Friday 26^th June

Garage:

Triumph Rocket 3 Tourer 

Suzuki VanVan

Damn it all!

I woke up extra early this morning, did about 5 hours worth of work, had a quick shower, and was about to go out on the Buell and take it to Wales..........when I looked out of the window................and it looked like the end of the world!

Damn crazy thunderstorms, it was awful, served me right to be fair for not checking the forecast I suppose, but one good thing happened today bike wise, and that was the lovely Emma from Express Insurance ringing me to ask if I wanted to go to Donnington on Sunday for the World Superbikes................erm that would be a yes!

Never been to it before..............can’t wait!!!!

 (Ps I Got loads of pics at the Superbikes - so I'll start them here!)

Saturday 27^th June

Garage:

Triumph Rocket 3 Tourer 

Suzuki VanVan

More rain, rubbish weather!!!!! Keeping fingers crossed for tomorrow, did not make it out on bike at all, sad times!!!

Honestly one of the showers today was so epic I saw some guy at the side of the road with some wood, nails and a hammer, so I asked him what he was doing, he said building an ark!

Seriously though, I am so excited now about Donnington tomorrow and having a real blast on the Buell getting up there, it’s going to be ace!

Oh and if you look closely to this pic on the right, you will see I timed it perfectly as the two guys dropped their bikes!

Sunday 28^th June

Garage:

Triumph Rocket 3 Tourer 

Suzuki VanVan

(to your left is the view from the Paddock!)

Woo hoo! WSB day!

So I took the Buell up to Donnington, and wow what a machine this is!

I just find it so easy to ride, and with that crazy V Twin producing so much power, and revving all the way round to 12,000 RPM, nothing else on the road stood a chance, and it’s just so balanced, I was throwing it into corners and couldn’t believe how light it was, and of course that huge front disc up front has so much stopping power, it actually make this beast of a machine easy to ride very fast.........although to be fair not quite as fast as the guys I was going to see.

So I arrived at the Paddock entrance, and parked the bike up against a myriad of other superbikes, but it was mine that caused the biggest stir, as people couldn’t get over its audacious looks and of course the noise it makes compared to all the other 4 cylinder machines, well that and the stupid grin it left on my face!

I was so excited over my first ever Motorbike racing day, that I didn’t even realise that Emma had said I would have a paddock pass until I was at the gates, and then things got even better!

Not only do Express sponsor the Suzuki GSX-R600 Trophy (more on this later) but they also sponsor British superstar rider and BSB Champion Shane ”Shakey” Byrne, who now rides for the Sterilgarda Ducati team, and so we not only had paddock passes, but access to that teams hospitality rig............mummy!! (see what this is in the pic to the right!)

I have never felt so cool! We went down to the end of the start finish straight for race one, and saw Shakey pick up a very impressive 5^th place after having some minor brake troubles, and then headed back for one of the best lunches I have ever eaten served by an army of very helpful and polite Italian waiters, and the coffee was out of this world too...they even had a cocktail bar.......and I didn’t notice.............yeah right....... but some of the lads pointed out the promo girls too.

So far this day was going pretty damn good, I was lucky enough to be hanging out with Copsey and Emma from Express, and one of their insurance colleagues Rob, who all knew absolutely loads about the world of WSB (as well as being lovely people!), and they patiently answered all my questions about the sport as I walked around as excited as a fat kid in a sweet shop.

We saw a load of crashes in the Supersport race on the final corner as you come into the start finish straight, and you really get a feel for how hard these riders jobs are when you get trackside, as watching on TV gives you no impression of the gradients there are on the track!

I mean imagine braking from 200 mph to 40 mph, trying to turn into a hairpin, oh and then realising that it’s on a 40% gradient!! Nice!

Anyway, Shakey did even better in the second race, pushing his Ducati into fourth, and having some awesome tussles with Leon Haslam, before finishing just behind his fellow Brit in 4^th. I even got to chat to the great man afterwards, which was amazing as he is a bit of a hero of mine, and I have to say what a nice guy he is, seriously, after racing twice on a scorching day like that, having some frustrating bikes issues, and probably losing about 4 stone in sweat, the last thing I would want to do is chat to some geeky fans, but he was so cool about it, he even posed for a pic - it made my day, and hopefully we can get him on my Offside show for a chat in the near future too !

In fact the whole day was blooming awesome, and if that wasn’t enough, I even got to go up on the Podium to announce the winners of the GSX-R Trophy!

So after a simply brilliant day, and with a wicked lobster tan, what did I have to look forward to? Well one of the best rides ever home on that Buell. I know I am waxing lyrical about this bike, but I must admit, that’s mainly due to the fact that I really thought it wouldn’t be that good, yet it’s such an individual bike, and it’s so in key with my personality, I will be uber sad to see it go on Wednesday.

I have always said that all bikes are good, the trick is finding the one for you, and I have ridden some damn nice bikes since I started doing this, but this one might just sit at the top of the tree with the Rocket 3 and the GSX-R 1000, although that buzz saw exhaust note might just give it the edge and make it my fave so far!

Today was one of the best days of my life, and for that I must thank the lovely Emma and everyone at Team Sterilgarda for a simply brilliant time!!

Wow long day, bad lobster tan, time for bed!!!

Monday 29^th June

Garage:

NEW: Suzuki GSX650F

Still can’t quite get over yesterday, was awesome-tacular, and I am thinking about entering a bike in the GSX-R trophy, even though I have no race experience at all, as you can apply for a license, and everything you need for racing, including the bike and tyres for each round, for just £12,500.................yes that right, to race as a novice, you can pay as little as £12,500 to get on the same track as the WSB’s!!!!!!

Will I kill myself though? I am not going to lie, that did run through my mind, but my motto is that it’s better to die doing something you love, than to live forever and never do it all, although it does worry me that everyone I know who used to race always seem to have a really bad limp!

I’m going to look into how possible this actually may be, so watch this space; all I need now is Shakey to give me a few tips!

Okay then, time to mix things up again bike wise this week, I am going to hang on to the Buell for a few more days, but it was time to return the Rocket 3 Tourer to the lovely guys at Triumph (Mike, the boss used to race bikes, I will defo pick his brains, oh and yeah – he does have a limp!) and it was nice to take it out for spin for the last time, and not to worry, I will be taking out a few more Triumphs in the coming weeks, including the new Tiger and some of those uber cool retro cafe racers like the Thruxton..........I can’  wait!

Also great to see Martin and the rest of the team, I must try and pop in more often for a coffee and a chat, although to be fair I am there most weeks, they are probably sick of me by now!

Next up I had to take the Suzuki VanVan back to Streetbike, and honestly, you couldn’t believe how different it was to get on that little plucky 125cc thing after the insane power of the Rocket and breakneck speed of the Buell........and I loved it!!

It kind of makes a mockery of the previous bikes because around town this will actually get you anywhere quicker than anything else as you can just slip through the smallest of gaps, and although you will struggle to get it up to 60 unless you have a following wind and a downhill run.........seriously, these things are just so practical and fun, I think everyone should have one! To think you could get your CBT and be on the road with a brand new one of these for circa £2,500 in this sun, plus you get about 1 zillion miles to the gallon ( I put a fiver in two weeks ago and the reserve light still hasn’t come on)..............I reckon that’s a bargain!

Anyway, it had to go back as it’s in such high demand, and up next from Alex at Streetbike??? Well he pulled off a stunner, after I had bored him to death with my Superbike stories and desire to race, he suggested I take out the Suzuki GSX650F, a fully faired version of the Bandit, and very similar to the GSXR 600 I was keen to race.

I know I’m still really focusing on the Buell for a couple more days, but I couldn’t resist taking it for a quick hours ride down the A458, and it was such a change to be back on a 4 cylinder bike, and wow I had forgotten how smooth this Suzuki engine is.

Also, I was pretty impressed with the price, as its only £5,500 on the road, and with 0% finance available, you could walk away with one for just £500............mmmm bikes are cheap and good!

First impressions were that it’s very easy to ride, sporty, and handles nicely, and she looks great, quite like an actual GSXR but a bit bigger, and once again I seemed to have a bike with a great exhaust note, this though much higher pitched and refined than the manic Buell!

I like it straight away, as its comfy enough to be used as a commuter, but sport enough to keep you interested, and it certainly looks the part.........oh I have such a hard job!

Oh the other impression I got was that the A458 is a rubbish bike road, all single lanes and through town centres, so with the clouds beginning to darken I decided it was best to head home!

As I write this that seems a top decision, as its now raining as hard as I have ever seen I sit through another Biblical Thunderstorm, but the forecast for the rest of the week is good, so I intend to take the Buell out for a good long ride tomorrow before it goes back to Harley............and I’ll let you know how I get on!