WHAT A GREAT BUNCH

What a great bunch you are. I really enjoy Folly days and in reflective mood on my way back from Castle Combe I realised why — it's because you are such a great bunch of people that it’s a pleasure to organise the days for you. Yes, we enjoy the riding too but we could do that at other peoples’ track days (and it would be lot less sweat I can assure you) but you lot wouldn’t be there and we wouldn’t be able to spend the day wandering around chatting with old friends and making new ones as we can with the Folly. There are Folly riders who I’ve now been riding with since 1992 when I first came along as novice punter but I make new friends every time. Some of the regulars have dropped by the wayside — kids, wives (husbands even) or in at least one case the lure of four wheels — but it doesn’t matter, we get new regulars who take their place and are just as fun, and hey, everybody needs new blood.

So if this is the first Folly report you’ve ever read, (which means either you’ve just learned to read or, more likely, Castle Combe was your first Folly day), welcome. We look forward to you becoming one of our friends over the next few years.

Soppy stuff over, now the real thing:

Things did not start well. First it poured with rain all Sunday so I drove rather than rode. Second the weather report said Monday would be slightly better but still heavy showers. Third dinner at the White Hart was (how can I put this?) not up to its past standard.

It's that third one which really hurts. We’ve been patronising the White Hart since about 1990. It’s convenient, picturesque, has a traditional pub bar, a good selection of beers and until it changed hands just over two years ago a wonderful restaurant with trout stream running underneath it which served real gourmet food. It’s still got the restaurant, the stream still runs but the food is a very pale shadow of its former self. Last year it was very ordinary, give it another chance we said. This year it was truly awful. I won’t go into the details, this is after all a motorcycling organisation not the Michelin Guide, but take my word for it. We now seek a replacement hotel for next year with about 20 rooms, good beer, great food and not too far from Castle Combe. Suggestions gratefully received.

The evening was not a total disaster. The beer is still good and there was lots of wine. We virtually took the place over with a table for fifteen for dinner, a couple of lads eating sandwiches in the bar (very sensible in the circumstances) and a family gathering (several generations) including one armed rider Clive Perrin, his mate John Gregory, the lovely brolly girls Maggie and Sarah from last year (too cold for hotpants this year apparently) and various other relatives and friends. New novice Helen Jesperson and new intermediate Hilary Thompson were on the big table with the reprobates.

Hilary works for Three Cross, rides a Triumph Daytona 955 on which she is no slouch, and called the hotel proprietor an “ar*ey git” (in his hearing) when he told her that she had to float her own cream on her Tia Maria. It was the way he said it — “we don’t do that”, as though this was formal hotel policy, which did it. Anyway what with the beer, the wine and the Tia Maria a good time was had by all.

Final event of the evening, which we did not witness, was Tom Colman walking into one of those picturesque beams headfirst on his way to bed. It didn’t hurt much at the time he said, but he did manage to bleed all over the pillow in the night. Might explain why next day he didn’t notice that he was putting his leathers on over his trousers and then made a fuss about the uncomfortable riding position on the GSXR 1000 that he is now sharing with Ian Lishman and Graham Alcock.

Next morning things were much better. First, if cold, it was sunny and dry. Then on my way to the circuit I noticed for the first time that I was passing through the hamlet of Tiddleywink. Only the English could name somewhere that, no wonder the Americans love our countryside! Then at the briefing when I asked how many of the assemblage had ridden with us before, a veritable forest of hands went up, 70 or 80% of the riders I would say — that’s always such good news.

The weather then stayed fine until 12.45 when about one minute into an intermediate session it started to hail. I was just about to go out but thought better of it (iced ball bearings all over the track?) and most of the group came in at the end of the first lap. We declared an early lunch, it didn’t last long and the circuit was ready for the novices to be sent out to dry a line (or in their case several lines) ready for the rest of us after lunch.

It didn’t rain or hail again. As I have previously observed He smiles on the virtuous.

There were the usual amusing events—the nameless fellow who asked for my mechanical wisdom to help him start his Ducati Monster. I pointed out that it was helpful to have the on-off switch in the on position. Then there was Jeremy Phillips who set off down the pit lane with his rear tyre warmer still affixed and Terry Harris whose Hayabusa battery went dead on him. He and David Cooper were both in intermediate green and worked out that if David moved to advanced and Terry moved to intermediate blue there would be a session between each of their sessions which would give them time to switch David’s working battery to Terry’s bike and back again. We’re accustomed to riders sharing bikes, sharing batteries is a new one.

I have to say that Terry overtook me (riding David’s battery you understand) in the afternoon. He looked very pleased with himself.

As well as suffering that ignominy I also had a couple of bad instructing moments. First off I had been instructing novice friends Andrew Gammon and James Patrinos on their respective VFRs, red and black. Normal stuff — follow me for a few laps, then I follow you. Well we’d done that and they were going quite well so I’d disappeared off into the distance on the now running Monster. Then the red flags went up. We counted them in, everyone except Andrew. Never had an instructee go down before.

Later, after lunch, I was instructing another couple of novices and we got separated. When I located one of them I took up the instructing again. Actually picked the wrong man, as it was James again. Anyway he was jolly good about me waving at him and entered into the spirit of things as though he was expecting to be instructed! I didn’t notice until the end of the session.

Andrew went down on the exit from Bobbies, lowsided, slid the width of the track and onto the grass/mud leaving a nice set of scratches across the tarmac almost completely parallel with those left there earlier in the morning by the R1 of long time Folly regular, never fallen off before, Nigel Barrett. The damage to the VFR was largely cosmetic but it did lose a handlebar, footrest and gear lever; it needed to be transported back to Hampshire. The R1 had cracked a brake pipe, which Wally soon fixed so Nigel was out again. Neither rider suffered any injury but Nigel’s leathers were rather muddy. Looked as though he mud wrestled the bike before it came to rest.

Nigel and Andrew were the only fallers of the day. That’s almost a record for us. I say almost because on one occasion only one rider fell at Castle Combe — an instructor on the brand new Buell he had borrowed from the local dealership — ouch, very embarrassing.

We used our new instructor arrangements for the first time. Mike Edwards is now the Folly’s chief instructor, responsible for making sure that there are sufficient, suitable instructors on the day. He didn’t ride himself leaving that to instructors Darren Moggeridge and Chris Foster whilst he co-ordinated things in the paddock. We think it worked very well and we received a lot of compliments from those who had been instructed on the day, particularly Helen and Hilary. Why is it I wonder that the male instructors are always so helpful to the female riders?

Helen (a track virgin) made great progress whilst Hilary just honed her skills. She did however chicken out of the offer to ride the Guzzi on track. That often makes blokes blench too.

Instructor Mike would like feedback on the instructing. How did we do? What could we do better? Contact him on mike.edwards @ biketrackdays.co.uk.

Star rider of the day award has to go to Gary Chalmer (I think I’ve got the name right, if not you know who you are) on his R1. I had noticed this rather quick chap in novice (when he came steaming past me and my instructees) and asked him later why he was in novice, perhaps intermediate would be more suitable? The response was that as it was only his second trackday he thought he was a novice but if I thought he should move up then that was fine by him. Subsequently he overtook me in intermediate, and try as I could I couldn’t keep up with him. Gary is now borderline intermediate/advanced and I have suggested to him that he needs a couple of days in intermediate to get experience of overtaking fast riders and then he should move to advanced.

The other star performer is the new proprietress of the circuit restaurant, Jacqui Brenton. It is so much better than it was under the previous management, cleaner, tidier, friendlier, and much better food. Almost made up for dinner the night before. Jacqui lost her mobile phone during the day and was leaving, no doubt, cross messages on the answerphone for whoever had picked it up by mistake. She had put it to silent and left it on a high shelf in the kitchen. Hope those messages to herself weren’t too cross!

Finally a number of you were asking about future dates. Here they are:

Thursday 13th May Mallory Park
NB the Bosworth road (the road from the A447 to Kirkby Mallory) will be closed.
Monday 7th June Cadwell
Thursday 17th June Brands Hatch (Indy)
Monday 5th July Pembrey
Tuesday 27th July Oulton Park (Full circuit)
Thursday 19th August Mallory Park
Thursday 23rd September Snetterton

Full details, booking forms and details of the hotels we are staying at the night before are all on the website www.motorcyclefolly.co.uk.

If you want to comment on anything in this report reply direct to me geoff @ megalith.plus.com.

See you at Mallory.

Geoff.