the bb trackday thread.

[obscene]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2UJCoA59qs

So Leon Haslam was at a track day and overtook this bloke...

[Gavia]

obscene said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2UJCoA59qs

So Leon Haslam was at a track day and overtook this bloke...

It's always going to look quick when the camera bike is going that slow

[graeme4130]

Gavia said:

stew-S160 said:

Gavia said:

George29 said:

stew-S160 said:

Here's the kicker...the noise test was done by the TDO...BY EAR. Didn't use a meter. Just revved mine and other bikes up in the pit lane and told us to bugger off, we're not allowed on track. Heck, even some like mine, just looked at the exhaust for a baffle, if one wasn't fitted, they said go away.

It was the TDO for sure doing this. The guy who gave the morning briefing, was in the TDO stand during the day, wore all the company gear...

I was there on Monday and he did clearly state in the briefing that on a quiet day it's road cans or a baffle only, and the only noise testing is done on drive by - which is done by the circuit and linked to the council.

I agree it's a bit of a stupid rule but I can fully understand why it's in place, as otherwise there would be all sorts of tts rocking up and going out with ridiculously loud exhausts going out to see if it's acceptable and breaking the noise limits, causing the circuit to get in trouble with the council.

Also I agree that it's ridiculous that the track day was stopped on the first session because of oil not cleaned up from the weekend - again though that has to be the circuits responsibility

Well that puts a different slant on things.

Indeed, it was covered in the briefing, but I ran without a baffle all day, except the last session when I wasn't allowed. They were not noise testing properly.

I completely understand why there are noise limits rule. But an older bike, pretty quiet system on it...

I did mention that mess on the track from the weekends racing.

The trackday company told you road can or baffle and you had neither. Unsurprisingly the track took issue with that. I'm not sure I see the problem though. The track owners makes the rules, the track day company was very clear on those rules with you and then you and many others it seems chose to break them and then get huffy about it.

I'm not sure that's totally correct. FE advertise the days as 98DB drive by days, and I'm pretty sure they don't say 'Road can or baffle' anywhere in advance
There's plenty of aftermarket exhausts that will make those levels, so to find out on the day that they're implementing a road can or baffle rule is still out of order
DB is DB, so surely, it's up to the drive by meter to determine what's ok and what's not ?

[Gavia]

graeme4130 said:

I'm not sure that's totally correct. FE advertise the days as 98DB drive by days, and I'm pretty sure they don't say 'Road can or baffle' anywhere in advance
There's plenty of aftermarket exhausts that will make those levels, so to find out on the day that they're implementing a road can or baffle rule is still out of order
DB is DB, so surely, it's up to the drive by meter to determine what's ok and what's not ?

If it's done via the driveby meter then it will end up in big fines for the circuit, as loads will chance it and end up breaking the limit. They've got a very small tolerance level and then the fines start to kick in. Once the fines start to pile up then the cost of a day increases for all of us and the council gets ever stricter and reduces the number of noisy days too.

No Limits are just as strict on their quiet days and have recently started to sell them as road bike only days with all sorts of rules applied to them.

The comment about the airport is a regular one, but we're not flying planes, we're riding bikes.

[hebegb]

Oulton Park - next Wednesday 21st - MSV.
A couple of mates on this one - anybody else ?
It's not Mugello ( think that will be next year though ) but looking forward to getting out on track again with 1: working right hand and 2: working bike , as recent Snetterton expedition resulted in the realisation that the trapped nerve in my shoulder stopped my right hand ( braking) fingers working properly and 5 laps in , coming in to the garage to wrap it up for the day , quickly found fork oil pooling on the floor ....not a weep but a full on leak ( duff machined seal ) which would certainly have had me off in a big way there had I completed that session ....
Somebody was looking down on me that day and I firmly believe in " fate"....
Anyway , first ever MSV day so something new there .... If paying somebody hiring track time and allowing you to ride around in circles all day in the same place as the next ever makes the difference some ( who really don't seem to actually ride very much ) say it does ...

[graeme4130]

Gavia said:

graeme4130 said:

I'm not sure that's totally correct. FE advertise the days as 98DB drive by days, and I'm pretty sure they don't say 'Road can or baffle' anywhere in advance
There's plenty of aftermarket exhausts that will make those levels, so to find out on the day that they're implementing a road can or baffle rule is still out of order
DB is DB, so surely, it's up to the drive by meter to determine what's ok and what's not ?

If it's done via the driveby meter then it will end up in big fines for the circuit, as loads will chance it and end up breaking the limit. They've got a very small tolerance level and then the fines start to kick in. Once the fines start to pile up then the cost of a day increases for all of us and the council gets ever stricter and reduces the number of noisy days too.

No Limits are just as strict on their quiet days and have recently started to sell them as road bike only days with all sorts of rules applied to them.

The comment about the airport is a regular one, but we're not flying planes, we're riding bikes.

I was speaking to one of the Donnington guys there some time back at a car track day. He told me they had a DB meter set up for Drive by on the circuit, which is controlled by them, and the council have another on the grounds, which I assume is the one they get measured by
Their own DB meter was set to trigger if cars/bikes made a sound level approaching that which would trigger the Council imposed one, so they used it a pre-measure to stop people that were approaching a level that could get them a fine.
I agree about the comment about planes vs bikes. However, the point remains that if planes can fly overhead at say 10minute intervals creating 130db, how can local residents maintain any grounds for moaning about bikes making significantly less other than what you'd hear as a constant noise instead occasional noise
Still, it's in place, and Donnington's a great track, so I'd hate to see bikes stopped there
I suspect this whole argument's more aimed at people taking a general dislike to how FE treat their customers rather than the circuit themselves

[George29]

hebegb said:

Oulton Park - next Wednesday 21st - MSV.
A couple of mates on this one - anybody else ?
It's not Mugello ( think that will be next year though ) but looking forward to getting out on track again with 1: working right hand and 2: working bike , as recent Snetterton expedition resulted in the realisation that the trapped nerve in my shoulder stopped my right hand ( braking) fingers working properly and 5 laps in , coming in to the garage to wrap it up for the day , quickly found fork oil pooling on the floor ....not a weep but a full on leak ( duff machined seal ) which would certainly have had me off in a big way there had I completed that session ....
Somebody was looking down on me that day and I firmly believe in " fate"....
Anyway , first ever MSV day so something new there .... If paying somebody hiring track time and allowing you to ride around in circles all day in the same place as the next ever makes the difference some ( who really don't seem to actually ride very much ) say it does ...

I would have done this but just booked on Donington for the 20th.

Sounds like a lucky escape. Crashing because of a mechanical failure isn't nice! I know first hand!

[hebegb]

Yep - near miss for me, you sure got the brunt of it in May George, but very glad you have healed up and back at it on the new bike - shame not to cross paths next week, coincidentally , I saw Alan and Grant at BSB at the weekend, you have maintaianed your policy of buying your next bike from Alan again ! Not a bad plan, as he knows what he is doing and does it properly, so a good known quantity - take care , enjoy the Blade and go safe mate - are you out with any other of the usual Rocket Centre boys ( Ross, Gaz etc.) or just a quiet one ?
(No noise test pun intended...)
Cheers

[upsidedownmark]

graeme4130 said:

I agree about the comment about planes vs bikes. However, the point remains that if planes can fly overhead at say 10minute intervals creating 130db, how can local residents maintain any grounds for moaning about bikes making significantly less other than what you'd hear as a constant noise instead occasional noise
Still, it's in place, and Donnington's a great track, so I'd hate to see bikes stopped there
I suspect this whole argument's more aimed at people taking a general dislike to how FE treat their customers rather than the circuit themselves

They can and do moan endlessly about aircraft noise too, it's the usual nimby model: Oh, I'll move here 'cos house prices are cheaper, oh hell it's noisy I'll complain, never mind the airport / track was here long before someone built houses. Sticking a baffle in is nothing compared to the stupid patterns you have to fly some places for 'noise abatement'!

Anyway, I digress. East midlands makes a significant contribution to the local economy, and would be difficult to shut down. A few dozen of us, not so much. Money talks.

Personally never been on an FE day, but based on what regularly crops up here, not going to either.

[George29]

hebegb said:

Yep - near miss for me, you sure got the brunt of it in May George, but very glad you have healed up and back at it on the new bike - shame not to cross paths next week, coincidentally , I saw Alan and Grant at BSB at the weekend, you have maintaianed your policy of buying your next bike from Alan again ! Not a bad plan, as he knows what he is doing and does it properly, so a good known quantity - take care , enjoy the Blade and go safe mate - are you out with any other of the usual Rocket Centre boys ( Ross, Gaz etc.) or just a quiet one ?
(No noise test pun intended...)
Cheers

Yeah it's a mint bike and I know the history of it as know Jamie who owned it previously, and he always kept it immaculate. Plus it was extremely fast in his hands! Only did 2 sessions on it last week so will be my first full day on it on Tuesday. Was a bigger jump from the Triumph than I expected. I'm going there with Al, although all the rocket centre lot are picking their bikes up from Portimau that day too. Hoping to get another rockets day at oulton early next month too if you're interested in that

[hebegb]

[Gavia]

graeme4130 said:

I was speaking to one of the Donnington guys there some time back at a car track day. He told me they had a DB meter set up for Drive by on the circuit, which is controlled by them, and the council have another on the grounds, which I assume is the one they get measured by
Their own DB meter was set to trigger if cars/bikes made a sound level approaching that which would trigger the Council imposed one, so they used it a pre-measure to stop people that were approaching a level that could get them a fine.
I agree about the comment about planes vs bikes. However, the point remains that if planes can fly overhead at say 10minute intervals creating 130db, how can local residents maintain any grounds for moaning about bikes making significantly less other than what you'd hear as a constant noise instead occasional noise
Still, it's in place, and Donnington's a great track, so I'd hate to see bikes stopped there
I suspect this whole argument's more aimed at people taking a general dislike to how FE treat their customers rather than the circuit themselves

The problem is that if you smash the Noise limit of the Donington controlled meter, then you're going to trigger the council controlled one at least once before they can get you off circuit, so the fines would be piling up.

The airport gets fined a lot too. I know people suggest it's NIMBYs, but that's not always the case. There's a balance to be struck with neighbours. It's very rare for new homeowners to get a circuit closed / Noise limits imposed. Mallory is a great example of people not knowing the truth and simply blaming the local residents.

Completely agree on Donington being a great circuit and I'm always confused why people need to have noisy exhausts, mine passes Noise tests at c101 without a baffle and 96 with a full race Akra system. I won't notice the alleged extra 3bhp it could put out for being 10db louder.

[hebegb]

Hurrah ! Somebody got the name of " Donington " right after all that - well done Gavia !( and George ).

Edited by hebegb on Friday 16th September 18:14

[Gavia]

hebegb said:

Hurrah ! Somebody got the name of " Donington " right after all that - well done Gavia !( and George ).

Edited by hebegb on Friday 16th September 18:14

Not difficult, unless you're from Lonndon

[graeme4130]

Gavia said:

hebegb said:

Hurrah ! Somebody got the name of " Donington " right after all that - well done Gavia !( and George ).

Edited by hebegb on Friday 16th September 18:14

Not difficult, unless you're from Lonndon

Whoops, Swinndon in my case

[graeme4130]

A couple of pics from California Superbike School last week at the Stowe Circuit. It's a bit tight and bumpy, but I guess it's a reasonable place to learn

[Prof Prolapse]

You look like you've dropped a contact lens in the second one.

[graeme4130]

Prof Prolapse said:

You look like you've dropped a contact lens in the second one.

Never underestimate the value of looking for pennies

[moanthebairns]

So what did you learn from doing all levels of the california school

Stance looks much more aggressive from when I last saw you. Why the change. Do you find it easier now.

[Dakkon]

graeme4130 said:

A couple of pics from California Superbike School last week at the Stowe Circuit. It's a bit tight and bumpy, but I guess it's a reasonable place to learn

I was there on the Monday doing level 1