I was already quite sharp with 3 or 4 track days under my belt (albeit on the Triumph) and was eager to start learning the very different characteristics of the four cylinder R6.
However the week leading up to Snetterton was forecasting very bad conditions for all three days (why do they insist on holding it at Snetterton?!) Things didn't get off to a wonderful start on Friday when we tried to put the awning up and it was ripped off the side of the truck by the gale force winds. We decided we would run out of the back of the truck. ...
Saturday was to see the first track action. We awoke to sub zero conditions, hail, sleet, snow and gale force winds. Only the brave ventured out on track and it wasn't until the final session when we decided to go out and do a few laps just to get initial impressions and set lever heights etc. The bike felt very fast and I was impressed (and a bit relieved) at the mid range power compared to the 2006 R6, the last 4 cylinder bike I had ridden. In fact it is comparable with the Triumph 675! It also felt very balanced and was filling me with confidence to go faster despite the terrible conditions. I had to let my brain take charge though and pulled in after only 6 laps to let my hands thaw out. ...
Sunday's conditions were no better. In fact they were about a hundred times worse when my first view of the outside world in the Morning was Chris Northover constructing a Snowman at about half past 8....
It wasn't until the final session of the day that it had thawed enough for us to decide to do another session. Once again it was wet, cold and windy so a laptime of 1.23.232 was only possible. It put me at the top of the 600 Superstock leaderboard by some four and a half seconds but we couldn't really read too much into it due to only 10 people making it onto the track.
The final day of the test was easter Monday and once again it was cold and white in the morning so no track activity started until 11 a.m. In their ultimate wisdom the organizers decided to go to lunch during the best weather of the weekend - Sun, dry track and no wind. Sure enough 5 minutes before we were meant to go on track, as the marshals were walking back to their posts, the snow started again. .... It only lasted five minutes so we decided to go out and get some dryish tracktime. It was nice to ride on the racetech's and as I had found on the the Triumph they are a very stable and predictable tyre. However it was too cold for any true testing and I had only completed 6 laps when it started hailing again....
I clocked a lap of 1.17.3 which was about 6 seconds slower than the expected pace at Snetterton but was fast enough to be not only officially the quickest Superstock 600 time but the fastest rider from any class over the weekend! This probably illustrates just how bad the conditions were and although too much cannot be read into the results it was a good confidence boost for myself and the team. The real testing will have to wait until we go to Valencia in Spain next week, and hopefully a bit of sun!