20 June 2003
Round 5 – A1 Ring Austria
The start of a new era. Diablo 666 are go!

When James Hutchins and Kevin Falcke decided after the Albacete round that the Management Structure of the Trackdaze Team was not for them, the obvious answer was to form their own Team.

What had started out as being a new association with an established British World Endurance Racing Team with brand new GSXR 1000 K3 Suzuki's, one however who had never scored so much as a single championship point, the lads were lying in 7th position in a World Championship, having scored a 5th, 7th, and 10th position finishes in three of the first four rounds.

It was therefore a brave decision to go it alone, but with the help of Miles Hutchins - Team Principal, Terry Rymer - Team Manager, Nathan Colombi and Geoff Randall - Chief Mechanics, the Diablo 666 Team had risen in just three weeks, the time elapsed since the Albacete round.

It was all very well having the riders but what were they going to ride? The Team turned to Bob Copare, Kevin Falcke's personal sponsor for the past two seasons in BSB, who just happened to have a Suzuki GSXR 1000 K1 British Superstock spec Suzuki sitting in his garage. This had been converted back into full road trim for his own personal use but was instantly, when asked, donated to the Team. How keen is that!

With time very short between the rounds Nathan had very little time to fettle the machine, which had been completely refurbished since the end of the 2002 BSB season, the only major change made was to upgrade the –standard” superstock machine was to graft on Brembo discs and callipers to aid the stopping ability of the bike. Other essential parts had been begged, stolen and borrowed from other racing friends such as a quick fill tank and sharing the pit with the well known and respected Bolliger Kawasaki Team, who during the meeting were truly amazing with their help given to the fledgling team. This relationship was to be repeated during the other two rounds of the 2003 season and would lead to an even closer association in the 2004 season.

The one main essential missing was 'quick release wheels', a must for endurance racing, it had been decided that the time lost would be a handicap but one which the riders would have to make up for by riding the wheels off the bike.

The round at the A1 ring was to be Six Hours in duration, a three-hour stint on the Saturday, followed by a further three hours on the Sunday.

All was set for qualifying and the Team caused something of a storm is an understatement. In only its first outing on a now three year Suzuki, seriously down on power compared to their rivals, the Team qualified in 12th position, putting many of the established Teams very much to shame.

The riders James Hutchins and Kevin Falcke had been joined in the Team by Australian Superbike rider Warren Watson, all three riders proving to be equally quick.

All was set for the start of the race, but problems from the beginning, the Gixxer appeared not to like the searing heat and was proving difficult to start. On the grid the machine refused to start but eventually spluttered into life and Diablo 666 were in their first race albeit almost last. With three hours to run on the Saturday the riders quickly found their rhythm and the Team climbed up to 7th position, a fantastic achievement until at the second pit stop it became obvious that the brakes were now going to cause a problem. The mega Brembo discs and callipers were causing the forks to twist causing the pads to wear unevenly and needed changing. This was going to be a long stop and did indeed drop the Team well down the order. As the bikes were wheeled into Parc Ferme the Team were down but not out of it.

With the six hour races, mechanics are not allowed to do anything to the bikes, five minutes is only allowed when the bikes are released on race day to refuel, repair and to get back onto the grid.

The bikes lined up on the grid again and away we went again. This time the Team resigned itself in the knowledge that the brake shoes were again going to cause a problem and delay the bike at one of its two stops. At least the stop when shoes would be changed was calculated for in the refuelling strategy.

The bike ran faultlessly to the end and the Team's final placing was 18th. This was just outside the points with 15th being the final points scorer. The Team were not down and out, just a bit disappointed that the Team's debut had been spoiled by something as simple as brake problems, everything else had gone so smoothly. The riders had been consistently running at top ten pace, the pit crew had done their job admirably.

All in all the Team had learned a lot. Watch out for Diablo 666 at the next round at Oschersleben.

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