Newbie trackday advice

Long story short my old man said he'd buy us a trackday (cause I passed my full test (THINGS YOU WISH YOU HAD NEVER SAID) together but if I was to hire a bike I'd have to cough up the £250 cash deposit..

I'm on TFT insurance and even so FC wouldn't cover a crash on a trackday. I have R&G's but even so the idea of ragging my baby and risking crashing it.. I'm a comptent fast road rider and I can handle a bike but still...

Anyway Uhm I'm looking for some general first trackday advice and whether I should rent a SS600 (R6 or CBR600rr or whatever shiz they have) or just use my Bambi (read SV )

Your insurance won't cover a crash on a trackday anyway. You can get trackday insurance but it is very expensive. Hiring a bike is very expensive, and the excess is high if you stack the unfamiliar bike.

Use the SV - It is not worth mega bucks, you know it, and you can push yourself and learn without going over the edge. You'll be fine.

[lukemillar]

Don't crash it. It's not compulsory.

[Red Herring]

Can you ride around a roundabout without crashing? Thought so, as Luke said you don't have to crash. If you are a competent road rider you know how the throttle works and as long as you have the self discipline to stay in your comfort zone then you'll be fine. It's only if you decide to try and go that "little bit faster" that you run the risk, and that's a decision that's down to you. In 20 years plus of trackdays I've only been off once, and that was entirely my fault (cold tyres trying to catch a mate). Now racing is another story, been off loads of times there, and that's the difference.

[Paul the 6th]

do a "novice only" trackday - you'll get far more from it.

oh and find a reasonably wide/simple track.


I did an evening session at cadwell park (one of the most technical circuits in the uk AND my only on track experience ever) which was split into 'beginners' and 'advanced'.

The advanced group was full to bursting with guys on full race prepped track bikes, so a load of them jumped in the beginners group. I couldn't really get into the swing of things because they were passing me at the last minute and during corners (they were all trying to keep up with their mates, so more or less treated me a piece of track furniture). I didn't enjoy it to be honest and I've never been that bothered about doing another trackday since. If I can find a novice only session at somewhere like donnington or maybe croft (reasonably flat compared to cadwell) then I might be interested as it'll let me flex my 'speed' muscles a without the worry of some nonce on a ducati almost knocking me off whilst trying to impress his mates...

[punyXpress]

Treat it as a rideout on a dual carriageway ( nothing coming the other way,hopefully ) and realise that some you will get past and others will do it to you!
No pressure - just enjoy.

Originally Posted by Red Herring

...you are a competent road rider you know how the throttle works and as long as you have the self discipline to stay in your comfort zone then you'll be fine. It's only if you decide to try and go that "little bit faster" that you run the risk...

+1

Take the SV and dont worry about trying to catch people who are faster than you.

Just makesure your SV is in good nick, like correct oil levels, decent tyres, chain and brakes.

Enjoy!!

Check the licence restrictments first as well, i looked into doing a trackday and at brands and all other motorsport vision tracks your not allowed on track if you have a 33bhp licence i made a thread about this an dthere was some suggestion of who to try but i havent looked into it yet.

[SoulKiss]

You will learn a load about riding your bike - a track is just a well surfaced one-way system with no pot-holes, road markings or man-hole covers.

It only becomes a race-track if you let it.

Even if it all does go horribly wrong for you, its even designed for people to crash on.

So with such a safe, well set up learning environment, why would you NOT want to use your SV, after all if you learn new tricks on the day, you would always have the issue of "was it the race-prepped hired R6 that was able to lean that much, or was it me having the confidence".

I took my 54 day old Z750 onto Brands last year - was brilliant.

Meh... I'll talk it over with my Dad.. I believe he's mates with the guy who runs the No limits trackdays and he said they don't even check for licence status most of the time!

Yeah i'd try to stay hidden in the novice group.. xD

talking of which I need some new leathers and pants with knee sliders...