Ducatisti Forum - View Single Post - Thank you Gilps and Louigi (Sponsorship Plea)

**TP#12** · 26 Jun 08, 02:35 PM

Not wishing to steal the limelight from Harrie's announcement and I certainly won't harp on about it. I'm sure that's music to your ears ... ok ok

As far as anticipation for Brands goes I couldn't be more pumped. At the start of the year when Gilps offered me the bike it was always on the agreement that it wouldn't have any money spent on it because we're all broke and I'm the team's number 2 rider. I accepted the ride based on that agreement and have just tried to do my best on it with varied results. Sometimes it's been difficult to take because I've wanted to make various changes to the bike to get it to do what I want it to, to be able to afford new tyres for it instead of living off hand me down scrubs and also because the bike was slow in a straight line compared to the competition but I've always tried to remind myself that it's not my bike and I'm a very lucky boy to have someone as generous as Gilps letting me race his bike. Humility is not easy to achieve and remains an aspirational goal!

The Pembrey track day really highlighted the shortcomings in handling on the bike and I was really dreading going there for raceday to be honest. After the track day the tyres I had on there were ****ed! Especially the front. This is where everything started to change. Gilps called me on the phone and said he was happy with how I was riding and had decided to get the suspension sorted out for me. At Pembrey we had the forks pulled apart and the geometry changed, unfortunately we were still a long way away from where we needed to be with the fork springs and couldn't change them but the geometry made a big difference to the feel of the bike. I’d gotten some fresh scrubs off Trouty but that place is really hard on tyres, especially when the forks are rock hard, so the front of the bike was moving around a little bit on the series of lefts and I still couldn’t push through Honda and there’s a lot of time lost there. Trying to get past Kev (Senna3) showed just how slow the bike was in a straight line as I’d nearly ram him on corner exit and he’d just pull away down the straight-I couldn’t even stay in his slipstream. This might be explained by the problems with that engine which started playing up after that.

Gilps and Louigi have managed to scrounge the bits together and build another 583 engine out of bits and pieces in his workshop from what I understand and I’ll be helping them chuck it in the frame on Saturday. I can’t believe how lucky I am and I’m really hoping that it’s as fast as the others out there. Besides that though, I’ll have a set of sorted forks in the bike for the first time and we’ll be spending Saturday getting it setup. So thanks to Gilps’ generosity it looks as though I’ll be on competitive machinery for the first time this season so to celebrate, I’m buying new tyres! Just don’t tell all the people chasing me for money please!

We’ve done the first half of the season on tracks I’ve never seen before or only done a handful of laps at but now we’re finishing on four of my favourite tracks. All tracks I’ve raced on before and been fast on. So all the ingredients are in place for a change in fortunes for me and to say I’m excited would be a massive understatement. I’m stoked off my tits! Woohoo! I’m focused on what I want from Brands and I’m feeling very confident.

Thank you very much Gilps and Louigi for the bike and the work, Tim (Rattler) for the free scrubs and Trouty for the very cheap scrubs, Gerry at Racedays, Dom and Maria for your support and to Andie and Tara as well as Mike and Ant. I really want to pay back all your help and support with better results and I’m bloody sick of 3rd place trophies when I think I can do better!

26 Jun 08, 02:35 PM	#1 (permalink)
TP#12 Super Bike Hero Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Clapham Common Posts: 711 TP#12's Gallery Bike: Bikeless :(	Thank you Gilps and Louigi (Sponsorship Plea) Not wishing to steal the limelight from Harrie's announcement and I certainly won't harp on about it. I'm sure that's music to your ears ... ok ok As far as anticipation for Brands goes I couldn't be more pumped. At the start of the year when Gilps offered me the bike it was always on the agreement that it wouldn't have any money spent on it because we're all broke and I'm the team's number 2 rider. I accepted the ride based on that agreement and have just tried to do my best on it with varied results. Sometimes it's been difficult to take because I've wanted to make various changes to the bike to get it to do what I want it to, to be able to afford new tyres for it instead of living off hand me down scrubs and also because the bike was slow in a straight line compared to the competition but I've always tried to remind myself that it's not my bike and I'm a very lucky boy to have someone as generous as Gilps letting me race his bike. Humility is not easy to achieve and remains an aspirational goal! The Pembrey track day really highlighted the shortcomings in handling on the bike and I was really dreading going there for raceday to be honest. After the track day the tyres I had on there were ****ed! Especially the front. This is where everything started to change. Gilps called me on the phone and said he was happy with how I was riding and had decided to get the suspension sorted out for me. At Pembrey we had the forks pulled apart and the geometry changed, unfortunately we were still a long way away from where we needed to be with the fork springs and couldn't change them but the geometry made a big difference to the feel of the bike. I’d gotten some fresh scrubs off Trouty but that place is really hard on tyres, especially when the forks are rock hard, so the front of the bike was moving around a little bit on the series of lefts and I still couldn’t push through Honda and there’s a lot of time lost there. Trying to get past Kev (Senna3) showed just how slow the bike was in a straight line as I’d nearly ram him on corner exit and he’d just pull away down the straight-I couldn’t even stay in his slipstream. This might be explained by the problems with that engine which started playing up after that. Gilps and Louigi have managed to scrounge the bits together and build another 583 engine out of bits and pieces in his workshop from what I understand and I’ll be helping them chuck it in the frame on Saturday. I can’t believe how lucky I am and I’m really hoping that it’s as fast as the others out there. Besides that though, I’ll have a set of sorted forks in the bike for the first time and we’ll be spending Saturday getting it setup. So thanks to Gilps’ generosity it looks as though I’ll be on competitive machinery for the first time this season so to celebrate, I’m buying new tyres! Just don’t tell all the people chasing me for money please! We’ve done the first half of the season on tracks I’ve never seen before or only done a handful of laps at but now we’re finishing on four of my favourite tracks. All tracks I’ve raced on before and been fast on. So all the ingredients are in place for a change in fortunes for me and to say I’m excited would be a massive understatement. I’m stoked off my tits! Woohoo! I’m focused on what I want from Brands and I’m feeling very confident. Thank you very much Gilps and Louigi for the bike and the work, Tim (Rattler) for the free scrubs and Trouty for the very cheap scrubs, Gerry at Racedays, Dom and Maria for your support and to Andie and Tara as well as Mike and Ant. I really want to pay back all your help and support with better results and I’m bloody sick of 3rd place trophies when I think I can do better!