the bb trackday thread.

[Biker's Nemesis]

Only £100 on beer!

[cmaguire]

That's over £1500 without the wets or Peter so fairly pricey if you go a few times a year.

Has anyone been to the Val de Vienne circuit near Poitiers in France? Apparently Didier de Radigues visits there with his race school and it is only 45 mins from my house there so I could take the bike when I go on holiday (road GSXR750L2, too loud here)?

[graeme4130]

If you take out all the general bits and bobs like tyres etc or things you'd spend if travelling in the uk , you can do it for roughly :
£470 - 3 days on track/bike transport/accommodation
£100 - hire car
£50-100 flights

[Sebo]

graeme4130 said:

If you take out all the general bits and bobs like tyres etc or things you'd spend if travelling in the uk , you can do it for roughly :
£470 - 3 days on track/bike transport/accommodation
£100 - hire car
£50-100 flights

Being based in Swindon has it's benefits.. NL Bike drop off

[Dakkon]

Sebo said:

graeme4130 said:

If you take out all the general bits and bobs like tyres etc or things you'd spend if travelling in the uk , you can do it for roughly :
£470 - 3 days on track/bike transport/accommodation
£100 - hire car
£50-100 flights

Being based in Swindon has it's benefits.. NL Bike drop off

That's the only benefit of living in Swindon

[graeme4130]

Sebo said:

Being based in Swindon has it's benefits.. NL Bike drop off

The drop off in Bassett is literally 10mins from my house, and the girl that controls bike drop off at the transport company lives in my street

[graeme4130]

After the sun shining all day yesterday on the day off, it ended up raining all night just to get the track soaked for my first day on almeria today
It's not raining now and the sun's coming out in patches, but it's a wet track with a few dry bits rather than the other way around
Too dry for wets, and proving pretty slippery on supercorsa's
Tomorrow is forecasted heavy rain all day, so at least I can take the raincoat and wets out on what will be a pretty empty circuit as I've only seen 3 or 4 sets of wets in the garages

[Biker's Nemesis]

Hope you end up getting some dry track time. It sucks hairy bks when it rains

[graeme4130]

Damp with a few dry patches was as dry as it got at the end of the day, so was still fun, just a bit sketchy in the corners
I don't mind if it rains tomorrow as long as it rains properly and I can use wets

[Birky_41]

graeme4130 said:

After the sun shining all day yesterday on the day off, it ended up raining all night just to get the track soaked for my first day on almeria today
It's not raining now and the sun's coming out in patches, but it's a wet track with a few dry bits rather than the other way around
Too dry for wets, and proving pretty slippery on supercorsa's
Tomorrow is forecasted heavy rain all day, so at least I can take the raincoat and wets out on what will be a pretty empty circuit as I've only seen 3 or 4 sets of wets in the garages

Ah man that brings back memories of this time last month when I was there! We had rain too but it was a bit warmer last month and the track dried quick. Nothing more scary though than running V02 slicks, pushing on the pace (for my level) and the flag comes up from the marshalls saying reduced grip...!!

Did you do Andulucia too or just Almeria?

[graeme4130]

Birky_41 said:

graeme4130 said:

After the sun shining all day yesterday on the day off, it ended up raining all night just to get the track soaked for my first day on almeria today
It's not raining now and the sun's coming out in patches, but it's a wet track with a few dry bits rather than the other way around
Too dry for wets, and proving pretty slippery on supercorsa's
Tomorrow is forecasted heavy rain all day, so at least I can take the raincoat and wets out on what will be a pretty empty circuit as I've only seen 3 or 4 sets of wets in the garages

Ah man that brings back memories of this time last month when I was there! We had rain too but it was a bit warmer last month and the track dried quick. Nothing more scary though than running V02 slicks, pushing on the pace (for my level) and the flag comes up from the marshalls saying reduced grip...!!

Did you do Andulucia too or just Almeria?

I did a day (in the sun -16-18deg) on andalucia on Tuesday, then had yesterday off (also sunny) and then two days (today and tomorrow) on Almeria
Even though the weather was crappy today, I much prefer the almeria track over Andalucia

[Birky_41]

graeme4130 said:

I did a day (in the sun -16-18deg) on andalucia on Tuesday, then had yesterday off (also sunny) and then two days (today and tomorrow) on Almeria
Even though the weather was crappy today, I much prefer the almeria track over Andalucia

I really enjoyed Almeria but found my old 750 was well stretched round there. I managed to get into the 1.49's but if I had more go I reckon I could easily have found another 2 seconds especially on that long straight

I quite enjoyed Andulucia though although it wasn't as flowing the track was much better for my lower powered bike - I killed a set of pads in 2 days there though

|http://thumbsnap.com/lDzjtzaG[/url]

Also a real nice northerner was chatting to me on the second day and wanted to follow me round. Mid moto he got caught up with another rider and this happened...his bike was in a bad way and he was pretty sore but fair play to him he was in the pub with us on the last day https://youtu.be/iAycLqPJo_s[url]

[graeme4130]

Birky_41 said:

graeme4130 said:

I did a day (in the sun -16-18deg) on andalucia on Tuesday, then had yesterday off (also sunny) and then two days (today and tomorrow) on Almeria
Even though the weather was crappy today, I much prefer the almeria track over Andalucia

I really enjoyed Almeria but found my old 750 was well stretched round there. I managed to get into the 1.49's but if I had more go I reckon I could easily have found another 2 seconds especially on that long straight

I quite enjoyed Andulucia though although it wasn't as flowing the track was much better for my lower powered bike - I killed a set of pads in 2 days there though

|http://thumbsnap.com/lDzjtzaG[/url]

Also a real nice northerner was chatting to me on the second day and wanted to follow me round. Mid moto he got caught up with another rider and this happened...his bike was in a bad way and he was pretty sore but fair play to him he was in the pub with us on the last day https://youtu.be/iAycLqPJo_s[url]

I can't get the link to work, but that could just be the shoddy Spanish hotel internet

It hammered it down all day today, and as only about 7 or 8 people had wets, everyone else called it a day
I was the only person in fast group and had the track to myself for the first couple of sessions, until they mixed me in with the inters guys (only ones left) and made it open Pitlane for the day
It was possibly the best day I've had on a bike so far, and really enjoyed first time out in wets on my ZX10R
I was a little worried all the power would overwhelm the tyres, but it just meant I needed to be extra delicate in the throttle and it was all good
Best I got down to was 1:59 in very heavy rain, but pretty pleased with that
I got a video in the morning which I'll upload later
Got my knee down in the wet too, which was a first for me

[moto_traxport]

graeme4130 said:

I can't get the link to work, but that could just be the shoddy Spanish hotel internet

It hammered it down all day today, and as only about 7 or 8 people had wets, everyone else called it a day
I was the only person in fast group and had the track to myself for the first couple of sessions, until they mixed me in with the inters guys (only ones left) and made it open Pitlane for the day
It was possibly the best day I've had on a bike so far, and really enjoyed first time out in wets on my ZX10R
I was a little worried all the power would overwhelm the tyres, but it just meant I needed to be extra delicate in the throttle and it was all good
Best I got down to was 1:59 in very heavy rain, but pretty pleased with that
I got a video in the morning which I'll upload later
Got my knee down in the wet too, which was a first for me

Good on you. Always take wets on the foreign ones. It's like a different track when it's wetting it down and they often go 'open pit'. I've had Le Mans completely to myself for 55 mins a few years ago which would cost a bit if you tried to book it - just for going out in the wet. Watch the fuel though, doing an Endurance session. Make sure you dry out all your riding kit when you get back as well!!

Soaking wet and slowly drying out is awesome as you get to dice with people gradually emerging and tippy toeing on their Supercorsas through the damp and flying on the dry line wheras you're doing the opposite - great fun, good for the brain and you get a rare chance to run an old set of wets down to the canvas.

[graeme4130]

moto_traxport said:

graeme4130 said:

I can't get the link to work, but that could just be the shoddy Spanish hotel internet

It hammered it down all day today, and as only about 7 or 8 people had wets, everyone else called it a day
I was the only person in fast group and had the track to myself for the first couple of sessions, until they mixed me in with the inters guys (only ones left) and made it open Pitlane for the day
It was possibly the best day I've had on a bike so far, and really enjoyed first time out in wets on my ZX10R
I was a little worried all the power would overwhelm the tyres, but it just meant I needed to be extra delicate in the throttle and it was all good
Best I got down to was 1:59 in very heavy rain, but pretty pleased with that
I got a video in the morning which I'll upload later
Got my knee down in the wet too, which was a first for me

Good on you. Always take wets on the foreign ones. It's like a different track when it's wetting it down and they often go 'open pit'. I've had Le Mans completely to myself for 55 mins a few years ago which would cost a bit if you tried to book it - just for going out in the wet. Watch the fuel though, doing an Endurance session. Make sure you dry out all your riding kit when you get back as well!!

Soaking wet and slowly drying out is awesome as you get to dice with people gradually emerging and tippy toeing on their Supercorsas through the damp and flying on the dry line wheras you're doing the opposite - great fun, good for the brain and you get a rare chance to run an old set of wets down to the canvas.

It was reasonably grippy in the wet, other than the bits where it had basically flooded all the way across.
Had a moment towards the end of the day where the braking area down into Turn 1 was was basically a river, and I locked the front at around 110. Had to have a little word with myself after that.
This was the fastest I can see I got on my GPS from the wet day, so given the reduced speed through the turn onto the back straight, was probably only 10-12mph slower than dry speed at a guess


I had a clear PVC Fox rain jacket that I used to use for Downhilling on as it was raining so hard, but it lasted around 3 sessions before the wind created by sitting up at the end of the straight tore it to shreds Lesson learnt, and I'll invest in a decent rain coat for next time

Edited by graeme4130 on Saturday 17th December 07:36

[George29]

That's a faster top speed in the wet than I managed in the dry on the Fireblade! My best was 162 from my AIM solo, makes sense why it was hard to keep up with the ZX10s and BMWs then.

Bet it was fun in the wet, although I bet it shredded the tyres with it being an abrasive surface

[graeme4130]

George29 said:

That's a faster top speed in the wet than I managed in the dry on the Fireblade! My best was 162 from my AIM solo, makes sense why it was hard to keep up with the ZX10s and BMWs then.

Bet it was fun in the wet, although I bet it shredded the tyres with it being an abrasive surface

My wets still look really decent
It was so wet and cold that they didn't really get any temperature in them and I'd get back in after 10 laps, and they weren't much warmer than room temperature

[graeme4130]

A rather soggy morning session
https://youtu.be/2RMIInq6AaA
Rained so hard in the afternoon that the water got in behind my screen a put a big blob on the camera lense

Edited by graeme4130 on Saturday 17th December 19:14

[obscene]

graeme4130 said:

I can't get the link to work, but that could just be the shoddy Spanish hotel internet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAycLqPJo_s&fe...

Sorted for you. Jesus. Christ.

[graeme4130]

obscene said:

graeme4130 said:

I can't get the link to work, but that could just be the shoddy Spanish hotel internet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAycLqPJo_s&fe...

Sorted for you. Jesus. Christ.

Ouch, that's a nasty one