Despite that, I've not been for a few years. The last time I was on my Daytona 600 and Duke63 was on his Fireblade. Another good day. We were lucky enough to get instruction from a police biker (who sadly lost his life racing at the Isle of Man).
So about 6 years later I'm back and I'm with an old track day partner, Perkles.
The day starts off a bit weird as Perkles decides once we're on the motorway that he needs petrol, so we take a detour. No problem there's loads of time. We pull into the circuit and look for a garage. By "look" I mean "Perkles sees a gap and parks it up" We're sharing with what looks like a race team.
There's also a very tricked up ZX10r
and a Blade
Check in goes smoothly. It's a chronos day so we've all got transponders. The briefing is a bit weird. Most of it is fine but I'm sure he said there would be 3 sighting laps, 2 sessions then lunch. Each session is 20 minutes so I presume we do 3 sighting lights before our first session then 2 more before lunch. Nope.
The 100% suspension guy is there. It's now £50. Bloody hell. But, I've put it off for long enough. The service includes a full check and set up, improvements throughout the day, a full fact sheet showing all of the adjustments and you can call them any time to get advice about settings.
I get the bike set up.
Then we do our 3 sighting laps.
Then back into the pits and we wait for our next session. Very strange.
Out next session and I'm taking easy. But because I'm taking it easy it's all flowing rather nicely. I'm not braking for corners, but using the gears and rolling off. It's a great way to get used to a circuit. I pick my speed up and soon pass Perkles. That doesn't seem right.
Anyway, back into the pits and Perkles is reporting a problem with his rear master cylinder leaking. It's soon fixed.
I've met up with Jack. Cheers for coming mate, much appreciated
I then go off and get some adjustments to the suspension. It's turning in fine but not tracking the line I want. A few more tweaks.
Second session is great. Really flowing well. The bike is still running a little wide but otherwise all is good. Even my much hated Melbourne Loop isn't too bad. However I am running wide coming out of Redgate. I reckon I was going in too fast as I was forever catching and overtaking people there.
Where I was slow was on the Foggy Esses and the Loop. I was getting better at the Esses but I was still braking too early and going in too slow.
It's the back of the circuit I enjoy. From Craner to Coppice really seems to flow for me.
After the second session it's lunch. At 11.20. I have to admit this threw me and I didn't seem to get my head right afterwards. That was made worse when I was called out for the third session. Just as I'm about to launch the bike the red lights come on the circuit. Someone has binned it. On the opening lap before the corner. So I'm sat alone with about 30 bikers 10 yards behind me and a clean up operation and ambulance about 30 yards ahead. Not good prep.
Session 3 didn't go very well. I ran wide out of Redgate, over the kerb and on to the concrete and dirt.
Session 4 saw me struggling for whatever reason. I think I was worrying too much about the fact I don't hang off enough, so I was thinking about body position. As a result I wasn't concentrating as much as I should have been on the track. The fuel warning light was a welcome distraction.
I go off to get some fuel from the track station. As I'm riding back in the paddock a van pulls out on me and almost T bones me. Enough is enough. Time to go home. Overall a mixed da but one I enjoyed. I had a chat with a few people, got the suspension sorted and came home in one piece.
I really do need to start working on my body position. There are no chicken strips and I got my pegs down on Goddards. I also need to remember it's been several years since I did track days so I can't expect to be leading the pack in inters. That said, there were some very very quick riders out there today.
Massive massive thanks to Jack for taking some snaps. For spudda for showing his face and to Rocket for bringing cake. Cheers lads, I really appreciate it.
