1976 MZ ISDT replica

halfway between christmas and the new year, i'm on holiday, i'm loving it, i can get up at the stupid hour of 0800hrs instead of in the middle of the night, i can walk the dog's in the daylight instead of trying to chase them all over derbyshire with a fucking mag-light, today, i sat down with a brew and watched the highlight's of the southern 100 roadracers on sky, i got time to spend on the racer project and i sorted out my magazine collection, don't know why i picked this copy of 'performance bikes' up, it's from 2009 and as i idly flicked through the pages i caught this article by simon martin, i've always been a fan of his since he built his xbr honda 500 single engined racer, some of the paragraphs in the article just kicked me in the bollocks, ' despite what you tell yourself beforehand, within half a lap of your first race you will want to win'. 'do you really need tyre-warmers? they will make no discernable difference on production tyres, especially after you have ridden 500 metres through the paddock, been held in the holding area for ten minutes, on the grid for another three and completed a sighting lap' 'the machine is almost secondary to your own ability and limits' and for me the most telling, [especially as i have to endure the constant piss-taking of all the trackday warriors at work] 'trackdays are as far removed from road racing as caffeine is to heroin, apart from the venue they have almost nothing in common......'