So finally, here’s another update as promised. I’ve got a fairly good excuse why it’s been so long since I last wrote in… We still haven’t got the internet hooked up here at our flat, which is pissing me off as it’s been a month since they began getting it installed and it still aint working. They do take their time over here but seriously…. How hard can it be? Anyway, since I last wrote in I’ve managed to do quite a bit.

Damo's pimped out ride...

First off was the purchase of our new (well it’s old, but new to us) car, a fiery red Fiat Punto. I gotta say it’s really no Porsche, but for 800Euro what can you expect? It’s got 4 wheels, 4 doors, an engine that runs and a Mega Bass clock radio. It’s a beauty. But it’s still going strong and I haven’t killed it yet. I’m actually surprised it’s not dead yet, as since I’ve been here I haven’t really had a good run with machinery.

You see, before I got the Punto I used Mandy’s Van to go to Graz one afternoon and on the way home I got a puncture. So I changed the wheel on the side of the motorway and returned his van with one flat tyre. I then rode his mountain bike home from his shop to our flat only to get a punctured rear tyre on that, which left me with a 13klm jog home. Slightly embarrassing, but I put it down to bad luck having run over probably the only 2 screws on the road in whole of Heimschuh. But things got worse.

I volunteered to take one of the YART R1’s with Mandy’s Van, to our sponsor’s Sexmagazin for an Erotic show in Vienna (I’m all heart, I know). So I loaded the trailer with the bike and set off with the Van that had run for 279,000klms with out missing a beat.

About 180klms into the trip the Turbo shit itself. Lovely. So, on the side of the motorway I called Mandy and told him the oil that was missing from Citroen’s engine was now evident all over the bike trailer. I was only 8klms out of Vienna, so we decided to push on and try and crawl it to the show. It didn’t make it.

Mandy's gunna love this...

I ended up getting towed by a mate of Mandy’s to the show, where it was loaded onto a trailer bound for home. The prognosis was a complete rebuild. Lovely. Needless to say the boyz have hung shit on me constantly since.

Thankfully my luck turned around a bit for the Le Mans testing in France, which went well with no flat tyres or engine rebuilds.

It was freezing cold and raining when we arrived on the Tuesday morning (the day before the test) and without being able to unload the truck till 6pm, Igor found the closest Shopping centre to purchase a “Pour yourself” beer drum. So in the afternoon, perched up in our tiny rental car, we poured everyone in our team a beer. This got some laughs, especially when we opened the tap for the first time and beer sprayed everywhere but into the cup. The pressure in this drum was unbelievable, I nearly lost a finger. Funny stuff. Click this LINK to view a clip.

YART, Diablo and GMT laughing at Damo's hair.

I spent the next 2days getting used to the YART R1, which felt a lot different to the Phase One bike I rode last year. I guess it’s hard to say whether it was a difference from YART to Phase One or 2006-2007 but it sure was different so I took my time settling into it. Seb (Scarnato) had a buster at the end of the first day which knocked him around a bit and put a downer on the day. It also meant he missed the second day of testing after discovering later in hospital he’d dislocated his shoulder.

Damo and Igor in testing.

Things came to me by the end of the second day and I wound up about a second slower than Igor, who was amongst the fastest at the test. I was happy enough just to get some good mileage under my belt and come away in a positive frame of mind for the second test and the season ahead.

After returning home to Austria, Amy and I kept ourselves busy working at the pub (Route 69) to earn a bit of extra coin. This, as I mentioned in my last column, has really kept us on our toes trying to understand German. But it’s good work and we like it there.

"2 beers coming right up"

The pub annually run a couple of wacky 50cc Moped races, so instead of working I actually got to compete in one they held recently.

The rules stated a 50cc engine, older than 1990, air cooled, with a maximum 4 gears. A “Le Mans” style start included a Jagermeister shot at the bar, followed by a routine pint at each pit stop. Can you believe this? It’d make Occupational Health and Safety in Oz call for back up!

So teamed with Mandy and Igor aboard a 1979 Austrian Army Service PUCH Ranger 50cc, specially prepared at the Jerman residence, we took on the best Austria had to offer…. And got our asses kicked.

It’s true to say I was very unprepared for the race, as this was certainly unlike any other race I’ve ever competed in. I remember hearing Igor tell me that I needed better ‘drinking condition’! And I can tell you, Igor’s is pretty good….

What set us back the most though was the heap of shit we were riding. This PUCH 50cc was slower than a ride-on mower, and they tell me they used these in the Army…. I told em it was no wonder they lost the war. We spent more time working/swapping carby’s on the thing than we did actually riding it, but it sure was a heap of fun.

Damo enjoying himself.

The pub will run another event at the end of the year, that is said to be the holy grail of Moped races, and annually attracts around 6,000 people! So we’ve vowed to prove our worth at this next one, and plan to ditch the PUCH and build a 50cc weapon… Stay tuned.

After recovering from the Moped race, it was back to France for the 2^nd and final Le Mans test before the race. This time we drove there via Slovenia and Italy, the whole trip taking less than it does from my place in Oz (Taree) to Phillip Island.

The test went better than the first one and I managed to get quicker, as I gained confidence on the YART R1. Igor again set the pace, not just for the team but for everyone in general and came away with the fastest time of the test. I managed to get within a second of him on race tyres, but sort of hit a bit of wall in the 1.41’s. I couldn’t quiet get into the 40’s. As hard as I tried, it just didn’t come to me, so I knew I had work to do before the race.

There wasn’t much time between this test and the Le Mans race week, so it was only home for a few days before hitting the road to France again.

I’m sure most of you know by now that we finished 5^th in the Le Mans race, so I won’t bore you with every detail of the weekend, but I will tell you that it wasn’t the result we expected or really wanted. It was just a really hard week, and I think a little harder for me than Igor and Seb. I’ve got to be honest, I was disappointed with my personal performance. Doing a 1.40.1 in qualifying was ok, but only managing a mid 41 in the race pissed me off. I just couldn’t go any faster without feeling like I was about to chuck it down the road, and we definitely didn’t need that. So I chose the safe option and brought it home, but I came away annoyed.

"Are you sure we are only halfway?"

We had other problems with fuelling, and brakes and stuff, that would have kept us off the podium anyway, but we couldn’t have won at my pace. Igor rode really hard all race, and Seb was more consistent, so it’s up to me to lift my game.

I’m probably being a bit hard on myself, but that’s me. I don’t like being a weak link in the chain. I also don’t like other wankers ringing my boss bagging me out to try and get my ride next year. So I’ll be digging real deep in Spain to turn that around. They’ll see that.

Well I guess that’s enough for the moment. I’ll be off to Spain on Tuesday next week for round 2, so stay tuned.

Will also have a few new things happening with my website, so keep logging on for the latest updates that will be coming soon…

Till then, take it easy, and I’ll report in after the Albacete race.

Ciao for now,

Damo.