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KNOCKHILL 1st APRIL 2007

Well the season is underway!
We started off with a practice day at East Fortune on 11 March. This went really well with everything set up perfectly over the winter. The outfit looks fantastic thanks to the new silver paint job by Alan Shand topped off with a neat saltire nose cone by Brian Nicol and some beautiful sign writing courtesy of Macsigns. Highlights of this weekend were: getting Kerr in through the lorry side door (you would have to see this to believe it!) and the awning disappearing down the paddock like a piece of tumble weed in the high winds. This was promptly skipped but, for those of you with green tendencies, was promptly recycled by another rider who will repair it! We were pleased to get some admiring comments on how good the outfit looked and that we were setting quite a rapid pace.

That was us all set for the first race weekend at Knockhill, 1 April 2007. We went down for the test sessions on Saturday afternoon as Derek Butcher has kindly given us a pass for free practice all season at Knockhill. A minor technicality stopped us half way through the first session when the throttle cable jumped out of place. Quickly sorted for the second session we stayed out for the full 20 minutes trying some new lines and basically getting comfortable with the set up. We are gradually lightening off the steering and this takes a bit of getting used to. We had also changed the gearing since East Fortune to get a little less torque and more top end speed. Jen finally chapped Kerr at the last lap as she needed her tea!
Sunday morning came and the weather was terrific. Blue sky and sunshine for the first meeting at Knockhill can only prove global warming is here! We were slightly concerned about the back tyre being light on rubber. The Avon tyre man wasn’t on circuit – this could be a problem. We went out for qualifying and had a dreadful run. The fear over the lack of grip was spot on. The outfit span everywhere and we only made 62 sec on our fastest lap. Disappointed we tried swapping our back tyre for a part worn from the Irish team. Race one, from the back of the grid, got a good start but the back tyre was no better than our own one and slipped and slithered dangerously round the track. We finished and got points for 8th but were downhearted at the lack of pace. The second race came round and with some final checking of the sidecar Kerr noticed water dripping from the thermostat housing. On further investigation we discovered that the alteration to suit the sidecar radiator pipes had warped and wouldn’t seal. We couldn’t go out and risk frying an engine and had to watch from the sidelines. The second race turned out to be an April Fool for the whole sidecar field! Only four outfits finished the race, all the rest blew up or had other catastrophes. One Formula Two outfit blew up in spectacular fashion and the resulting trail of oil delayed racing for half an hour! The concrete dust on visors in the restart did nothing but add to the excitement!

So – thanks to all who came down to support us, hope you all enjoyed the sunshine, especially Bob who came along in the lorry to help for the weekend.

New tyres have already been ordered for East Fortune! Any donations of pies and cream cakes to help Jen get more weight over the back wheel gratefully received! Hope you like the pictures courtesy of Mark Walters. A full gallery should be on the web site soon and we will drop some prints off to sponsors shortly.

Best wishes to you all
Kerr and Jen

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