Steve's 2007 Isle of Mann TT Diary

Monday

Saturday - Race Day (Not)

Well that’s an anti-climax. We got to within five minutes of starting at noon and they held a board up saying delayed for 30 minutes so they could clear up an oil spillage at the bungalow.

Then with 15 minutes to go they cancelled it altogether because of deteriorating weather conditions.

Obviously its nerve racking enough for me as its my first race and you just want to get on with the whole thing but if the weather isnt right then its best cancelled and start again on Monday.

Friday

We had a problem on Friday evening as the session was red flagged half way through my first lap. After a really long delay – to allow the firemen to put out the hedge fire near Glen Helen we were told we just had time to put in one lap. I had already been out on the Superbike and so decided that I would take the Superstock bike around as there wouldn’t be any further practise before my race on it on Monday.

Thursday

After Wednesday’s practise was cancelled because of the weather we were keeping fingers crossed for a dry run on Thursday and the weather was perfect.

I started with a two-lap run out on the Superstock R1 but was not completely happy with the set-up, finding it difficult to get comfortable with a setting so was surprised to find I had put in a 118mph lap as I thought I was cruising round for much of the time. I then jumped on my Superbike and put in another two laps. It’s my favourite machine as it has much more power and it’s the bike I am used to.

I didn’t push too hard but was trying to concentrate on the section between Ginger Hall and Ramsey where the surface is very rough. The bike felt really smooth and I was much more comfortable as it was behaving much better, making it easier to complete a good, flowing lap.

I rounded off the evening’s practise with a lap on the Supersport bike trying out a slightly different chassis setting. It did feel better but I am still not 100% happy with it.

I am not too worried about lapping faster at the moment, I need to be a little more accurate in places and be able to hold the throttle wide open through the roughest sections of the course.

On my return to the pits everyone was very excited and I was told I had managed to put in the fastest ever lap time for a newcomer in the Superbike class.

I have one final practise session tonight before the first race tomorrow. But in my mind its not a six-lap race its just another six laps of practise around the 37.73-mile course.

Wednesday

Practice cancelled due to bad weather.

The weather isn't too promising for tonight as its a bit misty up the
mountain. Hopefully we will get a few laps in but its all down to weather conditions.

Tuesday

Today we've had bright sunshine all day, but as practice was about to start the temperature dropped a little but no rain.

I started the session on the Supersport bike and having made some chassis changes to the R6 trying to find more stability I completed two laps to see how the changes affected the performance.

I then took the Superstock machine out for a lap and again tried some different settings making me feel more comfortable over the roughest sections of the course.

I then rounded off the evening with two laps on the Superbike, one of them following Bruce Anstey for a while, which helped me to learn different sections of the circuit.

It started to shower a little on my last lap so I slowed to concentrate on learning lines.

I managed 116mph tonight on Supersport & Superbike and will be out again in the car at 6.30am on Wednesday going through some sections i'm not happy with.

Monday – first timed practice

First timed practice tonight and the weather is more or less ok. The officials told us there are showers on the mountain and the wind is very gusty and the temperature is a good two degrees lower than Saturday.

I went out on the Supersport bike first and followed Ian Hutchinson for a while. But he soon cleared off as he was on the superstock and had a lot more power than me. I only did one lap on the Supersport bike and that seemed to go ok. I put in a fairly respectable time - 110.184mph which put me into 23rd place on the night.

Next up was the Superstock for me and by then the weather had begun to deteriorate. I posted a lap time of 110.735mph which put me in 28th place in that class.

I then decided to give the Superbike an airing and was well down. The fast boys had gone out on their superbike laps earlier and by the time I got out it was quite wet in places. But despite the weather I managed to post a 112.902 lap so was quite happy with that for the first time on the course with the superbike.

The weather promises to behave for Tuesday night so hopefully I will be able to build up a bit more speed.
The more laps I get in the more I can learn my way around and the rest will follow.

Sunday

I have been around the course again with Mick Grant discussing the points where I am struggling and him giving me pointers for Monday’s timed practise.

Saturday – untimed practice

Well, this is it, first lap around the TT course tonight.

I set off alongside Keith Amor to lead the rest of the newcomers around the course for a controlled speed lap behind the traveling marshal.

As we set off a sign was held up saying to expect showers between Ramsey and the Gooseneck but when we got to that point on our first lap it was fine and dry and we enjoyed a steady lap behind the marshal.

We managed to get in four laps in all, three on the Supersport bike and one on the Superstock. It was an enjoyable experience but a little frustrating at times. I took my time, taking it nice and steady and finding some parts really comfortable but was a little inaccurate in others, especially the Mountain section which I found was definitely the most difficult to learn.

On the last two laps it was quite wet over the mountain so I just cruised, it would have been far too wet to actually race in those conditions!

Thanks to Simon at Real Road Racing for the image of Steve in conference.

Thanks to Gavin Caldwell for the image of Steve with the back wheel in the air.

Thanks to Glynne Lewis for the image of Steve at Ballacraine.

Thanks to Keith Fitton for the image of Steve over Ago's Leap