Valencia Report. Pics to follow
Sorry i've been so quiet, but got back late last night and crashed out (no pun intended) straight away.
Then got into work today to find Keith had sold 6 bikes over the weekend while I was away!!!
I should go away more often!
I thought it only fair to take Keith to the pub for a couple of pints as a wee thanks, so have had no time to post today until now!
So anyway back to the trip!
In one piece although I left a wee bit of me over there at turn three!!!
Yes, broke my record of 4 years of track riding with no offs and came off twice in one event!
Putting it down to setting my suspension up with a base setting for Jerez that just wasn't right for Valencia. That, coupled with a front tyre that just didn't seem to be working properly!
I have to say it was more like a race meeting than a trackday though. The pace was very, VERY quick and a few times I had some guys come past me at a frightening pace.
There were some racers that were lapping very close to lap record times. For example we had one chap who is a wildcard at BSBK at one of the rounds soon, not to mention Jeremy McWilliams and Iain MacPherson (who used to hold the lap record there!!!) Fair to say, it was a bit of an eye opener!!
Turn 6 on day one was the first time I hit the deck! After a few hot laps in the middle of the day I backed off for a couple of slower circuits, breath back, I started to really push for a good (for me!!) lap time! Over cook it on the brakes and the front just begins to slide beyond the point that forcing my knee into the tarmac will bring it back!
Next thing I know i'm sliding into the kitty litter swearing my head off under my helmet!!
Fortunately, the bike was almost undamaged! The crash bungs had done their job fine and after a new gear shift was fitted, I was back on 30 mins later!
4 of our group came off that day, it's a hell of a challenging track!
Day 2 was uneventfull with regards to crashes for me (after the morning's brief rain shower!) but a lot of riders dropped it from all the groups!
One of the best parts of the weekend was getting the chance to follow MacPherson round and getting the benfit of his tuition. He's such a smooth rider and makes it look so effortless! I got some good tips on how to attack the track a totally different way
In places I was getting a much quicker line but with what seemed like 50% less effort. At this point I felt I was beginning to learn the track.
Incidentally, all those laps on the Playstation were just about useless!
I've got to be honest, my confidence had taken a bit of a kicking so was about a second of my best (1.53) for the morning of day one. To put it in perspective, there were guys doing 1.42's on the track at the same time, they were just so impressive! Iain MacPherson had the record at 1.40 in 2000!!
It's just another world!
Day 3 was going great, my confidence was coming back nicely around lunch time and after a few quick laps to get the tyres up to the right temp (I used tyre warmers also) I pushed really hard into turn three and the front washed on me again!!!
This time I went down fast, no warning from the tyre at all and i'm sliding up the tarmac at 100mph
Worst of all, Valencia is renowned for being super abrasive and my leathers decided to burst open ( I think day 1's crash hadn't helped their longevity! Also it was my fourth down in these leathers in total!!) leaving the skin on my left hip to slow me down!
I rolled over to stop the burn & spread the load but managed to rip through the last leather panel repair in the other side and give my right hip the treatment too!!
Needless to say they are now pretty much junk! (needed an poor excuse to get a new set anyway !!)
AMAZINGLY the bike was literally no worse off than the previous days crash and again a gear shift later the bike was back out and I was lapping in the 1.54's again.
Day 4, I had a long chat with McWilliams about the bike and the crash and he and his tech broke out the allen keys to set the bike up for me! What a thoroughly nice bloke he is. I must publically say a big thanks to Jeremy and Steve for that, they were simply great!:thumbs:
We discovered the rebound setting I had been using for Jerez just wasn't letting the front end recover at the vastly more tight and twisty Valencia. A few clicks later, some clever use of gaffa tape and foam pads in my leathers and I was set once more.
I stuck some slicks on and went back out to get the times down. I felt like I was finally making some progress with the new tyres and suspension settings and putting some of my best laps in.
I really wanted to get into the 49's after getting a 53 on the first morning but as we made ready for the race in the afternoon, I went to race control to see where I qualified and found out my transponder had run out of batteries late through day 3 and I hadn't thought to check.
As I found out later, they last for about 3 days normally before needing charged!
No-one gave me that tit bit of info!
I changed it for a new one and looked forward to the race but you've guessed it ............ the overcast cloud (after the glorious weather up until that point) turned to rain and we had to call it a day! And it really started to pour down, typical Med-type massive rain drops! The show was officially over!
All in all, a great trip, I wanted to get under the 1.50 barrier but we still had a superb time and met some great folks. And YES I would do it again!
The pace was so quick, it did take time to adjust, but it was an amazing experience just to be part of it.
So sorry for the very long post but that is it in a nutshell! After I resize the pics tomorrow, i'll get them posted on here!
Roll on Knockhill (our equivalent!!!) in May!
Mart
uke:
- although having the battle scars to prove it is an authentic souvenier to bring back from a track event i suppose! look forward to seein the pics - i assume you'll not be including the ones of you wiping out?
