In the afternoon I felt like we had gotten to the best setup yet and I was still learning all the time about riding the bike. After lunch I had to be a bit careful of how many more laps I could do because the motor I was using was coming to the end of it’s lifespan before having to be rebuilt. I had something to try, which was shortening the wheelbase to try and further improve turning.
On my out lap I caught the only really vicious bump on the Mugello circuit and must’ve just caught it in exactly the wrong place because I was on the floor before I knew it. I was a bit off line over the bump, maybe on a slightly dirty patch of tarmac, and the rear just stepped sideways catching me out.
I banged myself up a bit, putting a pretty deep hole in my left elbow and generally coming down on it quite hard. I spent a couple of hours in the medical centre getting my elbow stitched up. They also gave me a tetanus injection which I was pretty sure I wasn’t due but they wouldn’t take no for an answer, wanting to be cautious and jacked me on up with the stuff!
I left the medical centre feeling like s**t. It was a disappointing end to the test. The team were all OK about it with a "Don’t worry, it happens" attitude which was pretty cool.
I left Mugello feeling a bit worse for wear but I think that in general the test went well. I was hoping that towards the end of the second day I could get some fresh rubber on front and rear and see what time I could do once I pieced it all together and put in my best setup but unfortunately I didn’t quite get that far.
My mechanics all seemed happy with the feedback I was giving and the lap times were pretty decent so that was important for me. I ended up leaving the test with a lap time just over one second off the lap record, which I was fairly happy with, but there is definitely room for improvement.
Chaz#157!
