Snetterton yesterday...

[shot2bits]

Pretty crazy, almost a crash in every session - two occured right in front of me! Good day though and managed to keep the R1 upright. I reckon I was going round the track in the 1.20's so not too bad. Group 2 doesn't appear any different to group 1 - you obviously don't get the real slower riders out and about which is good. Super Corsa's performed very well indeed.

I know have my track fairing so next step is a low cost trailer...

Rob.

[y2blade]

good stuff

glad you had a good day,did you get any pictures?

[shot2bits]

y2blade said:

good stuff

glad you had a good day,did you get any pictures?

No but my friend paid for a camera so hope to get some video at some point.

[shot2bits]

I was a little alarmed at the amount of brake fade the R1 was giving - under really heavy braking they just faded away to almost nothing. This didn't happen every time but was enough to make me back off quite a bit at the end of each straight.

Also, my Wiz sliders (leather) were smoking according to my mate following - he thought they were about to flame up!! The right one is actually black?! Strange eh?

[trumpet600]

I put corsa 3's on my R1 for Mallory. Cracking tyre with great feedback and they warm up quickly.

Was Snet dry all day?

[shot2bits]

trumpet600 said:

I put corsa 3's on my R1 for Mallory. Cracking tyre with great feedback and they warm up quickly.

Was Snet dry all day?

Nope, rained so they called lunch early. Track remained wet for a couple of hours and then damp and finally dry for the last couple of sessions.

[y2blade]

shot2bits said:

I was a little alarmed at the amount of brake fade the R1 was giving - under really heavy braking they just faded away to almost nothing. This didn't happen every time but was enough to make me back off quite a bit at the end of each straight.

Also, my Wiz sliders (leather) were smoking according to my mate following - he thought they were about to flame up!! The right one is actually black?! Strange eh?

yeah those wiz leather ones do get burned ive had them smoking before too very cool

as for the brakes ,they shouldnt really be suffering from fade as the fliuds all new ( yours is a new R1 right? ) maybee the stock pads wernt up to the job !

ive NEVER had brake fade on my blade running the stock honda pads (on track) but the EBC HHH and the carbon lorraine pads i have tried on track were awfull for fading

ive not owned a R1 myself but have riden a few,the brakes were ALWAYS very good ,although im talking fast road use, ive not riden a R1 on track yet

Edited by y2blade on Tuesday 9th October 10:20

[trumpet600]

I found the brakes I have on my R1 (Brembo) were excellent and suffered no fade at all, although they did start squealing on the second to last session.

[Biker's Nemesis]

shot2bits said:

I was a little alarmed at the amount of brake fade the R1 was giving - under really heavy braking they just faded away to almost nothing. This didn't happen every time but was enough to make me back off quite a bit at the end of each straight.

Sounds like you had a good day Rob. RE, the brakes. I used the EBC HH's on the 05 R1, and while I didn't do any track days on it, it had a good thraping at the ring twice.

My track bike uses EBC HH's and I've not had any fade on those either. There are plenty of other good makes of pads out the too, so see what others say and give those a try.

The R1 has about 900 miles at the moment, but is back at the dealers, as it started cutting out all the time and running rough below Two Thousand RPM.


What was I saying about Ducatis and reliability.

[shot2bits]

Biker's Nemesis said:

shot2bits said:

I was a little alarmed at the amount of brake fade the R1 was giving - under really heavy braking they just faded away to almost nothing. This didn't happen every time but was enough to make me back off quite a bit at the end of each straight.

Sounds like you had a good day Rob. RE, the brakes. I used the EBC HH's on the 05 R1, and while I didn't do any track days on it, it had a good thraping at the ring twice.

My track bike uses EBC HH's and I've not had any fade on those either. There are plenty of other good makes of pads out the too, so see what others say and give those a try.

The R1 has about 900 miles at the moment, but is back at the dealers, as it started cutting out all the time and running rough below Two Thousand RPM.


What was I saying about Ducatis and reliability.

Sorry to hear the bike is back at the dealers.

It was a good day - to be honest I have no real idea why the brakes faded so badly which is a worry. Most of the time they performed well so it's odd that they faded on a couple of occasions. Also had the R1 setup by 100% suspension - on my first outing the bike didn't want to turn in on the tighter turns. 100% soon sorted her with the bike much more flickable - knee down on all but the left handers. The tyres performed so well - normally I have the back stepping out or a little slide here and there but they were consistent throughout. I'm not the fastest (yet! ) by any means but I could see that I'm at the speed where tyres, brakes do make a good difference.

The only issue I have is putting nearly £9K's worth of bike on the track. This is kind of my brick wall now. Yesterday's riding was smooth and consistently the same ish times on each lap but I could feel I'm nowhere near what the bike is capable of - I know I could up the pace a good amount. So, do I make the next step and buy fairing, trailer, tow bar or do I just stick crash protectors all over the R1 and hope for the best? I don't want a second track bike as the R1 is such a sorted machine - it doesn't make sense to buy an older bike when the R1 is so capable on track.

[trumpet600]

shot2bits said:

The only issue I have is putting nearly £9K's worth of bike on the track. This is kind of my brick wall now. Yesterday's riding was smooth and consistently the same ish times on each lap but I could feel I'm nowhere near what the bike is capable of - I know I could up the pace a good amount. So, do I make the next step and buy fairing, trailer, tow bar or do I just stick crash protectors all over the R1 and hope for the best? I don't want a second track bike as the R1 is such a sorted machine - it doesn't make sense to buy an older bike when the R1 is so capable on track.

This is the dilema we face. I found that when I first started doing trackdays I was okay. I was taking things steady and getting to know my bike, which in turn helped me on the road. I had not realised up to that point the importance of good tyres, correct pressures and relaxed posture were all important ingrediants into smooth and confident riding.

However, I'm sure you will all agree, after getting a handful of trackdays under or belts, we aren't satisfied unless we wring the nuts off our p&j, which ends in that inevitable off. In my case it was more than one, fortunately not biggies, but the cost does add up.

The way I was starting to throw myself into it made me think about the hassle if it becomes unrideable. Organising getting the bike home, costs, etc. It was at this point I decided to get a track bike. Nothing expensive, just something I could have fun on and continue to hone my riding.

I would guess that decision alone has made me a little faster now knowing that if I bin it, 1. I will get it home and 2. it will hopefully be easy and cheap to put back together.

[shot2bits]

John, FYI

[Biker's Nemesis]

shot2bits said:

John, FYI

Cheers Rob, I'll give it a go when I get it back at the weekend.

I know what you mean about not wanting to have a track bike that's not as modern as your road bike. I've been tempted in the past to use my road bike, but after seeing a few mates doing quite a bit of damage to theirs.

I'm pretty sure I've done the right thing with a track bike, as I don't think I'm missing anything apart from a bit more top end, 10 track days and nearly a thousand miles on track could have taken the shine off my road bike.

Get some crash bungs, race bodywork, brakes sorted and keep it in sticky tyres, jobs a good un.