Wednesday 26th . During Tuesday night the rain had given us another good battering and apart from rising car park damp all is fine. Taking the short cut across the grass back to base camp from the top of the paddock could see you going ar-se over tit on the wet hilly slippery grass. The weather forecast for today is iffy but it is improving at the moment so my hopes are up that we should get a lap or two in. Mid afternoon the weather seems OK so it will soon be timr to get ready for technical inspection. Further back you might recall I mentioned the very long queues to get the bike inspected on the first day. Well somebody has put a plan together and the bikes will be done in time slots relative to when you are expected to get out on circuit. If you come up with your bike to early before your time slot you will get turned away , this system is spot on and the queues are much shorter so much so that the tech crew actually get ahead of themselves and the later groups are getting called up early. ( Well done on this one more like this next year ) If a full pratice is going ahead in those few hours before the off the technical crew will have to inspect something like 500 bikes , I think this might be why they wear knee pads as they spend a lot of time crawling about on the floor looking upwards and inwards.! I have also now realised that there is more than one vampire in this area but both of them are a bit random . By this I mean the breathalizer crew to check my non alchhol content and the other the fuel vampire she only takes a small bit with her pipette but I know whats going on here and all she wants to get back to Ramsey and needs to fill her car with race legal fuel my fuel must be road legal and is tested to check it conforms. Fuel and breath are both subject to random testing during the Manx Grand Prix and as it is random you could get checked for either on more than one occasion ! Each practice is broken down into two sections and depending on which section you are in this will determine where your bike goes after the technical inspection, The first practice bikes go into the holding /park ferme area and from here will go out on circuit through a gate on to Glencrutchery Road and start from the race start posistion . But the second practice will start from the pit lane , the reason for this unlike a normal track that will be cleared before the next lot go out with a 37 mile course this is not possible with the time allowed so once the first wave have all gone and thier alloted time expired the riders will be slowed down after Governers dip and red flagged of the track at the begining of parc ferme, this allows the second practice to start simultaneously further down the the pits. The first practice gets away and we are waiting for our turn when we are informed that due to an incident at the 13th and visability on the mountain the practice will have to be cancelled. Disapointment and nervous frustration theses a lot of disapointed faces about but there nothing that can be done so it all back to base camp.
Now comes a sobering bit which I am not really sure how to put on here but its in the diary it happened so if has to be here.Getting to the Manx and competing is along with many other things a roller coaster of emotions and I want to try to relate to you as a potential newcomer or just an interested spectator some of this in my diary. The news comes through that the incident at the 13th has involved a fatality . This news alone is chilling and real, my first thoughts are with friends who I know are out in that first session, it is quite a while before some of them get back to the paddock as they had to be escorted back the wrong way round the course from where they have been stopped. You might think this a harsh point of view but thankfully I track them all down and it is not one of them. This is not going to be the same for all, someone will be looking for a friend who is not coming back. This is: The harsh reality of road racing.
I later find out that the rider involved was one who had attended the same newcomers training weekend in February as I, he was someone I might describe as a paddock buddy, this makes this news harder to digest.
It's getting late now so I return to base camp have our evening meal and just relax and try to take in todays events.