Finally, we got out on track.

Despite the fact that I didn't think I had much to do to the bikes, I spent all morning working on them. Sticking on the backgrounds and numbers seemed to take an hour!  But, everything was ready to roll around 2:30pm, and we (me and super-mechanic Mike) headed over to the paddock.

Right, time to explain the bikes.  I have the use of two bikes, both 2006 Kawasaki ZX6Rs.  One has the 599cc 'RR' motor in it, tuned to the hilt, and making 130bhp on the dyno. The other has the 636cc motor in it, also tuned, but "only" making 125bhp.  But it does have a fatter torque curve.  The 599 is eligible for the Junior (600cc only) race, and the 636 for the Senior (which allows 750 fours / 1000cc twins).  Both bikes are tuned and prepared by Slick Bass, and the 599 has been ridden by Ryan Farquhar a couple of times.  Because of the high state of tune of the 599, Slick wants me to keep the practice laps to a minimum, and put most miles on the 636.  Which is fine, but I've never ridden the 636 (I rode the 599 at Jurby Road meeting in July, getting a 4th place).  So, we (by which I mean Mike), took the suspension settings from the 599 and applied them to the 636.

And then we put some petrol in, and joined the queue for scrutineering.  Which was quite jovial, and part of the whole Manx GP experience - chatting to friends and fellow competitors.

As tonight was the first practice session, all the newcomers have to do one 'escorted' lap behind a travelling marshal.  This adds another delay to the evening (for the rest of us), because they don't let the 'main' practice start until the newcomers have got about half way round, which takes a good 15 minutes.  And, as usual for the first practice, there was a 15 minute delay before this because of moving marshals from where there were too many to where there were too few. And, someone had left their car parked in Parliament Square in Ramsey.  The up shot of which is that the main practise didn't start until 7pm, instead to the usual 6:15pm.

Because I did fairly well last year, I've been given start number 29. Crucially, this put me in the top 30, who get to start practice first; after us, there's a free-for-all, which can feature quite a bit of jostling in the holding area!  Riders are set off in pairs, at 10 second intervals.  I went off about 12th, and my game plan was to put a bit of a marker down, and hopefully get a time in the top ten. This is in contrast to many riders, who treat the first practice as a 'gentle' session to get used to the bike and circuit.  This was obvious because I was soon catching some of the people in front of me.  In fact, I passed 9 people on the first lap!  The bike is *really* fast - I went past some people on the straight like the were on 400s.  The handling wasn't bad, but not ideal either- the bike was on the edge of instability through the bumpy sections, and the rear shock was not giving the rear tyre an easy time, with a couple of noticeable slides (not helped by running on old part-worn tyres - new ones to be fitted tomorrow!).  So, a few tweaks to the suspension should improve times a bit, I think

Despite my best efforts to miss every apex, I was obviously doing something right, measured by my lap speed of 110mph.  This placed me 6th in the Senior, and 9th fastest time overall.  Which I'm jolly pleased with!

http://www.iommgp.com/results/2007/20Aug%20Practice%20-%20Senior.pdf

Very tired now, so bed beckons. 

No practice scheduled for today, so after the first session was cancelled yesterday, today was always going to be an easy day. 

I awoke with a hangover, which responded well to one of Keith's fab breakfasts. Then we went to the paddock for the technical briefing, had a cup of tea, chin-wagged with some people.  Then I went to my borrowed workshop, sorted out the last bits of organisation, got one of the bikes on the hydraulic bench and started fettling.  It's amazing how relaxing tinkering with a motorbike is.  Anyway, the bikes are pretty much ready to roll.

I really hope we get out tomorrow.  I need to ride the damn bike.

Awoke this morning to the sound of rain blatting against the window.  Bugger.

A bunch of admin things to do this morning - had to go to the race office and sign on, get my riding gear checked, etc.

The weather was appalling all day, so we new we'd probably not practice; as it turned out, the session was cancelled at 3pm.  So we went down the pub instead.

Next practice session on Monday.

So, with the rattly old van (kindly borrowed from Fraser's Motorcycles - thanks to Neal Fraser) all loaded up, I made my way up the M5 and M6 to Heysham.  It's a long way at 70mph, I'll tell you.  Then on the 14:15 ferry (my usual), rolling off into Douglas around 6pm. 

Arrived at Jan and Keith's to the usual jokes that I might as well have my own key, then some scram, and an hour or so in the garage doing some final fettling to Keith's 600.

Tomorrow is a busy day - I need to get over to the grandstand with paperwork, riding kit, etc etc, and "sign on" - this involves getting all my gear and licences (ACU race licence to say I can race and "TT Mountain Course" licence to say I can race on the TT course) checked, and then signing many bits of paper.  In return I get passes, paperwork, race numbers, and other goodies.

While I'm doing this my mate Keef will be collecting my pair of lovely ZX6RR race bikes from Slick Performance.  When I say "my", I mean 'Slick's" - they're just mine to use for this fortnight.  As soon as I get back from signing, it'll be a case of loading the bikes and heading to the Paddock for scrutineering, and then, hopefully, first practice.  I say "hopefully" because the weather forecast is bad (and if the cloud is down, the medical helicopters can't fly, and no one rides), and also there's rumours about the number of marshals being very tight.  Here's fingers crossed. 

I'm writing this on the Saturday after the Senior race.

Yesterday's racing was severly delayed because of a road accident just before the roads closed.  It was a fatality, so the Police had to do several hours clearing up before the first race, the Lightweight/Ultra-lightweigh, got under way.  Which meant that the Senior didn't get away until 3:30pm.

Conditions were good, sunny and dry, tho it was quite windy, especially over the mountain.  Once again my start number had been bumped up, this time to 23 (from 49) because of my pace in practice and the Junior.  I lined up next to Tim Devlin on an SP1, but was confident I'd soon lose him because he'd only managed 105 in practice.  Ten seconds ahead of us, starting alone, was Mike Minns, on 1000cc MZ twin (yes, really).  I'd checked his practice times too, and with a best of 107 I was confident I'd soon be past him too...

Starting 23 means that you're soon away, and as predicted I dropped Tim on the line, and never saw him again.  I set my sights on Mike, and he came into view on the long run up to Ballahutchin.  But, try as I might, and despite my bike being very fast in a straight line, it took me ages to wind him in.  It wasn't until the mountain climb, some 20 miles later, that I got on his tail, and made my move past on the way up Hailwood Rise.  As expected, he stayed on my tail, and was right behind me going into Governors Bridge (where you get chance to see who's following).  I kept my head down and went as fast as I could.  I'd been hoping to wind in some other people who started ahead of me, but the road was very empty.

I was riding my own ride, and was suprised when Mike Minns came past me into Miln Town - one of the bumpiest, hariest parts of the course.  He must have his bike working really well on the bumps.  Once again I caught him back across the mountain, this time passing on the way into Bungalow Bridge.  There was a hint of rain, and my rear tyre slid slowly but surely as I exited the corner, which I took as a warning that there was no more speed to be found on that particular corner.

My pit stop went very well, as in the Junior - my crew Mike and Andy were completely in control and assured, and I got a drink and a energy gel pack while the fuel went in.  I can only assume that Mike Minns pit stop was a bit slower, because I didn't see him again.  The next two laps were a little more lonely, tho I was caught and passed by a couple of riders further down the order, and tried to hang on to them for a while.  The last lap was lots of fun - the bike was flying, and I was more and more confident about slinging it through the fast sections.  At the end of Cronky-y-voddy, and through the top of Barragarrow, I was stood on the pegs and moto-crossing it across the bumps, and it felt great.  However, I wasn't sure if I was going to make my sub-20 min target.

At the end I was just as tired as on Wednesday.  As usual, we had to wait a little while for the full results, so we spent the time productively in the beer tent.  Final result was another 22nd place, a replica, and a fastest lap of 20:12 - six seconds slower than Wednesday.  My overall race time was 24 seconds slower, tho half the field went slower too, so maybe conditions weren't quite as good.

In the evening we all went to the prize giving and Keith and I collected out replicas (it should have been two each, but they ran out!  Second one to follow in the post apparently).  And we drank quite a lot. 

Today (Saturday) has been spent dealing with hangovers, and emptying the van.  And not much else.

So that's the 2006 Manx Grand Prix.  I've got results which are far, far better than I could ever have hoped, and pretty much loved every minute of it.

At last I've got chance to catch up.

The race yesterday was incredibly intense.  Starting near the front meant the level of competition was high, so I was riding with people who were quick.  This drew me on a bit, but the level of concentration required was quite amazing.  Apparently my opening lap was 111mph, which is pretty good from a standing start.  I didn't beat anyone who started in front of me, although two didn't finish, so my start position was pretty much right.

The pit stop came around very quickly, and went really smoothly - in fact, comparing the lap 2 vs lap 3 times (the pit stop time is added to lap 3), we had a faster stop than some of the top riders.  The extra weight of fuel almost caught me out at Quarter Bridge - I took such a wide line the spectators must have wondered if I was going to Castletown. 

The last lap was quite fun - I was in the company of number 32 (Scott Wilson), and we had a good dice.  We both knew that he was a minute in front because of his later start number, so neither of us did anything silly - we just had some fun.  He made a mistake going into the Bungalow, and was slow out, enabling me to get past him on the way up Hailwood Rise, and I kept a small advantage to the end.

My fastest lap was 20:06 - so my next target is to do a sub-20 minute lap.  Dunno if I'll do that on Friday - I feel pretty chilled out and relaxed now, but I'll probably be fired up again in the morning.

Today we put some new brake pads in, and bedded them in at Jurby.  Keith and I both have new rear tyres fitted, and we've changed the oil, mostly to check the condition of the stuff that was in there - no metal or clutch, so that's all good.

A quiet night tonight, and another early start in the morning

This will be quite a short entry...

Junior race today. I was as nervous as a kitten all morning, but as usual, was fine once the flag dropped.  Result was I finished 22nd, got a replica, a race average of 110mph and a best lap of 112mph.  Wow.

Going down the pub soon.

[Myspace was down when I wanted to post this earlier]

I got a call from the Race Office offering me start number 20 (instead of my previous 68).  Of course, I grabbed it! 

The bike is ready, the van is loaded, time for bed.  Big day tomorrow.

[bloody MySpace dropped my first go at this - let's have another go]

Easy day today - just watched some racing. The guy who won the Newcomer's race was bloody fast (117mph!), but the most amazing thing was that he "only" did 111mph in practice.  How on earth did he find 60~70 seconds?

In other news, Slick had the bike today to try and fix a fuelling problem when accelerating at around 8k revs.  There's only about 3 places on the course where the revs fall that low, but if it can be fixed it'll be good.  When I picked the bike up, Slick said he'd improved it, but not been able to completely eliminate it, and advised me to roll, rather than crack, the throttle at those revs.  But, he'd also improved the fuelling throughout and it now has 121bhp (well, 120.9), and more peak torque than any other 600 he's seen!

Not much to do tomorrow except fit new tyres and brake pads, and clean the bike and give it a full nut and bolt check.  And then ready for the race on Wednesday...