startline disasters2-roadrage

Cadwell Park-1998.
Formula 400s-Ist race.
Good practice,3rd row on the grid 5 rows in total..

Nicely relaxed,new orange bib,
black leathers to match the bike-A honda RVF400
painted and stickered to look, at first glance, like an Aprilia RS250
.(You,d be surprised how many riders ,
looking at the bike said”I didnt know Aprilia made a V4”
-people rarely spot subtle differences
-its like shaving off a beard or a moustache
-hardly anyone notices or at most says
”Is there something different about you?
My own mother failed to notice
that I,d shaved off the beard I,d sported for 5 years!)

Marshall walks to starting box holding red flag aloft,
Noise deafening as 30 plus high revving 400 cc Multis
build up the revs ready to go….
Down goes the flag,
clouds of blue tyre smoke;

DOWN GOES THE BLOKE IN FRONT!

The guy in line with me,2 rows in front,
had done an enormous involuntary wheelie as he dumped the clutch.

and dropped the bike.

the guy directly in front has no choice
but to drive over him and/or his fallen bike.
In my turn I swerve desperately,
to the right of the rider on the ground
and ride along the rumble strip,trying to stay upright
Out of the corner of my right eye
I see the rider from behind me,

sideways on the grass,
speedway style,

throwing mud and clods everywhere
.
It is just like a group of lemmings hurtling madly towards self destruction!
All this takes only a second or two
but I am so shellshocked,I lose my concentration
and try to stay with the quickly disappearing horde
but at a sedate pace.
Its all a bit like a battle scene from Braveheart
-organised Chaos!.

Its a this point I decide to sell the RVF Honda
and buy a classic racer instead
-I,m too old for this mularky.

(pictured-Honda CL77305,Honda 350 K4 and Ducati 250

I bought 2 classic racers to join the old CL77 in fact)

Honda RVF is sold to a nice lad
who brings his 18 year old “professional mechanic “mate
along to test the 400s mechanical condition.

At his insistence I hand him the Dyno readouts
done by Sean, the Wizard,from RS Tuning at Retford
Following an airbox mod,
a change of Jets(different sizes back 2 and front 2 cylinders)
and a tasty Jap exhaust system
the bike is now making 65bhp at the rear wheel,
with no loss of flexibility on the way.

He stares at the graphs knowingly
muttering “not bad”

-I can bear it no longer.
I reach over and turn the pages the right way up
and point at the important curves-Red face!

Perhaps its like they say-

“Youth is wasted on the young?”

Me and Rossi

Valentino Rossi and I have several things in common

As motorcycle racers-neither of us will probably win another world Title,

Both of us like a laugh,

we have boyish good looks in common……….

BUT do you know what?

Valentino will probably never race at the 3 Sisters track at Wigan- WELL I HAVE!

3 sisters is a council owned circuit built on old pit workings;

It is a very small track -probably less than a mile round-with 2 very short straights and some very tight bends,and not very wide.
Take a look at  the photo below to get some idea of the layout.
(Thats me-3rd from the back of the grid,wife Ann 6th from the back with a yellow lid astride her TZR250 and nephew Philip 9th from rear on an RGV250-a family affair?The occasion -a “Rookie”race where all newcomers race round a tiny track on machines of disparate power levels 125 to 1200cc-TERRIFYING!)

The main usage seems to be by karts,with rental sessions for “corporate days out”.

Small,light bikes do well here-nimbleness rather than max power is what wins races.In fact in the late 90,s the lap record was held by an earlystocks RG250 Suzuki-it may still be!

Ann and I used to do trackdays and ACU practice days here and knew the track quite well.

In early 1998 I was campaigning my Honda CL77 twin- a 305cc US import street scrambler converted to racing spec by Pete Rhodes (Honda Racing Services).

It was originally intended to be a street machine,but the lack of creature comforts,excessive noise and “flat” powerband made it unsuitable for the road-But on the track-It was a revelation!

Very stable,utterly predictable and truly unburstable,it was always a joy to ride on a tight track.

The motor made a modest 24/28HP.laughable by todays standards.

The challenge on the Honda was to keep the momentum up.

Late braking (if at all)as few gear changes as possible-ride on the torque(the 4 speed box had a huge gap between 2nd and 3rd gears,making 3rd and 4th ratios the only really useful choices).

To make any kind of progress ,the Honda demanded smooth riding style,planned overtaking points,later and deeper braking into the bends, highest possible corner speeds,throttle to the stop-.the antithesis of modern point and squirt racing, in fact.

I raced at Wigan several times on a variety of bikes-a YamahaTZR250,a modified XBR500 Honda and my first ever racer-an MZ250!

However one of my most memorable races EVER was onboard the 305 Dream

I have heard warfare,for the average battle soldier, being described as”long periods of boredom,interspersed with moments of blind terror”

Motorcycle Racing at any level is surely the same!

Weekends spent travelling to and from far flung circuits in tatty caravans

Endless waits between all too short practice sessions.

Hours spent signing on,
scrutineering,
lunch breaks;
Then,all at once your class is announced over the tannoy
”All riders in the Classic 500 class report to the start,all riders in the…………..”
Blind terror!

Everyone looks faster than you ,and better prepared.
Everyone avoids eye contact with each other,
nobody speaks as they leave the paddock and make their way to the holding area.
Good Sphincter control is required,as is deep breathing to quell the mounting nausea.
“Perhaps it will rain torrentially in the next 5 minutes and they will cancel the event.”
“Perhaps my bike will blow up in the next few seconds-hopefully”

Oh no,here comes the lady with the pegbag
(at 3 sisters grid positions were allocated at random by each rider picking a numbered clothes peg. out of the bag,and displaying the same,clipped to the fairing screen,for inspection on the grid)..

This was the Classic race-normally split into 2 races-”up to 500cc and over500cc to follow”

Not so today.

Not a big enough grid-therefore(as so often happens in classic racing) a combined grid allowing 100plus HP machines to gobble up tiddlers in the same race.

As an aside- this seems to be a common occurrence these days,as grid sizes diminish due to astronomical cost rises-”stick the little uns in with the big boys to make up the numbers!”

A similar event took place at a New Era meeting at Oulton Park that I attended(I think it was the “Lansdowne trophy” race for classic machines).
There was myself on a 350 Honda K4 and only 2 other riders mounted on classic machines(a Manx Norton and an AJS as I recall).
Clearly not enough to make a race of of it,so we were lumped in with the “Battle of the Twins”;
Can you imagine the potential carnage of running hamster powered old crocks with Ducati 916,s,TL1000s,Aprilia Milles and the like,in the same race!
Not a pleasant racing experience for anyone concerned!
Some of these clubs want their scruples sorting !

ANYWAY-back to the action at the Gokart track….