Hello

Had a good day at Cadwell yesterday but this has thrown up a couple of issues.

Map was rubbish on car, not sure what has changed as it was great a brands last time out but full of holes now so awkward to drive unless flat out at which point it gobbled fuel at a mad rate.

Bigger issue was clutch, as the turbo cuts in then at 5000-9000 RPM it just slips when torque is maxed out... it has decent plates and the strongest springs I can find so need a lockup clutch.

Only other thing was an arse in a fiat 500 race car whacked into my rear wheel arch as I was exiting a bend on cold tyres destroying the arch

Not much to be done, he was told off by the organisers then to compound it later on in the day when I was on a cooling off lap he came past and gave me the 'tossers' shake which took the edge off the day, when I asked him about in grumpy mood he denied being in the car and said it was someone else

Still a good day though so here are a few pics of me and the misses roaring around, its lovely having your better half with you, makes it a little more special, you can see the back off the arch smashed off in the first pic, lucky he did not trash the rear or spin me out!


Mark_at_speed


AnneMarie_at_speed

[Edited on 16/5/10 by mark chandler]

what an absolute c*ck! you should have whollop'd him!

did he at least compensate you for the wheel arch?

Luverly slicks there Mark
Think i would have used my towcar to flatten the feckers Fiat after that.

[Edited on 16/5/10 by CRAIGR]

You let the misses drive?

Brave man. I wouldn't let mine drive my R1 car let alone a turbo'ed bike engine car!

That would have put a tiny dampener on my day too Mark...

Not the arch as these things happen, but if he gave you the "gesture" when he was in the wrong (which seems to happen more often these days) then I'm afraid to say that I'd have done something about it...

The arch was just one of those things, was not really annoyed about that as we whipped into the pits, broke off the smashed bits and returned, it was then it turned out they had rushed in to complain about me, although I was just following the racing line and they were overtaking on a bend....

The gesture was when we waved them bye later on, got a mouth full of lies so reported them. The organisers were watching them and confirmed that we had done nothing wrong, they even lied about who was driving so as not to get kicked off..

Never mind, the arches were a little tatty so a cheap fix, no twisted metal to worry about.

Cheers Mark

This sort of situation is often at the back of my mind on track days.

Especially as my bodywork is only in a few massive pieces. I prefer the style of full bodywork but in a situation like this I'm much rather be able to unbolt and replace a cycle wing.

And the hand gesture just confirms the driver was one of those himself.