NG Brand March 19-20

Sorry No Pictures

Streetstocks and Pre-Injection:

Round 1
Race 2 for grid position: Saturday 19th

NG has a strange system at the beginning of the year in that your grid position is selected on how early you send in the fees for the race. You would have thought that for safety it would be on last years standing. This meant that I was 19th and Adam Jeffery (last years PI champ) was 21st, crazy yes!
So I did my ‘Stoner’ start and was well up the grid by the first corner and as the laps went on I seemed to be passing everyone. I think that they may have been taking it easy, as the weather wasn’t perfect and they had had a test day the day before, where it had been raining and perhaps hadn’t had chance to get there heads around Brands. Or I could have been riding like a FJ Racing God.
The main place I was overtaking was at the entry into Paddock Hill bend. I think the Streetstocks had so much speed down the back straight that too me they seemed to brake early, this meant I could pass them as they tipped into the bend, great fun!
The result was that by the end of the 9 lap race I’d started lapping some bikes. With my head down I could see a few bikes up front. When we pulled into the holding area at the end of the lap a lad came over and said I was 3rd and had set the fastest lap. I said he must have been mistaken as I started 19th. “No” he said “you’re number 11 and you got fastest lap”.
My lap time was 54:16. Just off the PI class record of 53:70 that I set last year, this meant that I was 1st in PI class.
Adam had been riding his No.2 bike as his No.1 bike was waiting for his £3000 engine rebuild (my engine work was a set of rings and a set of conrods from Ebay). So Adam always had an uphill struggle getting the best from his ‘Wet’ R1 and managed to finish 9th. But out of the woodwork Rob Garland had attended the meet on his Street Fighter R1 and managed to get his bike 5th, so we both had a new guy hoping to piss on our party and perhaps take points from us.
The 3rd place was a great result but I thought that perhaps I had simply had an advantage due to my trackday being held on the Monday before, where it was dry and I was able to set my bike up.

Round 1
Race 12: Race for Points

Now in a good starting position of 3rd at least I could see the lights and I was 1st into the entry of Paddock Hill, but this was short lived as the two top guys passed me going down the hill. It was soon obvious that I wasn’t going to stay with these quick guys and I was soon overtaken by a Triumph 657. It was all I could do to tag onto the back of him, sometimes gaining in the fast left hands but he would pull metres off the last bend ‘Clearways’ and down the back straight.
I finally finished the race 4th overall and 1st in the PI class with a best time of 53:50 seconds beating last year’s record. Adam had a stroke of luck, he had finished 3rd in PI class behind Rob on his R1 but Rob was deducted 10 seconds due to a false start, this meant that Adam had beaten him on paper by 0:23 of a second.
My bike was behaving faultlessly, and ready for the next day’s race had the rear radial Bridgestone tyre turned around. Well! Can’t afford to wear a tyre out, on one side.

Round 2
Race 2 for grid position: Sunday 20th

Adam had his tyre replaced as in his own words “I’m looking for an extra second and a half”.
Again, I had to start in 19th place, nothing like trying to make hard work for me.
Had another good start and managed to push my way up to a big group of five riders for 3rd position. It was really close racing and great fun riding so close to these fast Streetstock bikes and riders. Every time out of ‘Clearways’ they would pull a lead on me, I would catch them up on the brakes into paddock and into Druids, but when back on the start straight I would be a few metres back from them.
I finally crossed the line in 6th place, 1st in PI class. Even though my times were down to an even quicker 53:03 the Streetstock guys had upped their pace as well, as they were getting use to the circuit and the warmer conditions.
To give you a understanding on how close the racing is, from 2nd to 13th the bikes were lapping within 2 seconds of one another.
Adam came in 11th but with Rob getting the better of him in a respectable 9th. With a bit of luck perhaps Rob could get between us and take some points away from Adam which will help me later in the season when Adam kicks my ass at Pembrey.

Round 2
Race 12: Round 2 race for points

I thought instead of worrying about Adam and points I will just go out and aim for the leaders and see where it gets me. I then released that I’d not taken my baffle out from the noise testing so this was removed, might give better pickup and power.
Got another good start and was mixing it with the leaders but as the two leaders pulled away I had fight on my hands. Their machines were a modern R1 ridden by Tom Louth and a 675 ridden by Robert Bowen in front, lap after lap we were within metres of one another. I noticed that I was quicker into Surtees, into Paddock Hill bend and on the brakes into Druids. Also the R1 seemed to hold me up out of Clark Curve while letting the little 675 get ahead down the straight, only to find that the R1 would pull it all back down the straight, this meant I had to late break before Paddock to catch up.

The last few laps was great racing as Tom and Rob were swapping paint with one another, I thought I’d wait my time and on the last but one lap Rob on the 675 did a do-or-die overtake into Graham Hill Bend against Toms R1, this really spooked Tom and he missed the drive out, I then out accelerated him along the Copper Straight, now without the R1 holding me up through Clarks I managed to get on the inside of the 675. On the last lap Rob made an attack on the inside as I entered Druids. It was a close pass and I had to drift out of his way onto the dirty part of the bend as he missed the apex by 3 foot. I thought ‘oh no, please don’t take me out for the sake of a position”. He manage to pull it back and I realised my only chance was getting into Surtees before him as this seemed his weak spot, so I held back as we entered Graham Hill bend and drove really hard out and passed him on the straight and was first into Surtees. I held my line and got across the line ahead by only 0:06 of a second. What a race!
Finished 3rd in race, 1st in Class, I had got the lap time down to 52:66 and Rob Garland had got the better of Adam, meaning Adam came in 3rd in class.

To put my 3rd place in the race, into perspective.
If I was permitted to race in the 1300cc Streetstock class (but wasn’t as last year I tried and they said I didn’t have original 16” wheels on my 26 year old bike as the Streetstock rules state you need to run OE wheels, even though they couldn’t supply a set of controlled Metz tyres in a 16” rim) I would have finished 1st in that class as the two bikes ahead of me were in the 600cc Streetstock class.
So a great result. 50 points against Adams 36.
A few words about Mura and the new boy Paul on the other two FJ’s.
It wasn’t going to be their weekend.
Paul crashed on the Saturday in practice. It was a right mess but between me and Mura we got the spares out and he managed to get it back together. Then he had oil leaks and carbs flooding while he was racing in the other races. But you have to shake his hand, he didn’t whinge he just got his head down and with the help of his misses and Caz, worked through all the problems and by the end of the meet his riding had improved greatly and he was starting to get his head around this big lump of a FJ.
Mura’s luck wasn’t any better. Using his ‘wet’ FJ for the Saturday this developed a noise from inside the top end so was out of action.
On the Sunday, his ‘fast’ FJ decided it didn’t want to be left out and started misfiring so he was unable to even start the last race.
Better luck next time for both of them.