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| 13TH REPORT - 09.00AM - 3.00PM FINI
24 HEURES |
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| JOHN McGUINNESS CHANGES FOR GUS
SCOTT |
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10.05am - the sun is shining. Time
for some r and r. Walkabout a bit and score some t-shirts and
leave the racing alone for a couple of hours. When we emerge
from the hideous glass cube at about nine o'clock the team are
in 11th place. Gus pitted and hands over to McGuinness. Slick
rear fitted and an inter front. Typically the weather is now
quite balmy so the track will be drying up rapidly in the morning
sunshine enabling severe scorched rubber tatics.
11.45am - have reached 10th place and are currently the third
Kawasaki on the leaderboard. At the next pitstop the lucky rider
is gonna get fat sticky slicks, fresh brake pads to prepare
for the run in to the flag. Only three mere hours to the finish.
Can the green meany percevere and take that precious chequered
flag, recieve the rapture and adulation of the madding crowd
as they invade en-masse almost certainly before the stroke of
3am.
Final positions, times, lappage etc may take a while as truly
it will be well mad and busy and beery. Gonna have to speak
to you all on the other side of Sunday.
It's been a long haul fast ride exhausting work and great fun.
If you have logged on specifically to check these pages out
- tell me what you think. If by chance then keep us on your
favourites list. If you are impressed by the design and feel
of the site, the thanks go completely to Not Only But Also.
Top dudes, clever kids and bike nuts! CHEERZ LADZ. The rest
of it is mostly my own work. Hope you liked it.
Doby Trutcenden 4/4/04 |
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| 12TH REPORT - 05.00AM - 09.00AM |
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| TEAM PRINCIPAL STEVE BURNS CO-ORDINATES |
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05.11am sees the re-emergence of
the safety car. Another occurance at the tricky number 11 corner.
It's really pissing it down now. 05.33am and the safety car
is still out. Team Suzuki No.10's race is over. The badly mashed
Gisxer has remained in the garage for over half an hour.
05.34 - pace car in and we are away. 05.52 - no rain. 5 board
out - more tea required. butt is aching and the pitbox leaks
so both of us are a little damp. Still picturesque moon in fading
night sky. 07.00am - dawn is breaking and Barty has two laps
to go holding 13th place overall.
07.08am and only 8 hours to go now. Full tyre change ready for
McGuinness and he leaves the garage still in 13th. Pitbox fever
is creeping up on us. 6 continuous hours, frazzled eyes, brain
and body protesting. It still well cold and damp. 08.08am McGuinness
has put in a blinding session keeping us in touch with 14th
overall leaving Gus with the task of consolidating. 7 hours
to go and counting.
Nick's feet in the box are wedged in the fan heater which though
warm decries its very nature because it doesn't appear to have
a fan. Nevertheless a wan heat is filtering out and slow cooking
his not so fresh feet in his not so fresh socks. I knew it would
come to this. The bike is circulating superbly well without
any fuss and all I've got to talk about is one of our sponsor's
smelly feet! |
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| 11TH REPORT - 02.30AM - 05.00AM |
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| GOD KNOWS WHICH PIT STOP THIS IS! |
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Hello folks its us we're back. Nick
and Boyd have just spent 6 more hours in the timing box going
slightly mad so please excuse our delerious ranting! Here's
the gist of the last 6 hours.
02.48am we found ourselves in 14th position. At 02.53am Gus
takes us to 13th overall and 4th in class. At 03.00am the rain
starts coming down - is it wets? Hmmm! John Barton criuses out
to the pits and starts circulating in the 2m 11's along with
the rest of the field now reducing their times to 2m plus's.
400 laps [we think] at 03.37am courtesy of Monsiour Barton.
At 03.48 the rain is continuous. John cuts it short by 7 laps
to exchange his tyres for new wets and hands over to John McGuinness.
A brave and safe ride by Barty in treacherous conditions, one
wrong move and it's Team glissando moto!
04.53 McGuinness due in. A steady session in the wet for half
a dozen laps then race pace when the car peels off around the
2 minute mark. Gus out at 04.56am - mission to harry, catch
and pass the foe, another Stocksport ZX10 team number 35. |
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| 10TH REPORT - 01.30AM - 02.30AM |
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Mr Burn busies himself changing
the brake pads. Looking at the ones he has taken out, they are
flat, pared to the bone, no meat left whatsoever. Critical stuff!
Four seperate pads per caliper in these radial babies - eight
per change.
1.45am - we make a move on the number 68 R1 and are elevated
to 18th place. The tired eyes and aching feet are starting to
creep in. Another three to four hours of no sleep and we will
all resemble extras in a horror movie.
Firecrackers split the gloom of half night/half light, some
reveller's attempt to smoke out a portion of the track.
Not much else to report thankfully. At 02.00am we move to 17th.
John McGuinness due in next, routine pitstop in two laps. The
man with the funny name 'Ghostbuster', 'Gasblaster', 'Glassbloater'
is he. The one with the winged Captain America boots, or should
that be Captain Kendal mint cake? - boots look good though.
They are certainly helping Gus maintain a brilliant session
after session after session........
02.05am - a slick pit stop. It appears that the heating problem
is not too pressing. John reports temperatures of 104 degrees
C - hot enough to make tea. We rejoin 18th and hope the head
gasket stays intact. We are soon up to 17th and the chicken
is still in the pot.
02.23am - upto 16th.
02.24am - up to 15th breathing down the neck of the Moto Journal
Aprilia.
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| 9TH REPORT - 12.30AM - 01.30AM |
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12.45am - Trace needs the kettle
boiled in case we need to fill the radiator up on the next pit
stop. Clamp the hoses, lob in the water and hope for the best.
It's like a football stadium here only better - the roar of
the crowd is the note of powerful engines, with their necks
being wrung.
John McGuinness due out at 01.12am but the possible overheating
will have to be addressed at this pit stop. Water and spare
rad at the ready.
Barty lands outside the garage entrance. The crew pounce, pads
and tyres changed and out. The next pit box stint from Boyd
and Nick at 3am to take over from Roop and Anne's second period.
This will be until 6am with Nick then another three hours of
Boyd and Mr Dinxton.
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| 8TH REPORT - 11.30PM - 12.30AM |
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It's 12.30am and relief from the
glass eyrie. The bike is very hard to distinguish. The only
real clue other than the stopwatch is one of the foxeye lights
slightly dimmer than the other. At 12.16am we where on the 1st
page of the tv 16th. But dropped to 17th after the pit stop.
4th in class and 16th overall after 9 hours is not to be sniffed
at. So far everything is pretty much going according to plan.
The garage buzz is that the bike is running slightly hot and
the under snout of the front of the fairing has been clouted
to ablivion and requires taping up every pit stop. Here in the
regal splendour of the 'Stockermobile' awesome race truck extroaordinaire
all is well. The red bull is going down a treat I'm not hallucinating
with over tiredness yet.
So.... COME ON!!!!!! |
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| 7TH REPORT - 10PM - 11.30PM |
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John
McGuinness in and Gus out for his session. Lap times running
1m 47.7 with a slight moistness in the air. Boyd still time
keeping at pit lane but no real incidents to mention. It was
thought that a radiator would be changed but this hasn't happened
as yet. Gus running 1m 47.8's on an as yet dry track. Pit
crew watch on and wait for next pit stop due at 11.15pm ish.
Officials continue to pace around the area waiting to complain
about something pointless!
Gus's fastest lap 1m 44.9 timed at 11.24pm - 16th position.
Barty has just gone out in 17th place. |
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Nick
back from timekeeping duties but Boyd still pushing on with
the timing so the writing will improve once he is back in
the saddle later. Barty out again and Gus in for a well deserved
break. Bike is running fine and Barty looking forward to putting
in some night work! |
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8.05pm
we are back to 24th place. Its getting darker. John comes
in two laps early. Gus out at 8.30pm. As the black cloak of
night descends slowly but surely the 24 hour party people
are gearing up for their second night of charred food and
high octane alcohol. Beer is banned in the Sarthe district
and beer is only available on site apparently. This didn't
dampen our disappointment when we drove into a handy little
supermarche. We just bought two cases of red wine and caned
all but two two bottles on Friday night. Well a Mans got to
have a hobby after all. |
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7.01
Barty out, no changes just the rider. Almet team back into
the pits and the bike is in the garage. Rolling out shortly
again but not very enthusiastically. The drunk that fell over
earlier and had lain prone for an hour or so, opposite us
in the grandstand has gone, probably rolled of the concrete
stand to diasappear without trace. We have broken the back
of the 20's again at 7.22pm. Moving up to 19th. Barty is lapping
at 1m 45's. CMOONNN!
7.35pm Barty comes past the timing box unhappy. Stopping at
pit lane exit he runs back in with a silent motor straight
into the garage. The crew are immediately scurrying around.
Routine tyre change and fuelling. Mystery problem, electrical?
All will be revealed later no doubt.
Early pitting before a sceduled stop means this session is
over for Barty. We lost a mere 7.23 minutes but this has dropped
us to 26th position. The TV Monitor in the timing box has
gone black went west at 7.45pm. We're now relying on stopwatch
and eyesight and dexterous fingers. Back on at 7.55pm. This
is our eye in the pitbox, automatically teling us when the
rider has passed and the official lap time! McGuinnes then
goes and posts the fastest lap for us 1m 43.402. What a geezer!
Only 3 seconds of No.1 rider place. Beats it again the following
lap 1m 43.317.
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Gus
due out at 6.05pm. 5.55pm we have grabbed another coupla places
to 22nd. Gus fits large new sliders ready for a fresh bout
of grinding.
6.45pm - A brief spell of rain reduced Gus's times but only
for three to four laps. He is slowly creeping back up to the
mid 40's. McGuinness still holds the fastest lap in the first
session.
Nick and Boyd in the timing box for the next two hours - groan!
Suzuki No 25 appears to have problems. We watch on the big
screen and sure enough in he comes but rejoins moments later.
No 25 re-enters the pits, more serious than he thought obviously.
Gus due in bang on 7pm. 20th position - hand over to Barty
Barton. |
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5pm. John Barton flies past once
more keeping us in a steady 24th place. There is a steady stream
of pitting machines. In a quiet moment Mr Burn makes - yes makes
a replacement gear change rod - clever old stick that he is!
We've just been informed of a stop go penalty for speeding in
the pit lane. Also there appears to be something hanging off
the bike. An early setback but better now than later! The weather
is brightening and the tyre debate is going down. They will
have to be changed regardless. John will have shagged the wets
by now. Slicks appear to be the new order of the day.
We are still in 24th. Pitbox timing duty beckons at 6pm until
atleast 9pm so we may be off air so to speak but will endeavour
to post the latest details when we can. Over and out good buddies!
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