A Love from racing

Part Forty Three

I'd just got off a plane and was in a rental car on my way to the Circuito de Jerez track in Spain. It was a great track with a couple long straights where you could gain speed quickly, easily able to pull 275mph on the second straight. It was an exciting track especially for the fans watching in the stands and at home.

It was so hot here in the south of Spain that shorts and a tshirt were a travel must.

When I pulled up to the track they let me in. I parked up and began heading to my garage in the paddock. Once I entered through the back, I put my kit bag down along with my boots on top. I took off my backpack and shoved that onto a plastic chair.

I walked over to my crew and said my hello's, shaking hands with my crew chief. Hanna had taken some time off to be with Ella after learning of their little one coming, she wanted nothing to go wrong and was by Ella's side every moment she could be. Which was fine since everyone knew how long they had waited for this so the empty presence wasnt a big deal.

"Hey Em" Mike said as I walked over to my bike.

"Hey, she's sounding good I heard her on the walk over from the car" I said, after hearing them running my bike earlier.

"I've pulled out the clutch lever like you asked so it's not going to effect your hand placement anymore. We're just running some diagnostics

"Awesome. Thank you, I was just worried about my wrist being in that position theres already enough metal in my body I don't need anymore" we laughed together.

After a quick conversation about the track conditions I was soon grabbing my gear bag and heading to the back to go put my race leathers on.

Because of the hot temperature, the tarmac on the track would be hotter which meant consulting with our tyre technician. They were people who analysed the track and its temperature and relayed that data back to my team and I, so we could choose the best tyres for the race. That person was an important member of our team that not only to get the best performance, there job was also to keep me safe.

If we selected the wrong tyre for the condition it could over heat and end up losing grip on the surface of the track which can make the motorcycle slide and causing bubbles to appear on the surface of the rubber. If the tyre gets to cold it'll lose it's full grip and cause the bike to slide which can cause graining, where ridges can form at the edges. They could have me crashing out and possibly getting injured, so it was important we got that data to make the right selection of tyre.

The tyres on our bikes where designed to be versatile and give the highest performance at various temperatures but choosing the right one was still so important, for safety and race performance.

After putting on my racing leathers in the back, away from the tv cameras I reappeared in the front of the garage, to flashing cameras from press outlets, ready to hop on the bike.

We chose to go with a slick tyre for practice as with the hot temperature of the track would provide the most traction under heavy breaking caused from the sticky tarmac. My team started up my bike with their computers and I was ready to hit the track.

Getting onto the bike I did my traditional holding of the gas tank, before closing the visor of my helmet down and pulling away from my garage and riding down the pit lane. Opening my legs I adjusted my leathers pulling them down so they're not crushing my buddy while abiding by the speed limit set for pit lane.

I crept up towards the end slowly to let a fellow rider, who was on the track, pass before joining.

Once free from the pit lane I opened the throttle up, hearing the bike roar, and lent over to take the corner gently, warming the tyres through. After my first lap the tyres where warm and I was able to get a feel for the track. I was ready for qualifying.