NOT MORE RAIN!

Well, the weather was a bit of a let down again but it could have been a lot worse. Obviously the sacrifices being made to the weather gods are just not good enough.

There was the usual gathering (about 10 in total) the night before at the Royal Arms, although ‘usual’ is perhaps not quite the right word. No sooner had Mr Sturgess turned his back than the other members of the party got up to some pretty hairy hi-jinks, led by none other than the irrepressible Richard Morris.

Not having been present, I have to rely on hearsay, but it would appear that disreputable behaviour was afoot, with an imaginary friend (we won’t say whose) called Eric present at dinner. There was also dubious mention of lube (or was that baby oil) by a certain gentleman(?) by the name of Chris Scott. Rumour has it that he was merely referring to the rusty state of the chain on his mate, Jim Dodkins’ bike. It remains to be seen whether we are allowed back to the venue for future events.

The trip to the circuit on Tuesday morning was wet to say the least with the rain persisting somewhat. Numerous drowned rats bearing soggy documents turned up for sign-on. Not the most promising of starts. Everyone was surreptitiously keeping one eye on the weather hoping for signs of a let up in the rain. Things did start to improve by the time the briefing got under way.

In the absence of Mr Sturgess, Graham magnanimously agreed to take over the briefing and did a sterling job. No one nodded off and not too many eyes glazed over. However, it does bear mentioning that the novice briefing which followed the main briefing did take longer than the usual twenty minutes. In fact, it took so much longer that the novices weren’t out for the start of their first session! Graham’s excuse was that the novices kept asking questions because they didn’t want to go out in the rain. Sounds a bit far fetched somehow.

First session of the day was fast-intermediate and there was one brave soul, namely Ian Hadcocks of the PEMC on his maiden Folly visit, who ventured out to clear a dry line for the rest of the riders. He had the whole track (and three instructors) all to himself.

The rain became lighter and finally stopped at about half past ten. With a strong breeze a dry line soon began to form on the track and people began to get more venturesome. It wasn’t long before many intrepid souls were fair steaming round the track. Admittedly some of them were making use of full wets.

Speaking of wets, Grip n’ Rip (www.grip-n-rip.co.uk) did a brisk trade in wet weather tyres during the morning and had requests for some far stickier tyres during the afternoon. These worked very well indeed; having scrubbed in a set ready for Jeff to use in the next session, I can vouch for the extra grip. Rule number one: always get a guinea pig to try out the new tyres first. Patracking (www.patracking.co.uk) were also present, providing hire bikes for use on the track. If anyone fancies doing a track day without any risk to their own bike, Patrick’s the man with the answer.

There were only two fallers during the day and the first of these was Jim Dodkins at Edwinas; a slow speed slide on the damp track (was this anything to do with the rusty chain mentioned earlier?) resulting in minor damage to indicator and foot peg and, fortunately, no major damage to Jim. In fact, he was so keen to get back out on track, he actually went out and bought a new helmet so that he could continue the day. And at the end of it all, he and his mate, Chris, rode all the way back to Salisbury.

By lunch time things were drying up quite nicely and then the sun came out. A minute’s noise was held in pit lane in memory of former Folly officer Billy Slaney who sadly passed away on 15th March. A video of the tribute can be viewed on the Folly website via the following link: http://www.motorcyclefolly.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=394

Once the weather picked up there was no holding the blighters; they absolutely stormed round the (now bone dry) track. The sun came out with a vengeance and Graham was all for putting on the sun cream and basking in the sun like a beached whale. Sorry Graham, but you did say you couldn’t quite fit in your leathers at the moment.

Faller number two was Laurie Evans, one of the PEMC riders, who suffered a particularly nasty high side after clipping the grass down the Stebbe straight. He gave everyone a fright, but after a trip to hospital in the ambulance for a check up, he was declared fit. Sadly his bike came off somewhat worse.

Nick Anderson had a close call at Edwinas when his brake lever fell off and he had to go grass tracking. Said brake lever was recovered by the marshals but turned out to be broken beyond repair. Out of all the corners on the track Edwinas always seems to have the most action.

Everyone enjoyed a great afternoon’s riding in the sunshine, which was spoilt only by a sudden downpour in the penultimate session of the day. Despite the late change in the weather a couple of brave novices went out on track (now wet again) for the very last session.

All in all, not a bad day. Everyone got to practice their wet weather riding and then enjoyed a good blast in the afternoon sun.

Our next event is at Cadwell Park on Monday 11th June when, hopefully, the weather gods will smile on us more favourably. The price is £95, so come along and support us and help make it another great Folly day.

Jackie