12th August 2003 - Mallory Park

Yet again the weather was nice at Mallory. I'd opted to get up early and drive up rather than stay in the hotel as I knew there was no chance of sleeping properly so may as well save the money. The way I had been going through fairings I needed all the money I could get if I was going to finish the season.

This was going to be the first day Chris 'Fozzy' Foster was going to be instructing with the Folly so I hoped he'd be able to do a lot of the work and I could spend time discussing things with the riders in the paddock. Just my luck when Chris turned up late with a puncture in the rear tyre of his 400. Not to be put off I dragged an old race tyre out of the van and told him he should get it changed and join in when he'd got it sorted. It took him a while to get the old tyre off the rim before he noticed that the tyre he was taking off was from an 18" wheel and the one I had offered him was from a 17" one. Guess he would ahve to trawl round Leicestershire looking for a tyre whilst I did all the hard work at the circuit.

I don't think I have ever worked so hard on track as I did at Mallory. Not only was it ridiculously hot (I shouldn't complain given the usual British Summer but...) I rode in every session as well as finding people inthe paddock to discuss their riding. By the time lunchtime came round I was exhausted and looking forward to a sit down but Fozzy hadn't come back from his tyre repair so I spent a lot of time helping with advice, lines and other riding tips. I think it was reassuring for a couple of nervous riders on SV650s to see what the bike was actually capable of. Despite a bit of suspension work my race bike was pretty similar to the road bike.

Chris turned up having had a plug put in his tyre just before the start of the afternoon sessions. The dealer had told him to limit his speed as the plug was only good for 50 mph but Fozzy decided that he wasn't going to waster any time on track and set about getting in as many laps as he could. It was much easier with two people instructing and I think we got to speak with the majority of the paddock before the end of the day. There were no real incidents and everybody went away happy at the end of the day.