SUMMER HAS ARRIVED - RATHER BELATEDLY

A noisy day at Donington on the GP circuit promised to be a really good day – and we weren’t disappointed. After the abysmal wet summer we had to endure, they promised an Indian summer and it appears to have been a good prediction. Certainly the weather was perfect.

Some of the Follyists were booked into the Donington Manor Hotel the night before with a dinner reservation for twelve. When more people than that turned up for the meal the hotel said they were unable to cope due to a convention. So Dick Powell and his group decided they might go out for an Italian, and the ZRXOC boys decided to go out for an Indian. However, no sooner had the ZRXOC boys disappeared than four of the Follyists, including Clive Perrin and John Gregory, were offered dinner in the breakfast room. They were soon joined by another four Follyists – and then another four – and the final tally was fourteen (even though the hotel couldn’t cater for more than twelve). It must have been something that the ZRXOC boys said! However, they had a great night out at the curry house, and the conversation back at the hotel was apparently very genteel and refined (how very strange!).

With a BSB race meeting imminent there were a fair number of racers gracing the day and every group was full to capacity. With so many riders present the briefing in the café was quite a cosy affair. Graham just made it in time to deliver the briefing having been caught in traffic on the A50 following an accident.

Dick Powell and his group made light work of traffic problems by arriving by air. Long time Follyists, they decided to celebrate Dick’s last track day (potentially) by travelling up in Rick Roberts’ helicopter. The journey from West Sussex took a mere hour. Dick was joined by Jason Bond and Tony Homewood. The bikes (strangely enough) were transported by road.

Track action got underway promptly and the advanced group were quickly into their stride. Roger, one of the instructors, suddenly found himself stuck in one gear having lost, as he found out on getting back to the pits, his gear lever connecting rod. The missing part scuppered his chances of getting out on track again, until eagle eyed Folly officer Jeff spotted the offending article at McLeans and went and retrieved it between sessions.

The first few sessions saw a number of offs and incidents, resulting in down time while machines were recovered. As a consequence the circuit requested the riot act to be read to the advanced and intermediate groups (the main offenders) as there were too many incidents occurring, and Graham duly delivered the rollicking. After this there was a definite decline in the number of incidents.

Of the incidents that occurred, Glen Reynolds lost the front end at Goddards and then later in the day (to add insult to injury) suffered a punctured rear tyre. We had a tank slapper in one session, and a couple of highsides, one of which left Stewart Finlay nursing a suspected broken collarbone. Paul Machon’s engine stopped (most inconsiderately), and Geoff Russell found a box of neutrals at an inconvenient moment. Simon Barnwell, Folly volunteer for the day, had to brake hard into Coppice to avoid an incident in front and ended up wearing through his leathers on the tarmac. Fortunately there were no major incidents or injuries.

Although Simon wore away his leathers, it wasn’t quite as bad as Martin Yoxall grinding through his boot and foot by leaning his ZRX over a bit too far. As Richard Morris phrased it, ‘the foot was nicely chamfered’. Before you cringe too much, I should point out that the said foot was prosthetic.

Aidan Walker found out that bikes actually need oil to run when his 996 gave up the ghost. However, totally undaunted, he managed to blag four different rides during the remaining sessions (as he put it ‘out-Sturgessing Sturgess’). He borrowed Alex’s 1098 (sweet, stonking power and super light handling); Carrot’s Triumph 1050 ST (powerful in a straight line, scary on a corner!); Rick’s KTM Super Duke (well tight but a bit underpowered); and Jason’s RSV Mille (fast and useful but not a sweet ride). These words, incidentally, are Aidan’s not mine. Apparently, had there been enough sessions left, he could even have had a play on Dick’s R1. As Aidan said, that’s the true Folly for you.

Later after leaving the circuit and attempting to join the M1 someone ran into the back of them and destroyed the trailer. However, the guilty party worked for a maintenance company near the airport and he and his boss came back with their own trailer, loaded the bikes onto it and took away the one written off. Thanks from Aidan to Damian McConnochie and Chris Dove of BCT Aviation Maintenance.

The afternoon saw less and less down time and everyone enjoyed great track action. The weather was glorious all day and resulted in one or two well-poached people. May the Indian summer continue – at least until the beginning of October.

You can view photos of all our days, including Donington, in our website gallery. Photos of the action at Donington can be ordered direct from EDP Photo.

Our season finale is at Rockingham on Monday 1st October, using the national circuit. There is a 105dB noise limit for this event, and the cost is £135.

The event can be booked online at our website and accommodation information can be found under ‘Events & Bookings’. We will have Grip and Rip on hand again as well as EDP Photo. So put it in your diary and come and join us for the last blast of the year.

Jackie