The Riders John: Track skills honed in the white heat of MZ sidecar racing. Rides a 350LC on the road. Andy: Commutes to work in the city on a CBR600. MZ sidecar racing passenger. Tim: Cautious on the road. Rides a K75RT, has been known to wear a dayglow yellow jacket. Myself: Most track experience (on a 40,000 mile ZX10), and the most face to lose. Owns a pair of knee sliders. Parklife The Yamaha Race School is a chance to improve your road riding skills and confidence, according to the brochure. Not a race, of course. Absolutely not. Sitting in the cafe overlooking the Cadwell Park circuit, there’s a slightly nervous edge to our chatter. If it’s not a race, why are we here? John: I just want to go fast on someone else’s bike, something with better suspension and tyres than my LC. Andy: I want to be able to go for it and not worry about the plastic; I’m not worried about falling off. The worst thing about crashing will be if it’s someone else’s fault, someone pratting around. If I crash how do I get home? Tim : I want to extend my abilities, but I’m here for social reasons as much as anything. I’m too much of a coward to do anything extreme, so I’ll probably enjoy it. And myself? I’m hooked on track days but I ran out of ability and road at Lydden last year. I want to regain some confidence and have any bad habits pointed out. Hopefully fear of looking stupid will overwhelm bravado and I’ll confine myself to the tarmac this time. More... |
© 1998 Martin Gelder