the bb trackday thread.

[mckeann]

It's getting there. You'll be flying on the new bike. They practically ride themselves

[patchb]

Is rockingham international any good?

Thinking of doing it 2 weeks on Saturday as the weekend date suits me and am able to stay with family in Northampton the night before (come from Bournemouth so miles from any tracks)

[Gavia]

mckeann said:

It's getting there. You'll be flying on the new bike. They practically ride themselves

Can I stay in the pits drinking? If so it’s perfect for me

[mckeann]

patchb said:

Is rockingham international any good?

Thinking of doing it 2 weeks on Saturday as the weekend date suits me and am able to stay with family in Northampton the night before (come from Bournemouth so miles from any tracks)

I quite like it. Just beware that it's slipperier than ice in the wet, it kills the left hand side of tyres if you're fast, and beware of the bumps where the speedway joins the infield.

[stew-S160]

patchb said:

Is rockingham international any good?

Thinking of doing it 2 weeks on Saturday as the weekend date suits me and am able to stay with family in Northampton the night before (come from Bournemouth so miles from any tracks)

Personally, I love both Rockingham layouts. The infield section is really good. The banking section is fast and the transitions between require a bit of finesse.

[George29]

hebegb said:

George - you should have come up to Ctoft mate - we had a proper giggle , big bunch all told - ps PM me your number unless Gav has it ?

I would have done if I had a bike! I love Croft and haven’t been in ages

Picking the new bike up in 3 weeks I’ll do a few NLR rounds next year. I assume you’ll no longer have the orange bib then and we will be in the same class?

Will send a PM over

[George29]

Gavia said:

Like I said purely an opinion as here’s loads will claim they didn’t get a fast lap in due to slow traffic and so on. Either way doesn’t bother me

People can claim what they want but timesheets don’t lie!

[moto_traxport]

jock mcsporran said:

For the Euro trackdayers, what's a good track for March-ish next year? A few of us from work are thinking about booking something up to get a few days in. There's not much advertised just now but interested in knowing what to look for.
We've done a 'few' track days (3 or 4) and generally running high novice/low inter pace.

It's going to be Southern Spain / Portugal at that time of year. Jerez is good bet as well as being an iconic circuit to do. With Portimao you'll need to be a bit lucky on the weather.

Or you could go to the other side of Spain and do pile 'em high sell 'em cheap Costa del trackday offered by No Limits at Cartagena or Focused at Ameria.

Also No Limits offering a combined trackday at Castololli (funky hillside track) and Valencia - possibly too intense as a first time Euro event though?

[moanthebairns]

I'm going to knockhill Sunday. Just thought i'd say to make you's lot jealous.

[cmaguire]

moanthebairns said:

I'm going to knockhill Sunday. Just thought i'd say to make you's lot jealous.

Only you like the rain, so I doubt many will be jealous.

[moto_traxport]

stew-S160 said:

patchb said:

Is rockingham international any good?

Thinking of doing it 2 weeks on Saturday as the weekend date suits me and am able to stay with family in Northampton the night before (come from Bournemouth so miles from any tracks)

Personally, I love both Rockingham layouts. The infield section is really good. The banking section is fast and the transitions between require a bit of finesse.

Normally Rockingham gets a right slagging off so its nice to see some people like it.

The International circuit has got a lovely bit where you come kneesliding down the banking then straightlining through a chicane - great when you get it spot on.

[moanthebairns]

cmaguire said:

moanthebairns said:

I'm going to knockhill Sunday. Just thought i'd say to make you's lot jealous.

Only you like the rain, so I doubt many will be jealous.

[moanthebairns]

I swear to fk it was dry yesterday when I booked it.

[graeme4130]

Took a trip to Silverstone yesterday for the GP circuit.
It was warm, but the day started off wet and the track didn't dry out until Lunchtime. Sun shone after that and it was a decent day. Very busy, and lots of traffic, but nice and chilled and not too many red flags in the afternoon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftNOCsEGAQc

[Bikesalot]

Anyone heading to Snetteron on Thursday?

Weather looks ok for now...

[Sebo]

Having sold the GSXR-1000 track bike a couple of months ago with a view to doing nothing else this year and perhaps looking for a decent track R6 next year, all changed when I noticed a very very well put together SV650 MiniTwin race bike locally. I've been keeping an eye on them over the past 6 months on the various sites and groups that sell Track / Race bikes but hadn't found anything within a couple of hundred miles that looked decent and wasn't OTT money. I viewed the bike and the deal was done Wednesday last week.

Wanting to give the new bike a shakedown, I took it to Snetterton on Tuesday on an MSV day. It was very very quiet, lots of room in the garages and despite the forecast, remained dry (and even sunny in places!)

I ride about 1200 - 1400 miles a month on an old carb / curvy SV650 so I'm very familiar with their characteristics. It's fair to say that this minitwin is world's away from my daily hack though - race subframes, Ohlins Suspension on the rear and emulators in the forks with decent springs. The thing handled like it was on rails.

By the end of the day, I was still out braking myself on the Bentley Straight and Start / Finish - you really can leave it phenomenally late to brake and turn in which is taking me some time to get used to when compared with the old girl.

I miss the howl of the inline 4 and 165+bhp but it's refreshing to ride something that has so much less power - there's no hiding from poor corner speed or wrong gear selection. Yes it was frustrating at times to be dicked on every straight by bigger bikes, only to overtake them again a couple of corners later but that actually became fairly useful to me, as someone that tends to be a bit of a pussy when it comes to overtaking on track days, it gave me lots of opportunity to make clean passes (though suspect I should have gone up to Fast group rather than stayed in Inters).

I'll be back on the bigger bikes on track before long (if I get really desperate, I've got a road going Fireblade and an R1) but for now I'm going to enjoy getting back to basics on the Tesco Value Japanese Ducati.

Cool story bro etc..

[graeme4130]

Worked on my right hander body position this week at Silverstone. It's improved, but still not great


Here's the accompanying video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftNOCsEGAQc

[graeme4130]

First time running Dunlop Kr106/8 Slicks too. Had a 2 front and a 4 rear, and I'm not as impressed with them as I expected to be. I ran them at 34fr/22rr measured straight in from the track after warmers, so around 85deg
I think I still prefer the Bridgestone V02 Slicks that I normally run (medium Front / Soft Rear)

Anyone else compared the two ?

Either way, they're better then the Pirelli's we're having to race on this year

[mckeann]

graeme4130 said:

First time running Dunlop Kr106/8 Slicks too. Had a 2 front and a 4 rear, and I'm not as impressed with them as I expected to be. I ran them at 34fr/22rr measured straight in from the track after warmers, so around 85deg
I think I still prefer the Bridgestone V02 Slicks that I normally run (medium Front / Soft Rear)

Anyone else compared the two ?

Either way, they're better then the Pirelli's we're having to race on this year

Interesting you didn't like them Graeme as I've just went the other way from Dunlops to Bridgestones and wasn't a fan. I did 2 days at Estoril on Dunlops and tried the Bridgestones for the last 2 sessions. was meant to be 3 but first time out to scrub them in and the rear tyre valve failed and the tyre went flat :O

What didn't you like about them???

I MUCH prefer the Dunlop front. Have so much confidence in it for trail braking, and when I tried the V02's, I kept missing apexes as the front just felt like it was ready to fold. The rear V02 was very good. Plenty of feel and grip but when it did slide it was all very controlled.

Again, like you, I was comparing a hard rear (MS4) vs the soft rear V02 so not really a fair contest. An MS2 would be a fairer comparison against the soft V02.

Despite only trying them for 2 sessions, I did my fastest time on the V02 so it's obviously a very grippy tyre, just need to work on the front end feel. I'll also be wanting to compare like for like compounds to see the laptime difference

[George29]

graeme4130 said:

First time running Dunlop Kr106/8 Slicks too. Had a 2 front and a 4 rear, and I'm not as impressed with them as I expected to be. I ran them at 34fr/22rr measured straight in from the track after warmers, so around 85deg
I think I still prefer the Bridgestone V02 Slicks that I normally run (medium Front / Soft Rear)

Anyone else compared the two ?

Either way, they're better then the Pirelli's we're having to race on this year

A) you ran them too high pressure. I do 35 front 18 rear
B) you’re comparing a hard rear Dunlop to a soft rear Bridgestone

I usually use a 1 or 2 front, and never more than a 3 on the back. Usually a 2