It got so gusty that it blew all the shade canopies away.
With the wind getting up to 25 to 30mph, it was the end
of our day.
Fifteen miles long, the timing lights were setup on
the course for one mile between the seventh and eighth
miles. The FIM also clocks you for a kilometre, set in
the middle of the measured mile. World records can be
calculated for a mile, a kilometre, the first one thousand
feet and the last one thousand feet. It’s a great aid as you
can determine your entry and exit speeds. If your entry
and exit are significantly different, you can move your
start position to try to maximize your speed, over the
entire mile.
I made one run where I entered the lights at 284 and
exited at 297. That told us that we needed to start further
back, because the bike wasn’t up to speed when we en-
tered the mile. It’s kind of fun to look at those numbers,
do a little math and make adjustments.
As we were unloading the bike after the last run on
Saturday, I lost my balance and as luck would have it, no
one was behind the bike to help steady it. I fell over and
the full weight of the bike landed on my left leg. It hit
hard. I was afraid it might have been broken. Everybody
scrambled to pick up the bike, I got up and very gingerly
put some weight on that leg to see if it would hold … it
did! I was happy!
My leg swelled considerably; the pain was intense.
Hoping I could still get the leathers over my swollen leg I
decided I would still ride.
The following morning, I woke feeling that I hadn’t
really slept, the calf was extremely swollen, yet the pain
had vanished. The rest of the crew were really surprised
that I could even walk.
It was our last day, now or never.
We’d received a file for new engine management set-
tings, we’d also worked on a new starting position, unfor-
tunately a strong breeze had come up. A head wind.
We waited it out, but nothing eventuated, we decided
to tow down to the other end. We could potentially run
with a tail wind. The FIM will not count a run, if a tail
wind is over 11mph, the timing tower was reporting be-
tween 6-10mph winds.
We waited, it seemed that the winds were dying down
a little and we decided we should go. The combination
of new computer file, distance from the timing lights and
no doubt a bit of a tail wind all worked out.
Lady luck was smiling on the boys that morning!
The entry speed was 307mph! The average speed for
the mile was 304.969mph, the first mile ever recorded at
an FIM event that was over 300.
To say we were pleased would be an understatement,
we were ecstatic! Now, change the tyres and get ready
to run again. We’d figured out that if we allowed the tyre
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