Euro Track Days 2015 - Le Mans & Mugello
Discussion
Anyone else here doing either of these?
I'm putting the 916 in the van and driving down to Le Mans for the No Limits track day on 25th - 26th August. Then from there continuing south to Mugello for the Focused Events trackday on 28th August - 30th August.
Any advice from anyone that's been to these tracks would be greatly appreciated.
Both tracks are charging for garages, which I don't mind paying, but it would be nice to share with other people as I'm on my own. Mugello is £25 for a standard pit box (£38 for premium which I'm told is bigger). For Le Mans No Limits told me there is supposed to be a charge but they haven't been charged for the last 5 yrs. Then lo and behold with the info they have just sent out, it's now 100 Euros per day for a garage...
Really looking forward to this trip. I've booked in for a tour of the Ducati Museum on the 30 August (factory will still be closed for the summer break) then I'm heading up to the Italian lakes for 3 days. Will have a ride around up there when I'm not lounging by the pool and hope to get the Moto Guzzi museum which is nearby. Then meeting some friends and rounding off the trip with the F1 Italian GP at Monza.
I'm putting the 916 in the van and driving down to Le Mans for the No Limits track day on 25th - 26th August. Then from there continuing south to Mugello for the Focused Events trackday on 28th August - 30th August.
Any advice from anyone that's been to these tracks would be greatly appreciated.
Both tracks are charging for garages, which I don't mind paying, but it would be nice to share with other people as I'm on my own. Mugello is £25 for a standard pit box (£38 for premium which I'm told is bigger). For Le Mans No Limits told me there is supposed to be a charge but they haven't been charged for the last 5 yrs. Then lo and behold with the info they have just sent out, it's now 100 Euros per day for a garage...
Really looking forward to this trip. I've booked in for a tour of the Ducati Museum on the 30 August (factory will still be closed for the summer break) then I'm heading up to the Italian lakes for 3 days. Will have a ride around up there when I'm not lounging by the pool and hope to get the Moto Guzzi museum which is nearby. Then meeting some friends and rounding off the trip with the F1 Italian GP at Monza.
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Both circuits are lovely and charasmatic. The Bugatti circuit at Le Mans in particular is overlooked because it's not the "proper" 24h car jobbie. Mugello obviously lovely.
Hope both you and the 916 don't ache too much after all that.
Unlucky on the garage charge at Le Mans - ho hum! Away from Spain and Portugal the charging for garages on foreign trackdays can get annoying / poorly publicised. If you're taking a van can you not borrow a genny for tyre warmers and say sod 'em?
Hope both you and the 916 don't ache too much after all that.
Unlucky on the garage charge at Le Mans - ho hum! Away from Spain and Portugal the charging for garages on foreign trackdays can get annoying / poorly publicised. If you're taking a van can you not borrow a genny for tyre warmers and say sod 'em?
moto_traxport said:
Both circuits are lovely and charasmatic. The Bugatti circuit at Le Mans in particular is overlooked because it's not the "proper" 24h car jobbie. Mugello obviously lovely.
Hope both you and the 916 don't ache too much after all that.
Unlucky on the garage charge at Le Mans - ho hum! Away from Spain and Portugal the charging for garages on foreign trackdays can get annoying / poorly publicised. If you're taking a van can you not borrow a genny for tyre warmers and say sod 'em?
I did think about taking a genny as power for the tyre warmers was my one of my concerns. But then I thought it would just be easier to have everything in the garage so I didn't have to pack up each night and then worry about the van getting broken into etc. Charging for the garages is not something I've come across before but then I've only been to trackdays in the UK and Portimao once. If there's a few of you and you split the cost it's no big deal, but I'm going to feel a bit of a tool sitting in my own garage!Hope both you and the 916 don't ache too much after all that.
Unlucky on the garage charge at Le Mans - ho hum! Away from Spain and Portugal the charging for garages on foreign trackdays can get annoying / poorly publicised. If you're taking a van can you not borrow a genny for tyre warmers and say sod 'em?
CQ8 said:
I did think about taking a genny as power for the tyre warmers was my one of my concerns. But then I thought it would just be easier to have everything in the garage so I didn't have to pack up each night and then worry about the van getting broken into etc. Charging for the garages is not something I've come across before but then I've only been to trackdays in the UK and Portimao once. If there's a few of you and you split the cost it's no big deal, but I'm going to feel a bit of a tool sitting in my own garage!
No Limits normally divvy a garage up 8 or 10 ways then take a couple of quid off each participant then give you a sticker to show you've paid up for the garage. I am aware it's probably run by BikersDays but No Limits will obviously send a rep. Don't worry about it, it does work out. If it doesn't worse case is loading up / unloading once too many. Most cheapie hotels around Le Mans (Campanile etc) have fenced car parks.
Mugello pit boxes are big - choose the cheaper option.
I thought I would update this thread and show a few pics from the trip. This was last summer but hopefully still an enjoyable read.
The trip over to Le Mans, crossing overnight from Portsmouth was painless, and I was able to have a walk around the Le Mans museums and still be unpacked and set up by the afternoon. Turns out there was no charge for the garages after all, which was a relief, and I set up in an empty one.
Shortly afterwards, I was joined by a great bunch of French chaps who do a couple of track days each year with some English friends. I speak abit of French but their language skills came in very handy the next day! It was a great party atmosphere in the garage, ac couple of them brought along their wives who were very good at making fun of the blokes, and enough food and drink to cater for an army. They made me feel very welcome. Before I headed back to the hotel I took a couple of shots from the pit lane that first evening.
Before heading back to the hotel, I managed a lap of the 24 hour circuit in my van. Most of this is public roads except for when the 24hr race is on.
For the two days I was at Le Mans, I had booked some instruction with Simon Crafar. Unfortunately the first morning, despite it being August, was pretty wet. We went out, did a sighting lap and then came back in. I'm not a fan of track riding in the rain, I know others rave about it but it's just not for me. I've tried wet tyres in the past, and I'd brought a set with me for this bike, but I still didn't feel confident. We decided to stay in until it was dry, which it was later in the afternoon. So back out we went...
With two days at Le Mans followed by three at Mugello, all I had to do was avoid crashing.... Sadly, shortly after thinking that I managed to have a low speed spill. I was following Simon past some slower riders but misjudged a gap resulting in me having to brake very, very hard and then dropping the bike. Fortunately, no one else was effected as I would hate to have ruined someone else's trip through my own stupidity.
The bike was not badly damaged (I was abit sore having face planted the tarmac), it seemed all cosmetic and we fixed everything up pretty quickly. My French friends were very helpful and they spoke to all the motorcycle dealers around the circuit to get the clip on I had bent, which was sourced from the Kawasaki dealer. The tyre fitter was brilliant and was able to fashion a usable footpeg and bend my back brake lever into the correct shape. Some pics after the repairs:
We were just putting the finishing touches to it when we noticed the front brake lever. It seemed to work fine but there was clearly something not quite right. You could move the brake lever away from the bars so that the rod was coming out the master cylinder. Not wanting to risk riding round a circuit with dodgy brakes meant that unless I could track down a spare then the bike was not rideable.
We tried all the local dealers a second time but no luck. It looked like my trip was over on the first day until one of the riders sharing the garage with Simon said he had a spare master cylinder and he was happy to lend it to me! What a result, I could have kissed him! So we stripped the old one off the bike and fitted up the new one. All was going swimmingly until we went to connect up the brake lines. My 916 has single circuit brakes and this master cylinder was off a bike with dual circuit brakes. It's not a major difference, but there is a banjo bolt at the bottom that has two holes for dual circuit and one hole for single circuit, the dual circuit bolt being longer. We couldn't re-use the bolt out of my busted one as it's a brembo master cylinder and this one wasn't, so the thickness of the bolt is different. Here's the part we needed:
I was gutted. It had been an emotional roller coaster all afternoon:
Low - straight after the crash, thinking the bike was wrecked.
High - realising it's not as bad as it looks and thinking we had fixed it.
Low - noticing the brake master cylinder followed by the high of the replacement!
High - replacement master cylinder
Low - no single circuit banjo bolt!
All this within a short space of time meant my nerves were pretty shot at this point, I was gutted that the trackday part of the trip was over due to one tiny bolt. So I gave up and went back to the hotel to feel miserable on my own, and to take some painkillers as my wrist and chest were really hurting from the crash.
I decided my best course of action was to try and get a replacement master cylinder couriered out to my hotel in Italy so I could fit it there and still do Mugello. A flurry of emails and calls to England followed and it looked like I had a replacement sorted, which was a huge relief. Just as I was about to get some sleep, my mobile rang. It was Simon, who was camping in his van at the track. He was chatting with some guys a few garages down and was telling them my tale of woe. One of them dug around in his tool box and pulled out exactly the part I needed! He was more than happy to give it to me so I could continue. Top man! The next morning I dashed down to the track first thing, with a stop of at the supermarket to buy a case of beer for each person that had helped me out, and fitted the bolt, bled the brakes and the bike was ready to ride.
The rest of the day went really well and with Simon's instruction my riding really improved (well I didn't crash). At the end of the day, I packed up and said my goodbyes and headed off to Italy. The chap who had lent me the master cylinder was happy for me to take it to Italy and send it back to him when I got home to England. Thanks again Ian!
I had been expecting to be on the road by 5pm but I didn't realise they took a 2 hour lunch break on trackdays in France so I didn't leave the circuit until 6:30pm. My Sat Nav then was slow to react at a motorway junction which resulted in a 30 minute detour. Still I only had 300 miles to get to my hotel for the night in Chalon-Sur-Saon....
I have driven across Europe many, many times so I still cannot understand how I misjudged this so badly! I finally rolled into the hotel car park at 3am, shattered. I managed 5 hours sleep before I had to be up and out the door for an 8 hour drive through the Alps and down through Italy to Mugello for signing on that afternoon.
But the weather and scenery were stunning and after the lows of the crash I was in good spirits . I had a slight delay going through the Mont Blanc tunnel when the Gendarme saw my bike in the back and pulled me over. But he only wanted a look and to chat about bikes, he had a Yamaha FJ1200.
Once you're out the tunnel and down into the valley it's pretty much motorway all the way to Mugello.
I'll do another post for the Italy section of the trip.
The trip over to Le Mans, crossing overnight from Portsmouth was painless, and I was able to have a walk around the Le Mans museums and still be unpacked and set up by the afternoon. Turns out there was no charge for the garages after all, which was a relief, and I set up in an empty one.
Shortly afterwards, I was joined by a great bunch of French chaps who do a couple of track days each year with some English friends. I speak abit of French but their language skills came in very handy the next day! It was a great party atmosphere in the garage, ac couple of them brought along their wives who were very good at making fun of the blokes, and enough food and drink to cater for an army. They made me feel very welcome. Before I headed back to the hotel I took a couple of shots from the pit lane that first evening.
Before heading back to the hotel, I managed a lap of the 24 hour circuit in my van. Most of this is public roads except for when the 24hr race is on.
For the two days I was at Le Mans, I had booked some instruction with Simon Crafar. Unfortunately the first morning, despite it being August, was pretty wet. We went out, did a sighting lap and then came back in. I'm not a fan of track riding in the rain, I know others rave about it but it's just not for me. I've tried wet tyres in the past, and I'd brought a set with me for this bike, but I still didn't feel confident. We decided to stay in until it was dry, which it was later in the afternoon. So back out we went...
With two days at Le Mans followed by three at Mugello, all I had to do was avoid crashing.... Sadly, shortly after thinking that I managed to have a low speed spill. I was following Simon past some slower riders but misjudged a gap resulting in me having to brake very, very hard and then dropping the bike. Fortunately, no one else was effected as I would hate to have ruined someone else's trip through my own stupidity.
The bike was not badly damaged (I was abit sore having face planted the tarmac), it seemed all cosmetic and we fixed everything up pretty quickly. My French friends were very helpful and they spoke to all the motorcycle dealers around the circuit to get the clip on I had bent, which was sourced from the Kawasaki dealer. The tyre fitter was brilliant and was able to fashion a usable footpeg and bend my back brake lever into the correct shape. Some pics after the repairs:
We were just putting the finishing touches to it when we noticed the front brake lever. It seemed to work fine but there was clearly something not quite right. You could move the brake lever away from the bars so that the rod was coming out the master cylinder. Not wanting to risk riding round a circuit with dodgy brakes meant that unless I could track down a spare then the bike was not rideable.
We tried all the local dealers a second time but no luck. It looked like my trip was over on the first day until one of the riders sharing the garage with Simon said he had a spare master cylinder and he was happy to lend it to me! What a result, I could have kissed him! So we stripped the old one off the bike and fitted up the new one. All was going swimmingly until we went to connect up the brake lines. My 916 has single circuit brakes and this master cylinder was off a bike with dual circuit brakes. It's not a major difference, but there is a banjo bolt at the bottom that has two holes for dual circuit and one hole for single circuit, the dual circuit bolt being longer. We couldn't re-use the bolt out of my busted one as it's a brembo master cylinder and this one wasn't, so the thickness of the bolt is different. Here's the part we needed:
I was gutted. It had been an emotional roller coaster all afternoon:
Low - straight after the crash, thinking the bike was wrecked.
High - realising it's not as bad as it looks and thinking we had fixed it.
Low - noticing the brake master cylinder followed by the high of the replacement!
High - replacement master cylinder
Low - no single circuit banjo bolt!
All this within a short space of time meant my nerves were pretty shot at this point, I was gutted that the trackday part of the trip was over due to one tiny bolt. So I gave up and went back to the hotel to feel miserable on my own, and to take some painkillers as my wrist and chest were really hurting from the crash.
I decided my best course of action was to try and get a replacement master cylinder couriered out to my hotel in Italy so I could fit it there and still do Mugello. A flurry of emails and calls to England followed and it looked like I had a replacement sorted, which was a huge relief. Just as I was about to get some sleep, my mobile rang. It was Simon, who was camping in his van at the track. He was chatting with some guys a few garages down and was telling them my tale of woe. One of them dug around in his tool box and pulled out exactly the part I needed! He was more than happy to give it to me so I could continue. Top man! The next morning I dashed down to the track first thing, with a stop of at the supermarket to buy a case of beer for each person that had helped me out, and fitted the bolt, bled the brakes and the bike was ready to ride.
The rest of the day went really well and with Simon's instruction my riding really improved (well I didn't crash). At the end of the day, I packed up and said my goodbyes and headed off to Italy. The chap who had lent me the master cylinder was happy for me to take it to Italy and send it back to him when I got home to England. Thanks again Ian!
I had been expecting to be on the road by 5pm but I didn't realise they took a 2 hour lunch break on trackdays in France so I didn't leave the circuit until 6:30pm. My Sat Nav then was slow to react at a motorway junction which resulted in a 30 minute detour. Still I only had 300 miles to get to my hotel for the night in Chalon-Sur-Saon....
I have driven across Europe many, many times so I still cannot understand how I misjudged this so badly! I finally rolled into the hotel car park at 3am, shattered. I managed 5 hours sleep before I had to be up and out the door for an 8 hour drive through the Alps and down through Italy to Mugello for signing on that afternoon.
But the weather and scenery were stunning and after the lows of the crash I was in good spirits . I had a slight delay going through the Mont Blanc tunnel when the Gendarme saw my bike in the back and pulled me over. But he only wanted a look and to chat about bikes, he had a Yamaha FJ1200.
Once you're out the tunnel and down into the valley it's pretty much motorway all the way to Mugello.
I'll do another post for the Italy section of the trip.
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