[ogden]

I dunno, I still enjoy watching it. I maintain that the only thing more fun than going fast on a bike is still going fast on your backside after falling off. Gets the old heart pumping.

Overall cost breakdown for a trackday is usually about £130 for the day itself, £80 for a van, £70 for diesel, £30 for unleaded, £40 for a B&B, and consumables. Brake pads usually last 3 or 4 days, tyres rather longer - maybe 10 from a rear and 15 from a front. The real expense comes from the go-faster bits. Once you start pushing the bike, you find bits that need a tweak, and as the shopping list grows, so does the cost.

I only use the GSXR on track now - it's just too quick to risk using on the road. I only have it because when I bought my KTM I couldn't quite bring myself to not have a bike in the garage that'd do 186mph.

It's hard to tell exactly how much grip there is at the front, because when it goes you're screwed. You can tell when it's on the verge of locking under braking though, as it starts to skip over the tarmac. The front rarely lets go before the back though, and the back rarely lets go suddenly - you'll usually get little slides when tapping on the power, which give plenty of warning (if you know what to look for). Riding in the wet is all about being smooth and being confident, and one leads to the other. And if you do fall off, it's slippery so it doesn't hurt so much.