Ducati Sporting Club UK - Ali's absurdly long Snet race report

Grab a coffee or a beer, pull up a seat, try not to fall asleep...:lol:

The run up to Snetterton was a complete disaster. If there was one round where a settled bike, physical fitness, and a decent state of mind was going to be important it was this one. I, however, turned up with a coughing bike, totally unfit and shattered from the previous weeks activities. My annual pilgrimage to Le Mans had taken its toll, as had the stint in the MHP dyno room until dawn on Friday morning. We had attempted to get the Keihin FCR41s (bought for my 900) to work on the 675, but had ended up with 1bhp less than we’d started and very rough fuelling at anything less than ½ throttle.

By Friday morning I was dead on my feet and moaning to Saara that I thought this weekend would be a disaster. I hadn’t been to the gym for weeks, I hadn’t managed to sort out an oil cooler, nor fix the broken fairing from CC, and sleep had become something other people did at night! But I had promised J a good show at Snet, plus a blast on his first track day, so a van was rented and we joined the M25 car park for the slow drift to Snet.

Torrential rain accompanied us the whole way there (what is it with thunderstorms and DD meetings?), but we managed to make it to the paddock just before dark. The camp was easy to spot thanks to the huge DSC flag, so we pulled up and pitched camp before the next downpour. The Dom & Dan Cann Show turned up shortly after, complete with TV, microwave and Mum! All that was missing was Team F3, but Phil had decided on the sensible option of a decent nights sleep so we soldiered on without the usual mick-taking and mega-barbie.

If I had to point to the one item that helped the most on Saturday it would be earplugs. I may have only had 6 hours sleep, but it was the first time with earplugs and I found log-like levels of snooze. A quick peek out of the tent in the morning and all was as grey as expected. I was pretty surprised to see a dry track and pleased that my bro would get out to have a decent thrash on the SL without having to worry about rain. The track day part of the day worked as a great warm up, with an excellent battle with Graham (Sparkin) on one of the sessions. It was a real treat to follow a 888 being thrashed by a nutter, even if he did bugger off into the distance every time we saw a straight!

Despite previous worries the little 675 seemed to be holding up ok, with the slight exception of a carb falling off halfway round the track! This turned out to be a split carb rubber (AK’s) not hanging on to the shortened inlet manifolds (also AK’s), but was remedied using some high-temp silicon (AK’s again…), and the miss firing was semi- cured using a loaned set of transducers (guess whose :lol: ) Many thanks to Mr Alan Knight for making my weekend possible!

Free practise rolled around and I went out for a couple of laps, but I came in quite soon due to concerns over the state of the oil and the lack of a time to change it. A quick plug check showed that the engine was running very lean and the casing were extremely hot. I’d measured them a few weeks back, when the engine wasn’t running lean, using a laser reader and the outside of the casings were between 130c and 165c, so the oil must have been well beyond its optimum operating temperature.

As with free practise my mind was set on engine preservation for qualifying so I went out for about six laps and did my best to get a reasonable spot on the grid. This was never going to be a race reliant on grid position so baking the engine for an extra spot seemed madness. I came away with a ninth, two down on CC but enough to keep me in the second pack behind the fast boys.

The race itself is something of a blur. I’ve found at every meet that even minutes after the race I can barely remember who I overtook or where I had good/bad moments. I think it’s something to do with the brain’s prioritisation of resources, feeding the oxygen to those parts required for calculation rather than those used for memory. Here’s what I can remember;

Lost a few places on the start (as I always do) but wasn’t too concerned, and set about establishing a position to start working from. Phil was obviously on form and Dom was right up his chuff, pulling away from me on Revett Straight like I was using half throttle! After a couple of laps I couple see the gap had stabilised and I started working on reeling them in. Inching closer down Revett I was surprised to see Dom look back and give me a big thumbs up like he wanted me to catch up!

Corum has long been one of my favourite corners and I noticed I could make up a good amount every time we came around it. I was also catching through Bomb Hole, but they were quicker around most of the rest of the track. I seemed to be especially bad around Sears, but again I wasn’t too concerned as I knew we had ages to get this sorted.

One of the key discoveries of the morning was that getting the drive through Bomb Hole, and using the smaller radius of the outside of the tyre to bring the revs up, gave me a much higher entry speed to Corum. On the rare occasions when I managed to combine that with the turn in and apex cones I found myself flying the corner much quicker than I thought possible. I worked on getting this section better and better to catch the guys, and ended up having to brake hard into Corum to avoid hitting the back of them. I’m not sure when I got past, but when I saw Dave on the ground I knew that my hard work may have been for nothing.

The second start was largely similar to the first. A couple of folk came past but I made the places back into Riches. A quick look back after Sears and I noticed Dom hadn’t made it to latch on to the back of me, I was a little relieved but more disappointed as the battle of the first half wouldn’t continue in the second. More importantly, Phil had had another blinder and was gapping me down towards the Esses so I started the customary chipping away that I’ve come to love.

Without Dom in the mix the lack of difference in pace between Phil and I was even clearer. The wind was assisting my oversize leathers in acting like a sail down the s/f straight, and Phil’s better ability to tuck in kept him coming past me on the Revett Straight. Lap after lap I came out of Corum inches off his back wheel, desperate for a passing opportunity but well aware that when push comes to shove Phil’s better on the brakes. I had to find a much higher exit speed and a clear line to get the pass.

I didn’t notice the last lap flag, so I had no idea that I was going to have go on the last corner possible. I hung back a little out of the Esses to give a little space and then held it flat through Bomb Hole and Corum, Phil ran a little wide and I used the exit speed to run up the inside. I was the most surprised man on the track when I saw the chequered flag, but also the happiest. I had pulled off the luckiest race with a good chunk of my family and friends there to enjoy it. I was instantly aware of how Phil would be feeling, especially given how determined he’s been all season, but I’m sure he’ll see more than enough silverware the way he’s going.

Saturday was the kind of day I’d never have dreamed of over the cold winter months, and undoubtedly one of the highlights of life so far, but most of the praise should be directed to those that actually got me there in the first place! Saara for putting up with endless tantrums, money worries and providing a source of calm sense when things go awry. J for stopping me from having to say “I wish you could’ve been there”. Nelly for bolting the engine together so well. Mark Hill for staying up all night before his race day to get her running at all. Alan for supplying just about anything I asked for without batting an eyelid. Rich for being both top entertainment and a one man engineering encyclopaedia. Most of all to the other racers for putting the time, money and effort to go racing, and the spectators who said congrats after the race. This series is the dogs pods, and I hope the next few rounds are every bit as entertaining for all concerned as this one was.

Get well soon Mr Reilly.

Ali