Another potential newbie thread
 

Ok so ive been wanting to do DesmoDue for a few years but things have got in the way.

The thing that makes it a question for me is.....ive never even been on a trackday before with my bike. Would i be mental to prepare to do desmodue in 2014???

Cheers for the advice.

Andy Mack

I did 2 before my first race.
Barring this year's Mallory debacle we always have a track day the Friday before a race weekend. It would be wise to do 1 or 2, you could defo do with being the quickest in a slow group an be able to hold your own with the inters, even on our bikes (straight line speed is p*ss poor!). But saying that there are always people at every pace to dice with.
Do your ACU license in Jan as they run for calendar years.
Have you been to a meet or can you get to Mallory in 2 weeks?

yeah im sure i could make it to Mallory park.

I can't see it being to much of a problem, although a test day (trackday) or two between now and the start of next season wouldn't be a bad idea

When I started racing back in the 90s I went out and bought myself a well used 5 year old CBR600FM race bike, did one training day then I was racing in Formula 600 with NGRRC sharing the grid with Manx GP winners and regular MCRCB racers.

I've only ever done trackdays at cadwell and probably only done 10 collectively ever over the last four years since not owning a road bike and fancied a go at DD so I enterd my 1st race weekend the cadwell round in July to see how it went. And loved it and I didn't even come last. I will b doing mallory in a couple of weeks and had never been there before so i did a test day there a few weeks ago just to see which way it went. so we will see how I get on there. So from a track novices point of view with little track time I'd say book a track day somewhere and see how u get on. If its your 1st ever track day book in novice then if u find you are going past a few people try moving up to inters in the afternoon and see if you are still passing people. Also if u can somehow time yourself u could find out what lap times are being done in Races. And if your not to far off you will be fine.

Deffo do a couple of TD's IMO. What ever your level of skill is racing can still be a shock. If possible try to do one where a DD'er is going to be there. I will be racing at Mallory next Sunday with TSGB if you are close and fancy a chat/brew.

Neil #70

I'm the same as you im racing in class b my first track day will be cadwell on 28th october I'll be at mallory with team ghost 61

Admittedly I did quite a lot of track days before I when racing, wish I had done it sooner :) Same as everyone else do a couple of TDs then come racing, best giggle you will ever have. Best race series to join for being friendly and helping each other out as well, as Nike says JUST DO IT

No Limits are doing ACU courses at the following. They usually include half a TD as well.


ACU 2013 Course details
16th September - Cadwell
15th October - Donington
2nd November - Oulton
15th December - Rockingham

Get your ACU licence and join in on rhe test days before the races ..
Give you an idea of the pace .. meet some peeps
And if you feel ready to make the leap you can usually pay on the day to race and if not .. you can watch the racing

Some silly old fool said to me it's all about time on track. I thought I'll spend my money on trick bits to make me go faster instead. I now he's right now! However, you need time on track doing the right things. If you could go with somebody who has raced before they should get you upto speed quicker. Second however, there is a gulf of difference between track day speed and racing speed. Then again there is a gulf of difference between qualifying pace and race pace.
Stop pondering and get on with it! (Btw the advice was from a past dd champ!)

unfortunately im in sunny scotland so cant do those for my race license.

but most of you have convinced me to go for it! just need to get a bike and do some track days!

Sunny Scotland??????????????
 

Don't know what the weather has been like in Glasgow for the last few weeks but since I got back from Brands it has rained every day here in Oban!
I will be going to Knockhill for some track days early next season, if you do get a bike and want to do some track days at knockhill, let me know.
Anyway with all the shennanigans with Mallory, Hottrax may be looking for a replacement venue next year...........lets put a vote in for Knockhill :lol:

it was sunny last saturday. I took a wee trip to oban for a spot of lunch.

but yeah i vote knockhill too!!!

I'm not that old ;)

I expect the Mrs would like a trip up there at some point,,, be rude not to bring my bike,,,,, wouldn't it?

And the new camper

It would be good to use knock hill but the reality is people won't travel which makes its not financially viable to hottrax.

How well was Spa attended last year?

Knockhills closer to me than brands or snetterton

It's not just roumors .. people do live north of the Watford gap

why?

Give it a go you might like it.
we are in the middle for most tracks in the Midlands

sounds better than in middle of most of sheep in wales, but do like the open space and mountains

Open space and mountains you want! Well quite a bit further North than Watford Gap in the land of Knockhill......................................:lo l:

Silverstone is all of 30 miles up the road for me, yet we rarely go there, knockhill is a 800 mile round trip, guess which one I would rather go to :)

just looked where knockhill is- you're all havin a laugh arn't you!

The truth is that Knockhill is still 3 hours away from where I am anyway, so yea 'avin a larf. Also as Simon points out, like everyone else I would sooner see full grids at all the rounds.

ooohhh Silverstone would be good.

So my question, after having a look at some pictures, it seems most of the class b machines are the 600SS. Is it a better bike over the monster?

And i'll be down for the Mallory race so should see you there.

Not so sure of that Andy

Here are a few just off the top of my head

Supersport

#12 Tom H
#9 Jim Brian
#31 Miles W C
#37 Alex V




Monster

#15 Andy C
#69 Andy B
#50 Scott W
#96 Dave J
#2 Steve B


#3 Mark H has one of each

i just looked at the pics from donnington and tried to work out what each bike was. but thats good info.

yeah i might be purchasing one of Marks if i decide to go dive in.

Probably is more Supersports around but among the top 12 they are splits as follows

S - Tom Halifax
M - Andy Claridge
M - Scott Wilson
M - Andrew Blomfield
S - Jim Brian
S - Miles Watson Court
S - Simon Willis
Both Mark Hamilton
M - Dave Jenkins
S - Steve Newman
M - Barry Yeende
M - Steve Baden

seems that if you have beer belly monster is best due to shape of tank on ss being in the way- not a problem for me though

Well I don't have a big belly but I am pretty tall at 6 foot 2.

Miles are you suggesting all those on my list above with a M before their name have a bear belly :o

You may have a point there :lol:

time to run for the hills

I'm 6'1 with a belly as seen on pit wall at pembery.

Thats me had it next season. Time for the slimfast :-(

I'm going to buy myself a new leather race suit. is there a best time to get it so i get it cheaper? Like wait till the new styles are out so the old ones get discounted? Or is this time of year good as people put their bikes away for winter?

I guess there might be sales around,, I have 2 suits, I paid £60 for a wolf suit , 2nd hand which I use in the rain, It's a good suit and I'd recommend looking 2nd hand if your on a budget, there is a strong probability that it'll get scuffed up. look at the essex bikers centre. www.essexbikerscentre.co.uk you can try different ones on and if you find a good one, buy it.

Ebay's good

You'll find something decent as long as you're Patient

a hardly worn set of good leathers for about £300

But i've picked up sets for as little as 25 .. Good for trying out sizes and as spares

Get to a shop, try on as many different brands as you can and remember which size in which brands fit then hit ebay. I've used Dainese, Alpinestars and Arlen Ness and all 3 were different sizes but fit the same.
Bally is right, be patient and you'll get a bargain.

I got mine at the bike show at excel. Find some that fit, tell them you race and then haggle. I paid 375 for brand new spyke leathers and got him to include a pair of kangeroo skin gloves in the price too.