Intro – This is the 16th column from a young mechanic that many people in the Australian Superbike paddock would have come across before. Indy Sam worked for Paul Free and Team Honda for a number of years before taking the plunge and heading overseas to gain more experience in the big pond of World Championship motorcycle racing. This year Indy is working for the Team SAG Bimota as mechanic to Ratthapark Wilairot, AKA ‘Feem’. Indy’s first column in case you missed it can be found Here, his second Here, third Here, fourth Here, fifth Here, sixth Here, seventh Here, eighth Here, ninth Here, tenth Here, 11th Here, 12th Here, 13th Here, 14th Here and 15th Here.
— Indy Sam Column #16 – The A Team with Mad Max
Kill the mad dogs was heard while packing up the pit box on a cold winter’s afternoon in Spain. It seemed like everyone was well pleased with the results after a few weeks of hard work testing. Making things a lot better was the fact that we had 2 riders who didn’t complain and just got on with the job lapping at a pace of times which just kept dropping. Sorting out the bike was the most fun I’ve had in 4 years since working with my old team in Honda Australia, and the riders had fun too with each improvement we made. To work with 2 fast riders was a dream come true for me and to see what they did in each of them tests was unbelievable so I cannot wait for the next season to start.
Under the guidance of Marco Nicotari since the Aragon Test, I worked with Friedo who was happy to be renamed Frodo as the telemetry and another mechanic Joerg Hornig from Yamaha Germany. We setup up the bike as standard as we could and let the pilots do the rest moving settings around through their feedback. I am confident that it will be almost impossible for me to speak German but with Max smiling and playing jokes I’m sure I will only concentrate on getting revenge, maybe with some teamwork from Ant!
Not realizing what a huge structure MZ actually is, I had to understand they have some history behind them and the future looks like interesting if things get done right like in the past tests. With Ant leaving us in Jerez I was left to push forward for another week with Max and I’m keen as ever to hit home with a fantastic finish to the end of this season full of heartache. We had a lot a laughs during these few tests, it seemed impossible that you could have this much fun and still reach your highest goals but now I can reinforce this belief, thanks to Ant and Max.
Having a few days to sort out things which don’t relate to racing I’ll try to stay as warm as possible, jumping from seasons crossing countries leaves your luggage a disaster. I spent a few days with some mates a few days before testing began and one of them Sergi Ros runs a company Simtechpro which makes game simulators ranging from 30 to 50,000 Euro, this guy is my age dammit! It was hard work driving your dream cars in 3d getting beat so I preferred to kill zombies instead, but even that gets tiring. Actually I haven’t played computer games in a few years so it was a refreshing change.
Excited to get back and tune up my car, I almost gave up on preseason testing, the thought of making something you’ve been driving for a year faster is too important. The more that I learn an RB26dett engine is restricted so much from the factory makes me feel like a kid with new toys to play with. I’m getting Zara’s boyfriend Nick Ashwin to do the work as he runs a company NA Autosports that does performance tuning to race and street cars, also my age dammit! Removing the boost restrictor, slipping on some semi slicks and swapping shock springs for a more controlled ride is on the Xmas list for sure. Having a huge passion for cars, I’m not too interested in working under them, Ant is pretty much the same but Brookesy actually knows much more than me. He pulls gearboxes out, changes clutches and rebuilds engines for fun in his spare time, all on his mates or his cars. So as soon as I get back next week I’m jumping in the beast and driving up towards Sydney for a few days with Ant before making the trek to Brissy before deciding about an adventure to Darwin with some friends.
After much thought I’ve decided that I will have to leave you with a sentence from the book I’ve been reading ‘You were born Rich’, if you do not understand this statement, please remove your ignorance and use Google, it’s that encyclopaedia you never had complete.
‘When you hold the image of your goal on the screen of your mind, in the present tense, you are vibrating in harmony (in resonance) with every particle of energy necessary for the manifestation of your image on the physical plane. By holding that image, those particles of energy are moving toward you (attraction) and you are moving toward them… because that is the law.’ – Bob Proctor ‘You were born rich’
Take it easy and I’ll fill you in during the holidays of more good news.