A TOUCH OF OVER-ENTHUSIASM

Thus spoke chief instructor Mike Edwards at the end of the day when responding to my question as to why so many novices had fallen off. On mature reflection I think he’s right and that is the main cause of novice fallers. It’s just that at Brands that over enthusiasm was catching and four of our seven fallers were novices. That’s extremely unusual but has a bright side — they are usually going so slow that injuries are avoided. Further detailed reports on most of them below.

Unusually too, I wish to use this platform to offer apologies. First to the nameless (it’s not that he doesn’t have one it’s just that I don’t know it) Honda rider who, seeing me about to go out in the last novice session of the day enquired whether I would “observe” him out there and, presumably, report back afterwards. That’s the problem — I did observe but got distracted afterwards and by the time I got round to looking for him for that report he’d gone. So here goes — perfect lines, confident style, speed will come in due course. That’s the kind of novice I like!

Secondly to “the Real Duncan Spencer”. Now this one is a bit overdue as it was months ago that I erroneously reported that he had won the free trackday prize at one of our days when it was in fact another Duncan altogether. Duncan turned up to the Bull in Wrotham (apparently Rootam if you speak Kentish) and so introduced himself to me. I won’t make that mistake again and in fact during the day interacted a lot with him and wife Janie who is up for her bike test soon and who we hope to see on track next year.

This time Mark Chamberlain won the free track day and Nick Field and Robert Loveday won free tickets to watch the BSB round at Brands in October. A number of Folly riders are now going to Brands with the compliments of Motor Sport Vision and the Folly. I hope that you will use the chatgroup/notice board to make contact with one another and meet up on the day.

Mike Edwards also made a comment about muppets and I believe he had Duncan in mind. This was because having been waved past by Mike on the entry to Clearways Duncan took the offer and almost immediately experienced what he subsequently described to me as a “major moment”. He and Mike obviously both thought this was caused by extreme over enthusiasm but I was able to point out that the rear tyre on Duncan’s blue Ninja was in fact delaminating. Too much hard work on hot tarmac.

The Bull was great. 10 mins from the circuit, ancient, good bar, fine beer and excellent food. Add very friendly staff and lots of parking at the back and we’ve got a new favourite venue. (NB A recent posting on the Folly notice board mentioned the heartbreak experienced when there is no room at the Folly’s chosen hostelry. Remember that in those circumstances the hotel will almost always be able to recommend a local B&B which will be cheaper and allow you to dine with the Folly).

There were 15 for dinner including the Real Duncan Spencer. The hotel fixed a TV room for us so the diehards could watch the Moto GP at 11.30. We were warned that the bar area (and access to the loos) was alarmed and I am afraid to say that Bladder Harris couldn’t wait until the show was over (it may be that it was just too exciting) and used the car park again. Can’t take him anywhere. He brought David Cooper with him as usual only David wasn’t riding — rode with the opposition (Focused Events) in the previous week, had a tumble and broke his wrist. Serve him right.

OK, time for the accident report:

Oliver Gin — I saw this at close quarters. He described it for our accident report form as “Clearways, too fast”. Oliver didn’t actually get to Clearways so should perhaps have described it as “Nearly Clearways too fast”. Whatever, he took the right hand apex in Surtees a little tight, took off over the rumble strip, onto the grass over the next rumble strip and back on to tarmac. I thought he’d got away with it only instead of turning right and carrying on around the circuit he went all the way across and on to the grass just before the Clearways turn in. Grass and brakes don’t go well together. He banged his shoulder but the bike looked virtually untouched.

Tim Cheshire — now this one is really odd as Tim doesn’t fall off and he did so at the bottom of Paddock Hill where in his own words “lost back end”. He should have been going in almost a straight line by there so what causes the back end to step out? Perhaps something to do with that suspension compression at the bottom of the dip. Tim is not a novice.

Stephen Sharp — saddest one of the day. He turned up at the hotel the night before on an Aprilia Mille so pristine that everyone admired it. It was rideable after he too ended up in the Paddock Hill gravel but not so pristine. I lent him tools so he could dismantle the fairing and extract half a hundredweight of gravel before riding home. Someone told me this was the bike’s last outing before being sold. If there is a Mrs Sharp I hope she is a very understanding lady.

James Scott Carver — I’ve discovered fallers’ comments on our accident reports and think that the best are eminently reportable. James was riding in advanced on his Honda CBR. His comment was “Not riding again, bike broke”. (At least I assume this was his and not Billy’s interpretation).

Finally I must mention Jordan Forrest. Jordan was a virgin novice riding an SV650 which he managed to drop by using too much front brake on his approach to Druids towards the end of the first novice session of the day. (I’ve seen worse — the man at Goodwood who fell off on the first corner of his first session on his first day!). It didn’t take Jordan long to realise that the bike damage was superficial, his helmet was useable and he wasn’t wobbling on his pins. So he got inspected by the medics and Marshall Mark inspected his bike and gave him some avuncular advice and off he went to enjoy the rest of the day.

Marshall Mark is worthy of special mention. We are grateful as usual to the circuit staff, manager Alan Capson and chief marshall Michelle (the most attractive chief marshall in the business) for giving us a great day but Mark on pit lane duty was so friendly and helpful that he stands out. He even smiled when he confiscated my bum bag!

I got into trouble again: Justine helped me refuel. She held the funnel and I poured — until it overflowed. I didn’t fancy riding round with petrol running back down the tank and soaking my underpants so I just tipped the bike a bit until it wasn’t a problem any more. Unfortunately it left a big puddle just outside pit garage 4 which I hurriedly abandoned by going out on circuit — it’s petrol it will evaporate. It didn’t and when I came back officer Billy was standing by a pile of white stuff put down by the incident crew and gave me a severe talking to. He insisted that this incident was written up.

As well as getting into trouble I had some fun as Ian Dunsire turned up with a 600 Honda Hornet that under previous ownership was ridden a great deal by me. I loved it then and love it still. A real hooligan machine. Something about sitting up behind touring bars with virtually no screen. Similar experience to a Monster. Thank you Ian for letting me ride it again. It’s for sale by the way for £1500 and a real snip for anyone who wants a track bike — can I ride it please if you buy it?

Thanks too to Steve Jordan Motorcycles who brought a works outing of fourteen riders along. As we ended up a smidgeon short of break even (not enough advanced riders) you can imagine how painful the day would have been if they hadn’t arrived.

Improvers awards go to:

Adam Brinkworth — both knees down (not simultaneously and a fantastic achievement when neither had touched before — the Duke 999 might help).

Aiden Walker — took his promotion to Advanced like a man and was running with the pack.

First interesting fact of the day. Apparently the most frequently downloaded picture in the Folly gallery is Mrs Moggy (Eleanor) sitting under an awning in a white floppy hat (and a full complement of other clothes) reading a book at Pembrey last year. Darren’s bike is in the background and he claims that it is the bike they are looking at. Yeah.

Second interesting fact. In conversation with one of our long term regulars it turned out that he didn’t know that the Folly was a not for profit venture run by unpaid volunteers because we like riding with you lot (or in some cases just like mixing with you lot) and that if we lose money on a day its Ian and me whose pocket it comes from ultimately. This regular (and he’s a good bloke apart from the fact that he rides faster on his 250 than me on my 1100) said had he realised that he would have tried to organise more people to support us when numbers are low. This is a message that we would love you all to take home or down the pub or wherever.

Finally, before the admin stuff, a message from Justine:

'I would just like to say a big thank you to all of you who took the time to sponsor me before & those who gave at Brands Hatch for the "Race for life" run on Sunday. I have raised about £700.00 for Cancer Research, much of which came from Folly riders. Thank you all again, it made all the hard work worthwhile.'

The tyre man should be coming to Mallory on the 23rd of August. If you want to contact him in advance to book him to bring some tyres for you get hold of him at Moto Mondo on 07759 308283. Steve Jordan will be there to do suspension set-ups and Mr Dyno should be back.

If you missed your photo of Brands action you can view and order all photos of the day by going to DE Photo’s webpage at http://tinyurl.com/cxb23. Selected ones for viewing only feature on the Folly website. Sorry guys Eleanor does not feature this time.

Finally, finally. We still have places in all groups for Mallory and the noisy day at Donington on the 16th September. Prices etc on the website together with hotel details. As usual I guarantee good weather — in case you weren’t there Brands was very dry and almost, but not quite, too hot.

Geoff.

Any comments on the day or this newsletter (not bookings) to me at noisygeoff @ megalith.plus.com

Views or suggestions on our instructors/instructing to mike.edwards @ biketrackdays.co.uk.