16th April 2004 - Cadwell Park

I don't know how I manage to leave things to the last minute but yet again I turned up at the track with some essential maintenance still to do At least my brand new rear wheel had arrived from the importer after almost four months so I was looking forward to having a dry weekend - Nothing guarantees dry weather better than having a full set of spare wheels equipped with wet tyres :-) The Raptor uses Brembo wheels which whilst not being that light are most definitely a work of art. It's almost too good for them to stick them on a bike and get them dirty. I'd had the bearings fitted the day before and also fitted a new wavy rear disc. Bizarrely I found that a wavy disc was cheaper than a standard Raptor one - Weird!

Given the lack of facilities at Cadwell Park I had also invested in a new awning. My paddock set up almost looked professional - A nice awning, a race bike, a van and a comfy chair. All I really needed was a fridge for the beer and I would have been all sorted. I took the wheels out and got some new Metzeler Rennsports fitted and also handed over my wet wheels for a set of Dunlop wet weather tyres. Some minor messing about to make sure the chain was lubed and adjusted properly along with a quick oil and filter change meant I was ready early although, as per usual, I missed the first session of the day.

The circuit hadn't changed since my last visit although I was disappointed that we were using the full circuit as I had enjoyed the shorter club circuit where both my hand and my leg would get a rest as it only required braking for three corners. The full circuit was a completely different proposition although I was almost caught out by some of the improvements made by Motor Sport Vision as they had removed a lot of trees form the inside of Hall Bends. Unfortunately for me these changes had removed both my braking marker and my turn in point which made the first couple of session interesting.

The one place that I've always been weak has been on the brakes. For the first few sessions I was being over cautious and it was only after a break that I realised that I had four pot Brembo Gold line calipers on the bike not the weedy two piston things that the SV650 had. Braking on the way in to Mansfield had always been, er, interesting but on the Raptor it was much easier to brake at a sensible point and be confident that I would get round the corner. It didn't help that I had no reference points identified to help my turn in but I had three days so I was sure by the end of things I would have improved. Famous last words?

I still hated the hairpin and Barn corner was causing me some problems as I wasn't happy tipping it in without touching the brakes or even rolling off for a bit. This was proving frustrating as it was costing me a lot of time down the start/finish straight which, in turn, left me with a lot of work through Coppice. I was convinced that I should be able to go through Coppice flat out in sixth gear but I would always chicken out and either change down or just touch the brakes. Maybe when I am less worried about injuring myself again. I could make up a lot of ground through Charlies 1 and get a better line than most people through Charlies 2 but I was getting slaughtered on the run up Park Straight. I realise that it's up hill but I would close on people rapidly on the way out until they got it upright then they would just pull away despite me being in the slipstream.

I'd lose out a bit through Park corner due to my lack of braking markers and a couple of dodgy experiences in previous races there but once in to Chris Curve there was no stopping me. I've always liked long sweeping corners and this has to be one of the best. Short shifting in to top gear on the way in then just rolling on the throttle as quickly as possible. As long as people weren't too erratic I could get by them here. it didn't seem to matter whether I had to pass on the inside or the outside as long as I got a good run in to the Gooseneck I wouldn't see them again. The new chicane was a comedy affair. It was supposed to slow riders down on the way in to the Mountain complex but it just seemed so contrived that I would have preferred the circuit spend some extra money and move the tyre wall back at the next corner. The Mountain was it's usual intimidating self. Some people are happy to just wheelie over it but I prefer to keep both wheels on the ground where possible.

I skipped a couple of sessions in the afternoon as I was getting tired and my knee was hurting but I was reasonably happy with my practice performance and decided it was better to be safe that sorry.