6th January 2001

Despite it being below freezing outside I only have six weeks before the first practice day. Start collating all of the lists, suggestions and helpful advice I have received over the past couple of months to work out what I need do before then.

A big thank you to Russell Savory from the Sanyo Honda team, all the members of the Team Ixion email group for suffering my never ending list of questions and to the guys at Team Mojo for answering a lot of my questions before I even knew I needed to ask them.

Other things I need to do before the first practice day range from changing the gear shift around to be road oriented, add some crash bobbins, chase my Bemsee membership and get my ACU license.

20th January

Finally get around to adding up how much I think all this is going to cost for my first season. Start getting very nervous as my finances aren't in the best shape and the season hasn't even started. A friend jokingly suggests that I contact BUPA for some sponsorship as I'm likely to need to use their services at some point this year - At least I hope he was joking.

Approach the local paper near where I work (Canary Wharf in the London Docklands area) who promise to run an article on me to see if I can get some sponsorship that way. Set about working out what my minimum budget for the year could be versus what it probably ought to be to cover all the scenarios I can come up with.

Receive my entry forms and membership from Bemsee and find out the first date is at Lydden, a track I've never been to before. Fill in the forms for a couple of practice days there before hand and write out a cheque for the first two rounds at Lydden also. Shouldn't really as I don't have my ACU licence yet but Dave and Bernie at Bemsee are very helpful and let me sneak the first couple in.

31st January

Visit the Road Racing show a the Alexandra Palace. Bought a torque wrench and some lockwire pliers to complement the exorbitantly priced Honda workshop manual I acquired the other day. Plan a few more things I think I need although most people are telling me not to worry so much as I'll work out what I need as time goes by. Meet a few useful contacts and catch up with the guys at A & R Racing who attend each Bemsee meeting and have a chat with Stephen Fryer at Rhencullen Race Products who has helped me out in the past.

3rd February

Visit Russell Savory to pick up a few more of the bits he promised me. In this case I come away with some tyre warmers, a set of wet tyres he has dug out and a couple of spare screens that they were going to throw out. Return to Alexandra Palace to buy all the bits I forgot about the last time, i.e. a set of crash bobbins that I suspect will be rather well used by the end of the season.

Bump in to Johnny Haynes and Chris Sherring for the California SuperBike School. I've done the school for the last couple of years and can't recommend it enough. The guys are very helpful and give me lots of useful advice about racing and remind me of lots of the things covered on the course that I had conveniently forgotten. Probably ought to go back for another visit a bit later in the year just to help things sink in. Need to get the first few races out of the way so that I got all the initial nerves out of the way and am a little more used to riding the bike.

4th February

This was supposed to be the weekend I manage to buy a van but after looking at loads I don't find any that quite fit in to my budget or, more importantly, in to my garage. I have something of a height restriction so only the lowest, shortest transit van will work so it looks like I may be destined to hire one for the first few meetings.

Try to fit the crash bobbins only to find that I'm too stupid to work out where they go. No doubt a quick phone call will resolve that but in the mean time I also fail to put the gear change back to road orientation (one down and five up). It appears that a lock nut added to make sure nothing comes loose will foul the water pump if I swap it around. Guess I need to decide on whether I need to do some adjustments to the lever or just live with it and learn to use it the other way around.

8th February

Fame at last. Okay, maybe not but I did make the back page of my local paper. The Wharf is a free weekly paper that covers the Canary Wharf and Docklands area of East London. They printed the address of this web site but managed to get some extra punctuation in there which I'm sure will throw everyone off a bit.

They printed quite a good picture of me and a friend taken at the first test of the bike last November. Shame they didn't have space to mention the broken ribs as I'm sure some people will be wondering why I wasn't hanging off - It was all I could do to just sit there.

At the end of the day I think any publicity has to be a good thing. There may the possibility of them spending a day with me for a 'racing experience' type article.

Hopefully the publicity will result in some sponsorship somewhere along the line but for the moment it looks like I'm going to be financing the whole season by myself.

11th February

Another weekend spent driving around the countryside looking at vans. There don't seem to be any sub five grand vans (not that my budget would stretch to anything near that amount) in reasonable condition. Most people seem to be seriously overcharging for things that are unlikely to last the week yet alone the year.

I did manage to find one that had potential, i.e. not too much rust, etc. and given that it is at least six hundred quid less than most of the others it looks like that may have to be it. Has a multitude of problems ranging from a blowing exhaust to a dubious clutch. It is also covered in stickers for the previous owner and has their logo painted on the side.

15th February

Decided that the only way to get a van that wouldn't bankrupt me was to buy the one I saw last Saturday. Eventually negotiated another couple of hundred quid off as I bought it as it was without getting the guy to repair the obvious bits, i.e. broken front grill and damaged wing mirror. Having collected it I've found a bunch of other things that need doing but they are all relatively minor, albeit not that cheap to fix, but I can live with them for a while at least.

Next thing to do is improvise some tie down points as the plywood lined interior has covered the proper ones. Off to B & Q for some brackets and screws. Hope they'll be strong enough to keep the bike in one piece.

First practice is on Saturday and it's getting late so thought I ought to check the bike before then. Charged the battery, added some fuel, put the bike back together and ... nothing. Eventually found the important looking connector I had knocked when doing the work and the bike turns over as soon as I put it back together.

Unfortunately it won't start and after a multitude of backfires and other interesting noises I give up. Fortuitously at the last minute I had booked tomorrow off work as I was planning on taking the bike up to Cambridge Motorcycles for a Dyno run (the guys at Team Mojo swear by them) so while it's there they can sort out the starting problems.

16th February

Load the van and head up to Cambridge. Drop the bike off with the guys at Cambridge Motorcycles who, despite being fully booked for the day manage to find some time to look at it. While it's with them I take the opportunity to take the van to Kwik Fit for a new exhaust.

Head back to see the bike to find that it was nothing more than the battery not having enough power to start the thing. Rather worrying as it only came off the OptiMate charger a few minutes before putting it in the bike. Buy another battery as a spare and charge it up over night..

They also managed to do a quick run on the Dyno which shows a rather impressive 115 bhp at the rear wheel. It's alleged by those in the know that their Dyno is a little on the cautious side but it does provide a useful comparison with the bikes of Simon 'Morph' Morley and James Dening who have been helping me out with my racing questions.

Although my bike makes a good 5 bhp more than either of theirs it is a major disappointment to find that I have a 15 bhp deficit in the mid range in comparison. I'm sure a rider of Glen Richards stature can keep it in the usable power band but it's going to be somewhat harder for me.