23rd March 2008 Silverstone National – Focused Events

The team has made its way to Silverstone from around the country.  Hazel had decided to travel on the Saturday and stay in a hotel local to the circuit.  Gary, Andrew & Family had driven up to Silverstone on the Sunday morning.  The bike arrived at Silverstone at 6:50am to a car park that looked like it was from the set of “Santa Claus the Movie” with about 2cm of snow covering the car park.

The circuit opened at 8:30am instead of 7:30am while the access to the paddock was made safe enough for the Cars, Vans and indeed some riders who had ridden to the circuit.  After the bike & tools were unloaded from both vans into a garage and a cup of something warm drunk the team headed over to the Canteen to see about sign-on with the track day organisers.

The first session was to be held at 11am instead of 9am.  This gave the pit crew time to fit the bike with Full Wet tires as the track was rather wet and this seemed like the best choice of tires for the conditions.

Once the riders had returned from the briefing the 2 riders using the racing bike prepared to go out on track.  Gary was to be riding first in the intermediates Hazel later in the fast group.  Gary reported at the end of his session that the bike was hesitating at 8,000 rpm.  About 20 minutes of work discovered that a battery fault, maybe due to the cold weather was to blame.  A charger was sourced in pit lane to get the battery into a state of better charge. 

Lunchtime now fell upon the circuit as due to the late start at 11am, so lunch was taken at 12:30pm.  So an hour of getting a spare intermediate tyre fitted to the spare rim and balanced and a new valve insert was undertaken.  Good work by the pit crew who got the wheel rim balanced and valve insert fitted for free.

In the afternoon it was decided after consultation with the riders that the wets would be left on the tires as although a dry line was forming the rest of the circuit was so slippery that it would be best to stick with what was on the bike.

This is when the circuit staff decided to inform most riders on the track that they were over the circuit limit of 102db drive by test!!!!  Static level was to be 105db this was news to most of the pit crew as the event organisers had said that is was a 105db day.  Most of the instructors were pulled for noise by the circuit staff as well.

So a quick coke can with holes was attached to the end can so that a static test was under 105db.  This allowed the bike to return to the track although; according to one of the riders it felt like, driving a “suet pudding” now.  Why do people insist on living near a race circuit to write lots of letter complaining about noise?  I am sure they will be writing when Lewis Hamilton is there later this year.

In summary it was a day when the race suspension fitted to the bike following the last test at Anglesey, had been seen by all parties who will be competing at the first round in April.  It was not the most ideal weather conditions to be on the track but the team felt that a lot of good had come from the day.  Again other small lessons had been learned during the day as well.

It is felt by all parties that when the whole team is together that we have the skills, bike and people that will enable Best Choice to challenge for podium positions during the Hottrax Motorsport Racing Club – National Endurance Championship in 2008.

August 2008 Mallory Park – Focused Events

Testing took place at the short Leicestershiore circuit with Terje a rider who would be riding for Best Choice Endurance at the Mallory Round in September.

Terje met the manager to collect the bike and testing spares from Sussex, he aimed to be there around 8-9 PM, however a new job ment he was working until 7 Pm so did not arrive until 11:30 PM. The van was loaded with all the kit, caraven attached, before headin North to the circuit. The journey was traffic free given the time of day, arriving at Mallory around 5 AM to get a quick few of hours sleep in before crossing the track to sign on and set up base.

Terje was rather tired given a long days work and a drive through the night so opted out of the first session to get prepped for the second session. Once some petrol was sourcd for the generator the tyre warmers could be used to make sure the rubber was sticky.

The first sessions was Terje's first time on both the bike and the circuit. He rode well taking histime to get used to the power delivery and controls of the bike. Times were in the 1:07 ball park which was good considering all the factors. Back in the pits the only thing that needed to be changed was the position of the brake lever on the handle-bar. Other than that Terje was pleased with the power delivery, brakes and suspension settings.

In the next few sessions before Lunch times improved by a fair few seconds as Terje became more settled on the bike, being a short and twisty circuit traffic did play a part in sections of the session, however posotive progress was being made.

After lunch the times were again fast and consistent the traffic issue was still there but in some sessions with a clear track seconds were being knocked off the laptimes with a 1:02's easily possible. The fastest time of the day was set in the final session with a 1:01.4 being set which considering the bike was still using the gearing from the previosu round at Snetterton was considered a very respectable time looking at times from the last EMRA round held at Mallory.

After the final session, both Terje & the manager reviewed what had been an exellent day for time on the bike ahead of the Racday in September. Much had been learnt, some photos were collected from the trackday photographer before packing up, getting some food and a shower before the long drive back south. The manager drove home as Terje was now exhuasted before the Van and kit was unloaded before a well earned night-cap was taken.

Below are some pictures taken at the track of the bike you can see the Best Choice Endurance R6 race at Mallory for 6 Hours on 14th Septmber 2008. Race starts at noon until 6pm if wishing to watch bfrom the inside of the circuit you will need to be across the track during the short Lunch break or abefore bikes are out on track at 9:30 am.

Thanks again go out to all the sponsors of the team. Motorbike Crazy, HEL, GB Racing, Seton Tuning & Motorsport Marketing without who we wouldn't be testing or racing.