Steve Plater joined forces with Keith Amor and John McGuinness for a shakedown test at Darley Moor recently to ensure there were no minor problems with the new CBR1000RR World Endurance bikes before heading off to Europe for a series of pre-season tests. The planned test at Donington Park had to be cancelled because of the late delivery of some new parts for the Superbikes and so the Honda TT Legends team moved on to Albacete in Spain for a full on test session with Dunlop. Steve, from Woodhall Spa near Lincoln enjoys the Albacete circuit and said: Albacete is my favourite Spanish circuit for testing as you spend so much time at full lean, twisty and technical making it easy to feel changes made to the bike’s geometry.” The three riders were joined by some new staff, some with Endurance experience and some without – but all proved to be very capable. The first day was sunny, not too warm but dry ideal conditions to get some basic mileage in, blow away the cobwebs and make the first steps to finding a good base setting for the Honda. Plater said: “Although we have access to HM plant Honda’s data our bikes are quite different as the Endurance bikes have wider swing-arms, fork yolks and bigger fuel tanks that make them heavier with harder compound tyres for distance. “The main goal for this first test was to find the parameters of the Honda’s working window with these different components. This can be tough enough for one rider but for three riders to try every different setting takes a great deal more time. “By the end of day one we had worked through a number of settings but none of us was too happy with the bikes’ reactions through Albacete’s twisty turns. “The original plan for day two was to try some race simulation but we decided it was more important to find the main parameters of the bike and so we sat down to make a plan to check ride heights front and rear, wheel base lengths, all Dunlop’s tyres, some different mappings and some simple rider positioning.” The team worked very well together thus making the rider’s job much easier, and although day two was extremely busy, the hard work paid dividends resulting in all three lapping comfortably, competitively and within one second of each other. As there are still many things to test on the bikes and also in the pit box, the back up team stayed an extra day to test wheel changes and to prepare for next week’s test at Magny Cours when Plater and his teammates will have the chance to check out the circuit ahead of the first round of the World Endurance championship the Le Mans 24 hour race that takes place over April 16-17.