kwikbitch, ian, monty, chris bushell, fordie, yeti an loads of other who made it such a good day both for me and Lynn.

Just remembered another anecdote from today.

Whilst the "track virgins" were out doing their thing, Chris Bushell decided to take his Bevel Drive out (what was it someone please?). He was wearing an open face helmet and goggles. He only got as far as the first marshall, who blacked his path and wanted to check his ACU helmet stickers. All was in order, but I don't think they knew what to make of it. I overheard a marshall on his radio explaining that the ACU sticker was there, but it was open face. Eventually they let him out on track - you can just imagine someone at the other end of the walkie talkie frantically thumbing the rule book to see if it was OK! :)

(and I DO understand why they need to dot the i's and cross the t's, it was just amusing at the time. )

[Edited on 25-7-2005 by HW]

sounds like a good day, wish i could have made it, luckily there will be next year. hope all those that didnt make it back in 1 peice are okay

hw, some good photos there and the new bodywork looks good

a nice touch with morts ashes, i didnt know the guy personally but had a bit of banter with him on here and was shocked to read about it in pronto. RIP.

Glad it worked out ok.

I think there should be a token prize for the oldest Duke at a TrackAttack.

:)

Frank

Top day
Wets are great
Contact lenses suck (lost 3 during different sessions and had to come in :( )
Top bunch as usual
Hope the last faller in the inters is OK. Lookeld nasty as I came round gooseneck, apparently it was a nsty highside - after the chequered flag too :(

Did I mention wets are great.

twas great .. great people, great time, great circuit ..... great big thanks to Lizzie ............ :bouncy:

You must be thinking of this bike, which I think belongs to Chris Bushell



Karl
___________________

Cadwell Trackday Photo Gallary at:
http://www.pbase.com/desmoboy

just got home....knackered!!

After a grim start (rode all the way there in the rain on Sunday night, more like windsurfing down the M62) arrived in time for last orders, i was was hoping the rain would stop during the night. No such luck and Monday morning didn't look promising, what with new tyres and brake pads and a wet track.

Fortunately the rain stopped and the day was really superb. I only do on average 1 track day a year, but the DSC Track Attack was the most enjoyable one i've ever done.

Great to see lots of friends, listen to nothing but Ducati's, look at everyones bikes, (most interesting one was the 916 with the LSL handlebar conversion....just what the Multistrada should have been). Felt sorry for the ever helpfull Nelly, working on his day off.

Cadwell is a really interesting and hard track to ride, and as the day progressed my grin just got bigger, especially after lunch. There seemed to be a lot less get off's than some of the other track days i've been to. Best wishes for Wheelspin and at this stage the other unkown person who took big tumbles for a quick and full recovery.

Hero award goes to Dibble for lending his bike out to Rally who was without a bike. Villian award goes to someone who cut Redruth up badly in front of the Clubhouse and nearly nerfed her off.

Fastest tourer award goes to the 916 with a Givi rack fitted in the fast group.

Best wheelies (accidental of course as there frowned upon)
Chillo, Mr LSL bars, and last but not least Tantrum on the Funkystrada.

Funniest phrase HAMMER TIME! (subtle in joke here) for the fast cheeky monkey!

Biggest grin goes to DCR when he saw his knee down photo.

Huge thanks to Lizzie, Monty and everyone else involved in the organising of a top club event.

I had a great day, topped of by a dry ride home over the Peak District.

[Edited on 26-7-2005 by BDG]

Ericthereds day

First session missed, fast group first out,still had bike in van, so I went out in Inters in the rain on Rennsports. Nice and slow to start with, never ridden at Caddwell before.
Second session still wet but a little cockiness, I can ride in the rain started to creep in to my tiny mind and at the end of park it started to go badly wrong. In to hot, back up strait, more brake, front wheel lock, let go save, on to grass moto x comes back in to play, luckily the run of is Looooooooooong, get back on track shaken. Still wet so tires clean up down through the Gooseneck, but the mud on my right hand boot doesn’t revile itself until my foot slip’s off the peg as I shift across the bike at the second part of the chicane, nice. Still come on lad get on with it and I do until I get to the old hairpin, wheel lights up full lock looking down at no bike, then it reappeared and I landed on it. Shaken and stirred, wets in the rain Rennsports in the dry.
Third session starting to dry out but still really freaked out by the track itself and the conditions, so much to learn at this place without all this rain and nearly crashing crap.
Dry for the rest of the day tiers working but rider still lost the plot.
Thanks to all the guys who showed me round today learned lodes.
Is it me or dose Caddwell remind you of an early scaleletrics track.
Highlights of the day Ali round Barn,Geoff anywhere and Chillos wheelies.


Very intense track not for the gunho grasstracking background is not essential but is highly desirable

:lol::lol:

What a day, it was awesome. It was the second time on Fil2's race bike and this time I realy enjoyed it. As it was wet in the morning I had a chance to slowly build up the pace and knowlegde of the track. Know I know why people rave about Cadwell :O)

Excellent day, thanks to the organisers

Kel x

As usual fantastic day.
The faller in the last group was Scott,and although it sounded serious at first ,the thought of having to pay for treatment saw Scott singing the release forms and discharging himself,i saw him in the paddock as we were leaving and apart from a graze on the head he seemed ok.
The rest of the day,well, as usual great company (goes without saying) and from a personal point of view i was well pleased with my riding (all on the babyR ) managing to turn much later and faster and also getting on the gas MUCH earlier.
Chris had a great day helping fellow members improve ,he seems to get so much from this,he also had 3 sessions in the fast group on the babyR and was a joy to watch.
He managed to sum the bike up beautifully when asked what he thought of it with the reply "makes the 890 seem ordinary"!
Thanks to Monty ,Lizzie and all the other helpers ,without your efforts we wouldn't have days like yesterday.
Final thought ,seeing a standard 620 numptystrudel battleing with Geoff Spencer (and leading him for 2 laps) was a joy to behold!
Butch

Left Norwich in sunshine but by time i'd covered the 15 miles to Dereham to meet up with Sparkin it was spitting with rain and by time we got to kings lynn to meet up with Wheelspin and Rooney it was time for the water proofs :mad: it p****d it down all the way to Cadwell, although the MT had no probs with the wet roads the electrics were'nt liking it, cutting out three times in the last ten miles. Once at the track first port of call was the bar four or five pints later and its time to set up camp, thank god for that marque that someone left up. Morning came round all to quick and the sudden thought as to where my wallet was, turned out i left it on the bar the night before and a member of staff handed it in so had to be gratefull i got both parts of my licence and cards back even though it was missing the five twenty pound notes, oh well own fault for leaving it there in the first place.As for the track, never done Cadwell before and was a bit nervous of going around in the wet but the tyres seemed to have loads of grip and i was soon up to speed although was still getting several reminders from the rear under braking and down shifting, once the track started to dry the fun started, being able to dice more confidently with some of the other guys ( and gals ) and the mountain had me laughing so louding in my helmet i thought i was going to roll of the bike clutching my sides, the wheel may have only been a couple of inches of the ground but it felt massive to me and i was loving it. All in all a fantastic day :roll::roll::roll:

Unfortunatly not so good for eveyone, hope your not to badly beaton up Wheelspin, ill speak to you later to see how you are, anyone know how the guy is that went down on the final inters session or who it was.

Look foward to see'ing all thoughs of you that are brave enough to go on the Narfok raid next Sunday ;):sing:

Brilliant day out - in fact brilliant weekend, mainly thanks to Pooh & Tigger (who live about 20 miles up the road from Cadwell) Reccommenation to all who enjoy a good rideout - stay over some time & have a hoon on some of those awesome roads:roll:

AK had a great time on track with Mrs Snot, gradually building up confidence & speed. He says a BIG thanks to Geoff for his instructing on & off the track - he learnt such a lot, completing all the sessions.

Tool kit came in usefull for a few members during the day, and cheers to NBs for the space under his gazebo (as we had left ours behind)

I bumbled around at lunchtime - once again thanks to Geoff who led me round (wanted to go faster y know:devil: ) - and I am happy to annouce to all who know me;) 'I was on Geoffs tail for a couple of circuits - closest I'll ever get - and more than many of the DD boys will at Donnington next time':P:devil:

good drive home, saw us getting in the door 3 hours after leaving - quickest yet:cool:

Cheers to Lizzie for organising it - and to the weather for drying up:cool:

Charlotte & Alan:)

[Edited on 26-7-2005 by CK and AK]

Ok I will do a proper write up for Pronto, but for those of you who are interested, the bike I rode yesterday is a 1967 narrow case 350 single.

The rolling chassis is basically standard, but the engine has been ported, big valves, high comp racing piston and a lumpy cam. I havent had it on the dyno in the curent incarnation, but would think that it makes just under 30hp and weighs about 90kgs.

Once I sorted the carb probems, it was going fine except for a bit of fuel starvation down the main straight (note to self to fit a 2nd fuel tap).

Must admit I had a great day and will do a write up for Pronto.

Don't talk to me about driving home...
Who's idea was it to close the M1 :flame:

Had massive fun raggin' the monster around for a couple of sessions, so much more grin factor than on the 996 (for sale very soon... watch this space)

[Edited on 26-7-2005 by NBs996]

First - a big thankyou to BDG for sorting out the B&B for me, and DCR, Sharon & Gizmo for their help on the day.

Day started a bit iffy as I managed to get to the circuit half way through WJB's safety talk, one of the Cadwell staff spotted me coming in late and made me have my own safety talk before giving me the second arm band! By the time I was ready to go out my first session was coming back in - oops. So second session came around and out I go - with new tyres and it's wet, but they soon scrubbed up and the rusty feeling from not being on a track for three years started to fade. After lunch things were fine (exept I need to get fitter - 6 laps & I was knackered) it was real fun watching the DD bikes in action and in one session I found myself in with 4 DD bikes having a mini DD race - superb. Other points that stood out for me were going into the Gooseneck (a section I don't really like) and having Geoff Spencer dive under me going in, showing me just how hard you can get through there - nice riding mate, then another time in the second part of Charlies I closed on someone, eased off a bit, only to have Micheal Neeves come round the outside of both of us on the DUK 620 Multisrada, the speed he got round on that was very impressive - good to watch it on the straight too as it weaved it's way from one end to the other - did he back off? - not a bit.
Fantastic day was had.
Pirelli Diablo Corsas:)

And to everyone from the DSC and Cadwell involved in putting the day on for us - thankyou very very much:D

And to those who fell, best wishes for a speedy recovery.


Mort - I hope we sounded and looked good. RIP.

I had the most excellent day...Thank you lizzie!:D

For a start I just want to say thank you to Rushjob and Nelly for taking my bike to Cadwell and allowing me to use Cornerspeed to prep him before he was loaded up! AND thank you Rushjob for the burgers!

It was great to catch up with all the DSC peeps (too numerous to mention) BUT the best cheesy grin award has to go to DSeeRed after he got his knee down!

I started in novice in the first "wetter than wet with horizontal rain and high winds" session. It must have been awful for those first time on track. The pace was very slow and tentative with no surprise really...visibility was so poor you could hardly see the person in front, so there was no way you could look through and follow the lines of the instructor.

Second session was much better, lines were appearing and the rain had slowed, after the first couple of laps I upped the pace a little and to my surprise found that I was moving very quickly to the front of the group. At points I found it difficult as my pace was much faster and there was some tentative braking going on in front of me and I began to feel worried I couldn't yet anticipate the lines some people were taking.

After some advice and constructive critisism I used the next few sessions to get ahead of the group and practice being smoother in halls. Which I'm pleased to say improved my confidence no end.

I nipped to see Lizzie at lunch time and bumped up to inters.

I was a bit bothered as I was with my mates who were MUCH faster than me...

However...Inters felt so comfortable the pace was much quicker.
After I had cracked halls and the woodland section (which was still very oily) Lee stayed behind me and watched me on some of the faster corners.

In Novice I could peg it down start/finish straight then drop it a gear with out brakes to take coppice. For some reason though as the pace was upped I couldn't take my fingers off the brake...By last session though I had got the hang of the increased pace and felt much better on the faster corners.

I could have done with an extra session!
Just been on picman and my body position is much better...fluid, looser and relaxed. Just need to get my body over and get my knee out more and I'm there!
Thanks every one...This club is great!

Oh! And the best comment of the day which will stay with me forever was from Margie
" Mort would have been sooo proud of you!"
L x

Sleeping policeman in IAM touring mode

a day full of ups and down for me...

ups:
good larf with many
not bad session after lunch (fully ragged tyres does it for me)
the help I got after my bike developed problems (Harv/Jas/Paul/James/Loz etc)
learning about suspension (well, a bit!!)
paella

bad:
losing 4 of 6 rear sprocket bolts! (cheers Jas for the replacement)
realising that short legs equal wollowy and cruiser steering (now you know why I'm so slow paul!!)
lots of back pain coz my airbed lost all its air at 3am!!!!!!! and not much sleep...
2 ****er$ cutting me up and causing me to have a teenage tantrum and come in early (thanks to Pete for getting me a bit level headed) oh and nearly spoiling my day completely! For those two, if you read this, I was the big guy yellow leathers and I had my son in paddock so shunting me off the track would have caused a few issues...THANKS!!!!!!! hope it was worth it..


But as always best to focus on the positives...club/people/craik...could get better :D


Thinking of selling SPS after yesterday....anyone after one let me know

Don't sell the SPS until we've set the geometry properly!!

Then, if you still want to sell.....

Just don't buy a jap ;)

It was me :sniff:

Scottch :o:o:o

Wanted to seek you out & say hello yesterday but missed you - glad to hear you're OK.

No worries mate - we had a bit of cheek back and forward during the photo shot ;)

All ok here - apart from aches allover, and I'm thinking I may need to pop to A&E in the morning.

Cheers!

glad to hear your ok dude, was right next to you all day and didnt introduce myself...DOH!! followed you for a bit too when you were getting some instruction after lunch

Thanks to CK/AK (I never know who is who!) for loan of tools to fit my wets...by the time I'd done it the rain had stopped but I went out anyway! Braking into Park was "interesting" on wets in the dry - oh well, it was fun.
Fitted the Supercorsas back on for p.m. sessions - fantastic fun!

You need a faster van guys!

Cheers,
R X and Scott (748_ARSE Black n' Chrome Nissan Novaro Chav Wagon owner!)

So how long did it take you then - saw you peel off at Sleaford (ish) whilst we went on & picked up the roman road (B 6403) which comes out at Colsterworth.

C = Charlotte:D:P