One legend (Baylis) to another
and most awesome left-handers ever! Casey
smokes the rear-tyre all the way through here!
Don’t do that. Don’t even try to do that. You’ll
end up high-siding yourself into orbit.
Happily you can see where the track is going,
so you’re good to nail your throttle open and
lean to the left. It’s awesome sailing through this
bend as fast as you dare, and you’re thinking:
“Yeah, this is it! I could do this for ages!”
Except you can’t.
And you can’t because of Honda Corner –
which is right there in your face just as you’re
getting into the groove outta Turn Three and
watching your speedo climb over 200km/h.
62 KIWI RIDER
But you won’t see the Honda Corner hairpin
because you’re looking at your speedo. What
you’ll see will be the paddock garages and that
flat space where the rich people have their
corporate tents during the races. You’ll only
see this briefly, because your arms and legs will
part company with your body as you pinwheel
across the infield as the darkness claims you.
So do not look at your speedo. Gear down, brake
everything, and prepare for the right-hand hairpin.
Now the racers will tell you to go all the way down
into first. Do not listen to them. They think that
like them, you actually know what you’re doing.
You don’t. Do not go any lower than second.
Hell, even third is perfectly acceptable, because
while Turn Four is a hairpin, it’s a sizeable
hairpin. And if you’re in third, then you’ll be
making a very calm and civilised entry into Turn
Six after you leave Honda. Leave it in second
and it all gets very hectic, very quickly.
If you crash here you will see
more sky, then earth, then sky,
and then God