Ok so who's heading down to the circuit tomorrow?

[racefactory]

Anyone heading down to Pukey from Auckland tomorrow?

I'm keen to meet up and cruise down.

[SPP]

I probably will but i live next door so won't be cruising far. Try not to run me off the track eh, eh?!

[racefactory]

Sweet, on the cbr6? What colour, year are you? Will come say hi.

[SPP]

:psst: I'll be on the 80's 750. Yellow race suit with 'Dale' on the back giving R1s the learn.

[blackdog]

what time you heading down mate? i'm going to be riding down from east auckland late afternoon/early evening if it suits your plans

[racefactory]

Try not to let that hunk fall apart in front of me mate and we'll be all guds.

[racefactory]

what time you heading down mate? i'm going to be riding down from east auckland late afternoon/early evening if it suits your plans

But it starts 10.30 mate, I'm going down there when gate opens.

[blackdog]

But it starts 10.30 mate, I'm going down there when gate opens.

lol sweetas i'm just a dumb wellingtonian!

I'm flying up fri arvo to pick up and ride abike back to wellys, didn't know if it was a track or race day

have fun

[SPP]

Try not to let that hunk fall apart in front of me mate and we'll be all guds.

Yep, good as gold. I'll keep an eye out for your bike. What colour is your sump plug?

[racefactory]

It's gunmetal grey actually.

[SPP]

I'm hoping it's not too busy (being Friday). Keep an eye out for a '08 CBR 600RR red/white. Real pretty (and want to keep it that way). Come say gidday.

[racefactory]

I'm in the same situation, 06 ZX6R- just too beautiful, really don't want to scrape it up. Wish I had an NC30 to go down with.

What times are you aiming for?

[chrispy121]

I'm hoping it's not too busy (being Friday). Keep an eye out for a '08 CBR 600RR red/white. Real pretty (and want to keep it that way). Come say gidday.

what group are you riding in?

any one want to share a pit garage?

[racefactory]

Yeah I might share with you if you don't mind. That'd be sweet.

[chrispy121]

look for us tomorrow white r6 in the profile pic and a dark grey one

[SPP]

what group are you riding in?

any one want to share a pit garage?

There are groups? I thought I'd be thrown in amongst the racers, lunatics, and scared shitless.

[racefactory]

Na there's aren't any groups I believe. Leaving now, see you down there.

[racefactory]

Great day... commute from North Shore splitting through rush hour traffic in Auckland, spent the day at the circuit followed by a quick beer and then commute home splitting through evening rush hour traffic. Great people which really made the difference for me first time on the circuit. Loved it, got a 1.09 with video to come.

So knackered so no write up, off to sleep!

[racefactory]

look for us tomorrow white r6 in the profile pic and a dark grey one

What happened to you mate?

[Katman]

:psst: I'll be on the 80's 750. Yellow race suit with 'Dale' on the back giving R1s the learn.

This one? :shutup:

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php/133820-Mystery-Kiwi-Biker-getting-knee-down-in-Whitford-Video-footage?p=1129968359#post1129968359

[SPP]

This one? :shutup:

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php/133820-Mystery-Kiwi-Biker-getting-knee-down-in-Whitford-Video-footage?p=1129968359#post1129968359

Ha ha, yeah that's him. I was taking the piss.

[racefactory]

Yesterday I had my first experience on the Pukekohe circuit and thought I'd do a little write up for those thinking about going along to these.

Controlled testing days as they are called, are in a nutshell the most simple way to get yourself and bike onto the circuit. According to the current calendar they are held almost every week and cost only $90 for the entire day from 10.30am till 4.30pm. This usually equates to 5 20 minute sessions on the circuit which is a good amount of time and too much for some. Cars and bikes share the track taking turns in succession. There is an ambulance and medical staff on site and minimal rules.

I split my way through Auckland rush hour traffic on my new bike in the morning to get to the circuit and met up with kb members SPP and Ramyy at the circuit and sharing a pit amongst some sweet cars and race bikes. I actually had trouble finding the circuit gate as the sign posting is not very clear. There are no instructions on where or who to pay or anything so you have to find out yourself and ask around. I ended up disturbing some horses and their owners after asking where to get in. There is no eftpos there so you have to withdraw cash beforehand as I later found out. Go over to the white house down towards the turn 1 sweeper and see the old man and he'll sort you out.

The cars generally go on first and it's pretty intense hear and see them rip down the straight from the pits. All kinds- expensive porsches, fast FWD integras, semi slick race prepared subaru sti's, mazda MX5's and S15 silvia's to name a few!

After not long they start to come in and the race bikes charge on straight away screaming at insane speeds down the front straight while we are still kitting up and getting ready to go on. I follow SPP on his mint CBR600RR accelerating for the first time out of the pits to learn the circuit, at first it is quite daunting immediately doing 130 around the bumpy turn 1 but as long as I followed his lead I knew it'd be fine. Braking for the hairpin for the first time at 240 was just awesome and amazingly physical. Trying to keep your head looking straight against the massive wind resistance was far harder than I expected as I dumped out the clutch repeatedly to 2nd gear. Coming around back up to the mountain on SPP's tail I was already having so much fun. The suspension felt excellent and we hooned into turn 1 over the bumps for how many laps I can not remember. We were steadily lapping at 1.15/1.14 at first and I was quickly finding myself braking past the 200m board closing up hard on the brakes. My camera fell off it's mount but luckily hung on until we got back to the pits. I can definitely say it was super helpful having someone to follow around.

The rest of the day was spent chatting with the other car and bike people, watching the cars hoon around and taking turns with them. I got 4 sessions in for the day and missed 1 due to having to go get more fuel. Time went very quickly!

Aside from thinking on how I can change my riding at different points of the circuit and learning which gear to use, some of the other highlights of the day for me were chasing a GSXR1000 race bike around trying to gain time on him on brakes. Getting a sweet slide out of the hairpin in 1st gear. Also, being 3 abreast with other bikes going into turn 1 and subsequently seeing a ZX6R race bike zoom up my inside, barrelling through!

At the end of the day with still much more immediate room for improvement I had got a timed 1.09 ( I know it's not fast). Steadily building up getting faster and faster every time was good to see. I'd like to get this down to 1.05 next time.

This is a video of the second session before the camera was getting real dodgy hanging on. I quickly jimmied up a mount with a sponge on the steering damper to hopefully reduce vibration and cable tied the camera on to it. You wouldn't believe how dodgy this was. At this point still looking for another gear on the straight, unintentionally clutching on upshifts and using the wrong gear in turns lapping at 1.10 or so.

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vRr67c3LsqE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Was a fantastic experience for the first time on circuit and awesome to get used to the new bike. I split my way back through traffic to the North Shore very tired and with a filthy bike!

[SPP]

yep a good day alright (first timer). If you're even half thinking about going, Go!

ART, MotoTT, CSS would be better for learning but these days are awesome for practicing.

highlights:
Racefactory is not the annoying cunt I thought he would be... mostly. Aha!
it's unbelievable how fast the racers go whilst looking so slow
turns out one of the builders working on my house (and my wifes boss) is a keen motorcyclist and we're gonna hook up and go down to the Paeroa street races!
meet cool dudes in the pits. Gonna cheer Phil on at Paeroa #41 post classics!
tip of the day... Me: "got any tips?" Phil: "yeah don't let off the throttle" Ha!


Heres a clip of our second session from another angle. I know I'm slow as, it's about getting out and having a go!

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[racefactory]

Mate your bike sounds insane!

That's a mean camera angle, nice footage man. Can't say the same for my shoddy mount. Good to meet you yesterday!