Well primarily to have a terrifically good time hacking around one of the best motorcycle racetracks in the western spiral arm of the galaxy and hopefully learning a bit more about high speed riding without the added zest of lurking volvo's, lemming pedestrians or Gatso's.
The other Good Reason® is to raise some much needed cash for the Federation of European Motorcylists Associations - a long-standing and traditional benefactor of Ixion (nee Ogri) fund-raising.
The first day is Thursday the 9th of August and the second, surprise! surprise!, is Friday the 10th. We'll be using the full blown 'Mountain' circuit (with the Mountain itself, Hall Bends for that squiggly feeling, the Old-Hairpin, Barn corners and a full-on drive up Coppice to get the adrenalin really pumping) on both days.
Please, please, please try to get your bike scruted on the evening before as we can't possibly manage to get everyone seen to first thing in the morning before we do the briefing.
Noise testing will stop at 08.30 so that everyone can come to the mandatory safety briefing.
We have to do a safety briefing as part of the circuit hire conditions; and if the circuit management don't think people have attended the briefing or the briefing is not satisfactory, we won't get on track until the situation is resolved.
Again, You should have your bike checked over on the day (or on the evening before if at all possible). On the Wednesday, scrutineering^H^H^H safety checks will take place at Cadwell Park from around 16:00 until 18:00 (after which you can have a walk around the track accompanied by some experience Cadwellers if enough people are interested) and then in the car park of the King's Head Hotel in Louth from 19:30 (that is, 18:00 + track walk time + scrutineer's eating time) until 15 minutes before closing time. Just stick your head into the bar of the Kings Head and ask around for an Ixion Scrutineer... they'll be the ones looking thirsty :-)
On the Thursday and Friday mornings scrutineering will open at 07:30(ish) and will continue until 08:30 when everyone will attend the rider's briefing. Please Note: 'everyone' includes the scrutineers, so if you turn up late on the morning without a scruted bike or clothing you run a grave risk of missing a session or two while you hunt down a scrutineer!!
Talking of turning up late..... if you do so and miss the briefing then be prepared to make a £10 donation to the Air Ambulance fund. If you have a snooze, a nice relaxed breakfast and a gentle toodle to the circuit and then expect me to give up my tracktime to give you a personal briefing and sort out the appropriate paperwork then you can jolly well cough up a few bob for this very worthy cause!
We will be checking that both bikes and riders have scrutineering stickers displayed before they are allowed on track. Cadwell Park officials will be checking for noise test stickers before you're allowed on track for everything after the first No-Brakes session.
People who are riding on the Friday only, should have their bikes scrutineered on the Thursday evening if possible. As almost everybody will be in Louth, just drop into the local pub's, find a scrutineer, buy them a pint! and get your bike checked over.
It's worth noting here that the Scruts don't get paid or receive a discount on the trackday for all the work they do on everyones behalf; please say thanks and offer to buy them a drink... they might say no... but at least do the decent thing and offer.
| Day | Begin | End | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday | 15:00 | 18:00 | Scrutineering at Cadwell Park |
| Wednesday | 18:00 | 19:00 | Walk the Track. Provisional; depending on interest and no evening session being run on the track (in recent years nobody wanted to do this.. idle gits!)<ed: correction four hardy souls (Inky, Flymo, Pauline & Paul Pickerill) did wander round the circuit in '07> |
| Wednesday | 19:30 | 22:45 | Scrutineering at King's Head (and probably at the circuit as some scruts may be camping; I'd advise that you don't wake them when you arrive at 02:30 and ask to get scruted; you might not like the mediaeval nature of the response!) |
| Thursday | 07:30 | 08:30 | Scrutineering at Cadwell Park including NOISE testing (new from 2007) |
| Thursday | 08:35 | 08:55 | Rider's Briefing |
| Thursday | 09:00 | 12:30 | Circuit riding starting with the much loved No Brakes laps |
| Thursday | 12:30 | 13:30 | Lunch |
| Thursday | 13:00 | 17:00 | Circuit riding |
| Thursday | 17:00 | 18:00 | Time for Tea! |
| Thursday | 18:30 | 20:00 | Bonus Evening Session! (we hope) |
| Friday | 07:45 | 08:35 | Scrutineering at Cadwell Park |
| Friday | 08:35 | 08:55 | Rider's Briefing (possibly... stay awake in the Thursday briefing to see if you also need to attend on Friday. I think it's bloody silly doing a Friday briefing but the lawyers don't agree) |
| Friday | 09:00 | 12:30 | Circuit riding |
| Friday | 12:30 | 13:30 | Lunch |
| Friday | 13:00 | 17:00 | Circuit riding |
| Friday | 19:00 | ??:?? | Post Trackday relaxation and Grand Ixion Eatingfest in Louth (venue TBA) :-) |
People that are doing both days won't need to get their bikes or clothing re-scruted providing the scrutineering stickers are still intact and you didn't go tarmac surfing. You may however need to sign-in on both days (pay attention in the Thursday briefing).
Please get to the circuit in plenty of time to allow for scrutineering, clothing check and signing-on. I'd suggest that you will have to allow at least 60 minutes for this so you'll need to arrive at 0700-0730 (ugh!).
For those of you that don't know... its the tall open-ended building in the Cadwell Paddock... you really can't miss it. Please don't park your bike in the entrance unless you're queuing for scruting or anywhere that obstructs the exit at any time.
Sign-on will take place in the Clubhouse... just down the hill from the paddock. If you don't know just ask someone - there will be loads of evil biker scum mooching around; but don't be scared they're all Ixionites.
The Clubhouse serves hot food and with only an hour's break it's not worth heading off anywhere else. The Cadwell petrol pump may be opened during the lunch break; it kind of depends on the availability of Cadwell staff. I'll let you know during the briefing and Cadwell will announce on the paddock tannoy when it's open.
Obviously the first group back out after lunch should start assembling in good time.
BTW, the clubhouse will be open all day for coffee, snacks and use of the loo. There are also loos in the paddock area.
So, if you need fuel during the day then go get it as soon as you come off the track (the nearest petrol station is about 1.5 miles SOUTH of Cadwell, turn left out of the main entrance). Please NOTE: this is a small sleepy rural Lincolnshire petrol station and they don't take credit cards. Take folding wonga.
If you don't have folding money, then take yourself into Louth (a right hand turn out of the circuit entrance) and use the more 'modern' filling stations there - it's about a five mile trip.
Please do not keep fuel in containers (apart from your petrol tank!) at the circuit unless you have a fire extinguisher stored alongside. The Cadwell Management get very upset about loose cans of fuel.
One further note on fuel - you will be using a lot more petrol than normal (for example I've managed to get the consumption of a ZX9R down to the low twenties on trackdays whereas, even with spirited riding, on the road it was more like 40mpg). Keep a careful eye on your petrol level and consider running the bike with the fuel tap set to reserve so that you don't get fuel starvation halfway along the main straight just don't blame me if you do this, forget to watch your petrol level and run out!
On the slowdown lap for your final session, give the trackside marshals a wave - they've sat around all day watching over everyone so show your appreciation.
I'd also suggest that spend some time watching from Hall Bends; the squiggly bit just after the Clubhouse - follow the track through the trees.
If you are bringing a spectator along, please tell them not to wander around the staging area or the controlled parts of the circuit!
Note: Animals are NOT permitted anywhere at the circuit (we got a special exemption for Fong :-) so please don't bring fido along.
Hopefully Jack will again be persuaded to confuse everyone by wearing a hi-vis jacket over the top of his cammo-gear and snap loads of wonderful piccies of everyone's exploits.
As in previous years, Off-Track HQ will be based at the Kings Head and/or the Masons Arms in the centre of Louth - you'll be able to get your bike scrutineered at the Kings Head on the Wednesday and Thursday evenings (please do this if at all possible - it'll save a lot of time in the morning). There'll also be a considerable amount of beer disposal and bragging going on, so if you're staying in Louth I'd suggest you walk on over and join the party - just take it easy with the booze if you're riding the next day.
One Important Note: No open Fires are allowed (yes in theory this includes barbequeue's although attitudes seem to have been relaxed about this). Anyway... the rule is 'no open fires'; Cadwell had some very bad experiences with the PB Frenzy a few years back and have banned all fires in the paddock outright. Please honour this - it would be a shame to lose the opportunity of camping in future years.
So, I'd suggest that you travel up on the Wednesday afternoon and partake of the track-walkabout in the company of experienced Cadwellians; which will happen at 18.00 (or as soon as any on-track activity ends) on the Wednesday Evening.
So that you've some idea of the circuit layout, here's a rough diagram (click on it to see a larger version). Please note: the layout of Barn corner was tweaked in 2000 so if you've not ridden Cadwell for a some years take a few laps to learn the changes; especially the 'truck stop' between Mansfield and the mountain; oh, and the foliage on Hall Bends was severely cut back in early 2004. As I said, spend a few laps relearning the circuit.
It's up to you to a) look at the list of potential group changers and b) find a matching changee and present yourselves as a pairing to the 'Holder of the Stickers' (that's me unless Mand can be persuaded to pick up the cudgel again) and get your helmet stickers changed over.