Erzberg 2008 - food for thought

[Breeze]

A few pics from the African Queens site:

This is the fast sweeping corner just before the long straight below the rider campsite: from 3rd flat out into 4th and 5th with the rear fighting for grip... this corner alone is worth the trip!



At the end of the straight, you downshift to 1st/2nd gear into this artificial chicane; very rocky, first time I went through I thought I had punctured my front tire. One of us with his AT is showing good style here!



This is the stock Rd04 which put to shame a lot of the other full Marzocchi/Ohlins etc. shod bikes... posted one of the best AT times.
The right wrist still counts!



This is the moment of truth: my race starts!



And finally this is Letizia, hope she'll be back next year on her "Pink Panther" AT!

[Breeze]

This is now getting possible. I may be able to get time off.

I NEED to know the ins/outs of registering/signing on etc, and what technical standards the bike must meet, noise, tyres, etc. I'm strugglimng with the website to answer these issues.

You register and pay through the internet, no real problem.
Practically anything roadworthy can race; while waiting for the start brakes are checked as well as tyres (all you really need is a fresh set!).
No noise checks, many of us had removed the db killer... you should have heard the thunder of the works KTM 950SE and BMW HP!

Would the UK team be riding over, or some bits on a trailer?? Given the website says "no water" on site, we'll need to sort something out. (I'm a heavy drinker!!).

We brought enough stuff to be self sufficient, but you can buy food and drinks down in the main tent (short walk, ride down, otherwise there's a shuttle service).

On the racebike side, mine will only hit about 90 with ease (thats probably ish 140kph), which sounds OK. Tyres wise, if its firm do TKCs work OK, or do people run deserts or similar? (I guess my enduro front will need to be changed!) Yep, I must semi-sort the suspension, but that would help tons with the rallies.

TKC is not the best choice, I would go for a more specific tyre; I used Metzeler Unicross but they are too soft, shredded the rear first time up. Michelin Deserts are better.

Training - where can we get access to long fire road style stuff, which isn't my forte on the 'alp, I need some skills training - iswoolley can you help??

We tried training before the event, but it's difficult to find something around here to simulate the speeds of the Erzberg. My advice: forget training for high speed riding, sort the bike properly and come racing, adrenaline takes over!

Anything else we need to consider? Race shirts, named/numbered?? Any shop/brand want a bit of exposure?

We are looking for small sponsorships to cover expenses for team shirts etc. (as we did last year). Definitely worth spending some money on these, they look great!
Maybe we could sort a common pattern (20th Africa Twin Anniversary) with different flag or something...?

Jenna, good chance to run one of your bikes in the puplic eye??

HELP, I'm going to obsess over this, I can tell, and it will cost me a fortune in prep bits!!

Seen this before!!!

(Need emulators and decent rear shock!!)

Storm8/Annette please keep us all in the loop!!

[Mudwiz]

Thanks Breeze, now its GOT to be done!

[Stormforce8]

OK - this event is now listed in the Calendar Section here and I've also posted in the Competitions forum here

Can all interested parties please add their name so we can guage the interest and start thinking about logistics / costs / etc.............

[Breeze]

Want to know what you see when you ride the 13 km race up the Iron Mountain??

Have a look...

http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=_eEwKxzJz0Y

[boboneleg]

I would absolutely love to do this but cannot commit at the moment. If my job goes tits up (looks likely at the moment) then I may just go no matter what.

thanks for the info Enzo , keep me informed Jonathan.

cheers, Bob.

[Stormforce8]

I would absolutely love to do this but cannot commit at the moment. If my job goes tits up (looks likely at the moment) then I may just go no matter what.

thanks for the info Enzo , keep me informed Jonathan.

cheers, Bob.

Bob - I'll certainly keep you posted - good to have you aboard (hopefully) I've started a new thread here.

Can you persuade Barftone as well?