EC practice

I arrived at Eastern Creek Raceway just in time to see the team arrive in the bus. A work of art in itself and very impressive. Wasn't a person there that didn't stop and have a second look as they drove in. In it was just about everything needed to make the day work, spares, tyres, fuel, the list goes on. In the rear were 2 of the bikes, behind the bus 3 more on a trailer. An aluminium ramp folded down and out they came. 15 minutes after arriving the pit was ready for business. 20 minutes after arrival the first 2 bikes were out practicing. In that time practice registrations were done, transponders for the timing attached and a few final preps. Yup, looked easy to me......these sort of things always do when your watching people that know what they're doing.

What a magnificent day it was! Sunny with a gentle breeze. Mild, pleasant, perfect!

Why then was Farbio sweating? Why the shaking hands? The little short laughs at anything? Nervous? Bloody oath he was! Dredgy was kind enough to offer him some Cold and Flu tablets in case the draft of passing bikes gave him a cold! Very thoughtful people.........

So there I was camera in hand ready to record Farbio's first practice session. And yup, gotta apologise early. The shots I got of the bikes on the track just didn't work out with the digital. Will have a few processed soon with the 35mm that hopefully will be ok. Damn things were just going too fast.

His time had come and in borrowed green leathers with words of encouragement still ringing he was ready. Things like "Wonder if we gotta rename him the Flying Frog?" Usual sort of banter a virgin gets. A quick check of tyre pressures, a last glance over the bike, another wipe of the already clean sunglasses and then he hit the start button. Damn that thing sounds good! and then out of the pit he went, down pit lane and out to mix it with the others running round.

Ok...so here's some things I gotta put forward from the know-nothing perspective. I watched for a while before he went out. Heap of lame wood ducks were out there, hell, coulda rounded half of them up on the ole Road King I reckoned! But then, we all know how it is. The less we know the easier it is! And as things progressed I figured out it got harder and harder. First thing I figured would spit me off if I tried, were the damn gears. 1 up and 5 down! That's right, back to front! That's gotta take some getting used to. Reason for this is you don't want to be trying to lift your foot to go up through the gears when the power is going on, and conversely you don't want to be pushing your foot down going through a corner going down the gears. And then there's the infinite number of tyre compounds, and the different pressures each bike runs, etc etc etc. The gearing to suit the track, the right gear for every corner etc etc etc. The endless combinations. The reasons are endless as to why the practice is needed. Getting it right is like instant insanity.

Impressive	More my style!	Dredge heading out
A few tips from the boss	men at work	How good is that!	Dredgy taking Ros out in the pillion section. "I promise I won't..........."

And as practice days go there were a few glitches. A clutch problem, a tyre pressure problem. Other minor things that needed ironing out. Fine tuning that went on all day.

So.....the big question for the Wildcats. How did Farbio go? Well, not too badly. He got quicker as the practice sessions went on. Circulating in 2.07s to 2.04s wasn't a bad effort for first time on the bike, first time on the track and first time at first time! Did see a 2.03 in there before they reset the software for the timing and he did encounter a fair few yellow flags while they cleaned a few of the fallen off the track through the day. The A graders on the team were running round in 1.45s and making it look easy, but given a bit of sleep to think on things and a few more laps he's not gunna disgrace us!

Will be interesting next weekend! Another practice on the Saturday and then Debut Day is Sunday!!!

Ros showing how it should be done!

maiden voyage

looks good in green doesn't he!