Great news, Billy! I'm really happy for you. You must be super excited to race your new bike with all the work and waiting you've put it. Awesome.
Billy, I think it is very cool that you race motorcycles which gives you some very specific and objective goals that you can set and work towards. I ran track for years and always liked the objectivity of the stop watch. It's great to race not only your competitors but your own personal bests. And you get both of those things with racing your bike on the track. Your 5 second lap improvement does seem like a realistic target. Best to set intermediate goals to work towards rather than one that's so far off it gets discouraging. I really like the guy's philosophy about racing himself and last years' times and if you beat others in the process so much the better. When reading your post I thought back to when I did the Keith Code Superbike School a year and a half ago. I had so darned much fun and, again, I liked how you could aim for a lap time improvement or to improve a very specific skill. I can definitely see how track riding and racing could get in your blood and become rather addictive! Well, and expensive.
Judging by the images, you have good form. 10 seconds is a lot, but I am very auto-cross sensitive, where 1 second makes the difference. Think about getting a coach that can give you specific information about your laps and where you can make up time. Twist of the Wrist is a good racers book. Study, plan and execute. Set incremental goals on such things as braking distances, exit speeds, and throttle applications. Get the data and work it out. Good racing. Stay sharp, and get out of the comfort zone. The best times I booked is when I executed and didn't have time to think about it. Work toward the perfect lap.
Hi Billy have you raced at Caldwell before. Other than the IOM it was my favourite circuit when I was racing. Good luck.
Cadwell was my favourite, and I loved Croft. I liked Snetterton anorl, when it was t'owd layout. I raced at Oulton once, and was really lookin forward to it, as it was described to me as "Cadwell on steroids". The practice session afore we went out for t'first time, a sidecar dropped its oil for over half a lap ont racing line. After a lengthy delay, we were told we could go out, but keep off t'cement dust! It was hard trying to learn t'circuit, wi one eye watchin weer I was going, and t'other watchin t'cement dust line. I just couldn't get to grips with it, and t'harder I tried, t'slower I went. One thing that stuck in mi memory was how fast you can get round t'hairpin, wit banking! Every time I went round it, I felt I could go even quicker.
Hahaha! Billy, we had a saying in the peloton back in my days as a bicycle racer. "If you can't be fast, look fast!"
I certainly enjoy reading about your experiences, Billy! And seeing the great photos and videos you post as well. And I appreciate the effort that goes into sharing those experiences with us forum members. I like what you said about improvement being judged by quicker lap times and that there's no hiding from it. A concrete consistent measure like lap time provides such a great "testing" foundation for experiementing with different variables and finding things that actually make you go fast, not things we think might or should make us go faster. "The proof is in the pudding". (NOT black pudding...)
I see we are similar in years on God's earth. I initially considered your 29/59 as MPH. We get hit harder and take longer to recover. Drive how you want, and enjoy. Personally, I race to scare myself and place in the standings. However, a off track experience in my car is just expensive (in most cases), but on bike it is another dimension.
I know this will sound a bit cheesy ........... OK, a LOT cheesy ............... but - I'm gonna say it anyway! It's great news that BB Racing is back on, albeit with a very restricted schedule and with limited access for us poor spectators, and it's even better news that we may get to vicariously live some of the pleasures through the great race reports and pictures we hope to see from the track BUT can we have a huge virtual round of applause, bouquet of flowers and box of chocolates for Mrs. Bad Billy, please? I've met Christine a couple of times now and she is lovely with a capital L!! Always a warm, ready smile; always a pleasant word - even to the random strangers that wander in to the circle from the depths of an online forum and, seemingly, always there to help and support her husband. It reminds me of that old wartime expression "They also serve ........." So, best of luck, Billy - I'm fingers crossed for you for every practice and race and really looking forward to ermmmmm ........ getting lost again on the way to Castle Combe ...........................
