Jerez - May 2006 with Track Sense
Friday afternoon, the wife drop Ben and I at Stansted. Two hours later we are on the plane along with a bunch of other guys clutching helmets and animatedly talking about the 3 days thrashing around the Jerez circuit.
Arriving at Jerez airport we sort out the rental car and head off to find our hotel. No worries, we get straight there and find our mates scoffing dinner in the restaurant – the buggers did not have the decency to wait for us! We are all feeling a bit shagged so we hit the sack in preparation for an early start.
Bright and early Ben and I hit the lobby, nobody in sight, no breakfast for another 2 hours so we head out to explore. Ben wrestles the car keys from me (he passed his test a few weeks before) and we set off to find the route to the circuit. Simple, left out the hotel, left again and then keep going straight. After about 10 minutes you get to the circuit. We head back to the hotel to meet the other guys but when we get there they have already left for the circuit.
A tapas bar is just opening as we head back to the circuit so we make a stop for breakfast. Challenge – they don’t speak any English but with great hilarity, animal sounds and actions we do end up with a great ham and cheese omelette and freshly squeezed orange juice – all for £2.
We arrive at the circuit, the guys have already laid claim to a garage and the bikes are being unloaded from the two artics. We get them out of their cradles and onto their paddock stands, check tyre pressures, get the tyre warmers on and run the engines. Then into our leathers prior to the compulsory briefing.
The fast group are first out with 3 sighting laps. Ray and I are on new tyres so we take the session easy scrubbing them in. Ray is also on his new bike – a Suzuki gixer thou decked out in race plastic, gorgeous bike. My ‘Blade has enjoyed some fettling over the winter break with the main changes being to the suspension and final gearing. Ben’s next out in the intermediate group, also scrubbing in a set of new tyres on his Yamaha R6.
The weather is a fantastic 28 degrees C with clear blue skies. Day 1 passes without major incident and we head back to the hotel leaving the circuit to a bunch of diesel powered saloon cars. After a few quick drinks in the bar we shower and set off to the great steak restaurant near the bull ring – a must visit on these trips!
Sunday – brilliant blue skies again, life is good. We enjoy breakfast at the hotel and get to the circuit early – it’s already buzzing. Check tyre pressures, plug in tyre warmers and warm engines. The sound and smells are great. The fast group is out first again and the session passes without incident. As the day wears on the pace gets faster, people starting to push their limits and the inevitable happens – we start to see the first of the offs. One guys highsides and breaks a finger and toe so his weekend is over. A pretty lady journalist on a 675 loaned from Triumph highsides at turn 3. She escapes injury but the bike is not so lucky and the right-hand side is a bit of a mess. Andy, the mechanic patches it up and she is out again in the later sessions.
Ben gets a lesson from Cobby and is told to work on his braking – get body in position and brake later. I go out in the intermediates with him for one session and he has improved enormously compared to the October trip. We therefore decide to promote him to the fast group for the last day. He is pleased to bits and somewhat apprehensive. This was his objective and he will now be riding around with his Dad and mates. I am a little concerned about the competitive element because I know he is going to want to go faster than me but he’s not ready.
Sunday night is the Festival of Horses in Jerez. Jerez is famous for four things; horses, bulls, sherry and flamenco dancing. The festival kicks off with an enormous firework display and all the action happens within yards of our hotel – stroke of luck with the booking! We dash back to the hotel to get fed, watered and washed before hitting the festival. 9:30pm the firework display starts with rockets shooting high into the night sky before exploding into dramatic showers of multi-coloured stars. Every conceivable firework is released and shrapnel is falling from the sky like rain. And this is not small pieces of cardboard but large chunks of thick plastic casing!
When the fireworks end we join the crowds and trek off to the festival. Many of the women are in traditional Spanish garb and look fantastic. The families are out together, all generations. The teens are zipping around on mopeds, some 3 and 4 up. One moped comes past us on its back wheel, the rider grinning insanely as his girlfriend clings to him legs akimbo – no helmets!
In the festival there are loads of stalls selling just about anything you could imagine. At one end is a normal style fair ground with ferris wheel, dogems, etc. Stretching away from the fairground is a broad avenue lit up with the most amazing light display and either side of the avenue there are wall to wall bars and restaurants, all full of revellers.
Monday dawns, last day, same brilliant weather. We check out of the hotel and off to the circuit.
The first two sessions we run around pretty much independently. For the third session we decide to stick together for a bit of dicing. Ben heads off first followed by me. I decide to show him the pace he needs to beat me and pass him before proceeding to clear off. Entering the start/finish straight I pull over to the left and roll it off allowing Ben and Ray to catch and pass me. I tuck in behind Ray, Ben is going really well. We peel off into the long right leading onto the back straight. Ben is leant over as far as possible, the bike almost on its side. He starts to roll on the power and I cringe expecting the back end to slide away, but no, he surges onto the back straight getting great drive out of the corner. I hold station behind Ray who is still following Ben.
Next lap, same long right hander same thing, Ben rolls on the power whilst leant right over (when you have the least amount of grip) and whack, the tyre lets go, the back comes around and Ben is spinning on his back out of the exit of the turn – not the fastest way to get onto the back straight! Ray avoids spinning Ben and spinning bike, I break hard and run alongside Ben who stops and gets up shaking his head in disgust, so I know he is ok. I then pass his bike still spinning down the track on the racing line, sparks flying everywhere. Wondering about the damage I head back to the pits heeding the red flags that by now have sprouted all around the circuit.
We all get back into the garage, bikes on their paddock stands, tyre warmers on and await the return of the prodigal son. What seems like ages later we spot the recovery truck coming into the pits with R6 on the back and Ben in the cab. The bike is hoisted unceremoniously off the truck into our anxious hands and a crowd quickly gathers to assess the damage to rider and bike. Fortunately, both have got off very lightly considering the off was at somewhere between 70 and 80mph. Ben’s leathers, boots, gloves and helmet have done their job and show that they have. The bike’s front brake lever has snapped off and the right-hand engine casing has ground through losing oil. We have a spare brake lever so that is quickly fitted. We buy some metal filler from the organiser, take off the engine cover, patch it up and within an hour it is back on and the engine oil topped up. Ben’s ready to go again.
Whilst waiting for the metal filler to harden, the rest of us get out for another eventful session. Mike, Mark and Ray head out well ahead of me and a few laps later out come the red flags. I back it right off trailing around back to the pits when coming through the fast section of the complex I see Ray sitting just off the circuit and his bike lying in the gravel trap – I get no response to my thumbs up! Worriedly, I park up in the garage and get my bike onto its paddock stands and the tyre warmers on. Mark is nursing a cut finger and looking somewhat shaken. I hear that Ray passed Mike just before the short straight in the complex. Not expecting Mark to have also got by, Ray rolls off the throttle and looks behind to see where Mike is. Mark is right on his exhaust and runs into him, the bikes tangle, handlebars clash, Mark manages to hang on to his but Ray’s steering goes full lock and he is over the handlebars at about 90mph. Mark recovers Ray’s bike whilst he is taken to the medical centre. Soon after Ray emerges, his right hand and wrist swelling nicely – the same wrist that was injured in the crash at Silverstone that he has just had an operation on to sort out ligament problems! He is also complaining that his left side is hurting.
Mark and Mike decide to call it a day and pack their bikes away for the journey back to Blighty. They have a three hour drive back to Malaga airport so head off leaving Ben and I to enjoy the few remaining sessions of the day. Before leaving Mike takes a few pictures of Ben and I on our bikes just prior to heading out onto track.
The day finished we got changed, packed away our leathers and bits and pieces and loaded our bikes into the cradles for shipping. When changing Ben noticed he had lost some skin on his bum – he had got heat burn through his leathers when spinning down the track on his back.
The following day Ben was complaining of aches and pains and limping around the house. Lesson learnt – maintain a neutral throttle when your bike is on its side. Lesson 2 – don’t compete with your Dad!
