My half arsed F400 nc30

[28hodge]

Couple pics of Oulton

[28hodge]

The weather massively turns over night, I go to have a BBQ with my mate and his lal lad, but we have to sack the idea pretty sharpish as what was rain has turned into a monsoon, he was camping but with the weather and a 2year old lad he does right and nails the van to the premier inn at east midlands airport.

I sleep in the back of my van, which has decided to develop a leak! The rain was bad, it woke me up twice in the night and I am a heavy sleeper, I think they sand bagged the entrance to the race hospitality in the paddock due to flooding.

Morning is nice though and I can’t spot Noah anywhere so I’m guessing the floods have abated. Morning warm-up happens and then our race from the previous day is straight out, all was going well I’d gotten a good start but was made to go the long way round at the first corner and lost most of the places I’d made up off the initial jump.

I get my head down and get down the inside of one going into the old hairpin and then get two going round Schwantz and on the inside into Mclean’s. I’m braking too early for Foggy’s the Melbourne loop and struggling to be consistent round Goddards,mainly because it is a little fcuker of a corner!!

Ultimately my laps seem to hinge on losing as little time in these areas and getting Craner spot on, this leads to good speed around the old hairpin and then all the way up to Mcleans, I seem good through Coppice and on the power early and smoothly and gain in the initial part of the straight before the ZXR400 missiles get into their stride and spank me down the straight.

Im in a good race though with four others and going forward following Beanerno1 from here through this little mini pack we are in.

We both manage to get round the other 2 or 3 we are dicing with, I gain on him around the first half of the lap until the Dunlop bridge where he then demonstrates what I girl I am on the brakes and gets away from me. I make a real effort on the last 2 laps to try and lose less ground around this section and have some luck, going into Goddards on the next to last lap Beanerno1 goes a little deep and I manage to get it right, for once I am right with him on the section of track i am best on rather than having to use this section to gain back the time i have lost from Foggy's onwards.

Although I’m a little quicker round the first part of the lap, I’m not really quick enough to have a shot at a pass anywhere, I make a real effort going into the Old Hairpin to take as much speed in with me and get a really good run out of it to Schwantz to give me the chance to have a look at a pass by sitting out wide round Schwantz in a hope to be able to get down the inside into Mcleans, which doesn’t even come close to happening, all I manage to do is go balls my line up into Mcleans, thanks to my wide line outta Schwantz I end up going in tight and ruin any momentum I had which loses me time in the section I am supposed to be gaining in!!

Annoyed, I get round coppice really well and as Beanerno1 is on an nc30 too I manage to drag my way back up to him all the way down the straight. I manage to stay in touch into, round and outta foggy’s lose a little round Melbourne where I’m having to use bottom gear and then make a clutched upshift (I’ll knacker 2nd gear if I try to do a clutchless shift from 1st to 2nd) and its costing me. Goddards, I’m too far back to have a go at anything, all I can do is go in as fast as I can and hope beanerno1 goes in a little hot and deep again and gifts me the place.

And

[28hodge]

I get sucked in to the turn wayyyyyy too hot, and my rookieness suddenly comes apparent, I’m too hot and carrying too much front brake to turn in (Or so my rookie senses are telling me, in reality if I’d let go of the brakes and tipped in I’d have been fine) I sit up and run onto the grass get to the national circuit turn left and aim for the finish, as 3 bikes exit Goddards ahead of me!

I am once again quite cross with myself!

Although once I get back to the pits and get changed I’m happy enough it was a fun race, even with a little run on. Anyway I’m supposed to fcuk up, that’s why I have a wally bib on!!

Race 2 was just before lunch, and in truth was forgettable, as in, I forgot to put the battery on charge between races, it’ll run all day at a trackday so although I tend to charge it when away racing just to be sure I wasn’t that worried it’d be an issue, this ladies and gents was a mistake!!!

I struggle off the line and don’t seem to be able to get going, I’m sat behind two of the three I let past me when I ran on at Goddards in race one. I got past and gapped them quite easily in race one, but I seem to be going nowhere fast in this race. Then coming out of coppice the needle on the tacho freezes, this is a telltale sign that the battery has gotten low, sure enough it starts to fart and burp coming out of the Melbourne hairpin, pissed off with myself I come down pitlane and into the garage.

I have a spare fully charged battery which I put on with the aid of the lad from thunderbikes and get out again a lap down, I circulate on my own doing shoddy 2.00 plus lap times, I see the chequered flags and thats race 2 done with, not a lot else to say about it other than another lesson learnt, charge the fecking battery even if you think its fully charged.

[alexwitham]

Lovely detailed thread mate

[28hodge]

Race 3, it’s getting late in the day now, we were first out to re run our aborted race from Saturday and are pretty much last out with just the MZ’s to follow, it’s our 3rd race of the day, and if I’m honest I’m feeling a bit lethargic. My mate that came down to watch left after the second race so I’m also aware that if anything happens I’m on my todd to get packed up and home etc.

With this on my mind I get kitted up whilst the bike warms through, feeling less than enthusiastic, warmers off and to the collecting area. As we grid up, and thanks to my losing a lap due to the battery (which was my own error) I’m back of the grid, I come up with a plan to try and wake myself up. I let everyone get away from me on the warm up, I’m at the top of Craner as the last rider goes under Starkeys bridge, in an effort to wake myself up I’ve hung back so I can have a quickish warm up lap, it’s an effort to try and get my brain to wake up.

As I get to the grid I’m feeling a bit more alive, lights on revs to 10k, lights off and I’m a bit shoddy with the clutch, I manage to dump it a bit and get a pop of the front wheel that I need to simmer down by rolling. It’s not a terrible start and I make up a couple spots, but it’s a bit messy. I get round Redgate and sit out wide to the left and go round two more going round Hollywood, swing a little wide round Craner hoping for a look up the inside of someone into the old hairpin, but there is allsorts going on so I get back on line to get a real good exit and hold it flat out under Starkies and round Schwantz, sit wide and go tight into Mcleans and nip past another. Suddenly I’m very awake and loving this.

Coppice exit is fast becoming a favourite, on a sub64 f400 its flat stick and leant over from the apex all the way to Foggy’s and feels cool, I’m behind beanerno1 who must miss a gear just as he is sitting up onto the straight as I sail past him, and I’m back with the group I’ve spent most of the weekend circulating with, and wide awake now.

Beanerno1 gets me back going into Redgate, he runs wide and out onto the kerbs on the exit but I hesitate and he manages to chop across me before I have a chance to try and make a run down the inside at Hollywood. I follow beanerno1 for the lap and we are catching up with no39 Elwyn Fryer on a zxr400 although still sub64 class so he isn’t going to leave us down the straight under the Dunlop Bridge (RIP) too much.

Beanerno1 gets good drive out of foggy’s and as we enter the Melbourne loop he dives inside of Elwyn, he goes a little deep and takes Elwyn with him, still a bit disappointed with myself after not going for the gap Beanerno1 left outta Redgate earlier in the lap I aim for the 2nd Apex out of the loop and drive underneath Elwyn as he is returning from his wide line mid corner. For a brief moment I suddenly think I’ve gotten this very wrong as the gap I am aiming at is rapidly closing, I stick to my guns and keep driving, at the last minute Elwyn spots me coming through and has to sit up pretty sharpish, as I exit the loop I give a quick wave of apology as it did seem a bit of an aggressive move on my part, however as I am having to use 1st gear to drive outta the loop, I quickly realise that I need my hand back on the bar pronto so that I can clutch up to 2nd without damaging the box. I manage to hold the gear a bit too long and lose some drive letting beanerno1 gap me.

Lap three I get my head down and me and Beanerno1 put in a good lap, (up to this point I put in the my second best lap time of the weekend) and pull ourselves back up to the group of 2 that have gotten away a little. We are now in a group of 4 with 3 VFR/RVF’s and an FZR.

I am losing time on all three into foggy essess every lap, but feel really quick and strong from the old hairpin to the foggy essess, where I lose time on them again. I can stick with them but I can’t get enough of a run to make anything happen. Beanerno1 manages to get past the FZR and sets off after the vfr at the front of our pack. Lap 5 and 6 I push on as much as I can, and try to get back to the group as I seem to have been left a little.

On lap 6 we cross the line as 4 bikes line astern, I feel I am quick from here to the essess and this is as close as I have been to them on this section of track all race, from the top of redgate up to Mcleans I carry as much momentum as I can and think about a move down the inside of the FZR but it’s not quite on but then he misses his apex and I manage to carry all my corner speed onto the short straight between Mcleans & Coppice and nip past him, I go into coppice really fast (for me), this is as quick as I have been on the way in and I nail the line as good as ever before get hard on the gas trying not to let the bike run too wide as it’s a long way to the outside and I don’t need all the room, I’m not on a 1000cc superbike after all!!

It works and I get a great run and I’m alongside both Beanerno1 and the leading VFR we are 3 abreast heading for Foggy’s, my weakest section of track, I hold off braking as much as I dare, but I still sit up first to brake, beanerno1 and the other vfr leave me a couple of yards and also the FZR comes past on the brakes, However beanerno1 has left his braking a touch too late and has to straight line the right outta foggy’s and take a trip across the gravel, the other VFR gets through very deep but stays on the tarmac, and buggers my run through the chicane, I do manage to get under Beanerno1 as he makes his way back onto tarmac and I try to stick with the other two.

Things settle down a little the next lap, I try to be as smooth as I can and again push my marker into Foggy’s a bit more, I bang in my fastest lap of the weekend so far, for the last 3-4 laps I’ve gone quicker than the previous. I guess everyone’s blood is up though after the previous laps fun and games into Foggy’s, as all 4 of us put in our best laps of the race so far. Mine is an impressive 1.275 seconds faster than my best to date which was set the lap before. Even so I seem to have gotten gapped a little by the other 2.

Last lap and despite trying to stick with the other two, I lose a little bit more time on them mainly due to a poor run round the old hairpin. Into Foggy’s I brake at my new marker and into the Melbourne loop I take my normal line over to the left, I’ve stopped thinking and just as I am braking I suddenly realise I should have gone far more defensive, and then just as I am about to turn in this thought bites me in the ass. Beanerno1 is down the inside of me and I have to give way.

Into Goddards I go in as quick as I can in the vain hope Beanerno1 goes wide or misses a shift on the way out, I must have gone in quicker this lap as my knee smacks the deck, Normally me knee skims the deck rather than thumping into it though to be fair I don’t often get my knee down as I don’t seem to hang off all that much. I drive round and out of the corner and take my hand off the left bar to get it out the wind and instantly call myself a tw@t, for being one, as if that’s going to make sod all difference. I cross the line less than 0.5 of a second behind beanerno1.

Im fcuked off with myself for giving a place away so softly, in fairness though on the last lap Beanerno1 did his best lap of the race and possibly his weekend, and whilst mine was my second best time Beanerno1 managed a 1.56.859 which is a second quicker than my best of the weekend of a 1.57.975 so he probably deserved it.
Although I am fucked off with myself I’m still smiling like a daft bastard, it was a mega fun race and I have loved the donington track.

[Zippy]

Actually Hodge there's a good chance Tony and myself will be in the garage next to you. :)

[28hodge]

Yes get on it and get it done, need any pointers with Acu, entries, ctc etc drop me a pm an I'll do my best to help.

[Zippy]

We've got to go to a session at Brands Hatch on the 8th December. It's the first step to getting our ACU licence apparently. I'm only planning on racing at Cadwell and Brands next year though with possibly an outing at the final round at Snetterton.

[VFRkieran]

Yes!! Glad to hear you and Tony are getting into it aswell, going to be bloody close between us 3 if cadwell is anything to go by! Should be doing my on track thing for the ACU license in January.

Are you both going for Sub64 bikes or throwing a bit more money at it?

Sorry for the thread hijack btw Hodge

[28hodge]

Dont worry about a hijack talking racing is fine, so bash on.

Whats the on track taining, when i did mine which was only 2/3 years ago if you had a full licence all you needed was an eyesight test, and a ctc course pass certificate plus your club membership! you then got a intermediate novice licence back.

Do they make you do an on track assessment now?