Report - Oulton Park 28th February 2004 (Trackday)
Both desperate and excited to get some track time on the new bike, I booked myself on a track day at Oulton Park together with John Rees (also races with NGRRC on a ZXR400). Now bearing in mind it was still early on in the year, we expected it to be cold and we weren't wrong! It was still below freezing when we set off at 7am and it hadn't warmed up much by the time we'd finished the briefing, during which they warned us that there were still one or two patches of ice on track (which they had coned off), so be careful!
Now given the warning about ice and the fact that this was only supposed to be a 'shakedown' test of the new bike, you would have thought I would have been taking it easy.....and I did to start with! However, I got the first session over and then the next and was feeling fairly confident about the bike, so decided on the third session that I would try to push it a bit more to get closer to a two minute lap. That's when it all went wrong!
So third session out, I did the first lap ok and then the second lap I went a bit faster, readying myself to go quick in the third. Over the start/finish line, I went around Barn and set off up the slight rise towards The Avenue and the left hander of Cascades. I came down The Avenue and lined up for the left hand turn and just as I went down into fourth gear and braked for the turn, the front end washed away and it low-sided. Bollocks!!
All I could think about as it slid away was the paint job I'd just put several hours into (thanks to Lesley for the use of her garage as a paint shop) and the resulting crash damage to a bike I'd only just finished. Well that and '....I hope this doesn't hurt'! After checking all my limbs were functioning ok and that I wasn't in any agonising pain (in fact I didn't have scratch on me!), I got up and ran over to the bike, which was looking very secondhand now. After struggling to pick it up, a couple of marshalls came over and it wasn't too long before I was in the back of the rescue truck and at the rear of the garages unloading the bike to assess the damage properly.
Basically, the plastics were pretty much scrap and the left footpeg was sheared at the bolt head holding it on, as well as the gear lever having lost its bearing. Also, the steering damper was bent beyond hope and I'd holed the left hand side MHP can. The link pipe was a bit bent and squashed as well. However, nothing too serious and I was determined to get it patched up and get back out on it later in the afternoon. A few hours and plenty of gaffa tape later and I was signed on and back on track. Unfortunately, there was only to be one session left in the day as it was getting very cold again and there had been quite a few incidents, so I only managed a few laps. But at least I did get out there again!
So, not a good first outing all told, but at least I did get to run it. Positives were that it was running fine and pulled strong through the revs, a lot stronger than my old NC30......thanks again Ricky! Also, it gave me the chance to iron out a few bits and pieces from the rebuild and make sure it was all working ok, even if it did damage my wallet in the process!