MSV Trackday Trophy (on a minitwin) a racer is born.

[Winder]

Subscribed, I like these threads. I still give the "A minitwin is born" thread a read every now and again. Good work!

Wow, sorry for the odd delay, it's been very hard to find time to get something written down. The race has been and gone but I'd already written the pre-pre race bit so I thought I'd stick it up and write up the rest tonight. I'll get some pics up at the same time. Here goes.

The weeks passed and the MSV trackday/licence test hung over me like a grey cloud (albeit with a very bright silver lining) and, as the day in question approached, nervousness of my assessment gave way to panic as I realised I hadn’t had time to do anything to the bike since its last outing. In the end work never relented and the trauma of getting ready to move into my new house gave me no time for the bike and the night before the big day all I could do was get my kit together, load the van and hope for the best.

True to the trackday routine we left the house at sparrow’s fart o’clock, two in the van and brother on his bike and made our way east to Cadwell Park for the customary sign in process. After the standard form-filling and a little confusion with Pete’s (aka MrKiping43, aka brother) brand new licence not having the right letters and numbers on it yet we were in.

I’m not sure if it’s just me but every track day I’ve been to so far seems to have a long period of signing on, briefing and noise testing (which the SV scraped through with 1db to spare) then, all of a sudden, you’re supposed to be in the assembly area and you’ve still got your leathers round your ankles, putting fuel in your bike and wondering if it’ll start this time round. Still, I was in the intermediate group this time so there was at least a few minutes before the usual panic.

It felt incredible to be back out on track, the bike felt great and my knew knee sliders took away any concerns of going down to my leathers and a spangley new black visor was helping me to see in the fantastic weather. The morning was spent pressing pretty hard to try to shave some seconds off and get a bit more used to the bike as it was only my third time out on it. Having got down to a 1:50-odd lap I was reasonably happy (not that I was timing, obviously).

Lunchtime came and it was time to get serious with the ACU training and test. Now I’m no academic but I’m pretty sure a test is supposed to examine your knowledge, not whether you can remember something someone told you 10 minutes before! Either way, if you can remember something for up to ten minutes you’ll be fine in the ACU test, it’s even multiple choice! You don’t find out if you’ve passed straight away though, first you have to do the on track rider assessment. This consisted of doing one lap in front of the assessor, hoping that you don’t crash or make any glaring errors.

After an afternoon of great sessions and a small crash for brother (he was fine) I went back to the hut to be greeted with the incredibly welcome certificates to say that I was eligible for my race licence! After parading round the paddock with them for a bit I made my way back to the van to pack and home with that familiar “I-may-fall-asleep-at-any-moment-where-is-the-nearest-pub-that-serves-food?” feeling that you get after all trackdays.

So that’s it, all done and dusted. Now all I need to do is turn up and race. Well, I suppose there’s a couple of things to do:

· Eye test for ACU licence

· Send off application for licence

· Order the control tyres from Holbeach and arrange to have them fitted on race day

· Order some dog tags

· Get an orange hi-vis vest

· Drill out everything that needs to be lock-wired


· Replace the chain and sprockets

· Change oil

· Order braided brake lines

· Fit lines and bleed brakes etc

· Clean everything down and de-grease everything

· Get dog tags engraved

· Get a lap timer

· Rubber strip for screen

· Find some replacement bolts for the ones that have fallen out

· 1,516,327 other things

It’s going to be a bit of battle to get it all ready in time around 50-60 hour working weeks and buying/moving into a new house but hopefully I get it sorted in time.

Good luck with the racing. I started with my first race in March this year and it's a fantastic experience.

A couple of tips from another novice:

You can get your eye test done anywhere. I had mine done at Asda for a tenner, just remember to take the ACU application form.

I got my dog tags off ebay. Cheap and they engrave them for you.

You'll get your orange vest from the ACU when they send you licence.

Have you got a shark fin fitted (fits under your swing arm to stop your fingers getting trapped in the sprocket)? You'll need one of these to pass scrutineering.

Good luck!

Cheap tags on ebay available pre engraved. Not got rubber edging on my screen? Make sure its a clear screen as coloured not allowed. Main things to drill are oil drain plug, filler cap, oil filter(put a drilled jubilee clip on it, saves trying to drill filter every change), rad cap. I did caliper bolts etc but not had them checked. Drain antifreeze and fill with only water. Remove side stand. Fit full fairing or just a catch tray. Wouldn't bother with a lap timer just yet unless you have spare cash. Lap times will be recorded for you to see after anyway.

Why the rad cap have not heard of that one before?

Dunno, just got told to by another club member. It's all pretty new to me as well. And that overflow pipe went into a catch bottle. I still have original overflow tank on mine which I think is ok, its doing same job as a posh HRC one I suppose?. It's inside catchment of fairing so cannot leak anything onto track. Just bit vulnerable in a crash.