griff851
Well I can see how addictive it can become hey. First time on the track entered in the regularity with my mate Pete on his 73 350 desmo. Got Pete's bike going as best as I could with out resorting to cam,piston changes and things. He pulled a nice consistent 44's all day. Staying on the cautious side of things being a beginner I set the tires to 31/33 instead of the the road 34/36, 27/29 was tomorrows plan, but we had to go back to Brisbane (Pete had to get home), practice was 46's, 1st run of 6 laps of the 1km track 44's. 2nd and last run I managed a 43. Proving I think that an 888 is faster than a 73 350 desmo with nothing more than a 36mm dellorto.😄 However the day belonged to the SR500 cafe racer with 42's. Best time for the track last meet was 36's for a superlite thing and 500 Pantahs do it in 39-40's (no Pantahs today, all 3 of them crashed last meet).
I have to say I feel the old 851/888 was just a tad large for Carnell. I only got into 3rd on the straight, but 11k in 3rd seemed to bring joy to the DOC guys marshalling. The occasional rear wheel lock up that followed when I screwed up my braking marker at the end of the straight seemed to amuse them as well. (all praise the floating rear calliper). Felt way cool when you come on to the straight and hit second and front end just picks up, then does it again into 3rd. And you pick off the 2 guys that held you back last lap. Got a bit of a war cry going on in the helmet over that, don't know if its a healthy thing but sure felt good. 😁
I give motorbike racing on a track a fun factor of 9.8 out of 10 rubber chickens.
