From a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing:
Foggy In Action At Sepang
Carl Fogarty today experienced the Foggy FP1 at first hand in the searing heat of the Sepang circuit in Malaysia.
The three days of Foggy PETRONAS Racing action started today with a press conference for the local Malaysian media, who were eager to find out about this unique project.
Prior to that, Carl came briefly out of retirement to run some demonstration laps for photography purposes.
And, after Troy Corser had wheelied his way down the spectacular start/finish straight to the delight of PETRONAS and their guests, he and James Haydon got down to business for the final private work-out before the official World Superbike test next month.
Carl said: “I was obviously a bit rusty and also a bit nervous. I knew nothing about the circuit and I felt cramped up on Troy’s bike, which started to hurt my injured leg straight away.
“But it’s obvious how much potential this bike has got, as we proved at the last test in Phillip Island.
“It was very important for us to have the chance to show to PETRONAS at first hand exactly what the bike can do, because without them such an exciting and challenging project could not have happened.
“Now we have some important work to do out here. It will be useful to test the bike in the intense heat of Malaysia and this will also test the fitness of the riders over race distances.”
Today the team concentrated on engine and ignition mapping as the riders familiarised themselves with a circuit that is new to them both.
Test diary: It was soon clear just how long Carl had been out of action for. When putting on his leathers, he needed a couple of attempts before remembering that his Dainese racing suit legs went outside the boots – and not tucked inside. And a proud Michaela was clearly delighted to see hubby back in action and – in her words – ‘thrupenny bitting’ around turn one (roughly translated as stop-start braking that produces an edgy racing line, similar to the outline of a 20p piece or the old thrupenny bit in English coinage!)
Fogarty Himself Rides For Foggy Petronas World Superbike Test At Sepang
Fogarty Himself Rides For Foggy Petronas World Superbike Test At Sepang
© 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.