Friday practice was the low point of an otherwise brilliant weekend. Having been fairly confident that Steve Lakes bike, TZR250 chassis and SRX640 engine, would be reliable for the whole weekend Andy promptly dumped it at Russell’s chicane. I think he had a genuine excuse as the tyres were not brilliant (road-biased), it was on the first lap (cold tyres) and although not actually raining, it was damp. Andy suffered minor, but I expect painful, injuries – hip and hands bearing the brunt of the impact. Unfortunately his long serving Arai splat-hat also took quite a battering as he slid face down along the track.
Having walked from the pit-lane over to the scene-of-the-crime, thinking that Andy might need a hand pushing the bike back to our camp, I saw him being whisked off towards the scrutineers shed. This walk across the Snetterton paddock was to be another feature of the weekend. When I finally got there the hobbling Andy and myself were directed towards the Senior Scrutineer as he wanted “to have a word with us”. He then produced a pink sheet that listed all the following faults likely to keep us off the grid the following day (this was in addition to what they might find during the real scrutineering – Merde!). Both fuel and oil tank (Monza) caps needed wire locking shut, steering lock was too limited, no lower rear chain guard, fairing oil trap too small, and a few other minor problems! It took us several hours to rectify all the problems as best we could, and we were still not certain that the bike would still be eligible. We also replaced the broken kill switch, which was to cause much grief later on.
Saturday morning was bright and breezy as we pushed the re-built bike to scrutineering. Much to our surprise the very helpful Senior Marshall gave us the green light. We walked back ready for the first practice. This was when the kill switch came back to haunt us. After only two laps Andy began suffering an intermittent electrical fault, only rectified by judicious waggling the kill switch with his thumb. This couldn't go on forever, and after a few threatening intermittant faults, eventually the bike stopped all together. This may have been a blessing in disguise as we also uncovered a few issues with the front brakes. The electrical fault was easily solved and a new brake lever bolt was installed. The next problem surfaced during Sunday practice; the re-jigged front brake locked itself on. Being stuck, unable to move, with racers passing either side at full-chat, must have been a brown-pants moment. Enter stage right the recovery van, again! Upon its return the brakes were finally sorted by replacing the master cylinder (Thanks Dave) and using new, not sludge brown, brake fluid. After all the traumas we did the only sensible thing and retired to the pub. We had a good laugh with Ash, Nick, Sam and Liam, mostly arsing about with our new, sponsor provided, Buffs, drinking beer and eating chips.
The race on Sunday, by comparison to the previous days disaster, was slightly anti-climactic as everything worked more or less as it should - no crashes, no breakdowns. Andy finished, albeit in a foul mood. The borrowed bike was still rather underpowered compared to the rest of the field (sixteenth out of twenty six starters is OK, isn’t it?). Perhaps our rather poor showing could also be attributed to a lack of confidence after a fairly fraught weekend. However, we are supremely grateful to Steve for his loaning us the bike. Thanks, you're a gent!
The race on Sunday, by comparison to the previous days disaster, was slightly anti-climactic as everything worked more or less as it should - no crashes, no breakdowns. Andy finished, albeit in a foul mood. The borrowed bike was still rather underpowered compared to the rest of the field (sixteenth out of twenty six starters is OK, isn’t it?). Perhaps our rather poor showing could also be attributed to a lack of confidence after a fairly fraught weekend. However, we are supremely grateful to Steve for his loaning us the bike. Thanks, you're a gent!
And very sorry for smashing it up! We promise it will be returned (more or less) as we got it!
When we next come out to play we should have the ‘real deal’ bike ready, and I think we will both be disappointed if times/positions don’t improve.
See you at Brand’s…………..in July!
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