Track day virgin - your advice please

Yeah, don't crash.

No pressure.

Some things I also got wrong:

Make sure you have a full tank of fuel.
and/or
Make sure you have some money to buy fuel.

Snacks & drinks is very good advice, I didn't eat enough on mine and started to feel a bit squiffy by the end of the day.

It really has been mondo muppet month for me

good lad where/when are you going??

Some good advice there already, the one about having a 'back up plan' is one I'd like to say more on.

It will take the 'how am I going to get home' worry out of it if you lob it and allow you to relax and enjoy your day more (probably reducing the chances of you lobbing it too!! ).

Better still hire a van/trailer, depending on how far the track is from you, having to ride there in the AM and then home again in the PM after a day on track can be draining. You can also take things life fairings, lights mirrors off etc and not have to worry about having a 'legal' bike to ride home.

Are you going with some mates? That's always a bonus too as you can rally round to sort stuff if needs be, and/or share van hire costs!

I'm going to Llandow near Cardiff on the 1st June next year, arranged by my local forum www.southwestbikers.com. I'm sharing a van with 2 other guys so getting there and back is fine and prepping the bike before hand is the plan..i might even take the whole light unit out

I've got spare levers that i carry all the time so that's no probs

Tyre - I'm running BT020 but i'm going to get a set of tyres for the track day either from ebay, secondhand or just a semi decent set that the tyre shops going to chuck out, what should i look for in the way of tyres and pressures?

Originally Posted by svrash

I'm going to Llandow near Cardiff on the 1st June next year, arranged by my local forum www.southwestbikers.com. I'm sharing a van with 2 other guys so getting there and back is fine and prepping the bike before hand is the plan..i might even take the whole light unit out

I've got spare levers that i carry all the time so that's no probs

Tyre - I'm running BT020 but i'm going to get a set of tyres for the track day either from ebay, secondhand or just a semi decent set that the tyre shops going to chuck out, what should i look for in the way of tyres and pressures?

Unless you've got a spare set of rims with wet weather rubber on, I'd stick with the 020s. They're perfectly good for a track day (especially your first one) in the wet or dry. Otherwise if you take (for the) dry sticky rubber and it rains then you're buggered.

[jambo]

Originally Posted by Flamin_Squirrel

Unless you've got a spare set of rims with wet weather rubber on, I'd stick with the 020s. They're perfectly good for a track day (especially your first one) in the wet or dry. Otherwise if you take (for the) dry sticky rubber and it rains then you're buggered.

I'd 2nd that. It's best to have the bike you know on the tyres you know and I've done several track days on 020s on a Bandit 600 and never found grip an issue at the speeds I was able to achieve, and I wasn't hanging about.

Jambo

I'll third the "Ride on standard tyres sentiment". My Silverstone day was spoiled by race tyres that wouldn't get hot. Christ knows what it would have been like with rain. Probably would hve stayed in the pits TBH!

Are there any trackdays in winter?

Originally Posted by stuartyboy

Are there any trackdays in winter?

plenty:

http://www.focusedevents.com/uk_track_days.asp

Originally Posted by thor

I'll third the "Ride on standard tyres sentiment". My Silverstone day was spoiled by race tyres that wouldn't get hot. Christ knows what it would have been like with rain. Probably would hve stayed in the pits TBH!

That's coz they were Pilot Race 2's and they are carp ... even with warmers they are still a lottery!!

I have used track compound Supercorsa's from cold (i.e. without warmers) and in the wet, they heat up well (and less heat critical anyway then PR2s) and worked surprisingly well in the wet!!

In the dry and up to temp they will defiantly extract the best from you/your bike

But have to agree for a first trackday any decent set of modern road tyres should do the trick nicely