2006 Snetterton (May) Race Report

Tom and I left Bath at about 5pm with a short detour to Colerne to pick up my spare - spare fairing… ! It had been raining and I thought 2 spare fairings might be good…. if only I had picked up another spare wheel….. hind sight!!

It took us 3.5 hours to get to the track with a quick stop for fuel for the bike  - only 1 can for the track day.  We arrived at about 9:30pm and Tom got his tent up quickly, it was blowing an absolute gale and getting a little dark!  We then headed for the pub, I had a feeling Tom would need a couple of glasses of wine to get him through the night in the tent!!  Mum and Dad with the portable palace turned up in good time.

Friday:
We managed to get a space in the Moores garage, so we moved the bike and bits in….. before the rain!!  We were to be in the garage next door for the race, but I was too tight fisted to pay the money for the garage rental…!!  I hasten to add I did give Moores some money for our third of the garage…

Friday test day was a bit of a trial.  The weather was wet then dry then wet again, so quite difficult to do any proper testing.  Both bikes and cars were present and as there were only 30bikes we were all lumped in together, so we had an hour on track as did the cars.  We managed to get out on drys for about 1hour.  There was little point in getting out in the wet as the track kept drying out and chopping and changing tyres was a bit of a pain…. also I was not that interested in getting wet!! 

I have to say that was some of the worst weather I had ridden in, The wind was blowing behind you down the back straight and across you between the bomb hole and Corams, the real problem was that it was gusty which made it feel a tad dodgy between the bomb hole – it felt like it would blow you off the outside of the track

SP racing came and found us during the evening, they had an r6 of similar year to mine and were having problems removing their front sprocket.  After borrowing some tools and Dad, they returned without being able to remove it, sounds like its not been removed for about 5 years!!  They opted to stick with that front sprocket and I lent them a 46 tooth rear one instead, with the proviso that they finish behind us……. they are the competition!!

During the evening we had a bit of a nightmare, the moral of the story being ‘don’t mess on the night before a race’.  I had a set of front race disk brake that I had on a spare wheel that had no bearings in.  I took the discs off (at home, and that wheel was left at home) and brought them with me to put on the dry race wheels, that had standard discs.  Unfortunately, whilst undoing the bolts, one of them sheared in the wheel….. not good.  We tried to get the bolt out by visiting the motor sport workshop, the guy very kindly gave it a go but was unable to so….. we put the wet on that wheel and put the discs back on after deciding that 5 bolts were probably ok..!

Then later we discovered that one of the rear wheels did not run very well in the bike.  We fiddled with the rear brake callipers as we thought the new pads might be binding or the pots were not moving well…. but that was not the case.  We undid the wheel and it ran OK, torqued it up and it did not run well again.  On removing the wheel we noticed that the needle bearing was not pressed home – I have noticed this before on two of the wheels.  I knocked the bearing back in and we re-torqued it up, it was OK….. so conclusion is the bearing are moving during the races (I know that I knocked them fully home in the wheel).  That particular wheel is not very round either…..  Job for Pete, glue in the bearing and get the wheel checked out for cracks – we figured that even if it is bent (and it quite obviously is!!) it appears to not have effected our riding, but we just wanted to check the wheel was not cracked and therefore potentially dangerous.

I think that was it for problems!!

Friday night was chip night!  Jude and Pete went for the massive chip run, fish and chips 10 time please!!  We were a big crowd that night all sat in the garage eating – very homely!!  Petes Mum and dad had come to join us as well, they were staying at a B and B and came to watch Pete racing for the first time on the Saturday.

Saturday:
During the night it rained and rained, and it also blew a gale!  But by race morning it looked promising.  Although the wind was still strong the sun was out and it looked like we might get a dry track later in the day.  John and Martin arrived in good time – having courageously got up at around 5am!  They were quickly in the thick of it with the final few jobs that needed to be done before practise.

Shaun took the free practise session, it was slightly damp but we kept the dry tyres on as the track was drying.  On return to the pits he suggested that we change the gearing – one less tooth at the back – as he was running out of revs along the back straight.  The wind was still very strong along the back straight; it would be interesting to know how much faster the wind made the bikes.  It was certainly noticeable that you had to adjust your braking marker.  Although it was still windy it was not actually as gusty as it had been on Friday, between the bomb hole and corams was much easier…. safer!!

Next came the qualifying session, Shaun went out again and I checked to see whether we all needed to get out for qualifying – the weather looked a bit dodgy and we did not want to have to change wheels.  After discovering that it does not matter whether we use all the sessions as long as all riders get out, we called Shaun in early and I went out.  We had planned to get Pete out in the same session, but they managed to get the message to me ‘stay out’ on the pit board so I knew to stay out till the chequered flag.

Pete got out in the second session, in between the sessions Shaun got the pit crew to change the ride height of the rear as he felt that the bike was a little unstable (this may have had a lot to do with the windy conditions) so the rear was dropped about 1 and a half turn.  He managed to get out again in the last session and said that it felt better, which was good.

We qualified 23rd.

We kept the pit crew busy in between practise and the race by changing the wheels to the race ones, the rear sprocket and the practise tyres were taken off and intermediates were put on – we had all weather conditions covered!!

After the riders and managers meeting, Shaun got himself ready for the race.  He was starting and it looked as though I was holding the bike as Pete had removed his pyjamas!!  At 11:30am Shaun was ready to go, he handed me his energy juice (red bull) and I got a straw for him so that he could keep his helmet on!  We have to get Shaun to purchase a Johnny wet suit like Pete and me, his red jacket is not quite in keeping with the rest of the team! 

We formed up with everyone and as I put the rear stand on I just happened to check the chain adjuster alignment….. it was not aligned.  Shaun was off doing the warm up laps and I was off having a discussion with Pete about the alignment, which was a full large bar out.  When Shaun came in Pete looked at the back wheel as I held the bike and we decided that it was not safe to ride so requested that we could leave the track.  The organisers said that was OK and Shaun rode back down the track and squeezed through the pedestrian gate half way down the start finish straight.  It was a bit touch and go as to whether it would fit but with Shaun doing a bit of gymnastics we were through and the bike back in the garage for fixing.

Afterwards we discovered that there had been a bit of a mix up when the smaller rear sprocket was fitted – although both the adjuster screws were thought to have been unscrewed by the same amount it transpired that one had been moved from the original position before the final adjustments were made.

Shaun managed to join the race just after the leaders had gone passed so we only lost 1 lap, which means nothing really after 6 hours.  Shauns session was dry and he was able to get some good consistent times in……..  Now you would have thought that, after seeing Shaun push the R1 back from the back straight after running out of petrol at least 2 times that I can remember, we would have learnt not to let him stay on the bike for an hour at Snetterton….. towards the end of his session he went missing only to turn up from the back of the garage!!   You had to laugh!

I was able to get out in the dry as well and, although I was disappointed with my times, it was likely that the wind was not helping me (always an excuse!), I was really pleased to find that I still felt OK at the end of the session in fact I felt I could have gone on for longer (either I am fitter or not putting enough effort in….).  I did actually go passed the IN board twice as I could not believe that it was out.  I could see these massive rain clouds coming and thought that I might be left out until it rained and make the change then to save time.  But I thought I better obey!!  The pit crew were concerned about fuel levels after Shauns incident.

So in I came (whinging it has to be said!!) and out went Pete,,,,, only to return to the pits after about 2 or 3 laps.  Then came the funniest part of the weekend that I chuckle about when ever I think of it…..  Pete had asked John before going out ‘if it rains do you want me to bring the bike into the garage or leave it outside when I come in?’, to which John replies ‘ leave it outside we will change them there’.  HeHee…. So in came Pete and as requested left the bike outside and the guys started to change the wheels….. then came the rain, and I have to admit they were the biggest drops of rain I have seen for a while.  Joking aside I was really impressed that they still got on with it and did not really bat an eyelid about it until the bike was back out again where I believe there was a linch party waiting for John!!  Well done guys sterling effort under trying conditions.
  
Petes whole session was wet, but he looked like he was enjoying himself.  He was impressed with the level of confidence and grip that the wets offered.  Passing the bike back to Shaun the weather was still not great.  After about **minutes Shaun went missing, this time we knew it was not fuel as it was way too early.  He turned up in pit lane after a little while having had an off at the bomb hole (that can be pretty slippery in the wet due to the aluminium deposits left on the track by the cars bottoming out).  Most importantly he was OK, the bike had only slight damage and the pit crew set about repairing.  They had to:

1. replace the throttle handle bar (slightly bent!)
2. replace the right hand rear sets – the lever had lost the toe and it was easier just to replace the whole thing.
3. patch up the fairing with bodge tape

Not much damage at all which is always good.  After the bike was fixed Shaun got out again, its always best just to get straight back out there and he stayed out to what would have been the normal end of his session.  Shaun then handed the bike back to me, although it was damp the track was drying – you could see a dry line forming, interestingly I found this a little off putting as you start to try to stay in the dry line which was not very wide and I found that in a few placed there was some standing water on the track which would unsettle the bike if you ran into.  The one at the exit of Corams gave me a bit of a scare!  During my session I made a point of trying to run through the damp patches on the straights as I was concerned about the longevity of the wets – although it did start raining again at one point. 

So with my session finished I passed the bike onto Pete who had a really good session.  By the end he was flying, the track was nicely drying out and although the timekeepers were concerned that he was going too fast on a dry track with wets on, he felt confident and really enjoyed it.  At the end of the race the rear tyre was a bit chewed up but not that bad and we were all impressed with the Pirellis – they work well in the wet and in drying conditions due to the tread pattern (not blocked).

It was an interesting race as the weather played a large part in the fortunes of all the teams.  We lost out due to the timing of one of our rider changes, whereas the team on the other side of the wall gained.  Its just luck some times! 

Stats:
Qualified 23rd.

Set of tyres: 1 set of SC1 front, SC2 rear for 2 hours, I set of pirelli wets for 4hours.

We took about 6 minutes to change the wheels for the rain, and we lost about 26minutes whilst repairing the bike.  Total laps - 207

Class position 4th
Incredibly there were only 3 pace car laps, at brands there were 15 and they were stopped on the track for a bit.

The Moores R1 won Class C and the overall race, which was a great result for them when they had not finished in the last Brands round due to bike problems.  Their R6 also finished well (2nd in class) despite their fuel problems returning towards the end of the race. 

We finished 4th in class and 18th overall, which was not bad given the problems we had had during the day.

Thanks:
Jude and Dad for stoically standing on that pit wall throughout the rain.
Shaun for getting back on and for riding even though I know he is not keen on the wet.
Pete for that last session where he made up 2 spaces and just rode really well.
John for arranging the funniest wheel change….!!
Tom, Richy, Martin and both Johns getting the bike back together after Shauns minor off.