TT: Hickman upbeat despite tough North West

Peter Hickman wasn’t disheartened by a tough week at the Vauxhall International North West 200 after his Smiths Racing team were able to gain a valuable understanding of their package ahead of this year’s Isle of Man TT.

Walking away from the Triangle circuit with a best result of fifth in the wet opening superbike race, Hickman and his team were frustrated by the lack of form but are taking it on the chin given he was riding machines that hadn’t turned a wheel prior to the event.

The lanky Lincolnshireman struggled with the fly-by-wire throttle connection on his BMW S1000RR, but after trying several different solutions during the week at the North West it now looks like they’ll revert from BMW’s kit ECU to the MoTeC system they use on his MCE BSB machine.

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“It’ was a bit of a tough meeting to be fair but although the results haven’t been quite what either myself or the team wanted we haven’t been a million miles away,” Hickman reflected.

“I hadn’t sat on any of the bikes before I got here and we encountered a few teething issues primarily with the electronics on the big bike and I couldn’t get the feel I was looking for with throttle connection.

“The set-up is very different to my BSB bike and while top end speed and braking was good, I was losing time coming out of the corners. I was there or thereabouts on the big bike but just didn’t quite have the feel to allow me to go with the leading group but we’ve learnt a lot and know where we need to improve.” 

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