Sam Burman, a diary of a racer

Sam Burman, a diary of a racer - Good conditions

Wednesday, 12 October 2011 08:10

September was the month of the legendary British circuits Donington & the newly re-developed racing facility Silverstone.

It’s a British tradition talking about the weather so that’s where I’ll start. The weather was a total pain! It went from sunshine to rain at the flick of a switch making both qualifying sessions things ultra tricky. It was havoc in pit-lane with all the tyre changing going-on. Picking the right tyre for the conditions was almost impossible but totally crucial. Thanks weather!

By the end of qualifying we were in 23rd position and the entire grid was close time-wise.

Race day was dry but we still had some blustery wind to contend with. By the time our race was run it was strong enough to affect the handling of the bike and I struggled to keep the bike on line. The bikes are so light that the wind could get underneath and pick it up mid-corner and on a couple of occasions I ran on at some sections of the track. I did feel a little off-pace throughout qualifying. I struggled with grip and despite trying different compound tyres I ended up in 30th place. My team had still done me proud though and I can’t thank them enough.

I finished just outside the top 20. I was gutted as in the early stages I was having a good race and felt strong. Silverstone is a huge track, each lap is almost 4 miles long and the track is so wide it’s easy to feel lost. With 18 corners to learn on such a long lap, even losing tiny amounts time on each corner, will dramatically affect your overall lap time. That’s racing!

I improved my lap times by a whole second in the race. I had a mega first lap taking seven places. But my improvement wasn’t enough, I was still off the pace and I started dropping back down the field. The final blow was crashing out of the final lap.

I didn’t do anything wrong thankfully. Closer inspection revealed a broken radiator bracket. It had rubbed a hole in the radiator leaking water over my front slick tyre and boom I was on the floor. Gutted.

Silverstone was tough but I believe it has identified a weakness in my riding, my overall lap is let down by my lack of corner entry speed. I scrub off too much speed. So this is a positive I’ll take away from this event. Something I can work on and ultimately improve.

I think the saying goes; if it was easy everyone would be doing it!

I’m ready to keep learning and improving in this sport I adore and thanks to my team and the people who support me I know I can reach further and obtain the goals I’ve set myself. Sam