| I took the 600SS budget racer down to Llandow on Thursday afternoon for yesterdays trackday to use the day to test the front brake setup.
The weather was brilliant as was the condition of the track.
I was out in the advanced group along with all manner of bikes, R1's, ZX10R's, Fireblades and of course Senna3 on his 674SS.
Started cautiously to bed the pads in but was having to use them a lot more than I intended to stop me running into the rear of some of the bigger bikes in the corners, Next session was interupted by our only faller of the day, he was wisked off to hospital but later returned with just a bandage on his knee, his ZX600 wasn't to badly damaged either.
Once we restarted I was soon comfortable with the front brake and started to put in quicker laps, I finished that second session happy with the way the front brake had performed. 3rd Session I got stuck behinnd my old Fireblade, unlike last time at the track the safety officer had told us there would be no overtaking on the bends, that caused a bit of a problem, how do you pass a 120bhp fireblade ridden by a ACU licence holder down the straight when your on a 600 twin putting out just shy of 50bhp. Answer you DONT consequently my lap times remained in the 52sec bracket. The following session I managed to find a bit of space and was quite happily lapping in the 51sec bracket which I was quite pleased with so rather than push any harder I decided to rest the bike for the rest of the day especially as the left fork seal was now leaking.
The next advanced group I took my GSXR600 out, it felt so different, heavier, wider but worse was the bar angle which was so different from my SS, still after 4 laps I was doing 51 sec laps on it, I finished the session early to come in and alter the bar position. Next time out on it I went in the inters to have a look over some of the other riders that were taking part.
First I came across was Lin on her 583 Monster after 3 laps warming her tyres she decided to get on the gas and was comfortably moving around the bike and riding a good line, earlier in the day i had noticed she wasn't really moving about the bike which was mentioned to her by my mate Mike who was one of the instructors. As for Lins lean angles I think she impressed alot of people with them especially around the left hander onto the pit straight. Sadly Lin and Zimbo couldn't sort out increasing her ride height on the rear so she was finally limited in corner speed by her exhaust dragging on the track.
I then went out in the novice group to watch a few others including Chippy but as he looked as if he had everything sorted we left him to enjoy himself
Senna3 was having a good day he was contiuing with his improvement as a rider and is getting faster every time out on the bike.
Kev's wife Trudi took part in her very first trackday and after a very nervous start riding the bike I picked up at the BMF last Sunday she was soon enjoying the experience.
Speaking of enjoying the day Chippy (Simon) was beaming from ear to ear as he got into the action on his immaculate 749 on his first ever trackday, finishing the day with well chewed tyres and the paint bubbling off his wheel rims due to the heat in the tyres, a trip to the powder coaters is now required.
I didn't enter the final Advance group as i had been out in other groups so just sat back to watch as all the instructors were out in this group for a play. it was entertaining watching jeff White on his sorted GSXR1000 trying to get past Tommy Garness on his borrowed standard R6 it just wasn't going to happen, he would just about get alongside Tommy at the end of the straight when Tommy would leave the braking latter and pull a gap that increased as the corner went on, this was the pattern twice a lap for about 15 laps, good fun to watch.
All in all a succesful day one which we hope to repeat in the future  |