Trackday:Cadwell 11th October

[Shaun]

he's lying, he could've made it there but he got in a heated argument with me because I rated one of his posts, then I rated another one and the shit hit the fan.

Hope you had a good day.

[Stew]

Well it turned out to be a great day for me (in the end) but not such a great day for Nige. Read on (if you can be arsed ).

Basic planning went to pot first thing in the morning when I realised I had to wake Keith up so I could move his car so I could get my bike out of the garage, no big deal but it meant me waking Keith up earlier than expected. Got my bike out, started first time like it should and I set off for Cadwell with everything I needed in my rucksack, was a little bit chilly but the weather reports promised some sunshine which I hoped would warm the day up a bit when it arrived. I got to Cadwell pretty early at 7:45am handed over my already completed indeminity forms and got my Cadwell bracelet and 'focused events' novice sticker. Nige turned up while I was in the queue and got his sticker too.
After we got our stickers Nige went to look at his hire bike, a gsxr600, looked okay (although it was yellow ).
Track briefing was at 8:30 so we had time to get a sausage sarnie and a cup of tea beforehand . After briefing, the novice group was called staright away for the first session I got to my bike started it and rode down to the paddock area. Nige was just starting his hire bike while I waited in the queue waiting to go out onto track when my bike just stalled. I pressed the starter and nothing happened, lights were still on but no started at all. At this point Keith noticed what had happened and came running over and helped me push the bike up the hill to the 'pit area'.
Keith got his tools out and we started taking the bike's fairing panels off and started waggling cables and pulling connectors apart. Eventually it was diagnosed that the problem was somewhere within the immobiliser, although loads of other problems were noted within the very shabby wiring loom including the fantastic fusebox assembly where there were 4 fuses but only one that was actually being used. Eventually having missed 2 novice sessions Keith had managed to get my bike started again by removing this little lot.
https://www.crotchrockets.escapethewomb.com/bcfstuff/removedwires.jpg (Ta very much Keith )
Amazingly all of my electrics still worked, lights 'n everything.
As the second novice session ended nige came walking back up towards us and I pointed at my bike as it was running with a smile on my face, unfortunately Nige wasn't so happy and announced 'Well thats my day over'. He had crashed the hire bike going into the hairpin, losing the front end of his bike. He wasn't injured just his pride and his wallet as the hire bike had sustained some damage (broken rear brake lever scuffed fairing and reshaped crash bung) damage was pretty minimal but he wasn't allowed back out . The rider following Nige had made the same mistake and crashed his ducati apparently spilling some fluid on the corner.
So now I could go out to enjoy a few sessions on track but would be alone without a trackday partner . As always I went out there on my first couple of sessions feeling pretty slow, not sure whether it was the paranoia of Nige crashing on cold tyres or the fact that I hadn't had my knee down for quite a while but I just didn't feel 'up to speed'. Keith commented that I was noticably faster when I was riding the VFR400. I managed to get one more session in before the lunch break and had just started to regain some confidence and was overtaking a bit more. Had a spot of lunch and decided that we would attach an onboard camera for a couple of sessions. The first session went okay(ish) but when I returned I realised I couldn't of pressed record on the camera properly and it hadn't captured anything and so left the camera in place to try again in the next track session. This time I was right at the front of the novice group and lined up next to a speed triple-esque triumph (it was originally a sprint but had lost its fairings and gained some speed triple coolness). I set off at the front of the pack and everything just seemed to click I was constantly aware of the sound from the triumph somewhere behind me but never actually caught view of it. Within a couple of laps I had caught up with the back markers of the novice group and gained in confidence I overtook a few at a time (will have to get round to uploading this vid sometime ) and was only overtaken by 3 or possibly 4 other riders in the whole session, 2 of these being the instructors. That was definitely the best fun I have had so far on a trackday and came back to the pit area smiling .
The last session again was pretty good until I caught up with a red/white and blue Fireblade, no matter what I just couldn't seem to get by him, I would gain on him goinmg into the corners but coming out I just couldn't seem to carry enough speed and he would get away again on the straights, although a nippy little rgv250 came past the both of us on the inside at Charlies. After 3 laps I finally got past the 'blade and got past the rgv again on the straight only for him to come past again in the next corner .

In the end I had a fantastic time, even bought a picture from the track organised photographers. Many many thanks to Keith for sorting my bike out (again) and still can't believe how unlucky Nige was to crash, especially so early in the day .

Oh, and thanks to Keith for the scrummy cake that he brought us too.
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"Unlike public school you don't need to have your arse up and your head down to go a long way...."

[Shaun]

Cool, although shame about nige.

There is nothing wrong with yellow gixxers dammit!

[Kickstart]

Hi

Good day, but the YZF definatly does not like Cadwell. Mind you it is now a bit lighter and has more space available under the seat.

Few pics here:-

https://www.traxpics.co.uk/Cadwell-20041011/

All the best

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

[G]

Who wouldn't allow Nige out again?

The organiser or the track bike hire company?

[Stew]

[Ste]

Was the hire bike not one where he paid a deposit which you don't get back if you crash the bike as thats what all the hire companies I've seen have run as.

[G]

Well, a to focused events then.
I would expect them to carry spares with them (all the trackday hire places I've used have). And be able to fix it at the time. Ok, maybe charge him for the bits/get him to 'top-up' the deposit, but it does sound like they're abusing their position.

I'd reccomend he writes them a letter expressing his dissatisfaction.

[Dusty]

I agree, you'd expect them to carry a selection of at least the basic spares, or have another bike that he could take out.

Glad you had a good time though Stew.
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Gallery

[Stew]

Yeah totally agree. They originally said that the most he would pay should he crash would be the £400 ( )deposit that he had to pay but obviously that if he had a minor spill he would just have to pay for the repairs to the bike and nothing more. Nige is yet to find out exactly how much he has to pay, I think Keith took some pics of the damage so they don't try to claim anything too excessive.
Nige was contemplating riding back to fetch either his GS or M's VFR (although I doubt she would let him use it after he dropped the GSXR).
Like you say a bit of a to focused events and their hire bikes. Although the rest of their services seemed okay and there were seven sessions for each group throught the day (although perhaps they were a little shorter to fit them all in )
Lesson learnt: dropping a hire bike on the second session of the day makes for an expensive 40 minutes on track (£80 for trackday+£170 for hire of GSXR + cost of repairs).
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"Unlike public school you don't need to have your arse up and your head down to go a long way...."

[Korn]

[G]

Might be worth writing to a sports-focused magazine (PB, now it's gone a bit anmby-pamby?) if they don't do anything.