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Chaz Checks In... China and Le Mans

After the Turkish grand prix we had the best part of a couple of weeks at home before we headed to China. It was a pretty long flight out there. My dad and I left from Birmingham airport on Monday afternoon, flew to Paris and then a couple of hours later met up with the team and got the 11 hour flight to Shanghai which arrived on Tuesday morning. In China, nobody from outside that country is allowed to drive, so the team had to hire a big 38-seater bus to cart everybody around in.

On that Tuesday we battled to stay awake all day, sunk many a coffee and in the afternoon headed into central Shanghai. Our hotel was on the outskirts of Shanghai but the place is so big and the traffic so manic that it takes 1 ½ hours to get right into the centre. But it was ideal to get to the circuit, only 10 minutes and that is with the taxi drivers that drive incredibly slow and are constantly on their horns. One morning I counted how many times my taxi driver beeped his horn from the time we left the hotel to the time we got to the circuit, a total of 28 times! Not bad in 6 miles! In Shanghai we went for a look around the electronics plaza and that was pretty cool. I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to gadgets so I was well in my element! After that we headed into China town which is also pretty cool. It's huge in China, much bigger than the market in Malaysia and the quality of stuff seems to be getting better and better. I bought a good stock of DVD's and a few other bits and bobs.

On Wednesday we went to the circuit in the morning but didn't really do a great deal. The mechanics we're still setting up so we left them to it, stayed there for a couple of hours then went back to the hotel. On Thursday we went back to the circuit, I sorted out all my kit, talked with my mechanics and walked a lap of the track. That track and all it's facilities definitely does set the standard for every other circuit. Not so much the track layout, there's a couple of good corners but for me there's not enough excitement with up's and down's etc. I really like the fast left-handed 4th corner, but am not so keen on the first ‘roundabout' corner, it's a weird one. On Thursday evening I met Casey (Stoner) who was also staying at our hotel. He told me there was a bowling alley at our hotel so we went and nailed that for about 3 ½ hours. I might be being a bit optimistic when I say ‘nailed', I was pretty poor to start with, but got much better and at the end we were pretty evenly matched.

Friday was a mixed day conditions wise, one minute it was raining, the next it was bright sunshine. We got the wet part of the day for both of our sessions. In free practice we had some engine problems which meant I didn't get as many laps in as most but was reasonably happy with the chassis. I needed a bit more grip on the rear for the afternoon session.

For qualifying 1 we put a softer spring in the rear so that it would squat more as soon a s I got on the gas and work the suspension rather than just working the tyre. It helped me get a bit more feeling for the rear and mainly improved grip and turning whilst on the gas. I finished the session in 21st which was bad but the feeling was there to put me in the top 15.

On Saturday there was no rain but it was looking like it could come at anytime The morning free practice session went quite well, it started with damp patches and then was fully dry by the end of the session.. I was inside the top 15 for most of the practice and was quite happy with the general bike feeling. Wanting a bit more grip from the rear but happy with the front. I ended the session in 16th, looking forward to final qualifying. For final qualifying the skies looked like they could let loose at anytime so I decided to go out straight away and get a good lap in early. On my 2nd lap it was spitting slightly and I was on a reasonable lap until I came across Heidolf dawdling on the racing line. I finished the lap but it wasn't much good and now it was difficult to see if the track was getting wet. I stopped in the box for 5 minutes until the weather had cleared up and then went to try a harder tyre because we were totally uncertain of what tyre I would use if we had a dry race. I did about 5 laps but didn't like the feeling of the harder tyre. I didn't have a lot of side grip and couldn't get on the gas as hard as I liked and was losing too much time. Before I knew it we had 8 minutes left and I put in the softer tyre again to get in 2 flying laps. On my fastest lap made a slight mistake which cost me a few tenths and finished up in 18th. I was reasonably happy because the times were close, 0.7 to 12th, but was slightly worried because we had no direction with what rear tyre to use. I decided that night that if it was dry it was best to stick with what I knew and use the softer tyre. I would have liked to use the harder one but we didn't have any time to adjust the bike and make it work better with the tyre.

On Sunday morning the skies looked grey but I'd been told that it would stay dry. I ran in pistons during warm up and got a feeling for the bike with a full tank and it felt like it was a bit too soft on the front in the hard braking areas. We added a bit more preload which helped this and now my only slight concern for the race was how my rear would last and whether the setup was right for a race distance.

My start was so-so and like last year, I stayed right on the inside of the long first corner which is definitely the way to go. I gained a few places from my positioning on the track but then in the second corner I lost a couple because there was a bit of bumping and barging directly in front of me that I had to avoid. As the race got settled over the first couple of laps I was feeling pretty good on the back of a big group of about 6 riders with a couple of the semi-factory bikes in there as well. I was in 15th and hanging on OK for about the first 5 laps and then started getting a more and more loose feeling on the rear every lap. Also the temperature had been the warmest that it had been all weekend which meant that I got even less laps out of the tyre than what I had in qualifying. I started to drop back quite quickly and eventually got caught and passed by Baldolini and Heidolf which put me back in 17th. I tried to hang onto both of them but I couldn't get anywhere near them on drive coming off the important corners, like coming onto the back straight. I couldn't get the power to the ground and was losing all my time in that area. I finished the race in 17th but felt it was as much as I could do.

After the race and on the flight back from China I had a good chat with my chassis mechanic, Alessandro, and we talked about the geometry of my bike. The problem was that when I had all the issues with not being able to fit on the bike we put extended bar ‘clip on's' on and that meant that I couldn't turn the bike as well. With this we had to steepen up the bike and put more weight on the front and take weight off the rear so I could turn it how I wanted. In Turkey I got my extended seat and took off the extended 'clip on's' but we never changed the bikes geometry, so we decided that is was probably way too steep for how the bike was now set. We made a plan of how to start the weekend in Le Mans which was more in the direction of making the bike flatter so I was the best in both areas. I could turn the bike whilst still having good grip in the rear. In China I think that my problem was mostly coming from the way my bike was set, not the tyre being too soft.

After the Chinese GP we flew into Paris and then had a connection to Birmingham with Air France (otherwise known as Air Chance!) and they lost our luggage which was handy! After a couple of days at home we flew to Le Mans on Thursday morning. The first session in Le Mans I immediately felt a difference with the bike and most importantly it was for the better. We didn't get too many dry laps in because it started to rain but I was happy with the bike. Even in the wet I felt pretty good. I didn't get too near the limit but was doing good times in comparison to everybody else and it was nice to have that sort of feeling again! I ended the session in 13th, looking forward to getting back out in the afternoon.

The afternoon session also went well. We made a couple of small alterations to the chassis and I was getting more and more confidant with the whole bike. The weather stayed dry (just) and I was never out of the top 15 and finished the session in that position, 15th. I was looking forward again to the next day because I felt that I didn't do that good of a lap and it could be another 0.5-0.7 faster. I was really happy with the way the bike was turning and I still thought that I could have sacrificed some of my front grip to get a bit in the rear.

For Saturday it just didn't got right from the time I woke up until the time I went to sleep. I might as well have stayed in bed all day! The team put a new engine in my bike on Friday night and as I exited the pit lane for morning free practice I knew something was wrong. As soon as I revved the bike from about 11-12'000 it made a harsh rattling noise. I stopped in the box after one lap and explained it to the mechanics but they were unsure of what it could be so they sent me back out to do another couple of laps to see if anything improved. I spent the complete session in and out of the box and I only did 8 laps in total and only 2 full laps where I crossed the start/finish line. After the session the mechanics decided to put the old engine back in because they were totally unsure of what the problem was with the new one. I thought that it could have been the crank because it felt and sounded like it was something pretty terminal, not just a small problem.

For the afternoon the old engine was back in and it was faultless and was running well. I spent half of the session trying different things with the setup, all of which was making very slight differences but was mainly focusing on trying different tyres so I had a better idea of what to use for the race rather than being undecided like I was in China. After trying a couple of different tyres I came in for some fresh, soft rubber for the last 10 minute blast. I had done an average time for just mainly doing a bit of tyre testing but now it was time to piece it together a bit more, get hooked onto the back of somebody and get the qualifying lap in. There was 9 minutes to go and as I came out of pit lane I looked behind and saw Takahashi coming out of the pits about 10 seconds behind me. I thought “perfect, I'll just hook myself onto the back of him and he can drag me around”. As I rolled down the hill into the second corner I felt the bike splutter a bit and as I pulled out of the corner it just died on me and cut out completely. I pulled over and tried to check what I could, like the battery connection, fuel line connection but could see nothing wrong. My session was over and I had to make my way back to the box on the back of a truck, watching everybody else riding around and the most depressing part, probably bumping me further and further down the time sheets. In the end I got pushed down to 19th. This had been by far our best start to a weekend all year and Saturday just wasn't my day. When the bike came back to the box the mechanics checked it and the cause of my break-down was “a miscalculation of fuel”. Our fuel man had miscalculated the amount of fuel that I needed which was pretty annoying! My team mate was OK though, he finished the session and still had a couple of litres to spare. Everybody makes mistakes though, just as long as it doesn't happen again.

On Sunday I woke up to extremely grey skies and wet ground. It had rained pretty hard in the night and our warm up would definitely be wet. I ran in the new pistons for a few laps and then didn't push too hard. Le Mans is not the grippiest circuit in the wet and I'd already watched Dovisioso and somebody else chuck it down the road so I decided not break my balls too much seeing as it was only morning warm-up. I ended the session in 15th.

For the race I was well decided what tyres I was going to use and was just in need of a good start, get away with a decent group of riders and thought I could probably do alright. My start wasn't too spectacular, initially it was OK but I had to roll off slightly because Tizon came across on me and I lost some momentum, I was on the outside in the chicane and that is not the way forward! My grid spot was up against pit wall which made it difficult to get over and on the inside for the chicane. I'd have probably preferred to have qualified in 21st, just because it sets you up much better for an inside line into the first corner. I held my position, 17th, through the next long right and then up over the brow Guintoli passed me into turn 3 the 90 degree left hander. On the exit I was just being Jules Cluzel, Guintoli's team mate who was trying to win his home Grand Prix at the 3rd corner. He came out, gassed it up and flicked himself of it leaving his bike right in my path and I had no where to go. I hit the middle of his bike and then the rest was history. I think I went over the top and the did a bit of rolling into the gravel pit. It didn't hurt at all but I was pretty angry. Cluzel has crashed so many times this year (3 times in Le Mans) and wasn't manly enough to admit he screwed up and apologize. So that was it, from a good weekend to an absolute disaster in 2 days.

Hopefully I will be racing in Mugello. I'm in exactly the same situation as what I was before Le Mans, I'm just waiting for the team to ring us to tell me whether or not I'll be racing. The problem is just down to money but the team are not interested in a rider who can bring in a budget to just do 1 or 2 races. They're looking for someone who can at best finish the season for them but they'd probably take someone who could do 5 or so races. So, until they get a rider who can bring that sort of budget in, I'll still be riding the bike. But I can't count on it too much, there's plenty of Italians out there who can find sponsors pretty easy or have rich Dad's. Fingers crossed I'll be there.

Until then I'm now in Monaco with Casey. It's pretty damn cool. Money everywhere you look, tied up in cars mainly. Bentley's, Ferrari's, Lotus's everywhere. I've never been here before but I've brought my bicycle and me and Casey are having a good crack. He's managed to blag me and him 2 tickets off Red Bull for the F1 this weekend which is proper exciting. I've never seen F1 so that should be cool. Also, Casey has borrowed a bicycle off Troy Bayliss. Troy is a top bloke and loves his cycling. He's helped Casey out loads with the bike and kit and this morning we went for a ride, stopped at a gym and then went for a coffee and then rode back. At the coffee shop Axel Merckx, son of legendary cyclist Eddy Merckx turned up. There's loads of pro cyclist's around here and it makes it really good fun to go out and rattle up the miles. Also on the ride home, Alexander Vinokourov, a Kazakh rider, came down a hill as we were going up. He finished 3rd in the Tour de France last year. And then we caught up the World Champ from a few years ago, Igor Astorloa who was out on a steady ride. It's pretty awesome being in the company of people like that. We had a real good ride as well and we'll be back out every day this week.

Hopefully I'll have a report for you after Mugello. Cheers.

Chaz#57!!!