You want pics, you got pics!
The soaking that Melbourne got last night certainly made the conditions very different to last year. I think it may have also discouraged a few people from attending, as the turnout seemed a bit smaller than last year. There were certainly less big bore 4-strokes, and I had the only TT600 on the track.
AMTRA made a good showing with over half a dozen members attending - I really must invest in an AMTRA top, as I spoiled the look by not having one.
I took it easy on the first lap to see what the Oakleigh club had in store for us this time. It was a completely different track to last year, with many more up and down hill sections included. The track was much tighter overall, with lots of berms on corners and whoops throughout.
A loop of the track was about 8km in length.
Even at an initial slower pace, I still managed to clip a tree and stall the bike. I watched Mat zoom past on his IT as I was trying to get the TT to re-ignite.
After completing the first lap, I dropped some more air pressure from the tyres, and this combined with the now slightly chopped up riding surface improved the traction dramatically on the second lap.
The first gully on the lap was catching a few people out, as it was pretty greasy!
Part way round, I passed Zeb having a rest with his IT near the top of a hill – he said the 465 was a bit of a handful to ride in the slimy conditions, and from the number of people resting around the track, he wasn’t alone.
The track stayed ‘dryish’ until I stopped for lunch with 6laps under the belt. As I headed out on lap 7, the heavens opened and down came the rain & hail. This quickly turned the now softened loam into sloppy mud, and things got trickier. Bikes started to get caught up on the hills due to a lack of traction, and having to dodge around them meant slowing down and potentially getting stuck yourself.
The rain only lasted about 15 minutes, but changed the track conditions enormously.
On my 9
th lap, I caught up with Zeb again, who was looking a little warmish from trying to get the 465 to start. I said I would give him a hand if he was still there when I got back on the next lap, and zapped back to the start/finish area to grab a spare spark plug from Gary.
When I got back to where Zeb had been, he was gone, so I guess the IT decided to behave itself for him.
More rain arrived in time for me to start lap 11, but as the number of competitors was diminishing, the track conditions weren’t getting as degraded. I finished the day with 12 laps, so was pretty happy.
The mix of tighter track and wet conditions meant that I rarely hit 3
rd gear, let alone any thing higher for the whole day.
Washing the TT when I got home was a challenge in its own right – the clay wouldn’t soften, and I literally had to cut chunks of it off with the pressure washer. Took over an hour to get the bike clean!