www.chuffster.co.uk

[Baloo]

About 10 of us from the BHF went down to Brands yesterday and had a great time. After being told I was in the inters group, I was actually checked into the Novice / Inters group with the rest of the gang which made it great fun.

The day started very damp but stayed manly dry until the third session when the mist came down. Having made the pass on someone I wanted to, I stopped after 10 minutes as I could not see. I actually had to guess where the turn was at Surtees and then thought enoughs enough. It cleared up after that for the rest of the day though.

I had some great fun with Dave on one session as he went passed me with better exit drive from Clearways, I got him back at Druids (thanks back markers!) for him to outbrake me and get through again at Graham Hill. Some other back markers then got in my way and I did not have the ability / fight or experience of Dave to get passed them though for a couple of laps. Dave was long gone by then. That was the closest I will get to racing, but feck me I had a smile on my face for a couple of hours after that. What a rush!

Dave wanted to play again later on but I was too knackered and the bike was starting to bother me (I reckon it was because of being tired and not controling the throttle properly). I was not keeping my lines, lost the front at Druids and the back kept spinning out at Clearways and Graham Hill. The tyres had done three track days including the GP circuit twice however. I missed the last session on the basis of tyres / tiredness. I had some fun and the bike was still together. There is always another day.

Sadly there were two bike down offs in our group due to enthusiam and damp at Clearways and an off track grass experience with tank slap, amaxingly Pip did a Vale and kept upright. All three guys were okay and came back on for the rest of the day. Heroes!

Thanks to everyone there who made it a great great day. Not my fastest or best for smoothness of teh year, but way up on top on the fun stakes.

[Chuffster]

Good report, glad you stayed rubber side down and full marks for appreciating what was going wrong and calling it a day. Look forward to seeing some pics on the BH forum.