to follow...........

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Triples are the future, baby!

brief report for now as I'm very tired and there's a nice hot bath waiting for me.

Sadly my Daytona decided to play up - i had alarm trouble. But I got a few sessions in.  I left later on in the afternoon.  At that point everyone was still having a good time and there had been no crashes (tales of grass cutting and missed gears to follow!)

We had 10 today:-

Fast:  Nitronorry, Bones, Roadrace

Inters: Me, Ket, J1, Zidane

Novice: D6, Daytona 63, Devils Advocate.

Rain was off and on. One inters session saw about 4 riders staying out (Ket included) but overall it wasn't too bad. 

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Triples are the future, baby!

Despite a bit of rain - and a couple of red flags (thankfully none of us causing them) I had a really good time.  Got there silly early  - and met Road race already prepared with a coffee waiting.  Excellent.  So dropped my bike off to have tyres fitted by a moron (took about 40 mins to fit the rear - which meant my first session i had to go out with the new rear and old front)  and then I sat with roadrace and awaited the others to arrive.

Ket showed up and the next half hour was spent trying to get his RSV starting. 

Kwacky arrived shortly after with a functioning Daytona at that point.

Nitronorry arrived early too, and rushed to grab a garage - only to find for some bizarre reason no-one used them - and there were plenty to choose from.

Then met Devils Advocate and Zidane by the canteen and went and signed in joined by daytona63.  Luckily no licence was asked for - and no sound checks were made on any of the cans.  Even Kets RSV.

then the first sessions came... 

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Top day out, Guys. Got there early too...all i could see was D6's bike sat on it's own but no one else. So i signed on and went to find the others evetually sussing out that Roadrace and Ket were parked down by Edwinas.

Anyway after the briefing us novices had to have our first session as a full-on follow the leader session which was a bit frustrating but at least it got me a good sighting of the track.

First proper session was good but if i remember was eventually curtailed by a red flag. There were a few red flags throughtout the day and nearly every time it was caused by a nobber who even i could see was pushing his luck. I got overtaken at one point by some git under a yellow flag at Edwinas only to find that next lap round said git was himself lying in the kitty litter..ha bloody ha!

Had one session spoiled by rain and went straight on at the Hairpin at one point as i was chasing after Devils Advocate but managed to stay on two wheels and no harm done.

Was a very good day all in all and the weather was as good as we could have hoped for bearing in mind how shite the summer has been.

It was good to meet some more sportsbikers and put a few more faces to names....just a shame i'm still the slowest sportsbiker there ..never mind at least i had fun and that's what counts in the end.

Oh and three cheers for Roadrace for his hospitality in providing a caravan to dodge the showers and hot burgers and coffee throught the day..cheers, mate it was very much appreciated!

I'll put some of my pics up in a minute.

 

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Fast were first out Nitro said it was going well, but Road race had fuelling problems (water) which ended the whole day for him.

Then it was Inters - Kwacky and the others can fill you in there.

Then Novice first session.  Unfortunantly we had to spend the entire first session like it was warm up - i.e. no over taking and at a steady pace.  In one respect it was good though as it gave my new rear a chance to scrub in.  Shame the tyre fitter was too slow to have put the front one on too.

So not much happened there.

Then the next session was cut  short by a red flag - but we got about 2/3 of track time.  I took it easy at first as the new front was just fitted.  Devil advocate however gunned it from the off taking about two or three riders on Gerrards on cold tyres. lol.

Just as I was getting happy with the front -  and starting to push, the session was stopped.  I did catch up with daytona63 who was entering the hairpin on a very strange line (ie not from the track).

Then our next session was the wet one I think. D63 called it an end to it after 2-3 laps, and I came in pretty  much straight after with wet pants.  Devils Advocate stayed out longer until it was red flagged (DA was looking very confident in the wet)

The next session Road Racce kindly loaned me his recording device - so off D63, D.A and myself went hopefully capturing some good film.  Not sure if it worked or not - RR will let us know.  The sessions were pretty good from there on.  If the cam works - then I should have caught some really good filming of our group - and some good footage of DA especially who I followed for most of the time to get some really good film.  I just hope it turns out.

I was loving the BT016 and they seemed to grip no matter what I asked of them.  Despite not hanging off at all in early sessions - they allowed me to nip around the course and Gerrards really well.  If only I can learn to hang off more (and not ask the tyres to work so hard) I could have been faster.  The tyres were lovely and chewed all the way to the very last bit of contact patch.

 

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I reckon i did about 65 track miles today which as the circuit is 1.4 miles long eqautes to about 45 laps which is one and a half BSB races...no bloody wonder we are all so knackered!

Oh and i wasn't going into the hairpin on a strange line....i was coming out of it on a strange line....straight on! [:'(]

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So last couple of sessions - despite the fact that I said I'd take it easy and try to learn to lean off more- I still Went round like a loon.  I did manage to shift me weight a little - which I think helped a bit - but still not hanging off much.  Still, even so - very few bikes passed me in the novice group (1 that I can remember) so maybe next trackday I should move up a group to try and improve further.

Last session Kwacky and D63 had called it a day and left early, and DA had leg/knee problems and decided to sit it out.  So i went out on my lonesome to practise some more.  On the end of the first lap my petrol light came on so I decided to come in after about 2/3 time to make sure I would make it to Morrissons on the way back to fill up. Still it was a good session and the sun was really shining so was one of the grippiest sessions so far.  Shame my wrist was not up to the job of hard braking and pulling the clutch in by that point.

Overall a superb time.

It was really good to meet everyone - and like D63 says thanks to roadrace for making it all very comfortable (and for the coffee, and burger and loan of cam)

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daytona63:

I reckon i did about 65 track miles today which as the circuit is 1.4 miles long eqautes to about 45 laps which is one and a half BSB races...no bloody wonder we are all so knackered!

Oh and i wasn't going into the hairpin on a strange line....i was coming out of it on a strange line....straight on! [:'(]

 

LOL, I just saw you really wide on the track still, but coming from the grass area. 

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That suspension set up was worth every penny, Kwacky. I didn't realise how good it felt til i got back on the road. With hindsight i ahould have had a proper fisrt session before i got him to set it up cos the sighting first session did not make me get a good feel for what was going on but once back on the road the difference is instantly noticeable.

I also asked him about new front springs and having the rear shock overhauled. He reckoned a rear shock overhaul was not worthwhile cos to do it properly would cost £250 which is half the cost of a brand new shock at Nitron which would be much better value (his words not mine). The front springs would be money better spent he said especially if i bought linear ones but was still not vital to a good set up!

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People don't realise just how important suspension is and what it can do to your bike if it's not right. If it's set up badly you'll struggle with braking and handling and to a lesser degree acceleration. I had the 600 set up a couple of years ago. The thing I noticed and you saw today was the way in which the tyres did their job on the track with very little tearing and bobbling.

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Triples are the future, baby!

A few piccies of mine, i'm hoping to have a new digital Superzoom camera for my birthday next week, so i can take some better track pic in future.

 

The Sportsbiker Pit Garage courtesy of Roadrace and Ket!

Kwacky being tuitioned

Ket (just about in shot!)

Various others ..not Sportsbikers.

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Well the above just about covered it all. Would like to tank RR again for his great hospitality.

 

And Ket I owe you a drink, you know why, and am sure you will find great amusement in telling the others. Put it this way, we became jealous of seeing the quadbikes on the dirt track at mallory so thought we would have a go too.

 

Had a great time, nice meeting everyone, had some great tussles with D6 which was the hilight of my trackday, hopefully came out on camera. (need ya email addy). Very glad I used the van as I was knackered by the end of the day, even though around 2/3 of them were red flagged so cut short and a couple were very wet, plus didnt participate in last one...I must be getting old.

 

 

daytona63:

Had one session spoiled by rain and went straight on at the Hairpin at one point as i was chasing after Devils Advocate but managed to stay on two wheels and no harm done.

 

I take it your referring to this moment D63

Now we can all see theres no rain in sight and its bone dry. No harm done? You have lost your dignity. I blame the honda to tbh

 

On a serious note the track was very deceptive at that point, dry in some areas but still wet at the hairpin, I heard screeching and the following lap saw someone off there, and the session red flagged, I presumed it was them screechin but later found out it was you. So you werent the only one. I had a couple of scary moments going into edwinas and around devils elbow missing gears, but managed to keep the sunny side up 

P.S me and D6 bought a CD and asked the guy to add it to the CD, he was a top bloke. Give me your email addy and I will send it to you so you can have it blown up in A2