September 16th, 2013

Where have you been? I hear maybe two of you asking me, well I've been away for a week and I didn't have either a computer with me, nor more importantly a motorbike for all but one of those days. My holiday all started with the Ducati trackday at Brands Hatch last Monday. I got there a little later than I would usually have liked and by the time I arrived there were vans everywhere. So I parked up and went to sign on. This was only the second event that I have attended that was run by Focussed Events and I have to say that although the first went reasonable smoothly in terms of organisation, this one was a shambles. Firstly they were unable to sell out to a purly Ducati audience, so it was opened up to other types of bikes. Then they started dropping the price to entice more people in. So on the day there were people who would have paid the £220 sitting next to people who paid £170. That in my book isn't fair, or right. Anyway moral ethics aside, I effectively queued to sign in three times. I was told that there was a sign on the door explaining the slight differences between Ducati Riders and the others. This sign was a piece of A4 paper stuck on one side of the door way (the wrong side as nobody had to pass it to get in) so I missed it. Anyway once I had finally signed in I got some food and a coffee and sat and chatted with some other riders. The safety briefing was supposed to be at 08:30 in the briefing hall, but then, when everybody was already in the briefing hall, they changed their minds and had it in the pits at 08:45. There was no way that the first group will be in a position to be on track at 09:00.
After a few introductions we went out.....late. I spoke to a few riders who had missed their sighting lap sessions, didn't have time to be noise tested, so they just left. This is customer service at its worst. Below are a few pics from the day. As you can see, it was pretty damp out there, so I'm pretty much bolt upright everywhere. I'm going to writing a full report in the next few days.

The rain had pretty much stayed away and a dry line was making its presence known, but then just before lunch, it started raining, only lightly, but that was enough to soak the track, making it pretty much pointless to go out. After lunch the only people on the track were on full wets. I went out to test the conditions, but realised I was going too slowly and was a danger to myself and the guys on wets, so I came it and got ready to go home.  After a quick dash back, I parked the bike, got changed, picked up my car keys and drove to Poole to spend my birthday weekend with Sarah and her family.
Tuesday evening on Poole Quay is bike nirvana. Every Tuesday during the summer, the local bikers descend on the Quayside, so as it was my birthday, it was fairly easy to convince Sarah into letting me go. Here are some pics.

Whilst down in the South I took full advantage of being close to one of my favourite after market suppliers. Conquest Carbon www.conquestcarbon.co.uk down in Wimborne supply as the name suggests after market carbon fibre body part replacements. In the past I've ordered a replacement key guard, front mudguard and full belly pan all of which are excellent. If you can think of it, they can supply it. Have a look at the site and see if they can supply your bike. Its an Aladdin's cave of wonder. Tell them I said hi