Least favourite circuit or corner??

What is everyone's fav circuit or corner? I find sometimes i hate a corner but love the rest of the circuit or exactly the opposite!! My fav corner is Debni bend (3 lefts in 1 great at speed if you get it right) at Pembrey but dislike the rest of the place because its flat and un-interesting. I hate slow corners so I don't like harpins and Shaws at Mallory regularly has me on the deck! Last year when Phil T-boned me and yesterday in testing when my clip-on snapped and i had to jump ship to avoid a tyre wall.... I'll post the photo if someone tells me how? Back to the repairs..

i suppose it is a love hate relationship but it has to be the hairpin on woodlands on cadwell. never get it right and if i break right and settled to take it at speed there is always somebody in front of me with different ideas of how to go round it. my first and only fall was on this bend .. or shortly after!!

ray

Favorite circuit (no contest) Three sisters, more corners than you can shake a stick at (see 2008 reults). I agree with Mike, a good circuit has to have elivetion change. I hate all hairpin bends and most chicanes (chicanes are always designed by car drivers). Ted gave me some advise way back in the mists of time when I first started racing, go through a fast corner 0.5 a click faster than the next guy and you will be 5mt in front. Go through a hairpin 0.5 click faster and you will be in front by didly squat.
I cant say that there is a corner I hate but Barn corner at Cadwell is one that I cant say I have ever got right.

Mick

I hated Park corner at Cadwell for years! I never felt right going round this one until last year, then suddenly and for no obvious reason it clicked and felt good!
I like Mallory the least as it seems to be a fairly bland sort of circuit. Three Sisters is tons of fun with so much happening all the time! the left hand hairpin there is hard to get right as you are virtually stood still and you have to get the clutch work spot on!
Alan

Tim! You were probably meant to be an Eastern Centre grass track racer or a speedway star because they were always left handed cicuits. On grass we had ( as do the speedway bikes) our right footrest down low and usually spring-loaded and swinging free because of East Midland and other centres having right handed tracks. There were also kidney shaped tracks where a swinging right footrest was essential.
My first bash with the Bantam on the road definitely felt all wrong going so often right handed and it was not until second season that I got to feel confident on right handers. On Park I felt great when winning my first NOVICE race and Mansfield*** I loved because it was a fast left hander where I often gained a place only to lose it on the hill up to Charlies´....
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***that´s the pic here, taken at Mansfield during that race in 1968 -- I think it was -- or 1969 on `Icarus One´ which cooked several clutches at Cadwell during the race day. ... Cadwell was beautiful.
...
Enough nostalgia -- Go for it Tim!
Cheers!
JayBee...

Tim! You were probably meant to be an Eastern Centre grass track racer or a speedway star because they were always left handed cicuits. On grass we had ( as do the speedway bikes) our right footrest down low and usually spring-loaded and swinging free because of East Midland and other centres having right handed tracks. There were also kidney shaped tracks where a swinging right footrest was essential.
My first bash with the Bantam on the road definitely felt all wrong going so often right handed and it was not until second season that I got to feel confident on right handers. On Park I felt great when winning my first NOVICE race and Mansfield*** I loved because it was a fast left hander where I often gained a place only to lose it on the hill up to Charlies´....
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***that´s the pic here, taken at Mansfield during that race in 1968 -- I think it was -- or 1969 on `Icarus One´ which cooked several clutches at Cadwell during the race day. ... Cadwell was beautiful.
...
Enough nostalgia -- Go for it Tim!
Cheers!
JayBee...

Must agree about hairpin bends. My great mentor -- he never raced but was always telling me how to... said that very little is gained by trying to go FAST thro´ hairpin bends. My best ever Bantam race at Brands was where I finished 4th -- after my best lap in practice was 14th. Every time into Druids I´d make one or even two places in and out of Druids only to lose it along Bottom Straight and in Clearways. Wonderful feeling to have gained a place and stay in front rushing down from Druids but with 8400 rpm at maximum on Icarus One I´d no chance of staying there ... That 4th place was a wonderful race to remember. Third place was taken away by a wheel -- Dave Coombs on his water-cooled Bantam -- I wonder if he reads this?
If he does -- then all the best Dave...
...My right elbow has a bump on it which is the result of grounding it at both Duids and at Llandow´s Bottom Bend several times... Maybe my turor was right about "not trying to race thro´hairpins" -- can be lastingly painful!
Cheers!

JayBee.

Watch out for the Force Of Gravity.

i am with tim on left handers. I think it is true for riders who are right hand dominant. those little adjustments on the steering and subtle weight shifts feature more with the right hand side on left handers (i think). if you have a clumsy left hand it doesn't feel quite so comfortable on right handers. Unfortunately there are more right handers on clockwise circuits so I think ambidextrous or riders have good coordination on both sides are at an advantage.

Ray

Favourite circuit, has to be the old Anglesey circuit it just seemed to have everything, and never a dull moment.

Worst corner the Hairpin on the club ciruit at Cadwell, the change in elevation the change in surface the quality of the surface the fact you turn off just as you are getting to my second favourite circuit (woodlands) the lead into the hill, it just didnt add anything for me.

James

Favourite circuit Lydden because the butty van opens at about 6 am

You cannot whack a bacon butty first thing in the morning

and the bbq of course ... betty and sprosen doing a turn! lydden is probably my favourite circuit the right hander into the straight a make or break turn .. wimp out and you lose momentum .. at the end of the straight you can throw the bike in and it seems to have a lot of forgiveness. the hairpin is great cos you are going uphill and i disagree cos getting round this quick can make a difference. out and out sprint ... i like!

Ray

My favourite circuit was Brands, I loved it there, the squigly bit, left right before clearways was a great place to gain places and momentum for the pits straight. I loved Lydden too, that last right hander was a winner for me, i got my first 250 proddy win there in 79, rode round the outside of the guy who thought he'd won it before the flag, lol. The end of the Revettes straight at Snetterton was a fave with me too, that left right kink was a massive winner with me and i nearly always gained places or wins there, late break, flick left and hard on through the right. Bloody dangerous at times but the F1 Kwacka loved it, back wheel in the air and everyone getting out of my way. Webby was right, i was an accident looking for a place to happen but i'm not in bad shape after all that....oooh, me back.

I agree with Mick´s choice for Bantam: Brands...-- It would be Cadwell as the best if the hill after the hairpin wasn´t there on the Club circuit. Just thinking of going up to Charlies has me smelling burning clutches... LLandow was the fun circuit -- in the rain. Thruxton was too flat and there´s a long right hander that a Bantam can enter Balls-out and then it feels like leaning on the edge of a gramophone record -- forever going round -- throttle on the stop and both wheels drifting and forever and ever going round --- as it were! Practice at Brands was great fun. !0/- a half hour. Many memorable rides. One was when leaning on a Dommy Norton through the squiggle before Clearways Icarus-One seized. I got the clutch in quick enough but the rapid locking of the back wheel had been transmitted to the Dommy rider and he bit the dust whilst I freewheeled thro´Clearways and paddle footed back to the pits. Dommy rider found an official from somewhere (normally there was only a bloke in a flat cap smoking a home rolled wet and brown ciggy who was very easy going about everything...) and brought Officialdom over to me. By then, Icarus One´s nadgered piston was free to see and the Official concluded I had not been at fault.
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On Andy´s 250 all circuits were OK -- Cadwell topping it ... Brands second although I only practiced with the 250. Best 250 ride was battling for 3rd with John Senior on his Silverstone Greeves at Llandow. Two Japaness bikes not far ahead. Each time into Pits Bend I could get by but on the final lap John Senior squeezed through and I was 4th by a wheel.
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Such are the good memories -- there were the others of bikes not firing up, technical failures and tactical disasters -- Oh! and crashes -- not to be bothered with... Worst circuit: Snetterton. I have a cup that says I was third there but I just don´t rem,ember that one. Must have been a race where I was riding with concussion -- or something! Perhaps the
Trophy Sec got it wrong?
Cheers!
JayBee.


.

I loved hairpins and slow corners particularly after a fast section like Cadwells Mansfield and the Esses at Snetterton when late braking paid dividends. Out braking and passing someone in to a corner has got to be the biggest adrenalin boost.
The most frustrating corner for me was Clearways at Brands. I never ever exited Clearways without thinking "I could have gone faster, I could have gone faster"

With 8400rpm max I always thought that on the Icarus-1 Bantam Ned. With wind behind and all -- still 8400... and I´d be cursing all those buzzing Bantams passing me. That was the nice bit about Brands -- really buzz down Paddock and fly up to Druids and they´d be coming back at me. Then frighten them by ducking in tight and underneath thro´ Druids apex. Pooh or bust!
On yours it was around 9 and a bit...
...before it threw me off.
Hmmm?
Practising at Brands. Icarus-2 managed 11400 and smashed its piston into little bits. I was gleefully thinking, "At last I am a great tuner" and a dreadful noise came -- plus the seizure. Always had a long stoke motor because of the body weight problem I needed the torque ... Really daft to ride a bantam at 12.5 stone -- with heavy leathers, helmet & boots that´d be over 13.5 I should think. Daft to ride a Bantam with all that weight... At Llandow the ABS 250 with 5 gears had two gears too many -- so used to the Bantam was I...
Wonderful memories -- some hurt:- attributable to the force of gravity and mass times accelertion squared....
Go well and keep well Ned...
Cheers!
JayBee.

Least favourite -- Snetterton.
Jinx -jinx -- jinx -- jinx...ow - ow -- ow!
Icarus-1 with 150cc motor (I said once before it was 175 but checking up find it was 150...) hence had to go out with the 250s. My very first ROAD race -- didn´t fall off but finished 2nd from last. During practice dust blew into the carb and it wouldn´t shut down from half throttle...
Three nasty prangs there on the Bantam and great disappointment with Andy´s 250 when it holed its piston and seized in practice. On the old Norwich straight the ABS was passing everything -- really flying.
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...Even fell off in 1981´s Parade.
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Go well and keep well,
Aye!
JayBee.

LOL, Ned, we love hairpins don't we, remember the big coming together at Cadwell mate, i reckon i saved you from coming off there but we both ended up going the wrong way. I went flying up the road towards the mountain and you managed to go through the hairpin gap and up the wrong way on the other side of the track. We both had to wait for everyone to go past before we could continue, bloody frustrating, i managed to climb back up to 4th before the laps ran out, hard work but great times.

Ye I'd forgotten that one Mick !!! Trust you !!!
Both laughed our heads off and put it down to a racing incident with no gripes. Oh those good old days.

Thinking about my frustration with Clearway's. It's probably because I always thought I could have gone quicker, that made it one of the few bends I never came off on.

For me it's got to be edwina's don't no why ?
hope your all ready for the weekend
just finished my bike
see you all friday night

i like this debate. corners are what it's all about. straights are boring in the end ... even at speed. i would like to say that i would like all corners of all tracks if i were competing with bantams and only bantams .. what fun we would have. if i win the lottery or go on 'dragon's den' with a viable proposition i would love to see more bantam only races in the future.

ray

i suppose i ought to qualify that last post .. but for me why i participate is from a sporting perspective. i am interested in seeing how quick i can get around various circuits on the machinery and preparation i have at my disposal. mixed races are a spanner in the works of my enjoyment of the sport but i of course appreciate that we are a dying species in the bantam racing freternity and we have no choice but to double up on classes. just dreaming of the old days when there were full grids, novices intermediates and seniors and a the maddest range of machines you could imagine. despite the big emphasis on safety and regulation current i felt much safer in those days!

ray

I don't know Ray, some of those mixed classes can be fun and very enlightening. I remember in 1978, i entered the Newmarket club Enduro, like our 50 miler at Snetterton. There was a Bantam class but only two rntries as there was a Cadwell meeting on that I couldn't be bothered to drive to. I was stuck in with the open 125's against Honda's, Yams ans even a Morbidelli. The field was split between us and the 250 singles and i reckoned I would be lapped several times. We got away and with large amounts of argey bargey was in 4th into the Revetts straight. Jeff Webber took the lead on the 125 Honda followed by Len Carr on the Morbidelli, a guy on a Yam and me. I diced with the Yam for several laps until he put his hand up and cruised in, Len's race finished with a breakdown on the Straight and I was second, Jeff had buggered off on his Honda. I was well pleased and looking over my shoulder I was surprised to see.....nothing, I had cleared off from everybody. About half way through, i had a slide at the corner leading onto Revetts but thought it was a patch of oil, going into the left hander at the end of the straight, no probs but at the little right i dumped on the tarmac. Reason? a bloody Allen screw at the base of my ducati right fork had woeked loose and dumped the oil on my right side plus the lack of damping which made the bike tilt to the right on cornering. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted and the marshalls couldn't believe it was a bantam, they thought it was a programme misprint.

Timbantamracer wrote:

Speedway and Cambletown Circuit on the TT are both good for left-handers.

Ooh how very dare you ! Mentioning speedway and anti clockwise circuits on this forum. Have you never seen "on any Sunday" We is the swan lake of motor cycle racing.

I'm with Ned, love the slow corners, though fell off on most of them would love to master bends like paddock at Lydden, takes a lot of skill and trust in the handling to take it flat out. Found Oulton park frustrating, though more to do with the bike not running right and having to limp round.


All bends are alien to me now having spent the last 4/5 seasons straightlining

Tony

The Bantam Club had Thruxton twice in 1968 -- I think it was -- and it rained both times so on Icarus 1 in the first season of ever racing on the road I was at least among the first five in 6 races and 4th in a steamer with Mr French. He was up my exhaust pipe the whole race. Memorable!. There´s a right hander on that circuit that goes on and on and it feels like being on the edge of a gramophone record -- on a Bantam that revved to 8400 with wind behind mind! with him glaring at me if I dared to look round...
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Got Ned on his points there ballet dancing the Swan Lake I´m thinking! Just `cos I mentioned speedway and grass track. Left handers were my favourite corners and that pic ... there is me, on Icrus 1 going thro´Mansfield, my first ever win*** in a road race. That engine we found in a field -- or rather our Les (of our Icarus 1 build threesome) did. He was driving by a group of kids playing in a field and saw that among the heap of old rubbish was a Bantam 125 engine with the large stud spacing we needed. I had bought a 150cc Bantam (forget which D... that would be) for about 12 quid and at the end of our endeavours I think the total cost of Icarus 1, including close ratio gears was just over 40 quid. The rear tyre was a "Continental Sports" and the front a Dunlop roadster. Really exciting in the wet!
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Well, one glance at the pic shows it was cut to the bone.

...Hey Peter Tee? What´s this -- 2nd to Mike ...? And what´s this about a great dice? My PC won´t open the link so I couldn´t read what happened. Who were you dicing with Mike or Ian?
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...***was a Novice race so nowt to crow about -- but worthy of memory ...

...Cheers!

...JayBee.