1st Trackday of the year Cartegena long picture report.
Discussion
So ive been back a day and got that usual post trip blues where im back to the daily routine, looking after my kid and watching frozen for the 4th time today with the thought of work looming tomorrow, so thought id write a little report as usual to re live it in my mind through words and pictures.
We got out bikes to oulton for the drop off at the re scheduled... and re scheduled time of 2pm..... the truck didnt arrive until after the original time of 4pm and it was verging on 0 degrees which was a fun way to spend a saturday. Anyway queue the usual feeling of being a tiny fish in a giant pond. With all types of exotica being wheeled on i chucked my old shed next to my mates new to him zx6r in any old fashion so that it would fit on the truck.
We had a 6:40 am flight from liverpool so i set off at the un-godly time of 2:30 am on day 1 to go get my mate fill up and shoot over to find the airport parking. All the usual airport rigmoral, met the other 3 lads going with us then into weatherspoons in the departure lounge for the obligatory full breakfast and coffee. And look, my breakfast looked just like erm eyes and a nose....
Liverpool never looks as nice as when you leave it.
After we landed and picked up the hire car it was off to find the hotel which was surprisingly easy and even the local trafic was pretty normal. Nothing like the madness of valencia last year. I do think the hotel staff thought me and my mate were a bit closer than we actually are...
After a stroll around getting our bearings it was straight to the harbour for some beers and some lunch. Not a bad way to spend an early february afternoon.
We got to the track for day 1 with everyone having the usual butterflies/nerves of not riding a bike properly since october and 2 lads having brand new to them bikes so no idea if things were going to work.
As we were setting up it was pretty clear that this was a far more serious trackday than any id been on before. Obviously with it being one of the first chances to get out in the year alot of club racers must use it as a shakedown to get warmed up for the season.
The main thing in my mind for this trip was to sort my body positioning out. I always felt like i was hanging off but then picture would prove i was just bolt upright. So i tried to have it in my mind not to worry about the speed of everyone else and just do my own thing. As usual as soon as the first session started i totally forgot all this and tried to push as much as i could. I dont know why i always do it, I always think ill back off this session and work on x,y,z but then i just go out and try to catch whoevers up in front like a wally.
Anyway the sighting laps done and a few laps of awful riding where i felt stiff and awkward on the bike i started to feel some really big wobbles and slides. I was on a used pair of pirelli superbike pro slicks but there was plenty of life in them. Id planned on using them all of day 1 and 2 then sticking a new set on for day 3. Coming up to the 2nd to last right hander i felt a really big slide and then on gas something felt horrible. Straight into the pits and it was clear my tyre was loosing air. 10 psi on read out. Awesome. After talking to the tyre guys they said it was either the valve or the beading. For some reason i put my new rear straight onto my spare wheel rather than swapping the used tyre to another wheel and using that. A stupid decision that annoyed me on the last day when i ran out of tyres.
I scrubbed the tyre in and learnt the track for a couple of sessions then grabbed an instructor to help me work on a few things. I was struggling with downshifting in a couple of places where i didnt feel like i had enough time to get down to 2nd, ive always gone down a gear blipped, another gear blipped etc rather than have the confidence to just go from 5th and just bang straight down to 2nd then let the clutch out. He sorted my lines out in a couple of places and basically told me i was at the pace that if i dont sort my body positioning out im about to run off the edge of my tyre and crash. Always good to hear.
Ive never timed any laps anywhere other than the odd time looking back at go pro footage but before the trip id read that a 1:50 was a decent normal human fast group time so i was curious as to how id do. The instructor showed me the lap times and it was me in front 2 minutes, 1:59 then him in front 1:57, 1:56 then when i was infront it went back to 1:59. I was pretty dissapointed as i was on fresh rubber and felt pretty good, i didnt feel like a rolling road block either.
Day 2 came round and the weather report said rain but it was nice blue skies when we got to the pits. Everyone had 2 really good sessions and then the rain came. It was only spitting for a while but then started to get heavier before lunch. Not one single rider went out before lunch. I toyed for 2 sessions about changing to wets but with no one else doing it i felt like they knew something i didnt and it was going to get better. After thinking screw it over lunch i chucked the wets on and headed out. Only 1 other guy was out on track at the time. A guy on a cb500 on supercorsas so i thought wets will be fine. It was fine drizzle at worst and just damp.
Out of the pits i went with clear visor and hoody over leathers and having never used wets before i was erm tentative to say the least. I looked like i was on my cbt! I got to the first corner alive and then had a big slide. I was 2 gears higher than usual and not using any power. The exact same thing happened on the 2nd corner. I felt like i was on glass. At this point pretty much everyone was on the pit wall waiting for me to fall as i was 1 of 3/4 lads out. after nailing it on any straight then hard braking and 50 pencing around some corners i started to get a little bit of confidence growing. Then as i came through the chicane the cb500 was on its side with snapped bars and the guy looking a bit miffed. Being spain they didnt stop it and just left him there so i could finish my session. There was 2 zx10 racers out with me and they were flying on full wets so i knew it was fine but it took me a few laps to actually work enough heat into them to work. Anyway session over i came in drove straight through the pits and went straight back out. There was only a handfull of us with wets so they just let us go out back to back all afternoon. After a few sessions my mates timed me at 1:57ish which was basically what i was doing in the dry. The track was basically too dry for wets but not dry enough for slicks. Id bought the wets and they were on so i just thought sod it i paid my money lets ruin them. I think i did 6/7 sessions back to back in the afternoon. Even the organisers were taking the piss saying id be getting dizzy and run out of fuel.... and i did. last session 3 corners away from the end. Ha what a plonker.
Id pretty much ruined 300 quids worth of tyres in one afternoon but it was the highlight of the trip. I wasnt getting tired my lines were much better and i was out for most of it on my own.
This guy was plenty faster than me in the dry but the difference between wets and supercorsas was like night and day, i could just go round the outside.
We got out bikes to oulton for the drop off at the re scheduled... and re scheduled time of 2pm..... the truck didnt arrive until after the original time of 4pm and it was verging on 0 degrees which was a fun way to spend a saturday. Anyway queue the usual feeling of being a tiny fish in a giant pond. With all types of exotica being wheeled on i chucked my old shed next to my mates new to him zx6r in any old fashion so that it would fit on the truck.
We had a 6:40 am flight from liverpool so i set off at the un-godly time of 2:30 am on day 1 to go get my mate fill up and shoot over to find the airport parking. All the usual airport rigmoral, met the other 3 lads going with us then into weatherspoons in the departure lounge for the obligatory full breakfast and coffee. And look, my breakfast looked just like erm eyes and a nose....
Liverpool never looks as nice as when you leave it.
After we landed and picked up the hire car it was off to find the hotel which was surprisingly easy and even the local trafic was pretty normal. Nothing like the madness of valencia last year. I do think the hotel staff thought me and my mate were a bit closer than we actually are...
After a stroll around getting our bearings it was straight to the harbour for some beers and some lunch. Not a bad way to spend an early february afternoon.
We got to the track for day 1 with everyone having the usual butterflies/nerves of not riding a bike properly since october and 2 lads having brand new to them bikes so no idea if things were going to work.
As we were setting up it was pretty clear that this was a far more serious trackday than any id been on before. Obviously with it being one of the first chances to get out in the year alot of club racers must use it as a shakedown to get warmed up for the season.
The main thing in my mind for this trip was to sort my body positioning out. I always felt like i was hanging off but then picture would prove i was just bolt upright. So i tried to have it in my mind not to worry about the speed of everyone else and just do my own thing. As usual as soon as the first session started i totally forgot all this and tried to push as much as i could. I dont know why i always do it, I always think ill back off this session and work on x,y,z but then i just go out and try to catch whoevers up in front like a wally.
Anyway the sighting laps done and a few laps of awful riding where i felt stiff and awkward on the bike i started to feel some really big wobbles and slides. I was on a used pair of pirelli superbike pro slicks but there was plenty of life in them. Id planned on using them all of day 1 and 2 then sticking a new set on for day 3. Coming up to the 2nd to last right hander i felt a really big slide and then on gas something felt horrible. Straight into the pits and it was clear my tyre was loosing air. 10 psi on read out. Awesome. After talking to the tyre guys they said it was either the valve or the beading. For some reason i put my new rear straight onto my spare wheel rather than swapping the used tyre to another wheel and using that. A stupid decision that annoyed me on the last day when i ran out of tyres.
I scrubbed the tyre in and learnt the track for a couple of sessions then grabbed an instructor to help me work on a few things. I was struggling with downshifting in a couple of places where i didnt feel like i had enough time to get down to 2nd, ive always gone down a gear blipped, another gear blipped etc rather than have the confidence to just go from 5th and just bang straight down to 2nd then let the clutch out. He sorted my lines out in a couple of places and basically told me i was at the pace that if i dont sort my body positioning out im about to run off the edge of my tyre and crash. Always good to hear.
Ive never timed any laps anywhere other than the odd time looking back at go pro footage but before the trip id read that a 1:50 was a decent normal human fast group time so i was curious as to how id do. The instructor showed me the lap times and it was me in front 2 minutes, 1:59 then him in front 1:57, 1:56 then when i was infront it went back to 1:59. I was pretty dissapointed as i was on fresh rubber and felt pretty good, i didnt feel like a rolling road block either.
Day 2 came round and the weather report said rain but it was nice blue skies when we got to the pits. Everyone had 2 really good sessions and then the rain came. It was only spitting for a while but then started to get heavier before lunch. Not one single rider went out before lunch. I toyed for 2 sessions about changing to wets but with no one else doing it i felt like they knew something i didnt and it was going to get better. After thinking screw it over lunch i chucked the wets on and headed out. Only 1 other guy was out on track at the time. A guy on a cb500 on supercorsas so i thought wets will be fine. It was fine drizzle at worst and just damp.
Out of the pits i went with clear visor and hoody over leathers and having never used wets before i was erm tentative to say the least. I looked like i was on my cbt! I got to the first corner alive and then had a big slide. I was 2 gears higher than usual and not using any power. The exact same thing happened on the 2nd corner. I felt like i was on glass. At this point pretty much everyone was on the pit wall waiting for me to fall as i was 1 of 3/4 lads out. after nailing it on any straight then hard braking and 50 pencing around some corners i started to get a little bit of confidence growing. Then as i came through the chicane the cb500 was on its side with snapped bars and the guy looking a bit miffed. Being spain they didnt stop it and just left him there so i could finish my session. There was 2 zx10 racers out with me and they were flying on full wets so i knew it was fine but it took me a few laps to actually work enough heat into them to work. Anyway session over i came in drove straight through the pits and went straight back out. There was only a handfull of us with wets so they just let us go out back to back all afternoon. After a few sessions my mates timed me at 1:57ish which was basically what i was doing in the dry. The track was basically too dry for wets but not dry enough for slicks. Id bought the wets and they were on so i just thought sod it i paid my money lets ruin them. I think i did 6/7 sessions back to back in the afternoon. Even the organisers were taking the piss saying id be getting dizzy and run out of fuel.... and i did. last session 3 corners away from the end. Ha what a plonker.
Id pretty much ruined 300 quids worth of tyres in one afternoon but it was the highlight of the trip. I wasnt getting tired my lines were much better and i was out for most of it on my own.
This guy was plenty faster than me in the dry but the difference between wets and supercorsas was like night and day, i could just go round the outside.
Edited by Tim85 on Sunday 7th February 16:27
Day 3 came around and you could tell everyone was on it. It was beautiful sunshine and 99% of people had missed the day before. This was when i wish i had my fresh tyres. I think everyone in my group stuck new rubber on and the pace was instantly the fastest itd been all week. I asked my mates to time some random laps just before lunch and after a few scrappy laps with traffic i apparently did consistent 1:54s which i was happy with as none of the timed laps felt like my fastest of the week. Im sure il of done a couple of high 1:52s earlier in the day which i was more than happy with. I Just wish i had my new set of tyres to take advantage of whilst my confidence was high. My body positioning had improved loads although still some to work on and i was starting to get my bike onto the white line. I always suffer from getting my knee to the apex rather than the actual bike so the wheels are actually a foot or so away.
Ive always not been against timing but this was the first trackday its ever intrigued me and whilst it was good to see how i was doing it was also frustrating to know i could go faster if this happened or if that guy wasnt in the way etc.
I cant rate euro days enough and with a group of mates its brilliant fun. And its also always depressing when the pits are full of new r1's zx10s and panigales but once your out of the pitlane it really doesnt matter what your on, if you come home smiling its worth all the £££'s. Now to convince the wife of portimao in october.
I dont think id rush back to Cartegena. The track was good but it was very hard to learn, very tiring, very hard on tyres and the town wasnt anything to really write home about. Its definitly worth the cheaper price but for me i want to experience the other big european tracks like aragon, jerez, mugello, portimao before id go back. No limits ran a great few days as usual with only a couple of red flags with two guys sent of to hospital on the last day who i hope are ok. And i felt for the guy who ditched his matte grey 899 on the last lap of the last session on the last day. I didnt see how bad it was but that cant be fun.
I hope this has got you guys in the mood for your own adventures
Ive always not been against timing but this was the first trackday its ever intrigued me and whilst it was good to see how i was doing it was also frustrating to know i could go faster if this happened or if that guy wasnt in the way etc.
I cant rate euro days enough and with a group of mates its brilliant fun. And its also always depressing when the pits are full of new r1's zx10s and panigales but once your out of the pitlane it really doesnt matter what your on, if you come home smiling its worth all the £££'s. Now to convince the wife of portimao in october.
I dont think id rush back to Cartegena. The track was good but it was very hard to learn, very tiring, very hard on tyres and the town wasnt anything to really write home about. Its definitly worth the cheaper price but for me i want to experience the other big european tracks like aragon, jerez, mugello, portimao before id go back. No limits ran a great few days as usual with only a couple of red flags with two guys sent of to hospital on the last day who i hope are ok. And i felt for the guy who ditched his matte grey 899 on the last lap of the last session on the last day. I didnt see how bad it was but that cant be fun.
I hope this has got you guys in the mood for your own adventures
Edited by Tim85 on Sunday 7th February 16:31
Great stuff. Has whetted my appetite for Jerez in a few weeks time.
Certainly 10 years ago there was a cement factory only half a mile away from the track with plenty of dust blowing off it so the thought at the time was to sluice the bike down in fresh water if you've been using it in the wet around there and get rid if the acidic water that can rot out the radiator etc.
I don't mind Cartagena but Portimao and the other big names do certainly make you want to re-visit. Portimao also good for taking a non-riding other half if you can sort out child care due to the beach and the funky town.
Certainly 10 years ago there was a cement factory only half a mile away from the track with plenty of dust blowing off it so the thought at the time was to sluice the bike down in fresh water if you've been using it in the wet around there and get rid if the acidic water that can rot out the radiator etc.
I don't mind Cartagena but Portimao and the other big names do certainly make you want to re-visit. Portimao also good for taking a non-riding other half if you can sort out child care due to the beach and the funky town.
J B L said:
Brilliant write-up. Thnks for that. 
I'd love to do something like that.
I have got this mad idea to stick race fairing on the SP and just do track days with it.
There was quite a few people with road bikes, some pretty expensive ones aswell. Id recommend anyone to do one of the euro days. The atmosphere is generally a lot more chilled out than uk track days. People dont try and do every single session so you get some sessions that are nearly empty. You usually get good weather. Ive only done 2 euro days one in october and this one last week. From what people say the ones at the back end of the year are more chilled and more like a holiday for a lot of people. The racers are either still racing or not testing new things/getting up to speed. This one every group seemed more full on than usual. Even the novce/inters group seemed like a fast intermediate group by the end of it. I'd love to do something like that.
I have got this mad idea to stick race fairing on the SP and just do track days with it.
Theyre not as cheap as the first appear though. This was £430 quid for the bike transport track and hotel which sounds really good. But by the time youve got fuel, flights, hire car, insurance, food, tyres its over a grand for 1 person. I went to valencia with the wife and it was great after track time to go for some nice meals and evening drinks then this time i went with mates and it was just as good but there was more beer drank this time.
as a lap time comparison the novice inters lads seemed to be doing 2 mins 2;05
i was in fast 1 probably smack bang in the middle speed wise doing 1:53-1:56s
the fastest lad in fast 2 were doing 1:46s i think
Then i think it was edgar pons moto 2 rider was out on a cbr600 at lunch time doing 1:36's
J B L said:
Do they have the same sound restrictions on Euro TDs as they have on UK tracks?
Very rarely and not at the mainstream circuits, if they do the TDO makes it really clear, I reckon at least 60% of NL or FE trip would fail a 105db UK test ... thats why they go 
And Tim, great write up fella
Thanks Tim! The read really brightened up my day.
One quick question, the packing procedure seems a bit rough.
Seems like rubbing/knocks from gear that is packed in the crate might be quite likely? Did you have to provide your tie downs as well, any adult supervision (I will need it) available?
One quick question, the packing procedure seems a bit rough.
Seems like rubbing/knocks from gear that is packed in the crate might be quite likely? Did you have to provide your tie downs as well, any adult supervision (I will need it) available?
redback911 said:
Thanks Tim! The read really brightened up my day.
One quick question, the packing procedure seems a bit rough.
Seems like rubbing/knocks from gear that is packed in the crate might be quite likely? Did you have to provide your tie downs as well, any adult supervision (I will need it) available?
I can help on this one having done it a fair few times, its a doddle, and although it looks very cramped, nothing that could do any damage actually moves, basically once you have the bikes strapped down, you effectively wedge stuff in or strap stuff on in such a way as that nothing delicate is being rubbed or pushed upon, I have at times used an old sheet or towel to just put between bodywork and say paddock stands for instance, also because you are there doing the packing you take the care that you believe it deserves, in regards straps they will loan you straps, I think they are a quid each and are the 'pull to tension' ones and not the ratchet type, I personally take my own as that way I know I have my bike exactly how I want it One quick question, the packing procedure seems a bit rough.
Seems like rubbing/knocks from gear that is packed in the crate might be quite likely? Did you have to provide your tie downs as well, any adult supervision (I will need it) available?
Basically you have complete control of what rests where against your bike, but I can get with mine my large kit bag, 2 pairs of boots, 2 boxed helmets, spare tyres, front & back paddock stands, tyre warmers and other guff and if you work with the person you share a crate with, all is golden
also 2 people can generally fit more onto a double stillage like that one than they could if they had 2 of the single stillages.HTH
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