19 April 2004 - Castle Combe

By some twist of fate the first Motorcycle Folly track day of the year was the day after we had been racing at Cadwell. After packing up all our wet gear I headed down to Castle Combe with Chris Foster. Unfortunately for us his race transporter will only do around 50 mph so the 190 mile journey was going to take a while. Luckily for me Chris had a spare bed so I got to sleep somewhere comfortable for a change. We arrived at the circuit just before midnight to find that it had finally stopped raining. The circuit was all closed up for the night but the chain on the gate was only made to look like it was locked so we snuck in and hoped nobody would notice.

Unfortunately for me I didn't have a bike that would get through the tight Castle Combe noise regulations so I was destined to be instructing from the pit lane. Unlike previous years where I had been instructing with Tim Jones or Darren Moggridge this year the Motorcycle Folly guys had agreed that I was to be their Chief Instructor and would be responsible for organising the instructors. In return I would get an increased budget, primarily to pay for the extra time it would take to organise everything. Tim was going to be busy setting up a new race team so I opted to spend the extra budget by having three instructors. I had known Chris Foster for a few years and decided to have Chris and Darren at all the rounds. That way if one of us is injured or has to miss a round we can still cope and on days when all three of us are there we will have more time to instruct and not be quite so rushed.

It was a little overcast in the morning but the forecast was good and we were soon complaining that it was too hot. Most bikes passed the sounds check and the day got underway with four separate groups. Due to the daft noise regulations, allegedly down to just one man who bought a house next to the circuit and keeps complaining, they are limited to twelve bikes on circuit at one time which gives the instructors a lot of time to help out. I could see a couple of corners from the pit lane and was able to help with some riding advice based on what I could see from there. A bit of advice on which gear to use and his body position almost caught out Folly Officer Ian Fox as he then arrived at the next corner at least 10 mph faster than before!

Having three instructors worked really well and I could still remember enough of the circuit to help people out with lines and generally riding tips. Other than a couple of very minor spills the rest of the day was very uneventful. I think the worst injury was sun burn which counts as a successful day all round. Very glad to get home later on Monday night after leaving home around midday on Thursday.