Quote:
Originally Posted by lordra
BUMP!
I was looking to do a track day before the month end (Apr 2013) and I have a load of questions to ask. And it is basically a checklist of sorts.
1. What do I do for extra petrol?
2. Do I need to do anything special to my bike to prep it for the track, apart from lower tyre pressures?
3. Will I be able to have the tyre pressures put back to normal at the end of the day?
4. How long will the entire event last for?
5. What arrangements are available for food and drink? Can we bring our own?
6. Are there lockers available to put our stuff in?
7. Will I need special insurance for my bike?
8. With your past experience, do people prefer hired bikes to their own?
9. What about petrol? (a. If I use my bike or b.hire it)
10. Will petrol prices be normal or inflated?
11. What if damage is sustained to either bike or rider? Is there any special arrangements in place for this?
12. Will we have instructors telling us what to do in a classroom environment?
|
Hi,
Much of this depends on the track. Silverstone for instance has extensive facilities including fuel on site, Cadwell doesn't even have garages to keep you dry between sessions if it rains.
Most of this has already been answered in this thread already.
None the less:
1. Extra fuel may be availible on site, or at a near by garage. Arrive with a full tank and you may need some extra at lunchtime, in which case pop out and get it.
2. Make sure the bike is in good condition for the road, if your tyres or brakes are a bit close to needing replacement, do that before the trackday so it feels at its best. On the day pressures can be lowered depending on conditions, and mirrors should be folded in or taped up, along with the speedo to stop you getting distracted.
3. If you didn't bring a foot pump, you're usually best riding to the local garage for fuel & to use their pump. You'll be taking maybe 3 - 8 PSI out of each tyre so it's not unsafe to ride on the road.
4. Depends and every event has it's own schedule. Expect to be there by 8am, and leave about 5:30pm on a full day.
5. Bring your own food, it'll be cheaper. Most places have a burger van / cafe if you want to pay for food there. Think motorway service station prices.
6. Mostly not
7. No insurance needed, don't crash and it's not an issue. You can get trackday insurance but it has a very high excess so probably only worth it to protect against writing off a fairly expensive bike.
8. Most people use their own bikes, but you can hire with most companies. It's more expensive and you have to get used to a new bike, but it'll be setup already, and capable.
9. as per point 1, take a jerry can, use a local station or fill-up on site depending on the track. If you hire a bike, they will provide the fuel as part of the hire cost normally.
10. Think motorway services.
11. They will have medical facilities to look after you in case of injury. Bike will be recovered from track to the pits. After that you'll probably need to get checked over with the bike before they'll let you back out if it's a minor one. Their responsibility stops there.
12. For most trackdays there will be a briefing in the morning at the start covering flags, schedule, procedures, rules and etiquette. There will usually be 2 or 3 parade laps at the start of a day where you all follow an instructor and there is no overtaking before the session starts properly. During the day you can usually ask an instructor to spend some time with you on your next session. Mostly this is free, sometimes it's an extra.
At the end of the day it's just a bit of tarmac, you can ride as fast or as slow as you want. If you let people past without the red mist descending there's no reason at all not to have a great day with no damage to yourself or your vehicle. Occasionally one bike will hit another but this is spectacularly rare compared to people just trying too hard and ending up on their bum beside their bike. There's generally plenty of run-off so even if you do come off you're likely to do better than if you'd done the same on the road. Relax, enjoy, chill. This is a trackday, not a race meet. You do not have to compete. There is no prize for first place, but you can ruin your own, and other people's day by acting like there is.
My first trackday was on my old Bandit 600, in the wet, on my normal road tyres and I didn't even have time to adjust the tyre pressures or take the lock, chain & toolkit out from under the seat until the 2nd session. Plenty of people were loads faster than me. It was brilliant.
Jambo