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Published: June 17th 2008
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Zhuhai
Boring picture of Zhuhai from our hotel. A bit more downmarket than Hong Kong. Skipped breakfast this morning - had another sleep in. Fai picked us up at 9.30 to take us to the track where John was working on his bikes, it was a practice day and he was getting in a few laps. The Chinese government has tightened up security and stopped issuing multiple entry visas due to the Olympic Games and problems with Tibet so John can only make it to the track once or twice a month. John suggested I take one of his other bikes for a ride and I thought it’s not every day you get the opportunity to ride a race bike round an international circuit. So I donned the old leathers and boots and all ( 29deg and 90% humidity I might add - phew!) and tootled off to the track on the old VFR400 behind John on his R6. After signing the mandatory ‘it’s not our fault if you hurt yourself’ form we took off around the circuit by ourselves for a couple of familiarization laps. Luckily I didn’t make an ass of myself and fall off at the first corner, but as far as racing goes I would need a lot more practice before I
Yamaha R6
One of John's R6's and Jac of course! was half decent! We pulled back into the pits so that we could join the rest of the group practicing in this session and took off again. My biggest fear was getting in the way of the other riders but as I discovered there were others there who were novices as well and as long as I kept notice of the two or three fast guys out there it should be OK. Now I know that I wasn’t going terribly fast but when one of the others comes flying past you coming into a corner you realize just how quick they can be! Overall a lot of fun and a cool experience I wouldn’t mind doing again.
After a break and a bite to eat John headed out for the third session and Jac and I headed over to the other side of the track on the scooter to watch. I’ve got to say that he was looking pretty bloody quick to me and definitely the fastest on the track on this day but not fast enough to satisfy himself apparently!
After that session John had a bit more work to do and we had a plane to catch. It
Honda VFR400
'My' VFR, tyre warmers and all was about 3.00 and we had booked a flight to from Guanzhou to Hangzhou at 6.35. It was 2 hours drive to Guanzhou from Zhuha iand John had organized someone to drive us there, so we said our goodbyes and departed. Thanks for everything John.
Our driver spoke no English so it was a fairly quiet trip to Guanzhou but we had a good chance to see the countyside as it whizzed past at 140km/hr. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of law and order on the roads in China and to a westerner the drivers seem really pushy and impatient, however there also seems to be no aggression either. So when people toot and push in it seems to be accepted, but if it was done in many western countries it may result in someone getting injured due to road rage. Consequently we were delivered to the airport with time to spare. Checking in and boarding was a piece of cake, aided by most signs being bi-lingual. Unfortunately we overlooked the packing of a few items of gel, liquid and aerosol into our checked luggage. We ditched the water bottles and decided to play dumb on the rest
Zhuhai International Circuit
John on the front straight at speed so we were a bit nervous going through baggage check. Oddly enough they confiscated some of the banned items but not the others! Pretty random really - I think they were just trying to look official and were not really sure what was banned themselves!
So all was going well up to this point but outside the sky opened and the rain came down in buckets, accompanied by thunder and lightening! Now I’m not a nervous flier but I couldn’t help wondering what Jac was thinking and how it was going to affect our flight. Four hours sitting in the plane on the tarmac was the answer! The rain had eased of shortly after it started but what affect that had on the plane (if any) was anyone’s guess. Some of the Asian passengers were getting more than a little irate and to add insult to injury after our 1&1/2 hour flight we had to wait again while a coach came to take us to the terminal. I guess all the staff who work the airbridges must have gone home! Anyway Kwan was waiting for us when we finally got there and we were safely delivered to our hotel via
Zhuhai International Circuit
Me on the front straight at a little less speed - OK a lot less! a fast taxi. To bed and to sleep sightseeing in Hangzhou tomorrow.
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Trudy
non-member comment
Speed Freak
Ah Brucee your dark side is rearing it's ugly head you speed freak.Make sure you come back in one piece. No more racing pleeaase