Moto GP rider for the day!!!

It seems like forever ago even though it’s only 6 days but I thought I’d do a quick Blog about being a Moto GP rider again for the day. If I’m perfectly honest with you it wasn’t really something that I was that bothered about doing but at the same time it was a far better option than racing the bike at Le Mans and I wanted to try to help James and the team as best I could without causing any problems, basically Birdy (my team owner) had asked for my input on the bike but whilst it’s quite an exciting prospect I’m under no illusions whatsoever as to how hard it would have been to turn up cold at a Moto GP race and try to finish anywhere other than last so the test the day after the Spanish grand prix seemed a far more sensible option!!!

Turning up at Barcelona was pretty cool, you truly forget just how bloody loud the bikes are and how fast the top bikes are too, the team had a couple of bits and pieces that they had to test with James but I was to go out and ride for a bit first, then James, then me for another quick go in the afternoon, my cause wasn’t helped by the fact that shortly after the track opened both Abraham and Cal Crutchlow crashed not exactly inspiring me with confidence to get out and try Bridgestone tyres for the 1^st time ;-)

Eventually I got out for my 1^st run on the bike after just moving the levers and gear lever a little bit, the aim of the test was simply to try to give some feed back so the bike was left exactly how James had it in the GP, having spoken with James and his crew chief I was a little bit concerned about the whole tyre thing, Mick James’s crew chief basically said right you’ve got experience with carbon brakes, they need to be kept warm and make sure whatever you do you load the front tyre all the way into the corner on the brakes or it’ll go cold and the bike won’t steer at all, b****y great I thought, two experienced riders on those tyres have just crashed and I’ve got to head out on a bike I’ve never been on and load the front tyre or it won’t steer….perfect…  My initial quite surprising thought was that the bike wasn’t very fast, I mean that in a nice way though, the electronics on the bike are quite impressive but need a bit of work and generally the bike felt quite user friendly, I was expecting a far more angry package but the way the bike feels is pretty good, I struggled getting my head around the completely different way you have to ride the front tyre but the rear was absolutely perfect other than loads of chatter on corner entry, through the middle of the apex and on initial exit, this though in my opinion wasn’t all down to the tyres..

I pulled in after about 15 laps and the guys changed some electronic stuff after my feedback which had followed pretty much identically what James had said then got 1 more lap in and the bike felt much better, I was actually gutted when the chequered flag came out as I was starting to have fun even though the bike was set completely for James and we hadn’t done a thing to change it for me.

James rode the bike after lunch and they changed a few things for him and gave him the newer better front and a new rear tyre, he did his work then the bike was given back to me, the only change for me was the tyre as the front James had run was the newer one which apparently everyone other than Honda likes and for the CRT bikes is a much better option, my final exit was good fun, I enjoyed riding the bike and seeing the likes of Lorenzo etc on track was pretty cool, by the end of my second exit on used tyres I got to within a second and a half of what James had done when the tyres were new without changing a single thing so I was pretty happy with that considering James had just spent an entire weekend roaring around, sure in the race he’d gone a chunk faster again but like I said we were near enough first time out to give some feedback, for sure you need time to understand those tyres and with a bit more time we could’ve dropped the lap time easily but the last thing I needed was to either a) throw the thing at the scenery or b) go real fast and get James a load of grief!!!

I hope and I’m fairly sure that my input on the bike will help the guys going forward and who knows if I get another shot on it at some point maybe we can get going quite a bit better, thanks to the team and James for letting my have a play on their baby, for now though it’s back to BSB, I’ve got a championship to try to win, take it easy, Shakey #67