Brands Hatch, UK – Test

Posted on July 25, 2006 by Mike Edwards

Matt Bond, 25/07/06

Summary

We finally managed to book ourselves some much needed testing time on the Brands Hatch GP circuit, and I for one, was going to make the most of it and get the bike and myself ready for the upcoming round.

The first session saw us take a few laps behind a travelling marshal before they “released the hounds” so to speak. Instantly I could feel the bike moving and sliding a lot, due to the tyres still being on from the Brno round a few days prior to this test. Never the less I got stuck in and just put into practice a few of boss man Mike’s ideas and began making a catalogue of reference points in my head. I began to adjust these as the session wore on and just as I was getting into a decent rhythm of running the points further and further one of the track day heroes decided to throw his wonderful Ducati 998 down the tarmac and cause a premature end to the session.

Session two went a lot more smoothly as we began to build up the pace, and with the adjusted gearing now on the bike, it seemed a lot more ride able. I began to build up the pace and after catching and passing fellow Euro Stock 600 rider Mads Odin Hodt; I was feeling quite confident and fairly quick too. Once again the session was bought to a premature end thanks to another bike heading into the kitty litter, but I wasn’t too fussed as id began to work my references really well and they’d begun to string together nicely.

For session three we decided a new set of tyres was in order, after a fair few big front and rear end slides towards the end of the second session. They felt so much better after riding on what was effectively completely shot rubber at the start of the day. With the new Pirelli’s working well I got my head down and began to push into every turn that little bit harder and accelerate that little bit sooner and more aggressively. It was going well until I caught a whole gaggle of track day riders and rather than risk it I just picked them off one or two at a time, giving them all plenty of room. Well, didn’t want to get tangled up or scare them did I, would I do a thing like that, with my reputation? Once again the session was ended early as yet another bike lost adhesion, and yet again we trundled back to the pits passing a very unhappy rider on the edge of the circuit.

Back on track after lunch for session number four and I got in a number of decent, fast and clear laps, despite Mads trying to tail me, I was still able to get myself free, without showing him too much ion the way of lines, braking points, etc. Thanks to advice from Mike, I was well aware of what would happen if he did get on my tail. The rest of the session seemed to fly by, right until, you guessed it, another rider decided to face plant into the wonderful Kent scenery. Maybe I was missing something, were they giving away prizes for the days best dismount?

After the fourth crash in as many sessions we (and by we I mean the entire group!) got a severe talking to from the clerk of the course, who threatened to put a travelling marshal out on track with us. It seemed to work as no-one jumped ship for the rest of the day. Now why couldn’t they have said all that before lunch? Anyways the session was really uneven; I’d get a few laps clear and then get completely stuffed as I tried to get through a group of five or six riders and then I’d get a few more clear laps and then hit more traffic. I didn’t really get to string anything together and the session was kind of wasted, although I was able to test a few overtaking places thanks to catching the groups in roughly the right places.

Session number five was the fastest and smoothest session of the entire day. Everything clicked into place perfectly and when it came to traffic I was through without incident every time. I was really able to push my reference points, and began to ride the bike hard. I felt at ease as well and was really relaxed and just found myself able to get from point to point, with the bike at full speed, with no problems whatsoever. It was great to be as one with the machine. Even though the bike was out of line at various points around the circuit as I either backed it into Druids or spun it up out of Sheene curve, I never felt out of control and damn was I having fun out there! Especially memorable was doing three bikes in a row on the brakes entering Hawthorne’s, don’t think any of them saw that coming! And we got a full 20 minutes on track thanks to no-one dumping it! Bonus!

The final session was spent just bedding in some brake pads ready for the meeting, and I also used it just to make double sure of where al my reference points were. After a few laps I pulled back into the pits and called it a day. Nothing else needed to be done and I was happy with the set up. Confidence is high ready for the round in a few weeks time. Fingers crossed it’s a good one!

Posted in 2006, Brands Hatch, Matt Bond, Testing | Leave a comment

Brno, Czech Republic – Race

Posted on July 22, 2006 by Mike Edwards

Chris Northover, 21/07/06 – 22/07/06
European SuperStock 600 Championship
Round 5

This was the furthest round to get to and in a country where I couldn’t tell the difference between a person speaking Czech and a person choking and, indeed, the sound of Mark’s Skoda hire car trying to go up a hill! After indulging in the spirit of hire cars in foreign countries, we had a good bit of hunt the hotel which took us on a magical mystery tour round the back of who knows where! After an impromptu night in the hotel we made our way to the track Thursday morning. Even Thursday the track was buzzing with activity and the race fans seemed to be everywhere already.

As soon as we were all settled in, Kirsty and I went for a walk of the track. Bloody hell it’s wide! The track is absolutely amazing! The elevation changes are breath-taking; the camera really doesn’t do it justice! With a track so long and so wide, I knew it was going to be a mission to learn it. Rather cunningly, I feel, Kirsty had brought her digital camcorder so we set off on the pit scooter for several laps, which I was able to watch until the track layout was firmly carved into my brain. The hardest thing about the track was its width. Brno is so wide, you could comfortably race jumbo jets round and still have room to overtake!

Friday – Free Practice

The track is great fun to ride and is good for reference points, especially compared to Misano. I was soon getting frustrated with myself at the massive amount of room on the outside of me exiting corners; the width was taking some getting used to.

Friday – First Qualifying

Determined to get quicker, I went out in the first qualifying with one major goal: get all my reference points sussed and work at hitting them every lap. As I have learnt from previous rounds, once I can hit the reference points consistently, the speed comes fairly easily, but without reference points you just end up riding harder and harder but not getting any faster. It was a lesson well learned in Misano and learned the hard way. I managed to establish my reference points pretty well in the second session, so although I wasn’t as far up the grid as I needed to be; at least I wasn’t riding round like a proverbial, decapitated farmyard animal…

Friday evening, we did a track walk with Mike to compare lines and thoughts, most of which centred around the need to make optimum use of the width of the track, not only when exiting corners, but using the width to overtake or find different lines when overtaken. This would prove most helpful when the gentlemanly (ahem) racing begins!

Saturday – Second Qualifying

Second qualifying and a last chance to put myself at the sharp end of the grid. Although I managed to go faster, it wasn’t enough still and I ended up qualifying at the distinctly blunt end of the grid. I was so far back it felt like the front row was in a different country when the race came. Frustrated with myself, I disappeared for some soul searching. I knew what I needed to do and I knew how to do it, I just didn’t seem to put it into practice straight away, it always seemed to take me half a session before I got my act together.

During an afternoon nap, I was the victim of a cruel practical joke, played by my nan of all people! Fed up with me wearing baggy shorts that, in her opinion, didn’t fit me, nan decided to sew them up so they did fit, but without telling me. Amusingly, I wore them all the rest of the weekend without noticing and it was only on Monday when Kirsty asked if I had put on weight to stop my shorts falling down (she was in on the prank to) that I realised that I had been clothing violated!

Saturday – Race

Before the race I tried some of the magic hydration potion that Matt had been chugging away at since Misano, hoping it would combat the endless thirst caused by a ridiculously hot country. It didn’t. What it did do, however, was give me a killer headache and make me feel sick (although falling asleep in the sun probably didn’t help…). Despite nearly throwing up as the lights came on and forgetting to shut my visor until halfway round the first corner (hmm, bit windy…!) I managed to get a good start and haul my sorry backside up into a decent position before the race was red flagged

Getting a bit popular this red flag, still at least it gave me a chance to do the start in a slightly better state – nothing like a bit of adrenaline to clear the mind/settle the stomach! With the luck going my way at last (pass the violin!!) I made the most of the second start. From 35th on the grid, I hooked my thumbs in my belt loops and head-banged and high-sided my way through, sorry, past any poor sod who was unfortunate enough to get between me and a decent position…

With only a couple of laps to go, up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering bike. Luckily, I escaped from the next line of the song and went for one more victim. Despite getting right onto the back of him, the last five corners where I wanted to overtake were all on yellow flags, grr! The last bend held forth a green flag and a last attempt to overtake. The bike in question, was having gear change issues, but, rather cunningly, as he knew he could not be passed under yellows, he slowed to get the right gear before the green flag to stop me getting past him. It worked!

With my hands swollen and blistered (there were a lot of near high-sides, I was trying bloody hard!) I pulled into parc ferme, happy with the race but prepared to be disappointed when told my position. Turns out, I finished 19th which means I passed 16 people, which is a hell of a lot when you think about it. Result! My best lap was a good 2 seconds faster than the best I managed in qualifying, again! There is however, a lesson to be learned, why not get up to speed earlier in the weekend and then start further up the grid – less people to overtake then! This is something that I know I need to work on, getting the focus from the very first practice session.

So that’s the plan, just gotta put it into practice when I get to Brands Hatch and on a track I sort of know, bring it on!

Credits

  • The hamster from creature comforts – Played by Richard
  • Penelope Pitstop – Played by Kirsty Hodges
  • Grandpa Simpson – Played by Grandpa Northover
  • Yoda – Mike Edwards
  • Mrs Doubtfire – Nanny Northover
  • Road Runner – Mark
  • Dick Dastardly – The mean person who penalised team mate Matt for a jump start in the first race (which was cancelled) with a ride through penalty in the second, costing him a chance in the race.
Posted in 2006, Brno, Chris Northover, Race Report | Leave a comment

Brno, Czech Republic – Race

Posted on July 22, 2006 by Mike Edwards

Matt Bond, 21/07/06 – 22/07/06
European SuperStock 600 Championship
Round 5

Friday – Free Practice

A few weeks on from the very disappointing round at Misano where I took an inadvertent grass tracking experience, no thanks to a fellow competitor who shall remain nameless, I was in good spirit as we rolled into a lovely sunny and chuffing warm Brno.

After walking the track with Mike “The Fountain of Racing Knowledge” Edwards, also known as Boss, we had found a few decent reference points, which were to be put to good use in the first few minutes of the opening session. It was all going to help us get through the very undulating circuit very quickly; well that was the plan anyway.

The opening few laps were just spent riding round, trying to make sure all the bike was set up fine and see what the lines were and how they came into play with the reference points we’d noted down the previous night. Within a few laps I’d got into the swing of things and began to up the pace slightly, despite many of the top guys already going balls out, I was content to speed up little by little.

A few scary moments lead to me pitting in just to discuss with the team what the bike was doing, gearing and a quick update on place, time, etc. A few words of encouragement and advice form Mike saw me get back on track on go slightly faster, although not much and I was still languishing down at the bottom of the time sheets, which was really disappointing.

Friday – First Qualifying

The plan for qualifying was really quite simple; get a few laps done on my own then get a tow and do not let them getaway. Sounds simple right? Wrong! I completely stuffed it all up. As soon as a tow came along they were either far too fast or I was trying to follow from too far back or I made a mistake. It just all seemed to be going wrong.

I flew back into the pits just to try and sort my head out mainly, and try and get some advice from Mike. I just couldn’t get it right it seemed and it was being reflected in the times, they were, to put it bluntly, crap.

I’m guessing the words worked as straight back onto circuit and the times began to improve once again and it all became a little bit faster and a little bit smoother everywhere. I began to hold onto the tows a little bit better and was able to stick to them long enough to see and try some new lines. A little bit more work on the bars and counter-steering seemed to work a treat, although there was still more to come. Despite this though the times did improve form the morning session, and despite not many changes in the place I was running in, the pace itself had got a second and a bit faster, so we were heading in the right direction.

Saturday – Second Qualifying

With a relatively poor first session I was determined to improve, and with a few more laps of walking round the track and with more reference points in the forms of crash and tyre marks, I was sure I could go forward rapidly, and hopefully be close to the top 15 or 20 by the end of the session.

But once again nothing went right, even though I did make a marginal improvement in my lap time. The only problem being so did everyone else around me, and some of them made big leaps, thus making my improvement negligible. The efforts were seemingly going to waste and as the temperature was rising it began to take its toll.

Loss of concentration at points left me making mistakes for a few laps but then I again improved in time, but when the flag came out I was really no higher up the grid than where I started, even a local wildcard had got a better time than me, which was really frustrating.

Looking at the sector times it was clear that I was losing lots of little bits of time and would really have to push come the race.

Saturday – Race

It was hot sitting on that grid, really hot, but it didn’t seem to be on my mind. All I was focusing on was the start and getting into the first turn fast, hard and in a better position than where I was sitting at the very moment in time.

I flew off the line, perhaps a little too well, and made an excellent first lap, ending it inside the top 20, and I managed to avoid all the carnage at the second turn, which looked like it hurt! Then the red flags came out. Doh! I was well away and into my stride and rhythm. Never mind, I’d been in this situation before, so I wasn’t too worried or bothered. I just knew I had to do it again.

Now the second start was good, better than the first, and the first lap was really good to, only problem was a great big yellow board with my number on it. I’d jumped the first start! I stayed out for all three of my allotted laps, whilst battling for 16th, and then shot off into the pits for my ride through. I was gutted and annoyed and really pushed hard as soon as I got back on circuit, but I began over riding and pushed just too hard. It knackered not only myself, but the tyres too, and the times just slipped away.

End of the race and I was gutted and really disappointed. I knew I’d have had a good result, as the guys I was battling with ended 13th, so I’d have easily grabbed some points! It was an awful weekend really and I was just so disheartened by it all, worst thing was, I’m sure I didn’t jump that start! But you can’t argue, so I got to accept it, I’ll be right next time though!

Well next round is Brands, the homecoming so to speak. This time I got no excuses! I know the track and like it, the bikes are working great and I’m gonna clear my mind before we get there. Fingers crossed it’s a good one. Top 10 here I come (although I really want a top 5!)

Wish me luck; I need it after these last two rounds!

Posted in 2006, Brno, Matt Bond, Race Report | Leave a comment