First track day tomorrow

A common thing for trackday first timers to do is to try and move out the way expecting other riders to come past (lots will fly past just before the braking zone if you are on an SV) so will be tempted to look over your shoulder/distracting yourself looking if someone is coming.

If you start getting overtaken (and you will LOTS on an SV at Snetterton ) don't start trying to get out of people way expecting an overtake, if someone comes up your inside, sure don't slam the door, but take YOUR line and if people want to pass that is for them to find a way, not for you to move over. This is actually likely to cause problems.

Does that make sense?

I was on Metzler Z6 sports touring tyres, they were perfectly fine. Chicken strips gone, no lack of grip. Road attacks should also be fine. I'd say that unless you are a racing god, then tyres won't be your problem.

[G]

I ran standard Dunlop D220's last time Performed great, not one twicth and they were molten wrecks by the end of the day

I have never even been on a track with dedicated track tyres. My first track experience was on Pirelli Diablo Strada's, definitely not the sportiest tyre out there and it didn't cause any problems whatsoever.

When I had just bought the SV it still had a Macadam 90 on the rear. Since it was in very good condition still I didn't bother to change it. That turned out not to be such a good idea as everytime upon accelerating out of a corner the tyre would start sliding. Cool to look at but not that cool to experience. But of course the macadam was developed for heavy touring bikes and longevity. Not for running a <170kg lightweight bike around a track.
Now I run Pilot Powers on the SV.

Your road attacks will do nicely, though.

[JamesMio]

Nice one, thanks for the replies!

[Kylie]

Thanks for the all tips. Yep I'm riding up there, heading up tonight and staying in a B&B. I'll be using Avon Storms which I reckon will be just fine (to be fair I did the Ride in control session last year on another pair and they were great). Report to follow...

I did my first one at Castle Combe a month ago - awesome. Best fun I've had on the bike despite crashing in the morning (pesky rain). Once it dried up in the afternoon it was fantastic.

Fold your mirrors in, and dont think/worry/care about whats behind you. They will find a way past if they want to. When you think you're not going to make the corner don't panic, just look through the corner and lean more! And lo, you've got round it with a big sh*t eating grin on your face!

And like everyone else has said, enjoy!

[Kylie]

Had an excellent day, best day I've had since my wedding. Weather was fantastic - a bit on the warm side but drank lots of water so was ok, didn't have to worry much about cold tyres! The organisation superb - got 7 full 20 minute sessions plus a couple of lesson sessions, general rule (as it was a novice day) was no overtaking on inside on the entrance to bends, which kept things sane.

Made definite improvements and learnt a whole lot. For instance taping up mirrors is a must, I didn't do this for a few sessions and nearly got in to trouble worrying about what was behind me rather than picking my own line. Also back brake is a no-no; was told this but found out the hard way after skidding in sideways to the chicane! Kept right foot on peg from then in. Never that fussed about clutchless upshifts on the road but made a big difference on the track, and started working on moving weight around too. We were advised to tape speedo up but didn't see the point of that - was hitting 120mph on the end of both straights.

Best thing was that the SV is a great bike to do trackdays on, I put so many more powerful bikes to shame as they couldn't hustle round the corners or throw it around as much. Had great tussles with bigger bikes who flew past me on the straights for me to overtake them again round the corners. Great fun.

Some pictures (copyright rawaction.co.uk).

Me in the bomb hole:


In the chicane:



Entering the back straight:

Looks and sounds like you had a great first trackday, some great pics there, welcome to the slippery slope of no return.....

Well played. Cool pics. Job done