SPECIAL STORIES

RACING AT SANTA POD, A TRAVEL DIARY
by Bill Baxter

It all started innocently enough, a short email from my friend Rick asking about lockup clutches, a short response “I don’t know, we never run them”.  A week later another email about where to get one because he has to beat some guy named Nipper, nothing serious, just playing around at the track but it would be great fun to beat him like a red-headed stepchild.

From there is just went downhill, a suggestion was made to come over and race one of Rick’s bikes but thoughts came up of too much work, too many kids, races that must be prepared for here in the States, I don’t like to fly, my bunions were bothering me, what if I screwed up Rick’s bike, it rains in England, why not, lets go.   

Rick, the world traveler had some suggestions on flights and before I knew it tickets were in hand and I was ready to go.  Bags were packed and some go-fast goodies were included but there was a concern about customs, what are they going to say when they scan an aluminum housing, electrical wire, pneumatic fittings, tools, switches, etc, it could look like a bomb.  But no worries, there was no customs in Birmingham, just stepped off the plane and walked out the front door, should have packed some Texas Hooch in the bag and sold it to finance the trip, seems like there was plenty of customers at the Pod to move the merchandise. 

Day one was almost a total waste, Rick collected me at the airport around 8:00am but my body thought it was 2:00 am, he was probably wondering what sort of idiot he had invited to his home, like I said before, I don’t like to fly and jet lag kills more brain cells than sniffing glue. 

The English country side is beautiful, those fields of Rapeseed Oil are fantastic, Rick thought he had picked up some sort of fruitcake, all I did was mumble about yellow fields and green pastures.  Hey, I like botany and this stuff was new to me. 

Then we were off to Ricks home to put away my bags and meet Elaine, his gracious wife and mother Jean.  Out to the shop to meet Dean and Mal and start to work on the bike. 

We accomplished a lot the first day but it’s a miracle any of it worked, I fell asleep twice kneeling next to the bike while looking for a place to mount an air-kill switch, Mal would walk by and nudge me with his knee, “you alright?” sure, I uummmm was just thinking. 

To make matters worse we ran by the Pub for a pint of mild Belgium beer, make that two pints I was thirsty, STELLA !!!!!    Suddenly I was in love with Stella, its 7:00pm, I’m finally awake and working on a good buzz.  So we do the intelligent thing and go meet some friends at their home…they were probably wondering who the hell Rick picked up at the airport.

Back to the Pub, two more pints than back home for a lovely meal, and some wine, followed up with some more wine, just to calm my nerves, its midnight, I haven’t slept in 36 hours and I don’t care.  

Day Two was much better, Elaine made a traditional English breakfast, which is BIG, didn’t need to eat till 8:00pm.  England has great bacon, another item on my list of “must find”.  Have I mentioned Stella? 

The weather forecast called for rain but the weather on Thursday was fantastic, not a cloud in the sky.  Had a little trouble bending over to work on the bike after the traditional English breakfast but we managed to work a little on the bike, Mal didn’t have to nudge me anymore as the jet lag is starting to wear off. 

We made a run into town to check on some chrome work, pick up a bearing and some PTFE tape, get some welding done, meet some people that work with Rick. Back to the house to finish up the air shifter and then off to the Pub, I love this country, my favorite British saying “Fancy a pint?” 

Day Three also gave us some nice weather, some people were talking about how hot it was, I thought they were joking, they weren’t.  The bike was finished and we sat back to take stock in what we had accomplished, that’s when it hit me, we hadn’t done much in almost three days, the air shifter and lockup clutch should have taken three hours but it took me three days, with Rick, Dean and Mal doing most of the work.  We did mount some pipes which took a day, and let me mention, when I say “we”, that means me getting in Mal’s, Dean’s and Rick’s way, making a huge mess in the driveway, spilling oil all over the place, loosing Mal’s tools, asking hundreds of stupid questions, just having fun.  They thought some hot shot mechanic was going to set this bike on kill…ha, they found out that a Jet-Lagged, Jake-Leg, one-eyed Texas farm boy makes a poor mechanic.  Hell, I couldn’t even find a decent roll of bailing wire to mount the pipes!!!   

Rick was kind enough to take me out to visit with a local farmer, we discussed fertilizer, crop rotation and bushels per acre of Rapeseed Oil, important stuff to an H2 racer.  Rapeseed oil is in the cabbage family, genetically engineered for use as cooking oil, very interesting stuff, we call it Canola oil in the States.  Of course we had to stop by the Pub to meet Carl for a pint or two, he drinks Stella, good man, I like him.

Friday night we went into Downtown Nottingham for a look at the night life, very busy place on a Friday night.  Stopped at a Chrysler dealership to look at new trucks, damn, why are they so expensive in the UK?  My local dealer would die if he saw those prices.  While we are talking cars, you guys have some of the coolest cars in the UK, lots of sports cars that you would never see in the States, and what kind of engine is in a Smart Car?  It has to be tiny to fit under the bonnet. 

Day Four, all packed up and out of the driveway at 7:30AM sharp, Carl and Wayne in one car, Rick and myself in the truck, quick ride down the M1 with a short lesson on trucks, bridges and general driving in the UK, did you know that all of your overpasses are 16.5 feet in height?  Past the 82^nd Bombardment Group memorial, which sits just a few hundred yards outside the front gate at Santa Pod.  Into the camping area where Team Denco is already setting up camp.  Nipper and Rog are the only one’s there so far but it does not take long before Gary and Del show up, then Simon, Chris and Mal71.   

You rarely see a street legal H2 at the dragstrip in the States so it was pure eye candy to see all these modified bikes that you could still ride on the street. Nipper was a little surprised when we met him, he looked at me like I had three eyeballs, maybe it was just the bloodshot eyes that surprised him. 

Minor preparations and it was time to have some fun.  Rick goes to the line for his first pass and boom…11.77, not bad for the first pass off the trailer.  Them my superior mechanical skills took over, the bolt holding the ignition magnets came loose on the first heads-up race between Rick and Nipper…DOH !!  The bolt was too long and bottomed out so the magnets were never really tight.  Minor repair and back to the track.  Bike sounded good and ran good, a little too good, one pass that sticks out in my mind, Rick left the line and the front end lifted immediately, he dropped it and shifted to second and it came right back up, he backed off and shifted to third and the front end started this slow rise, it must have gone 100 yards slowly rising until he had to back off but it looked so cool, you could tell the engine was making really good HP and was just powering its way into the air.  Impressive to look at but terrible for ET, it ran in the low 12s on that pass.

In the mean-time Nipper had run an 11.71, 6 thousands of second faster than Rick, which was killing me because Rick was on a good run when the magnet bolt came loose.   Which meant that because of my oversight we had to listen to Nipper’s trash talk all night and let me tell you, Nipper is a professional trash talker, he must have been a pro-wrestler in a previous life. If he could ride as well as he can trash talk he would be in the eights!  

It didn’t matter what Rick said Nipper would turn it into trash talk,  “Rick:  It finally stopped raining, Nip:  Yes, it always stops after I win a race”  Rick:  Would you care for a beer, Nip:  Yes, winning always makes me thirsty”  It went on for hours, till about 2:00am. 

Sunday dawned all gray and overcast, a little cool and hard to see due to swollen eyes and headache, but we were looking for redemption, actually I was looking for redemption,  my spotty mechanic skills had already cost one run. 

So we entered Sunday’s race, in the Japanese Sportbike class, Over 500cc, prior to the Margaret Thatcher administration.  Rick let me make a couple of passes on the bike, the first pass was alright, eased it off the line and short shifted second hoping to keep the front end down and it worked.  Second pass I thought we could get more aggressive and it just went straight up, made me look like a rookie. 

Rick got back on the bike and was on a stellar run when the air shifter ram came loose, yes I know, I put that one on too, another mistake and Rick was going to make me walk home, all the way to Dallas!  That would have been a near 10 second pass, best 60’ of the weekend and best 1/8^th mile, ended up running an 11.80 in three gears. 

But the fourth pass was the charm, Rick left the line and was on a pass, 11.20 and a grin from ear to ear.  We got back in line for one more shot at the 10s but they told us Rick had won his class so he wasn’t going to get another pass.  That’s when it hit me that I hadn’t shot any of it on video, just stood on the grassy knoll and watched him run, guess we can put my video skills right up there with my mechanical skills. 

The ride back to Nottingham was full of what-ifs, we-needs and next-times.  Wish I could be there for the next race, Rick really took the new air shifter and lockup and I predict a ten second run next time out. 

It was great meeting all you guys at the track, I have not laughed that much in a long time. Someone will have to video tape Nipper trash talking, I need a copy for my scrapbook, no one believes me when I say this guy has a 24 karat mouth.   And I made some friends, hopefully friendships that will last a long time.  Thank you all for a great weekend.