Vehicle and kit inspection time!

The start of the race is now within sight, and the last minute rush to prepare the bikes and cars for inspection gave us our first taste of the mayhem that is to come.

All bikes (including the two backup bikes) had to be prepared exactly as they will be on race day, including 16 strips of reflective tape spread about the bike and the rider's numbers clearly visible from the left. Both support cars needed a large yellow billboard attached to the roof, with countless stickers, lights and radio cables all neatly organised.

I did feel slightly like Upham from Saving Private Ryan during the bike prep, although I managed to find some useful things to do while the team sank into their areas of expertise.

Thanks to Paul's careful planning and despite our efforts to confuse the windscreen wipers with the indicators, we passed with flying colours. Apparently we will need to keep these standards throughout the race or a penalty will be applied!

We finished the day with a long trip out to a Thai restaurant with an amusing method of kitchen timings that left Phil with both courses arriving at the same time and JC's starter finally emerging long after everyone had finished.