The new season is finally upon us, and it feels like a long time ago I was sat at a cold and damp Brands Hatch last October, but 2017 will soon kick into life starting this weekend at Donington Park.
I have made the most of this off season, this time last year I was still recovering from injuries sustained in 2015 so to have an off season where I could concentrate purely on getting fitter rather than rehab has been fantastic.
Jason O’Halloran pre-season testing at Monteblanco – Image: Stephen Davison
After my last column I jumped on a plane and headed back to Australia, and my partner Rachel and I stopped in Dubai for four days on the way back. It was a little break before we got home to see everyone and get stuck into my program.
My time in Australia always goes too fast, each year it gets harder and harder to leave. I returned to the UK at the end of February and headed straight to Spain to start testing. The guys in the workshop had a busy winter, we were all waiting for the new bikes to arrive, then when they did it was flat out trying to get them built and in the truck on the way to Spain.
Our testing program started with four days at Monteblanco in the south of Spain and it was a private
Honda test for the BSB, EWC, roads and some Honda supported teams. The weather there this
time of year is perfect and we have three years worth of data and reference from this circuit so it was
an ideal place to start with the new bike.
Although a lot of the components we are using this year are the same as last year, we also have a lot of new ones too. The Chassis is pretty much the same, fuel tank, swingarm, forks, shock, brakes, riding position are all the same, so it still feels like my bike from last year, but the main difference is the fly by wire throttle and blipper system.
The majority of the test was spent working on these two things, and the blipper is so important to get right as it improves corner entry so much when it is working correctly. However, as we found out on the first few days, if it’s not working correctly it can be quite a hindrance.
I think this probably took a little bit longer to get right than we were expecting, but by the end of the test it was working well and allowed me to concentrate on some other things on the motorcycle, now that I don’t have to worry about the clutch on corner entry.
The fly by wire throttle felt completely alien to start with and after riding the standard bike at Portimao in January I was feeling great with the standard system. I thought it would be pretty easy to switch from the cables to the fly by wire on the race bike.
Jason O’Halloran – Image: Stephen Davison
In BSB we have to run a MoTeC controlled system and to be honest this has taken some time to get right, I don’t think I’ve ever done as many Out and In laps in my whole career. I have a very committed team of guys working with me though, and I’m always willing to put the work in to achieve the end result so we worked hard over the four days and ended up in not to bad a position.
After Monteblanco we headed back to the UK for the official media/test day at Donington Park. The day is an official test but it’s also a media day and the British Superbike championship does a fantastic job with this side of things. They are always looking to promote the teams and riders within the championship and they give us a great platform to work from.
The day was pretty much a wash out weather wise, I did a few exits just to test some new maps for the wet weather but I didn’t complete a full lap. Again I was just using the time to do Out and In laps, testing the throttle connection and feeling with the power delivery in the wet. Donington is a super slippery track in the wet, so we didn’t need to take any risks.
Heading into Round 1 of the British Superbike Championship at Donington Park this weekend is exciting, I’m excited to get 2017 underway but I’m also aware that we have had limited time with a new motorcycle, so it might be a little bit of a long game attitude for us to start the season.
We need to learn as we go and aim to build as the season goes on, last time I raced at Donington I had a podium on the SBK so I’m heading in with confidence. As always I will be giving it 100 per cent, and I will check back next month and let you all know how I’m getting on.
-Jason O’Halloran
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