weblog

Well, we came, we saw, we rolled :(

The trip started off good, although being a different car there was a lot of learning to be had by both Paul and myself. The car was different. Pretty quick (it WAS a GTR!), but very very laggy. The point-and-shoot stages like the prologue really didn't suit the car, and in fact we weren't all that quick at all through the prologue, coming in somewhere around 25th or so. Tyres were a different choice (Kumho hard compound), and while they had heaps of grip, we were a little underwhelmed with them...

Day 1 was totally awesome, and we got a whole lot quicker as we learnt the car and got used to it. I was using different notes to what I was used to, and that combined with the much faster car gave me a few issues with the calls, which was really frustrating me. Still, I tried my best and things slowly fell into place...

Kept meaning to blog about this earlier, but haven't had a chance. Anyway, it's late now and I've got to wake up in less than 5 hours, so it'll be a quick one.

I'm going to Targa Tasmania 2009!!! Back with Paul Bergmann (my driver last year in the little Ford Escort), but this time in nothing less than a bright orange and purple 1995 Skyline GTR :D

Profile page

I'm so excited :D

After getting the Versys I spent a few days researching different options for hard luggage. One of the things that had annoyed me about touring on the SV650 was the inability to lock anything on the bike. Soft panniers and a Ventura bag made it difficult to keep anything secure, but I did not want to fork out for hard luggage on a bike I knew I wouldn't keep in the long run...

At first I was tempted to go with the Givi range (easily available), but while the racks were cheap, the luggage was amazingly expensive. And then I heard that the top case rack had a weak point that frequently failed, so that threw that idea out... I liked the look of the OEM rack (made by SW-Motech), but the design allowed the top plate to be removed easily even while the box was bolted down to it. Out the window too. Next on the list? Hepco & Becker, from Germany. Expensive but well designed racks, relatively cheap boxes. Hardly cheap actually, but cheaper than the Givi alternatives.