[Geordie Mick]

I did a 4 day one at Jerez with Focused Events a few years back (about March time, I think). Perfect weather - warm but not so hot your leathers turned into a wet suit!

The track was awesome - fast, wide, some proper scary corners and the GP was only a week later so was already decked out in all the sponsors logos (I did not at all pretend I was Valentino Rossi....). They ran open pit lane so you got loads of track time, and it wasn't too busy. There was some teams pre-season testing (Buckingham on the Quay Garage bike at the time and some nut case kid from Norway) but all mixed in nicely.

Downside was we had to get to Swindon or some place to load the bike on to the lorry, but at least we didn't have to drive to Spain! Take spares if you're planning on crashing, though a couple of lads managed to get bikes fixed up by local dealers in double quick time. And arranging fuel was a nuisance unless you had a hire car or the organiser did shuttle runs to the local garage (they did).

I also did a 5-dayer at Nogaro but that was donkeys years ago with a company that's gone now. Snowed!

MICK..