May
24
Apex Racing: Pre Anglesey musings
Apex Racing – Pre Anglesey/Hottrax Junior Endurance Round 3 … erm 1
OK so it’s not really Round 1, however for Apex Racing having failed to get onto the start grid in the first two races, Anglesey is where it all begins and we have a few scores to settle and some rookies to put back in their box!
It felt like Groundhog Day after the Mallory race weekend; following Brands we spent time and money fixing Adam’s engine and getting out on track and after Mallory more money was required to fix Adam’s engine again and I spent more time on track…..
The good news is the gearbox held out OK it was the engine that launched itself, so back to Mike Hemingway for another strip and rebuild, the guy knows Adam’s engine intimately now and the spare engine Adam picked up has just been cannibalised. Off to Snetterton where Adam played the part of mobile chicane for the morning in the fast group running in the engine; well at least he got a good look at the new 300 circuit that we will race on later in the season. All is working well, some fast laps in the afternoon and then out comes the black flag, not the engine please…..no – the bike is too loud, too loud hmm this really is Groundhog Day. Adam was flagged at Brands for excessive noise, no not in the paddock but on circuit!
So to top off his short interval between track-time a new exhaust system is required – if he keeps this up the spanners will name his bike “Triggers Broom”…..
For me, a more relaxed break; an instructors day with Hottrax at Cadwell was both good fun and allowed me to focus on some of my new techniques that Mike “Get Faster” Dickinson had imparted on me, given the traffic and the ‘here I am’ mandatory instructors orange vest a respectable pace in the 46’s was acceptable.
Despite a crash there last year, Anglesey is in my top 3 favourite circuits, it has a good mix of everything; banked corners, fast kinks and the cork screw and this year we arrive on my birthday (HB Nick – Alfonso) so I hope to be unwrapping some silverware on Sunday to celebrate.
The view from the spectator’s banking above Peel is breathtaking; race bikes, rugged coast, the Irish Sea and Mount Snowdon as a backdrop – if you’re coming we’ll see you on the banking.
Nick Matthews