NBT- I'm going racing 😳

[Tricky]

Cheers both and yeah, that ended up a lot longer than I thought it would be

It didn't take anywhere near as long as you'd think to write though as I voice type into a google doc and paste it in- uploading / linking the pics takes me the longest , I definitely don't have the patience to manually type all those words in!

[Supermofo]

Echo the others, great write up, really interesting and enjoyable. I used to like reading the race reports in some of the mags where the testers were racing and this is easily as good if not better. Certainly more pictures and details.

[Buckaroo]

Top man Tricky.

Always good to see the post teens doing great

Write up as good as always!

[Dodgy69]

Any updates from the Trickabella racing team. ?

[weeksy]

I messaged him Friday but haven't had any updates since Fri morning.. i'm assuming he's too busy trying to get all the trophies on the shelf.

[Tricky]

Err, sort of

It has been a long ( I packed the van last Wednesday and we set off for this one early Thursday morning) and quite eventful weekend one way and another, I've decided that Castle Combe is my new most un-favourite circuit , but it certainly wasn't dull, and we've made it back safe and sound.

Am achy and knackered, not even unpacked the van yet- full report with pics to follow over the next few days

[Nobby]

Oh no. Reading that last sentence...... A bit achy ?
Do you feel like you've been in a sack and beaten with a large stick for ten minutes ?
Hopefully not.

[Tricky]

Last weekend's round was at Castle Combe, and as I think I mentioned earlier on, my eldest boy was getting married down on the south coast on the Thursday immediately before, so that basically meant packing up the van on the Wednesday afternoon and driving down to Fareham for the wedding on Thursday morning.
And we had an absolutely fabulous day at a lovely venue, despite the weather, and the rain even stopped later on in the day allowing them to get some half-decent outdoor photos





And one of me and Isabella in our glad rags at the hotel before we left for the venue



As I was on track the next day, I was trying to go easy on the liquid refreshments, so I stayed well away from the wine (apart from the glass of fizz for the toasts) and shorts, and was sticking to a pint of water in between each beer, for most of the time anyway .
Anyway, suffice to say that a truly fabulous time was had by all , with lots of merriment, bad dancing by me and some times that brought a tear to my eye, but the good happiness sort of tears...

Anyway, celebrations over, I was up bright and early Friday morning , not that long after I’d gone to bed, and set to set off in the van for Castle Combe leaving Isabella pushing up the zeds in the hotel.
As I think I may have previously mentioned my young ( relative term) fast mate Tim was also also contesting this round.
it was to be the first NG round that he's competed in- he's currently leading the Bemsee  MiniTwins Rookie championship, they have a bit of a gap in their schedule and so he had entered the minitwins here , and the newcomers race here which I of course qualify for, so I was quite excited about that because it was going to be the first time we're both in a race together- I didn't expect to beat him, but I was planning to give it my best shot

As this round is the only bike race meeting of the year at Castle Combe we knew it was going to be a busy one, and with the circuit open for pitching up from 2pm on Thursday afternoon, the chances of getting a decent space in the paddock were going to be slim on Friday, and sure enough we weren't wrong.
Tim set off from home nice and early and got down there before 7 o'clock, but the main paddock was already rammed so the gate nazis shoved him in a field absolutely fecking miles away down by Folly.
I arrived about an hour later, and after doing a few circuits of the main paddock managed to find a a bit of space for us at the far end of the main paddock so down came the gazebos and we moved over there.
Although it wasn’t the ideal place, it was massively better than where we were and meant that we were reasonably in amongst it and didn't have to trek to get to race control, the cafes and tyre man .

The way the test day here was organised , you get a maximum of only 3×12 min sessions, which would be either AM or PM- Tim was in an AM group, I was in a PM.
TBH this was a bit shit  for both of us as neither of us had ridden there apart from the two or three laps that we both did as part of our ACU licence test there last year, so it doesn’t exactly give us much chance to get up to race pace
Anyway, Tim’s first session came around so off came the tyre warmers and out he went.

Unfortunately, he didn't get very far though- on his first flying lap,  he went for the brakes coming into Quarry, which is without doubt the fastest part of the course (is absolutely flat out in top on most bikes) and there was nothing there so he headed for the grass on the inside of the track and jumped.
Considering the speed of the off , there is no doubt that the got away relatively lightly, as he would have traveled a fair distance-  the airbag in his leathers of course deployed ( for the fourth time so far this season  )and undoubtedly helped him, and no obvious serious injury but from his (brand new Shoei) helmet it was obvious that he’d whacked his noggin along the way so he got the eye and balance test back in the medical centre,  which he unfortunately failed.

He was a bit battered and shook up but seemed compos mentis, and had no other significant injuries so he got told to go and sit in a cool place, drink lots of water, no coffee or fizzy, and come back in 3 hrs time when if he felt OK and passed the tests, the doctor would sign  him off as fit to continue.

I got his bike back to the vans and all things considered damage was relatively light, he was very lucky it had slid down the tarmac for most of the time and not flipped.
The damage was basically clip-on, rear-sets , fairing, fairing mounts, exhaust can, front rim  and one or two other bits but we had or were pretty sure we could obtain everything we needed without leaving the circuit so all eminently fixable, and whilst he was waiting to be re-tested, he set about stripping it, and I took the front wheel up to the tyre man to get that sorted.



In was, however all in vain though, as he failed the second tests, which basically means a 12 day ban on the licence, and he can’t race again until signed off by a circuit doctor.
TBH I was glad that he failed, as he’s a tough little bloke but seemed a bit wobbly to be so definitely l for the best IMO, as Castle Combe is a fast and quite scary place IMO, and one of the last circuits I would want to crash at.

So I turned my attention to me and the Bandit- mechanically it was just as it was from leaving Brands, aside from the usual post-race clean, and nut and bolt check etc. I’d also had the calipers off and given them a good clean and new pads. I’d also bought a couple more sprockets with me, as although 14/47 or 14/48 is the acknowledged ideal gearing for a fit Bandit that will suit at pretty much every circuit we go to, Castle Combe is the fastest so I was expecting to maybe have to gear up a little from that.

The only other thing that I’d done was to spray the belly pan red, purely as a result of seeing me in one of the pics on the club’s FB group- this one-



Where I thought that the satin black bellypan made it look just too much like a ratbike, so the rattle cans had come out again, and it is now Postman Pat red to try and break up the blackness a bit (pictured here win a can of my favourite energy drink on the tank



So off I went on my first of three 12 min sessions , and although it’s a relatively simple track in terms of number of corners and elevation changes, I reckon you really do need to know it to go fast, and it’s the only circuit in a very long time that I’ve run off on, but they were just “finding the edge of the track” sort of run-offs and nothing too serious, and by the end of the third session I was starting to feel a bit more comfortable, albeit still feeling pretty slow and with a lot more to learn, but overall , decent progress , and nigh-on perfect weather.

I helped Tim pack his van, and in a spooky sort of way, maybe it had not been meant to be for him this week-end as it was only when I’d got to the circuit and unloaded my stuff that I realised that I’d left my tyre warmers at home- not a disaster at all with the weather how it was and the tyres we have to run, but they are a nice comfort blanket to have so I held on to his.

By this time, Isabella had arrived up from the south coast in her car after having a nice lie-in, so we toddled off in convoy to the Chippenham Premier Inn, less than 10 minutes up the road.
Saturday dawned and I got to the circuit nice and early- I didn’t need to as unfortunately it was our (the Banditts) class turn to be the last qualifying sessions and races in the running order at this meeting, but well, I seem to struggle sleeping before racedays, and can’t lie in bed.

As the noise levels on race days are more lenient that test/trackdays there, out came the baffle (which gives me an extra 2 or 3 hp at the top end ) I was also debating whether to up the gearing slightly , but I thought that I’d suck it and see.
I felt good in my warm up session, although as I don’t have a lap-timer on the bike I still didn't have a clue what times I was setting, but managed to tag on to the back of a Millie after he went by me and stay with him for the rest of the session with no runs off the track so was feeling OK for qualifying.
Qualifying eventually came, and out I went. As anyone who has ever raced in a particular class for more than a couple of rounds on the trot will confirm, you get to know roughly where you/ your bike sits in the speed hierarchy, so I tried to tag on to a couple of the more experienced main class top three (one of which I’d beaten at Pembrey) , but within less than a lap they were gone, so I just settled in and rode my own laps, ending up qualifying 7th overall and 1st Senior in the 1:22s.
Although that was some 2.5 secs off pole, my nearest Senior class rival was a whole second slower than me ,so I was pretty happy with that as I was sure that there was more to come as I fully worked out more of the track , and I was just about on the rev-limiter coming up to Quarry, so a 46 tooth went on the rear, ready for my first race, and I got the shorts and flip-flops back on and had a good old mooch about and chatted to a few people to kill the next 90 mins or so before my first race .

By mid-morning The circuit was rammed with the biggest crowds that I've ever seen at any club race, fabulous to see.
The weather undoubtedly helped but in addition to that there were one or two of the big boys from BSB racing in the king of Coombe (open) races , with half-decent prize money right down to 10th
And on Sunday, Tommy Bridewell was also there wandering around the paddock , being Tommy , signing autographs and generally lording it up and he also did a few laps on his Fireblade Road bike and a bit of the commentating too, so great entertainment.

Alongside all the regular races ( including sidecars at this round) they also had a Parade class which I think it's for people who don't want to race and don't necessarily want to do a track day either but just really want to show their bikes and have a few laps of the tracks, so there were some interesting bikes there and free access for everyone all around the paddock, so it from that perspective it really was a cracking do- I actually took a few pics this time too



















Anyway, my first race came around, and as we were again out with the 400s, my 7th fastest Bandit time had put me P10 on the grid, top of the 4th row.
My experience to date has been that the first corner in Bandit, and I imagine a lot of other club race classes is usually pretty hectic and it seems that there is almost always physical contact, but at this circuit it is doubly exciting , or downright scary dependant on your outlook;- you accelerate away from the line on the widest part of the track and arrive at the first corner pretty much flat out needing to lose 60mph or so and three gears to get around, and it was literally six or seven abreast, with dive-bombers too
I got beaten up a bit but made it through and around the first couple of laps, and was, I thought, making good progress, although I was likely trying too hard and had more slides in those few laps than I’ve had year to date, and didn’t match my qualifying time, but it definitely wasn’t a complete disaster as I crossed the line 12th on the road, which was 8th Bandit and most importantly for me 1st Senior, so although it was an extremely frustrating race for me and I still wasn’t comfortable with the track, I guess it was a decent result.

I came in and was pretty much straight back out as I was also in the final race of the day, the “Newcomers”- my qualification time had put me a bit further back for this one in 14th on the 5th row, but it was a pretty much full grid with another 5 or 6 rows behind me
And that was carnage- although when we’re out with the 400s some of them can be annoyingly fast on the straights, the Newcomer races can be another level. As you can ride anything you like in these, you can get a very big variance in speed both of bikes and riders, and particularly at the end of the main straight heading towards quarry, the 1000s can be going a good 50+ mph more than Bandits and Svs etc, and can blast past you in-between the chicanes ( there’s three of them in a lap) and you can end up rear-ending people, and I had far more contact and near misses in that one than I was comfortable with so it really wasn’t a race I enjoyed, finishing 15th on the road, and 4th in the Middleweight class, so just missing out on a pot in that one.

Drewe (one of the Jolly-boys gang I go green-laning with down south at weekends) had come to watch with one of his mates, and my two brothers had again traveled down to cheer me on, so overall it was a great day, finished off with a very welcome couple of cold ones in the sun at the pub down the road before they toddled off home and Isabella and I settled in for another night at the Premier Inn.
Which, incidentally, I have to say is definitely one of the better ones- the “Elite” rooms are well worth the extra tenner or so IMO- walk-in shower, half-decent coffee machine, and uprated air con

Back at the circuit Sunday, looking at my race times from Saturday, my best laps were actually slower than I’d done in qualifying, and I was thinking maybe I’d just gone that little bit too far with the gearing so a 47tooth went back on the rear, ready for my next race.

I lined up 12th on the grid for this one, but most importantly a place or two ahead of my main championship rival, who I was expecting me to trouble me more than he had so far this weekend so far, although I had targets ahead of him.
I got a decent start making up a good few places on the first couple of laps until a 400 and a Bandit tangled and went down right in front of me at the ( tightest ever and frankly ridiculous) last chicane which is made out of big rectocele blocks, and I had to come to pretty much a complete stop to avoid running over the rider lying on the track in front of me.
Half the pack that was behind me short-cut the chicane through the bollards to avoid the melee, so I had a bit of catching up and overtaking to do. I managed to catch and pass a couple and then got stuck in a battle with Kevin Gale, another Senior . He was lying 5th in the championship before this round, and I’ve beat him in every race I’ve been in except the Oulton ones so I was expecting to be able to clear off but I really couldn’t this time, and we must have passed and re-passed each other 4 or 5 times in the rest of the race, with me crossing the line 8th Bandit overall (again) and just 0.2 seconds behind Kevin, so 2nd Senior for me
Thoroughly frustrating, as if I hadn’t got held up with the chicane crash, I’m sure I would have been able to gap him

I was topping out in 6th in that race, so for my final race of the week-end, the 46T rear went back on, which I’m now not sure was the right thing to do as Kevin got by me and although I got him back, I was struggling keeping him behind, but I was confident, and I had a last-lap plan this time, which unfortunately didn’t work out as the race got red-flagged due to a nasty coming together at the last chicane (again), which meant a very similar result to the previous race with me me finishing 2nd Senior and Kevin 1st.
This time I crossed the line in 7th, for what it’s worth, but most satisfying for me I was 15 seconds ahead of my nearest championship rival.

So although I haven’t extended my lead by quite as much as I’d have hoped, I have extended it, I’ve come away from what I think is not a particularly nice track, and certainly not one I feel comfortable at (feck knows how some people go as fast as they do round there, it really is astounding to me) with an increased lead, three more trophies and no DNFs so far, which is more than most can say, so am calling that another decent result




Next round is Donington at the end of August, I like Donington, and they have garages so am really looking forward to that albeit I will be taking it slightly easy there as I am getting married myself 5 days later….

[weeksy]

As always an epic write up mate... Top job all round i'd say, well bloody done !!!

[Buckaroo]

Impressive stuff @Tricky

Life in the fast lane!

I really enjoy reading about your continuing escapades on two wheels.

[Tricky]

The old girl had a sort of holiday at the end of last week, two days (well, strictly speaking, it was only 1.5 days as she popped a fork seal halfway through the second day) trying to terrorize the fast group at the annual Ixion trackday.


@Dodgy69 and @2xtwins also did a session on the old girl, have to say I thought they'd be in and complaining within a lap or two but they both stayed out and on the face of it at least, seemed to enjoy riding an overweight 1997 shopping bike

On the second day, Richard Kerr ( 2023 BSB Superstock 1000 champ and Rory Skinner's replacement for this weekend's BSB round at Cadwell) was out to play with us on his M1000RR , very polite (and probably needless to say, fecking fast) fella, I'll be rooting for him this weekend!

I also got to do some laps on Dodgy's MT , Kev's 890R, and Mart's ZX6, I loved them all

The first day was a bit of a crash-fest in our group, and dependant on your outlook, it might be said that far too much beer was drunk by some of us but we had plenty of laughs and a cracking good time was had by all - Overall a top couple of days

[Dodgy69]

A few more pic's and one of the Munster Hotel. Cracking 2 days.

[R1Dave]

Really enjoyable read this Tricky!!

Great to see the successes too,well done, i'm at Donny at the end of the month, racing with the True Heroes lot (Things have progress since my last racing update)
We are in garage 3, please do feel free to pop by and say hello, i can come find you etc.

[Tricky]

Cheers Dave, and I will do

(I'm in garage 17 right next to the Dan Cooper ones)

[R1Dave]

Will do buddy!