My Pembrey weekend started Friday morning looking at weather forecasts etc so decided to wear my Goretex kit for the ride down and home as Saturday wasnt looking good and Sunday was looking terrible so i didnt fancy getting soaked through in leathers. Dug out the full panniers for the bike and loaded it all up with tent , roll mat, sleeping bag, fold up chair and all other camping gear and leathers which took up a full pannier on their own. Off we go, 350 miles to go
Not the best star when i left as the sat nav wasnt powering up and also noticed the fog lights were not working (i use them a lot when filtering through heavy traffic as they are at car mirror height and move people out of the way very well) . Figured it was just a fuse but didnt know which one so a quick detour to Seastar Superbikes, AKA Ducati Norwich and a chat with Dave on the parst section. Nick, one of the techs came out, had a poke about, found the fuse, swapped it out and gave me another spare just in case ....How much do you want? .... Dont worry about it, have a good trip
Superb ride down in lovely weather with all the vents open on my riding kit and arrived at Pembrey about 6 ish. Quick chat with Weeksy who was leaving the circuit and after saying hello to who was there, sorted my tent and kit out and into LLaneli to get a chippy and some beer etc. Good night Friday huddled under the Gazebos in biblical rain and a few beers and lots of laughs with the Friday night campers
Saturday morning dawns cloudy and damp but no rain....bonus
Session 1: bit damp, got swamped by some of the faster lads and felt like a mobile chicane as my first time in Inters on only my third ever trackday. Did discuss dropping down to Novice but stayed in Inters
Session 2: Felt better, found my way round, kept catching
@Welsh Muffin on the brakes but didnt pass her as i knew i would hold her up on the back part of the circuit as it was my weak part so stayed behind her ( i assume there are loads of pics of us at the hairpin ) .....turns out she had warped discs and suffered under braking
Session 3: Got better again but still couldnt get the left handers sorted which was obviously the weakest point for me so had a chat with a couple of people and
@singlesman Paul talked me through what i should be doing. He also answered about tyre pressure as did
@Couchy so i knocked another few psi out of the tyres to get them to 30 psi hot. Dragged the right footpeg on the hairpin lap after lap so that one is sorted
Went out for fuel at lunchtime and on the way out had a quick chat with bloke on the GSA Beemer who had been wazzing round on Knobblies ,,,,,turns out i recognized him from stuff i had seen before online and TV and he had joked about the other "adventure bike" leaving as he saw me with the topbox on and thought i was just doing the morning with his mates.
Session 4: It rains as the call goes up and everyone looks at the floor and says "nope" ....i then see
@Tricky get kitted and head off so figured i might as well as even in the damp Pembrey is fairly grippy. Head out, turns out there are 5 bikes on circuit and i can focus on what i need to apply for the left handers without other bikes around ....... i get passed by my "adventure bike friend" who waves at me and then i just concentrate on making it all smooth as the rain stops and the track is good. When i come in there are a couple of Fast group blokes who ask what its like and check my tyres for heat and are binning their thinking about wets
Session 5: Really good fun, felt comfortable, made a couple of mistakes, dragged my left footpeg for the first time but didnt get passed by as many as often and caught
@Welsh Muffin and passed her (turns out she had visor issues at the time ...dammit)
Session 6: it started raining and we all decided we had done well with the weather so the marshals had an early finish and we all had an early beer o'clock
Many thanks to
@weeksy and
@Welsh Muffin for keeping us supplied in meat products for the next few hours while beer was consumed and general shit discussed ....as the evening turned to dark then more beer consumed and the chat got funnier and funnier . Good to get a chat with @singlesman and his lad James who was going well.
@Tricky was his usual fast as fuck self but left earlier as the lovely isabella doesnt do camping...probably the right choice that night which we come to later.
@dern and
@Dodgy knees were having their own surrel chats at times along with
@twids
Add in the new faces of
@tricol who settled in well on track and really fitted in the off track stuff as well ....seemed like he have converted another one to TD's. Good chat with
@Bowman too who i hadnt met before and then
@Vote for pedro ........bloke has a sense of humour right up my street so a very funny saturday night till it was early morning
Storm hit middle of the night and lying their thought the gazebos and tents would be flying among the biblical rain that hammered down so not a lot of sleep. Woke up to clear blue sky, packed the bike and as i was getting sorted
@Dodgy knees brought me a traditional Pembrey breakfast roll, so cheers mate for breakfast
Left about 0930 on soaking wet roads, took the Brecon road
@Alan PBTD suggested which was lovely and rolling, got hit by rain around Gloucester on the way home so glad i took the textile option for the travel rides but after Oxford it dried up and got warmer. By the time i was 100 miles from home it had gone from 15 degrees to 28 degrees so every vent opened and still too warm but 350 miles done again
Fantastic weekend, enjoyed the travel there and back which i have questioned in the past but loved it this time......different people at track this weekend and good to meet new faces as well as those i already know .......you are all wonderful and made the slowest person in the Inters group a very happy bunny as i got better and enjoyed it immensely..... if i missed anyone i apologise, its late, i'm knackered and bed time
