LeMans Test-2

Spent most of last week down at Brian Simpson’s clinic getting my ankle fit to ride again. He’s done a brilliant job of getting the swelling down as it had grown to twice its normal size. In one week I’ve gone from not being able to put any weight on my foot to walking quite normal.

Since our first test at LeMans where we put in some good competitive times the Kawasaki France team had done some work on the ZX10’s suspension.
The rear shock was ok for putting in some fast laps but was being harsh on the rear tyre, which isn’t quite so good for a 24hr race. Also the forks were working well but using all the travel with only 10-15 litres of fuel in.

The bike starts every stint during the race with a full tank of 24 litres; this could cause a crash with so much extra force on the front tyre so changes had to be made.

Once again the weather was good to us at the French circuit, a little cold but good enough to get a feel for the machines changes.
This test was also much busier with many teams testing ready for the race on April 22/23rd.

Over the two days we tested many different settings, didn’t manage any earth chattering laps but again learnt very much about the ZX10’s working window. When I say working window, it’s a term used to explain the suspension settings and geometry where the bike works well. It’s very easy to step outside this window with most bikes being very good in standard form.

Endurance racing is different to normal short-circuit racing as the bike has to easy to ride for around 50/55 minutes each stint. A BSB race is usually around 30 mins and WSB around 40 mins.

The test was very positive but the team still has work to do in making the race set-up a little more friendly, I’m confident this will be sorted in time for the race as we test Tues, Wed and Friday leading up to the race.

I’m really looking forward to the race at LeMan and confident of a result with a little luck on our side!