With lots of comments on being early for the trackday I thought I best get there as soon as I could. Unfortunately working nights is a bit o hassle on days like this. I slept most of Friday in preparation for the weekend. Put some second hand track tyres on the bike (supercorsa3) and adjusted the chain and general checking over. Then off to work for the night and then off to milk them cows in the morning. Was feeling rather good as finished milking at 6.30am (well, most of them got milked) and headed to Feilding. Arrived just before 7am to find the queue already out to Rata St. Not bad considering gates didnt open for another hour! Caught up with Polly for a chat for a bit and sent some texts around the place. 86!! GRRRR!!! Where for art thou 86?
Man with the key showed up to a cheer just before 8 so headed in and parked bike up and headed to start a line for the signon. I dont mind standing round for half hour to get in early.
Havent been on the track for a year so thought I better start in med session. Signed up and bike flew through scruineteering with no questions. First time thats happened!
setup camera and went for a wander to see who was around. Round the RDog and 86 and Owl had bailed so went over to hang out with him for the day to see if any of his awesomeness would rub off on me.
Morning seemed to go rather quickly and before long I was out on the scouting lap. The track seemed to have the same layout as it did last year but everything felt a bit different. Going to be a tough day at the office me thinks so I head in for a coke and a smoke.
Big hold up at the start of the day due to no ambulance which put some unrest about the place but the guys at CDs were onto it and someones ears will be sore this morning. 40 min delay and the trackday was underway.
session 1. med session. - after the first lap the bike seemed to come right and I was relaxing into the corners. I was getting frustrated with the braking zones and being slowed alot more than I would have liked and quickly worked out I was in the wrong group. Circulated round and tried to be polite going past people where I could. I loved in and out of splash and was getting a good passing line coming through. Session over and I head striaght to the organisers to see about changign to the fast group. No problem. quick retattoo and its all done.
Because of the order of the sessions going from med to fast the session came up really fast.
session 2. fast group. I quickly learnt how damn fast the modern thous accelerate. wobbled my way round the track and tried to stay out of the way of those going by me. Harder accceleratign and braking showed up the errors in my suspension much more with the back of my bike playing all sorts of acrobatics round toyota corner and a world of wheelspin coming out of higgins. Progressively got more and more confident and I am sure that the bike looked worse than it felt going round the track. Didnt fall off so mission accomplished. In for lunch
session 3. fast session. Striaght after lunch and I was feeling meh, starting to get tired and just wasnt getting on with the bike at all. Worst session of the 4. Just couldnt get into the groove. Came off the track more frustrated than anything telling myself off for the more frustrated I got with my mistakes the worse they got. Had a heap of trouble getting around the hairpin and braking way too early going into toyota. Time for another smoke and rethink on what I am doing.
Sitting next to my bike having a relax I noticed my rear axle nut was sitting on the end of its thread about to fall off. Well thats not helping much at all. I honestly dont know what happened there. When I did the tyres the day before I put an old splitpin in that was pretty average and thought, shell be right. Apparently not. Had a dreading feeling about what could have happened. Nice lad next door helped with some tools and a new splitpin and it was all back together again.
Session 4. fast group. With bike back together and the sun beaming down I decided to stop thinking and start riding. Brilliant session. Without a doubt the best I have had round Manfield. Had a stopwatch on me that recorded a couple of 1.24 laps circulating in the 25s. Everything just felt good even though the suspension was still playing up and bike was still being eaten on the striaghts by the big thous. Had a decent run with Rusty hot on my tail on his R6. That went real good even though I didnt realise he was there. Came in with a huge smile and perfect finish to the day.
Had a chat to RDog and we both agreed that the last session could not be beaten so didnt want to head out for the final mixed sessions and would end the day on a high. I found out exactly how unfit I am with my body feeling like its been through a washing machine this morning but had a awesome time.
Huge thanks to CD for putting on another awesome day. Everything just run seemlessly and the session turnaround were spot on.
photos in my sig and vids coming soon
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by sinfull
WATCH THIS SPACE FOR MORE INFO OF DATES AND VENUES FOR 2015 VISIT, DM here from 18 Feb to 9 March, look on Meetings for info. 
I was a bit miffed about that but what with lawns, calves, painting and stoves to sort out it was all getting a bit much 
Heard about it at the GLC today tho, faaaaark you were lucky with that nut 
Next one tho.............
ps - must do Hampton Downs soon too!
Gixxer 4 ever
Bookmarks