Silverstone track day 08-09-04

[Wave2k]

LOL that rabbit was cool, he must have been going about 40mph
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Ducati 1299 Panigale
2009 Corvette C6 z51
RS125->CBR400->RXS100->GSXR750K2->Ducati749S->CBR600RR5->TL1000R->DRz400->RSVR1000->Honda VTR SP1->CBR400->GSXR1000K6->Honda H100->CBR600RR3->Ducati1299

[Shaun]

I believe Mike got a picture of the rabbit running off but he failed to get a picture of it when it was in front of you.

[Andy99]

What a day,i was a bit nervous as i hadn't been on a trackday for a few years but after the first couple of sessions i really got into it. I found there we're quite a few very slow riders out on track and some very fast riders who clearly shouldn't have been in that group.Once i discovered if i got away at the front of the group at the start of the session i could lap at my own pace i was loads happier and had a couple of blinding sessions.All in all i'd say Silverstone was a great track despite the mickey mouse chicane,what were they thinking
It was good to put some more names to faces,see you at some more next year.
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Nothing gets the point across quite like a raised middle digit.

Just call me General Crazypaws.

[Wave2k]

this could have happend but in bike form, but with dusty rolling down the track

Rabbit
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Ducati 1299 Panigale
2009 Corvette C6 z51
RS125->CBR400->RXS100->GSXR750K2->Ducati749S->CBR600RR5->TL1000R->DRz400->RSVR1000->Honda VTR SP1->CBR400->GSXR1000K6->Honda H100->CBR600RR3->Ducati1299

[G]

A semi-concise review this time.

Campsite, free, so good.

Track; big, in all senses, from the massive garages (including our own toilet and two wash basins) to the big distance to go and spectate. Unfortunately the normal (household)
power sockets were at the back, so I was relegated to the back left corner due to my tyre warmers.

Got everything unpacked, warmed the bike up, got the tyre warmers on.
Made sure the bike revved fine when it was warm, then checked the fuel.
Tried to start it again and the starter wasn't engaging. Bump started and I was able to get it to ideal by holding the throttle fully open; any less and it cut out. Keith suggested it could be a battery problem so we got the GT in to jump start it. Still nothing.
After much poking, which didn't provide results, it bump started and ran fine. Not sure how or why, but it was good for the rest of the day.

Nabbed Bendy's Lemon-coloured machine for two sighting laps. The r6 worked fine after that.

Was definitely able to 'keep up' and at times was going past thousand cee-cee bikes on the straights (though I suspect this was more to do with the riders having defective right hands ), so presume it was running ok then.

Got in a few little 'battles' with Korn; he was definitely faster as he was able to catch up when I had got a way ahead while I had a tyre-warmer advantage. However I pretty much was able to keep up and got past him again a couple of times I think. Great fun .
Apparently at one point I managed to leave a big blackie coming out of a corner... slightly worrying that I didn't really notice.
Another biggish, but slightly less controlled knee-down slide which I got just after overtaking an instructor , I definitely did notice. Think the slicks I was using were going 'off' a bit; definitely seemed to be less grip than at Snetterton, but I probably was trying to get the power down coming out of faster corners here.


The track it's self was nice because it was wide, so plenty of opportunity to overtake (and be overtaken!).
However the way a lot of corners were 'linked' means that it was very 'technical'; you can't just turn into a corner and go for the apex, then the edge of the track on the other side. For most corners your positioning was based on the previous corner and the exit had to line you up correctly for the next corner.
I liked the challenge, but don't think it would have been very nice as a first track day; all the first timers seemed to really enjoy it anyway though .
Also a few corners look quite similar; to the point that I wasn't always quite sure which corner I was at; one time I thought I was coming up to a straight and got lots of power on to find a 105 degree left hander braked as hard as possible, might have just been able to make it but ended up carrying straight on over some grass, then a lot of gravel, then more grass and back onto the track. May have been something to do with trying to get past Korn, who had got past me half a lap before.

All in all, a great day; hope it's dry for the 12th of October .


Think I noticed it on a few people in the novice group... hang off your bike! Really, it does /feel/ better. I actually found it a lot more 'scary' doing a cool-down lap at Lydden sat straight up than an on-pace lap hanging off the bike. That and it makes the bike work better, even if you're not trying to get your knee down, it still gives you a bigger safety margin and lets you push it that much more if you want to.

And Keith deserves a big slap for looking behind himself repeatedly; that /did/ make me cringe, looking of from the pit wall.

Have to say a big to Wave who provided the best laugh of the weekend, with his intention to sleep in Jay's car.


Oh and apologies to tgabber, as usual with BCF no one introduced you, so we initially presumed you were some random person .

[Laura]

Me thinks of a plan to steal the bike.

https://cheese.blackholehosting.com/~admin39/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=30&pos=20[/url]
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Good girls ride motorcycles bad girls thrash them.

[Sparks!]

Looks like you all had fun as usual

One day I'll have a go, one day.....
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Current Toys: 06 Yamaha WR250F | Nissan 350Z GT | Tech 4 Homes

[sv_cath]

[Mr Pants!]

LOL,

I heard a tannoy announcement for the lady riding with out a helmet in the paddock area please stop, was that you?


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Mr Pants! (Alex or Al)
Its better to burn out, than to fade away....

[Dusty]

Keith - head down, eyes forward please, the end of the start finish straight is no place to be posing for the camera.

https://cheese.blackholehosting.com/~admin39/coppermine/albums/trackdays/silver080904/normal_035.JPG

https://cheese.blackholehosting.com/~admin39/coppermine/albums/trackdays/silver080904/normal_052.JPG

Edit: please note these are photos of seperate laps.
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Gallery

[Laura]

Not me i'm a good girl.
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Good girls ride motorcycles bad girls thrash them.

[Dusty]

[Kickstart]

[G]

Obvious answer is to ride faster, then you're going past the people instead and don't need to worry .

Even if someone is on the inside of you, they are going to be turning in as well, so unlikely to hit them, especially as they are going faster.

If they aren't turning in and are going faster than you, then you've got serious problems; especially at that bit at silverstone.

Maybe you should try subliminal recordings while you sleep?

[Kickstart]

[G]

[Kickstart]

Hi

I wasn't pushing it hard enough for the bumps to really bother me to be honest. It was just difficult to go in hard without being able to see the bit of track I wanted to use was clear. I landed up going so slow that I could treat the exit to the corner as the apex.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Mr Pants!]

Okay, this is one of the ones I took, I am sifting through the others to see if there are any good ones.

https://www.mad-als.com/photos/slv/slv1

This is my first time at this. I took this at turn 1 with a 450mm lens, I can tell you there are 50 blurred ones to each good one, shame about the barbed wire.
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Mr Pants! (Alex or Al)
Its better to burn out, than to fade away....

[Kickstart]

Hi

Being honest that is a VERY good picture. The wire normally confuses the hell out of the autofocus. Also you have taken that with a fairly slow shutter speed (1/125?) as the wheel spokes are not visable and the background is well blurred, so you have done very well to get the bike that crisp.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Mr Pants!]

I used manual focus, so I set up on the tarmac pre shot. I used 1/250 shutter priority, F14 and I think I was ISO400, perhaps 500.

I did loads of practice pans and picked my focal points where I wanted to shoot, using a 3 fps burst I was able to get this one.

Loads of other ones were blurred.

Next time there is a track day at Brands or something, somewhere where they give you a little more freedom to rome around and not have fences in the way, I will set up and try and get decent pics of all of you guys and post them up.

I really enjoyed the day and learning how to do all this.
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Mr Pants! (Alex or Al)
Its better to burn out, than to fade away....

[Kickstart]

Hi

What camera were you using?

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Luke_Retrofly]

Hi
Bitches .

Glad you all had a good time .

Sounded like a great day, ah well at least i got 1 track day in this summer .

Keep up the good work BCF'ers

Luke

[Mr Pants!]

[tgabber]

Didn't get around to it yesterday, was too knackered to concentrate(!), but here now are some charts generated from my GPS info, showing the slowest and fastest laps I did while recording info (not counting in and out laps).

Note that the track outline is not as good on the fast(er) lap as GPS reception must have been bad. Also note how bad reception leads to occasional anomalies - like the 407mph at the end of the pit straight! - which also then buggers up the graph at the bottom
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"It's all about dislocating expectation"
Kawasaki KMX125 -> Aprilia RS125 -> Kawasaki ZZR600

[Sparks!]

Gabber, that is f**king class

GPS datalogger basically!

What GPS unit do you have again? Do they all do this and do you have special software for it?

I'm intrigued now Might use GPS on the WR instead of a digital speedo.
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Current Toys: 06 Yamaha WR250F | Nissan 350Z GT | Tech 4 Homes