G
The Voice of Reason
Joined: 02 Feb 2002
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 Posted: 19:23 - 30 May 2006  Post subject: Croix Reports... (now with slidey-car pics!) |
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The main race report can be found here:
https://www.bcfracing.com/?s=reports&tid=17
No pictures yet though, will stick some up when I get them.
However, some other general ramblings about the non-race-related parts of the weekend:
France bound
Me and Bendy went over in the van, Newhaven to Dieppe. Getting up at twenty to four wasn’t the best start to a race weekend when a bit after midnight I realised I didn’t have a ‘GB’ sticker and had to print one off using magnetic inkjet paper and then laminating one on normal paper to hedge my bets.
Fairly nice weather to drive down, though I forget that being the middle of the year it was light when I got up pretty much, somehow I find a journey starting in the dark a bit nicer as it feels you’ve somewhere when it gets light.
Arrive at the ferry terminal spot on 7am, to check in for 8am. We are told there is a delay thanks to bad weather the night before in the channel. A biker on an old Jawa 350 is next to us and he doesn’t have a good thing to say about the ferry company, though he always uses them because he is local.
A few hours later we finally board. Because this is a longer route, the ferry takes around three and a half hours to get across the channel.
This is the first time I’ve driven abroad, so I’m slightly apprehensive, but generally don’t have a problem, mostly remembering which side of the road to be on before it would be an issue! Some of the road signs we find a bit confusing, especially the diamond shape one that I’ve now found out means ‘you have priority’ as opposed to ‘priority to the right’, which is apparently ignored anyway.
Croix en Ternoix circuit
First off, I always pronounce ‘Croix’ wrong, apparently it should be pronounced something along the lines of: “Kwa en Turn-wa”. It is not ‘Croy’ as I keep calling it and definitely not ‘Crox’ as some call it! (Yes, I appreciate my descriptions aren’t using the technically correct phonetics.)
Getting to the circuit we find that the outer paddock is already looking quite full and there’s a big queue for the inner paddock, as we are not allowed in until the trackday that is on has finished.
We join the end of the queue. I leave bendy to look after the van, while I go looking for Jay who said he would save us a space. Coming back from the go kart track where a lot of people have set up, I find that we are now allowed in to the paddock and Bendy is just crossing the circuit in the queue.
Despite being near the back of the queue, opening two entrances has meant that we can get in quite quickly.
We set up next to some people that we later realise are actually just leaving from the trackday, rather than setting up themselves. I find Jay has saved us a space in the outer paddock, but decide to keep the space we got, which has access to power points, water and more space.
See the main report for descriptions of my rather wet practice day and disappointing race days:
https://www.bcfracing.com/?s=reports&tid=17
As a race weekend, needless to say, it was not only wet, but very windy. This resulted in us having to move the gazebo to be sandwiched between our van and the one Swaffs et’al’ hired, though we still have to lower it at night to stop it blowing away.
We saw many gazebos die in the blustery winds, not an uncommon thing it seems as when we arrived I noticed a skip style trailer half full with dead gazebos!
Swaffs’ friend Mark’s Gazebo is looking decidedly wobbly, so he moves in with us.
The circuit in general was mostly well presented.
There was concrete blocks with handles left around the paddock to attach gazebos and awnings to. The track was probably over-fenced, but gave a professional appearance. Once you worked out where they were, there were plenty of toilets, however most of the cubicles in these were of the ‘squat’ variety, with only the ones in the main building having a normal design, though still no toilet seats. Though the day you had to pay 30c to use the main ones.
There was plenty of power points, though on the Thursday and Friday night, this seemed a bit iffy – at one point I measured only about 120volts rather than the expected 230! However it worked fine for the actual days, meaning a quieter paddock with less generators running. Heavy use of electric heaters, cookers and the like in caravans etc probably overloaded it in the evenings.
Sidecars
As French rules are generally laxer, after the main racing is finished on the Saturday, some of the sidecar racers had arranged some sessions where anyone could try out being a sidecar passenger for a donation to the ‘Ben fund’ (Charity which helps out racers and their families after problems).
I had signed up for this, having heard about it happening last year, I definitely wanted to give it a go this time.
I found the sidecar outfit that I had been assigned during the daytime on Saturday. The ‘normal’ passenger went through the positions I should adopt. I was told that I could just sit in the foot-well bit, or could move around as a passenger would in a race, which I wanted to do.
There are three main positions for a passenger – hanging off to the left, to the right or tucked in.
Hanging off to the left is where the passenger makes the biggest difference, as the left hand side is essentially an out-rigger that doesn’t weigh very much.
There are many different styles for this, but the one I adopted was to hold on to the a central bar with my right hand, while holding a bar on the outside left of the fairing with my left hand, leaving my upper torso and head sticking out off the bike, while my feet were braced on some blocks put their for the purpose.
Like on a ‘solo’ bike, to not upset the balance, the position should be adopted as early as possible, so before braking if you can, this means you also need to brace your body to take the braking forces.
Hanging off to right I was told to put my left hand on a handle just to the left of the riders body and my right hand either on a handle on the right hand side of the fairing, a little infront of the rear wheel, or a cut out further forward. It was suggested that I brace myself against the rider under braking.
The outfit I was in was an ‘f2’ one, meaning that it was based on a 600 engine and a little more compact than the bigger-engined ‘f1’ machines.
Before hand I forgot to put on a breath cover, so my helmet steamed up a bit in the damp conditions, I also left my knee sliders on, which probably wasn’t the best idea when I had been told I should be pretty much pivoting on my knees.
The track was wet, but most of the teams didn’t have a chance to change to wet tyres, so the pace was a bit slower than they would normally go, never mind leaving a bit of room for error from us passengers.
https://www.swaffs.co.uk/images/Bemsee-Croix-06-report/Swaffs_Bemsee-Croix_290506-003.jpg
Initial acceleration felt appropriately quick in my alien-crouched on my knees positions. Through out the three laps we did, I realised afterwards I wasn’t bracing myself properly, meaning a lot more force was being taken through my arms. Even doing it properly I suspect it’s a lot of work, especially for a 12 lap race!
I had also been told that I should start with my weight forward for cornering, then move it back as the rider accelerated out of the turn, redistributing my weight to provide grip as appropriate , however for the most part holding on took most of my concentration.
https://www.bcfracing.com/dump/20060526croix/sidecar.jpg
While not as exciting as riding a bike myself, it was still really fun.
I was reminded that the passenger is still very important when I shifted my foot positioning mid-corner as I hadn’t managed to get in position in time. The outfit slewed wide for a sec as it’s balance changed from my movements.
The quick right-left I found particularly hard to move between positions, though possibly hampered by my knee sliders, never mind not wanting to fall off!
The final lap I managed a decent amount hanging off on the 180 degree left hander; it’s definitely quite exhilarating having your head a not far above the kerb and blades of grass rush by – suspect it’s better when you know what you’re doing and aren’t quite as tense as me, as well! Even hanging off as I was, it still looks more like I’m just hugging the side of the outfit, rather than seriously hanging off, though I have seen some passengers using this kind of style.
Sunday night.
Although most of the people in our section of the paddock had packed up, plenty of other people stayed and the legendry ‘party atmosphere’ could be seen.
A pink trolley acquired from a local supermarkets got much abused, including by us.
Quite a few games seemed to be invented around tyres left around the paddock as well as the concrete weights, which were usefully round.
Also of note (beware ‘safety Nazis’, do not read the following without a defibrillator to hand!..) was someone in jeans and shirt who was trying to wheelie an XR600, then eventually flips it. While trying to start the bike again, a big bloke wanders over, the wannabe stunter shouts ‘oh sorry mate, is this your bike? Looks like I owe you a clutch lever, think the rest is ok though’ – not only had he crashed someone else’s bike, it seems it was taken without permission. Didn’t seem to cause a problem, however.
There was also some minimoto racing around the paddock and someone decided to take a Subaru around the unlit track at about 11pm, as well as plenty of other people riding their road bikes, with pillions, but no helmets etc around the track while there was still daylight.
From what I can tell, no one was too seriously hurt  .
Next time I shall remember to take some tyres to shred – I could hear some donuting going on, but couldn’t join in because I need to keep all the rear tyres I had with me for practice days.
Thanks
As usual, many thanks to Bendy for being fairy-like  (including loaning me a wodge of cash from her credit card so I could actually make it to the circuit.)
Also thanks to Jay, who helped with the bike as well as taking pictures and to Swaffs for pictures as well.
Last edited by G on 09:31 - 31 May 2006; edited 4 times in total |
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Shaun
Likes 'em bent
Joined: 17 May 2003
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Korn
Admin
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
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Mrs Kickstart
Brolly Dolly
Joined: 06 Apr 2004
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Posted: 19:53 - 30 May 2006  Post subject: |
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I am just amazed the printer was not already buried in the van
I sounds like there was some fun to be had and dont beat yourself up too much it was a new track and they all talk funny. What were your finishing positions ?
Sorry we could not make it Keith was having other fun.
Regards
C
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Help fight the safety camera partnerships  -- www.pepipoo.com |
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G
The Voice of Reason
Joined: 02 Feb 2002
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| Posted: 19:59 - 30 May 2006 Post subject: |
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All in the report on the site (I think ), also in the 'results' section ... not very happy with the racing, really.
I now have a super-duper USB2 to memory stick reader, so have less use for the printer.
Oh, I also printed off a load of decals /before/ the weekend, though we didn't get around to putting them on. |
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Bendy
Mrs Sensible
Joined: 10 Jun 2002
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| Posted: 21:29 - 30 May 2006 Post subject: |
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Part-timer  |
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quacker_boy
Cuddle Bitch
Joined: 06 Sep 2005
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