Sorry.....Several was too harsh.......you were going very well

it was me that had 'several' moments mostly running wide and I also had a very difficult first session learning the track and being past by 71 other people.......I got better towards the end of the day though? I think!

It was a cracking day and we all went home safe, no complaints from me :cool:

It was indeed a good day, if a little on the warm side, especially when it came to removing leathers :(

Found it quite a hard track to pick braking points and stuffed up a fair few laps from braking too early.

Witnessed one or two excursions by my fellow ducati riders which was amusing :D

Very tiring track though and my late afternoon snooze helped my last session where it actually felt like a race we were having to get past so many folks in a group, but on a plus side I managed to get past (even JPM held up in traffic :D ) so I guess my politeness is slowly going!

Quote "Any comments? WJB?"

Yes, lots of them. I speak with marshals, paramedics, circuit management and riders on a near weekly basis and I form my own personal view and try to be as objective as possible in comparing what is offered by the track day companies.

Suffice to say I personally would prefer to run BELOW the circuit limit for a number of reasons, namely, it's safer, there are less offs and less red flags, there is greater scope to move people around the groups if they are too fast or too slow, there is less bunching at corners so riders enjoy more track space and can get a decent lap in and enjoy more track time. I don't think anyone could argue with that logic - if there were 5 riders out there, there would be less offs than if you had 100 out there.

Tracks are expensive to hire. There is healthy choice in the marketplace with different business models/customer offers from the track day companies. Those that sell cheap and/or have higher costs are under more pressure to fill the day to make any money, no secret there, it's basic maths and common business sense.

Compare and contrast Oulton to Mallory. Please correct me if my memory is incorrect, but Oulton is nearly 3 miles long and has a sensible limit of 40 bikes. Mallory is a fabulous little circuit, but it's not unknown for track day companies to put 40 bikes out on track. Work it out for yourself.

Thankfully we have lots of choice in which track day company or school to use and they all have their plus and minus points - just like you can shop at Kwiksave or Marks & Spencer, we all have our favourites and loyal customers and thankfully each persons needs and perceptions of what constitutes a quality trackday vary from individual to individual - one persons hate is anothers love.

Long live freedom of choice, long live competition.

WeeJohnyB
Now WeeMrsB, pass the M&S Chardonnay and 'specially selected' strawberries please ;)

I agree with your comments 100% WJB, but for me and probably most others it's about flexibility and times/dates that suit each person, I did something like 3 days with you guys last year, and this year I only have one booked simply because the dates you have don't fall into dates I can do, which is unfortunate as if I was going to give my hard earned to any TD company it would be No Limits.

So I and I guess most others, especially the likes of DD riders trying to get some track time just before a race date take what they can do, which is the unfortunate nature of the beast, and can mean using a company they might have no experience of, on the other hand there are one or two TD companies I'll never use again simply because of their attitude and organisation.

Agree with JPM on this one - it really is down to getting practise in at the right tracks at the right time rather than picking which company I would be going with, mainly because of racing. In previous years on trackdays though I would pick by company then date, as I could fit round their schedule.

Previously I've used 100% and their setup is really good. They used to run a whole load of dates at Snetterton, almost like it was exclusively theirs, but they didn't have hardly a single date there this year.

So far this year it has been two trackdays with Focused Events (Brands & Snett), as these have suited the dates and tracks that I wanted. Again, these guys operate a sensible policy and I'll be happy to go back with them.

I did Silverstone GP with 100% earlier in the year and the group sizes were pretty much the same, as WJB says, it's an expensive circuit and they need to put a lot of people out there to make it pay.
I did think however that 100%'s organisation was slightly better, riders were let out in a more controlled manner at the start of each session, whereas it was a bit more of a free for all on Sunday

And there is mmyself and a couple of mates trying to arrange a trackday at Pembrey on Monday Aug 8th for which we need 32 riders, thats not 32 per group, thats 32 across 3 groups plus the instructors. Although we are not limited to this number a few more would fit in but we would like to limit it to a max of 15 per group plus instructors.
Cost is £120 per person which is probably a tad more than normal but at least you get some track space on a track where laps in the fast group will probably be between 1min 04secs and 1min 12secs.
Last track training day we ran at Landow had on average 11 per group with two group leaders at £65 each it was good value especially for those doing their first ever trackday.

A lot can depend on the punters that turn up. Some days can be more manic than others due to the date, weekday or weekend and if there is a race meet coming up.

This can also have an effect on the average lap times of any given group.

The length an width of the circuit is a big factor IMHO. Silverstone GP is capable of swallowing 70 bikes in one session thats, less bikes per mile than 40 at say mallory, but it does depend on so many aother variables, e.g how the bikes are released on to the circuit, the type of punters, and so on.

I seem to remember this sort of debate before about the Silverstone GP circuit.

If you really wanna have day a where you can call the shots just hire the whole circuit yerself!!:o:o:o

Better still do what Klaus Zwart did buy/build yer own.

Ray

PACE
 

We run higher numbers than normal and our injury rate is lower than most. Try PACE.