AMCC Advanced Rider Training October 7th report

**Keystone19** · 8th October 2007, 12:15

Popped along to the Advanced Rider Training Day run by AMCC yesterday.

Was an interesting day headed by Vince Sharpe.

We all went for a walk/ride around Pukekohe track which I had not done before here. I was very interested to see a steel manhole cover on the track to the outside of Jennian - had never noticed that before and couldn't see it at all when I was riding. Would hate to take a wide line and hit it in the wet though!

Weather wise the day was great. An unfortunate accident just after lunch when a Mackintosh post classic bike disintegrated coming over the hill delayed things considerably and left a lot of oil on the track. This meant speed over the hill was reduced considerably for the remainder of the day and track time was somewhat reduced.

Good to see a few new faces on the track - particularly good to see Surfchick out on her Ducati for the first time (good to see you get rid of those chicken strips left behind by TwoSmoker when you bought those tyres off him) and Madduck nearly hitting 200kph on her SV (next time girl!).

See you at the next one!

**MadDuck** · 8th October 2007, 12:46

What a great way to spend a sunny Sunday than "having a go". A well organised day by AMCC. The rugby world cup jokes were flowing thick and fast by days end

A great highlight was following Vince around the track where he explained the lines to supposedly help one go faster...hmmmm it also helps to have the nerve to push the bike to the limit and not brake like half way down the back straight in time for the hairpin.

I bet the smile has not yet disappeared from Surfchicks face ... thanks for keeping me company on the ride home girl. I was pretty tired after the day and still recovering from the flu. And mega thanks to Jill for showing us around the track and talking me into going out there...

Now i have just one final comment:

I passed an R6 on the back straight - and it wasnt broken down

**Keystone19** · 8th October 2007, 12:56

Originally Posted by MadDuck

I passed an R6 on the back straight - and it wasnt broken down

I can vouch for this 100% - seen and witnessed with my own eyes...you go girl!

**Toast** · 8th October 2007, 13:59

Was a good day. Could have been better were it not for the oil at the hairpin, the oil over the hill, and one of the head coaches popping his shoulder and sidelining himself for the rest of the day. Buuut, that's trackdays for ya, and still not nearly on the carnage scale of some I've been at.

I agree that the track walk was well worth it (although could have been scheduled a bit earlier so that we could all get in to the riding at the earliest allowable time). One thing I wasn't prepared for was how smooth the entry to Jennian is. It seems so much tighter when approaching at the top of 5th gear!!

The track surface down the front straight and entering Jennian was even worse that I recall, and I found myself using my legs as a second set of suspension to keep the bike in contact with the earth there.

Got to follow Vince Sharpe, pushing a modern CB900 fairly hard, in one of the later sessions. That was a really useful couple of laps, and helped me improve my lines, especially through the left handers. One thing that amazed me is how hard he gassed it right through the cement dust over the hill. He's certainly a lot more aggressive on a bike than he is to talk to. Nice guy

Overall a good day. Probably won't make the next one 'cos I intend to do an AMCC race day or two, but hope to make another in future and get more time with the old fast fellas

**PeteJ** · 8th October 2007, 14:11

Yeah, I was speaking with Paul Pav this morning - seems that there's no bad damage to him, though the McIntosh Suzuki is in for a major rebuild.

Good comment about Vince riding on the oil/cement dust. After a reasonably short time, much of the slipperiness was gone. BTW - who else spotted Jill taking the line inside that spill over the hill all the time?

**Toast** · 8th October 2007, 15:45

I think everyone just took their pick of line over the hill after they'd been past it a few times, as it wasn't really that bad (Vince included, obviously).

**NinjaBoy** · 8th October 2007, 17:14

Was the most relaxed trackday I've been at esp. with the new bike and all. These tyrewarmer thingy's were great although still took it easy in the 1st couple of laps.

The track walk was very informative and generally the day very well run.

Also thanks to Jill for putting a blue layer on the front discs and confirming that there's nothing wrong with the bike ( just the owner)

**ArcherWC** · 8th October 2007, 17:23

Had a blast for my first time on Puke, couldnt have picked a better day weather wise.
My laptimes consistantly dropped with a final pb of 1:10 and some change and consistant 1:11's, still heaps of time to be gained too as the bike was geared down for Taupo and it ran out of puff halfway down the back straight.
Took a while to get my head around Jenian, it just plain messes with your mind, and the hairpin has still got me fooked. oh well more to learn next time

**boostin** · 8th October 2007, 18:01

Sounds like you all had an awsome time.

After looking forward to this day for about 2 months I went and got sick over the weekend. I was hoping it would clear by Sunday but it didn't.

Hopefully AMCC will let me trf my booking to the one in December.

**westie** · 8th October 2007, 19:34

The day was a real blast. Had a great time.
I get what people are talking about with the jennian corner and using your legs as a second set of shocks.
First time on Pukekohe track was way better than I had been led to believe.
Cheers
AMCC

**surfchick** · 8th October 2007, 20:13

OMG OMG OMG...
total convert to track days...and really sticky tires

how many smiley faces can i find... waaaaaahhhooo still grinning... soo trying to find out when the next one is... spent all night on sunday reliving my favourite corners... i loved the track walk...having a look before the first ride. loved the riding... slowly working through from the first lap... then later my leg nearly got ripped out of my hips on the back straight

when a bump knocked it out from behind the fairing and the wind ripped it backwards...ba ha.. loved it all. loved all the bikie banter...loved hanging out under the plush set-up of carpet and tool-kits at jills home-away-from home

for a good few laps i was behind riders who i wanted to pass in the corners but couldnt really figure out how...not really knowing the track so well, or really how to pass proper... but later on I got better at gassing it out of that castrol corner into the straight and passing there... was a bit freiked to do any passing under breaks at the other end... but that was a bummer cause then i was kind of stuck behind for the funest corners...

i must say that mad-duck was halarious dithering about whether or not to ride... freiking that she'd not riden for a month prior...then blew off the r6 and a few bloody others in EVERY session... ba ha cool that was. was very good having jill as marshall-leader thingi... I liked those lines best..but kept forgetting the good lines you taught me as soon as you were out of sight..uh oh... lol actually by the 3rd session things were way better and I was so gutted they ran out of time for the fourth

2 things for next time.. faster corners.. and get past 240 on that back straight (i always just held it there instead of going up the last gear to 6th cause the wind felt like a thick-wall of terror)

so maybe next go i'll tuck up even smaller and 240 won't feel soo fast. and did i mention the enormous back-off period where I stopped accelerating at the kink?

in some ways i just can;t quite get my head around how the breaks will manage to stop me going that speed any where near that hairy-pin. as it was i had to bury my knees into the tank moulding to stop myslef popping off the front. thank god ducatis are the shape they are... must work on the inner thighs for that tank grip

but OMG how much fun was that all... tu meke tu meke tu meke wihooo
i'm totally still on a high from it..cheesy grin more than 24hrs later...

stoked they ran that day au

**surfchick** · 8th October 2007, 20:20

also
big thanks to chris s for the big bad back protector and the gas cans
and to jill for the pre track day scout of my nasty sport-tourer tires and emergency sourcing of some nu rubber..

and back to chris again about those tires... i so got some mis-placed street cred. from the tires looking track-day ravaged/blistered so far past any chickenstripes practically to the bikes hub-caps. ba ha... and ba ha bit of humour that. but my how those conti tires stick. glued to the road compared to the stradas..

**ArcherWC** · 9th October 2007, 05:38

Originally Posted by Toast

I agree that the track walk was well worth it (although could have been scheduled a bit earlier so that we could all get in to the riding at the earliest allowable time).

Maybe next time they could do the track walk for those that are interested at say 9/9:30, that way you could walk the whole track then come back to get kitted up.

wasnt so fun walking in one piece leathers