Long first euro trip write up. Valencia Gp Circuit
Discussion
Right this is gonna be a long one.
First off cheers for everyone that i pestered before i set off. Fleegle, mckean, mitzy etc with loads of threads and questions. I had no idea what or how to pack the crate and didnt want to be left bugging people when there.
So i drove the 2.5 hours down to donnington the week before and got my bike loaded up nice and early leaving tons of room for the other guy that would be sharing the crate.I met the guy and he was really sound. said there was about 10 of them and hed get me a garage space with them.
Anyway i flew out 4 days early with the new wife for a bit of a honeymoon/tourist stuff before doing the 3 days on track. The easyjet flight was spot on and before i knew it id picked up a crappy rental car and was off trying to find the hotel with no sat nav. Ive ridden in france and Germany but this was a whole new level of crazy. I managed to get us within sight of the hotel but there was two 5/6 lane roundabouts to traverse in rush hour, and no one seemed to use lane markers, indicators or general awareness of the space around them. After a few blasts of the horn we made it to the hotel, upgraded everything we could with our room and then spent the next few days doing the tourist and new married couple thing.... basically me being dragged miles and miles to spend some money on useless trinkets and other things when all i really wanted to do was sit in the hotel bar and watch youtube videos of the track.
Also being ginger the 30 degrees felt like 90 but also being a man i refuse to put any sort of cream/lotion anything thats not just water on my skin so that was fun.
Flying in
The hotel view wasnt to bad for a large city
I did find parts of the f1 track in the harbour
not bad
Went to a zoo
We found an amzing proper tapas bar. 20 euors per person for 6 courses of tapas which i had no idea what animal i was eating but it was all amazing, desert, coffee and unlimited beer. Result! although it was an hour walk from the hotel.
I kept Scott Redding and tito rabats sponsors happy all holiday by drinking my own bodyweight in estrella galicia
Any way onto the good stuff. So after the briefing the night before and meeting various groups of mostly guys i found Andy the guy who had his bike in my crate and said id find him at breakfast and follow them over to the circuit. After a disgustingly early 6am breakfast i left the hotel in a daze not following anybody and getting myself completely lost. we eventually found it and luckily andy had put my stuff in the garage with everyone else he was with. Although the company my bike was sharing the garage with was much more exotic than my old thing. 2 new zx10s, race ready 08 fireblade, 2co r6, rsv4, trick bmw s1000rr, k1 gsxr1000 and then my ratty old gsxr600 k1. All the guys in my garage were in my group and all fast group guys from the uk so i was already thinking i was out of my depth and going to be a rolling roadblock.
Anyway everything sorted tyre warmers on, safety briefing done and then off out on our first session. Straight away from the go i felt better. My nerves left and i felt really good. Id never ridden on slicks before which were also obviously amazing for my level so i was full of confidence. Im generally a fast starter so most uk days ill spend all morning thinking im untouchable in the group and then as i get tired and other people get better it evens out. The track was amazing. Id never ridden a track with such a long straight. Croft was the nearest thing with its start finish straight and braking hard and tipping into the first left hander here was a proper ballsy corner.
The viewing was incredible as well s you could wath the bikes on every corner from most seats.
Although the straight was about 800metres long the rest of the track was actually pretty suited to a 600 and i could make ground up on most people even if it was lost agin by the end of the straight. My bike was geared slightly wrong and there was a couple of sections where id be stuck at the limiter but if i shifted up id need to shift down again straight away but after chatting to matt from small boys he told me not to bother changing it as itd likely screw up a different part of the track to make those sections better.
Heres a selection of pictures from the week and a couple of videos. ive got loads of videos to go through but these are some quick ones i checked.
Thats an apex right....
a Little better
Thats an apex aswell right...
Again 2nd trys a charm
The straight, by the end of the 2nd day i was just coming up to the limiter in 6th so my guess is somewhere between 150-160mph. The guys in my garage on the zx10 said theyre data loggers said they were just hitting 170....i need a faster bike.
Im sure i wasnt going backwards on the track
Had a bit of tuition from Matt from small boys who said i was one of the quickest in the group even on my s
tty bike which swelled my head to epic proportions. He did push me a bit passed my comfort zone though which at the time was hard to keep up and feel safe but then every session after that i felt smoother with less effort. Definitly worth doing whatever level your at.
to be honest the guys in my garage made the trip so much better, they all helped when my bike decided to try and kill itself by overheating, they were all fast but no bravado or b/s just really encouraging and good group of guys. They were all bar 1 at least 10/15 years older than me and all of them were spot on. Especially considering a northern heavily tattooed idiot on a ratty old gsxr600 was plonked in the corner.
The guy who owned this fireblade is my new life hero. He was 65, really quick and just seemed to love every second of riding. I dont think his wife knew 100% what he gets up to and he does a bit of racing with no limits i think. He was the only one that didnt miss a session i dont think. Really nice guy and if im anything like that when im his age then id consider life a massive success. One of my highlights was catching up to him on the long last sweeping left hander, being about a metre behind and watching him lay the biggest black line ive seen. It was one of those moments where i wish everyone was there to see it, and the smile on his face when i told him. Brilliant!
Id only taken 1 pair of slicks and by the end of the 2nd day i was getting some slides, nothing too scary but enough to think that pushing harder and harder isnt going to end well. This was at the point everyone was puttig their 2nd set of dry tyres on...remind me why i took a set of wets again....idiot.
When i turned up for the last day randomly i thought id check my rear pressure before the first session....15 psi. hmm pumped it up and checked it again, no drop. went out and within 4 laps i was getting huge slides. When i came back in it had dropped 2 psi depsite obviously getting hotter. I kept it pumped up and went out for the rest of the morning coming in when i started to feel a bit of movement. Nut then on the last session before lunch i got a big slide enough to make my feet slip off the pegs and my arse off the seat so that was my trip over.
I think its a leaky valve or something but i still felt like i got my moneys worth and had an amazing trip.
After talking to some lads in the group below me, which i was going to go in as no limits said thats the inters group as they dont tend to get many novices they said they timed themselves around the 2min 20. I didnt check my times until i got home but i was doing 1:58s so i was glad i stopped being a pussy and moved up.
Theres a few things id do differently next time and theres a few things i still need to buy but id recommend a euro day ten fold over a few uk days and for the money theyre more than worth it. Im already going to join the lads that were in my garage on one same time next year but im also tempted do try and get some time to do cartegena in february. £400 quid for 3 days on track hotel and shipping seems like a steal.
Also not one red flag all three days although there was a few crashers. One guy in the lower group destroyed his bike on the 2nd session...ouch
A few victims
Then the spanish moto3 chapionship thing arrived to show me how to go round 20 seconds quicker with half the power....bds
The holiday was tainted by finishing the last day having a 3 hour wait to fly, 2 hour flight, 1 hour wait to get my car. 1 am by this point then 4 hours drive back home. i had to have a power hour in the services but it was miserable.
First off cheers for everyone that i pestered before i set off. Fleegle, mckean, mitzy etc with loads of threads and questions. I had no idea what or how to pack the crate and didnt want to be left bugging people when there.
So i drove the 2.5 hours down to donnington the week before and got my bike loaded up nice and early leaving tons of room for the other guy that would be sharing the crate.I met the guy and he was really sound. said there was about 10 of them and hed get me a garage space with them.
Anyway i flew out 4 days early with the new wife for a bit of a honeymoon/tourist stuff before doing the 3 days on track. The easyjet flight was spot on and before i knew it id picked up a crappy rental car and was off trying to find the hotel with no sat nav. Ive ridden in france and Germany but this was a whole new level of crazy. I managed to get us within sight of the hotel but there was two 5/6 lane roundabouts to traverse in rush hour, and no one seemed to use lane markers, indicators or general awareness of the space around them. After a few blasts of the horn we made it to the hotel, upgraded everything we could with our room and then spent the next few days doing the tourist and new married couple thing.... basically me being dragged miles and miles to spend some money on useless trinkets and other things when all i really wanted to do was sit in the hotel bar and watch youtube videos of the track.
Also being ginger the 30 degrees felt like 90 but also being a man i refuse to put any sort of cream/lotion anything thats not just water on my skin so that was fun.
Flying in
The hotel view wasnt to bad for a large city
I did find parts of the f1 track in the harbour
not bad
Went to a zoo
We found an amzing proper tapas bar. 20 euors per person for 6 courses of tapas which i had no idea what animal i was eating but it was all amazing, desert, coffee and unlimited beer. Result! although it was an hour walk from the hotel.
I kept Scott Redding and tito rabats sponsors happy all holiday by drinking my own bodyweight in estrella galicia
Any way onto the good stuff. So after the briefing the night before and meeting various groups of mostly guys i found Andy the guy who had his bike in my crate and said id find him at breakfast and follow them over to the circuit. After a disgustingly early 6am breakfast i left the hotel in a daze not following anybody and getting myself completely lost. we eventually found it and luckily andy had put my stuff in the garage with everyone else he was with. Although the company my bike was sharing the garage with was much more exotic than my old thing. 2 new zx10s, race ready 08 fireblade, 2co r6, rsv4, trick bmw s1000rr, k1 gsxr1000 and then my ratty old gsxr600 k1. All the guys in my garage were in my group and all fast group guys from the uk so i was already thinking i was out of my depth and going to be a rolling roadblock.
Anyway everything sorted tyre warmers on, safety briefing done and then off out on our first session. Straight away from the go i felt better. My nerves left and i felt really good. Id never ridden on slicks before which were also obviously amazing for my level so i was full of confidence. Im generally a fast starter so most uk days ill spend all morning thinking im untouchable in the group and then as i get tired and other people get better it evens out. The track was amazing. Id never ridden a track with such a long straight. Croft was the nearest thing with its start finish straight and braking hard and tipping into the first left hander here was a proper ballsy corner.
The viewing was incredible as well s you could wath the bikes on every corner from most seats.
Although the straight was about 800metres long the rest of the track was actually pretty suited to a 600 and i could make ground up on most people even if it was lost agin by the end of the straight. My bike was geared slightly wrong and there was a couple of sections where id be stuck at the limiter but if i shifted up id need to shift down again straight away but after chatting to matt from small boys he told me not to bother changing it as itd likely screw up a different part of the track to make those sections better.
Heres a selection of pictures from the week and a couple of videos. ive got loads of videos to go through but these are some quick ones i checked.
Thats an apex right....
a Little better
Thats an apex aswell right...
Again 2nd trys a charm
The straight, by the end of the 2nd day i was just coming up to the limiter in 6th so my guess is somewhere between 150-160mph. The guys in my garage on the zx10 said theyre data loggers said they were just hitting 170....i need a faster bike.
Im sure i wasnt going backwards on the track
Had a bit of tuition from Matt from small boys who said i was one of the quickest in the group even on my s
tty bike which swelled my head to epic proportions. He did push me a bit passed my comfort zone though which at the time was hard to keep up and feel safe but then every session after that i felt smoother with less effort. Definitly worth doing whatever level your at.
to be honest the guys in my garage made the trip so much better, they all helped when my bike decided to try and kill itself by overheating, they were all fast but no bravado or b/s just really encouraging and good group of guys. They were all bar 1 at least 10/15 years older than me and all of them were spot on. Especially considering a northern heavily tattooed idiot on a ratty old gsxr600 was plonked in the corner.
The guy who owned this fireblade is my new life hero. He was 65, really quick and just seemed to love every second of riding. I dont think his wife knew 100% what he gets up to and he does a bit of racing with no limits i think. He was the only one that didnt miss a session i dont think. Really nice guy and if im anything like that when im his age then id consider life a massive success. One of my highlights was catching up to him on the long last sweeping left hander, being about a metre behind and watching him lay the biggest black line ive seen. It was one of those moments where i wish everyone was there to see it, and the smile on his face when i told him. Brilliant!
Id only taken 1 pair of slicks and by the end of the 2nd day i was getting some slides, nothing too scary but enough to think that pushing harder and harder isnt going to end well. This was at the point everyone was puttig their 2nd set of dry tyres on...remind me why i took a set of wets again....idiot.
When i turned up for the last day randomly i thought id check my rear pressure before the first session....15 psi. hmm pumped it up and checked it again, no drop. went out and within 4 laps i was getting huge slides. When i came back in it had dropped 2 psi depsite obviously getting hotter. I kept it pumped up and went out for the rest of the morning coming in when i started to feel a bit of movement. Nut then on the last session before lunch i got a big slide enough to make my feet slip off the pegs and my arse off the seat so that was my trip over.
I think its a leaky valve or something but i still felt like i got my moneys worth and had an amazing trip.
After talking to some lads in the group below me, which i was going to go in as no limits said thats the inters group as they dont tend to get many novices they said they timed themselves around the 2min 20. I didnt check my times until i got home but i was doing 1:58s so i was glad i stopped being a pussy and moved up.
Theres a few things id do differently next time and theres a few things i still need to buy but id recommend a euro day ten fold over a few uk days and for the money theyre more than worth it. Im already going to join the lads that were in my garage on one same time next year but im also tempted do try and get some time to do cartegena in february. £400 quid for 3 days on track hotel and shipping seems like a steal.
Also not one red flag all three days although there was a few crashers. One guy in the lower group destroyed his bike on the 2nd session...ouch
A few victims
Then the spanish moto3 chapionship thing arrived to show me how to go round 20 seconds quicker with half the power....b
ds
The holiday was tainted by finishing the last day having a 3 hour wait to fly, 2 hour flight, 1 hour wait to get my car. 1 am by this point then 4 hours drive back home. i had to have a power hour in the services but it was miserable.
2 laps following matt from smallboys bike rental
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNoGNY1mENM
the quickest lap from the 3rd day. Im sure i went quicker on the 2nd but i didnt film much that day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKJB5_O69gE
Dicking around trying to get my elbow down...and failing but close.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHu1FKwr4Nc
Fly by 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywlq7oQbaVc
Im the one the camera follows trying to catch the group
https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtcCytb_ec0
Wierd different view including my slide at the end which looks like nothing but my feet slipped off the pegs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlX94S6sGqE
slo mo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVa61gS5ZtU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNoGNY1mENM
the quickest lap from the 3rd day. Im sure i went quicker on the 2nd but i didnt film much that day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKJB5_O69gE
Dicking around trying to get my elbow down...and failing but close.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHu1FKwr4Nc
Fly by 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywlq7oQbaVc
Im the one the camera follows trying to catch the group
https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtcCytb_ec0
Wierd different view including my slide at the end which looks like nothing but my feet slipped off the pegs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlX94S6sGqE
slo mo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVa61gS5ZtU
Great write up 
I really enjoyed Valencia once I'd recovered from my Day 1 / Session 3 highside and they let me back out, on Day 3
but its a great little circuit, you'll have the bug now, where next ?
Also don't take this the wrong way, but love your wifes tats.
PS Huge congrats on the wedding etc ...
I really enjoyed Valencia once I'd recovered from my Day 1 / Session 3 highside and they let me back out, on Day 3
but its a great little circuit, you'll have the bug now, where next ?Also don't take this the wrong way, but love your wifes tats.
PS Huge congrats on the wedding etc ...
Remember to rate me on a fun factor not a fast factor! I'm never going to be the next McKean but I'll keep doing it until the smile goes.
I was going to get the valve checked but the tyre had done it's duty anyway really and I didn't feel short changed by any means. I had a brilliant holiday and brilliant 2 and a half days on track. I'd of only had to put a new set of tyres on the credit card which I wasn't too bothered about.
Next time I'm going to take 2 sets of slicks or supercorsas which ever I can get cheapest. Or even go on part worns so as my confidence builds then I can stick on a new set. This time as I got faster and pushed harder my tyres had already seen their best so i just got more slides.
If I do Valencia I'm not going to rent a car either. I'd rather get a taxi or rent a big scooter. The city is pretty huge and I'd of loved to buzz around on a scooter but a car was chaos at times.
I'll also stay the last night either there or at the airport back in England as the drive back was pure misery.
Also base layers are a must! I just went down to my skiddies under my leathers and after three days at 28/30 degrees they smelt like death. Everyone else had base layers that they washed every night. I'm not looking forward to opening my crate tomorrow and having my leathers crawl out.
I'll definitely be working on the Mrs to let me go in Feb/March.
I was going to get the valve checked but the tyre had done it's duty anyway really and I didn't feel short changed by any means. I had a brilliant holiday and brilliant 2 and a half days on track. I'd of only had to put a new set of tyres on the credit card which I wasn't too bothered about.
Next time I'm going to take 2 sets of slicks or supercorsas which ever I can get cheapest. Or even go on part worns so as my confidence builds then I can stick on a new set. This time as I got faster and pushed harder my tyres had already seen their best so i just got more slides.
If I do Valencia I'm not going to rent a car either. I'd rather get a taxi or rent a big scooter. The city is pretty huge and I'd of loved to buzz around on a scooter but a car was chaos at times.
I'll also stay the last night either there or at the airport back in England as the drive back was pure misery.
Also base layers are a must! I just went down to my skiddies under my leathers and after three days at 28/30 degrees they smelt like death. Everyone else had base layers that they washed every night. I'm not looking forward to opening my crate tomorrow and having my leathers crawl out.
I'll definitely be working on the Mrs to let me go in Feb/March.
dibblecorse said:
Great write up
I really enjoyed Valencia once I'd recovered from my Day 1 / Session 3 highside and they let me back out, on Day 3 but its a great little circuit, you'll have the bug now, where next ?
Also don't take this the wrong way, but love your wifes tats.
PS Huge congrats on the wedding etc ...
We're you there as well or was this a previous trip? I did see a bike in the purple group that had crashed early on day one but if you got that out for day three then hats off!I really enjoyed Valencia once I'd recovered from my Day 1 / Session 3 highside and they let me back out, on Day 3
but its a great little circuit, you'll have the bug now, where next ?Also don't take this the wrong way, but love your wifes tats.
PS Huge congrats on the wedding etc ...
Tim85 said:
Also not one red flag all three days although there was a few crashers. One guy in the lower group destroyed his bike on the 2nd session...ouch
Red flags tend to be few and far between on Euro days. A combination of wider tracks, more space and more time to learn a track all help, but it's never nice seeing the casualties behind the garages, surrounded by shards of plastic and gravel. You will usually find that even if the bike is beyond repair, the rider will be lent a bike for the odd session from his mates.I told you they were great fun!
Tim85 said:
dibblecorse said:
Great write up
I really enjoyed Valencia once I'd recovered from my Day 1 / Session 3 highside and they let me back out, on Day 3 but its a great little circuit, you'll have the bug now, where next ?
Also don't take this the wrong way, but love your wifes tats.
PS Huge congrats on the wedding etc ...
We're you there as well or was this a previous trip? I did see a bike in the purple group that had crashed early on day one but if you got that out for day three then hats off!I really enjoyed Valencia once I'd recovered from my Day 1 / Session 3 highside and they let me back out, on Day 3
but its a great little circuit, you'll have the bug now, where next ?Also don't take this the wrong way, but love your wifes tats.
PS Huge congrats on the wedding etc ...
Unfortuntely my bike couldn't be got going but seen as I'd organised c20 people on our trip I then got offered lots of bikes on day 3 so got to ride some awesome kit
Tim85 said:
Dicking around trying to get my elbow down...and failing but close.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHu1FKwr4Nc
Nice write up, looks and sounds a cracking trip. You seem to be improving quickly on the 600, so I wouldn't worry too much about getting the power of a 1000 until you start to stagnate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHu1FKwr4Nc
You probably could get your elbow down, you don't seem to get off the seat much?
Tbh sounds like you had great fun, and that is what it is all about!
gwm said:
Nice write up, looks and sounds a cracking trip. You seem to be improving quickly on the 600, so I wouldn't worry too much about getting the power of a 1000 until you start to stagnate.
You probably could get your elbow down, you don't seem to get off the seat much?
Tbh sounds like you had great fun, and that is what it is all about!
Yeah it's all my body positioning. I was catching my toes and pegs on the corner with my rear sets at the furthest back and high so its definitely me not scooting off enough. Sometimes I felt as though I was hanging off like a monkey and the instructor said I was moving around fine then half my pictures I'm basically sitting bolt upright. I only tried as I watched this video before trying to learn the lines and it looked so easy....well it wasn't easy ha.You probably could get your elbow down, you don't seem to get off the seat much?
Tbh sounds like you had great fun, and that is what it is all about!
https://youtu.be/pnv98rUQkUc
I've got tons to learn on the 6 and when I'm out it doesn't really cross my mind but it's when I'm Sat in the pits and people have some incredible machines I feel the green eyed monster in me wishing I had something nicer. I'll have my r6 off the road by next year so thatl give me that extra oomph down the straights at least.
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