The route to racing

Since passing my bike test in 2001, I got involved with a friend up
the road who raced an R1 in the Bemsee Powerbike series.  He was the
one who taught me to "get my knee down", and we used to embark on
rides to local bike haunts with some of our mates. More often than
not, my friend would be recognised as the local track racer, and as
we'd go to leave, others would follow us out and before you'd know it,
things would descend into all-out road races. I remember sometimes
getting home after those rides and thinking I'm lucky to still be
alive.

With the feeling that riding fast on the road was going to get me into
trouble in one form or another, I started doing track days. This was
where I really started to enjoy myself, and after a few years of bike
track days, I decided it was time to give it a go in the car. I
booked a beginners day at Brands Hatch and opted for some one to one
tuition for a few of the sessions. I thoroughly enjoyed it, even
though I was driving my Audi A4 and booked my ARDS test to get my
racing licence.