2 days, 2 track days

[mister c]

Well, what a weekend.
DAY 1: Oulton Park on Saturday started off really badly. I got up at 5am, it was absolutely freezing & went to put the bikes into the van I'd borrowed from work to find out that I could only fit 2 in, not 3 . My dummy, toys & pram got thrown out, so told my eldest to tie them down himself as I couldn't be ar$ed. He went off to Oulton with his mate. I set off, went around the 1st left hand bend & 1 bike fell over onto the other . More toys flew out. I jumped in & tied it down properly. The 1st Right hander I came to & the other bike fell over....... I think half of Crewe heard my ranting & raving.
I reached Oulton & Chris had found a garage. I was still sulking, so said I wasn't going back home to get my bike & I would take the Photographs.
My friend turned up & said that he had room in his van to take 1 bike home, so to pick my toys up & go & fetch my bike. I set off & rang our Crewe depot to see if they had a larger van I could borrow (we had Anglesey the day after). Luckily they had a box van in, so called down & collected it. The last customer to use it had left half a tank of diesel in it...... Result things were starting to look up.
I got back to Oulton at about 9am, signed in & then ended up standing around waiting for the track to defrost. We ended up getting on track at about 12.30pm & everything went well. Chris had overheating problems with his CBR, but kept filling it with water to get him through until the end of the day.
The last session of the afternoon & Matt (my middle one) thought he would try his dry tyres. He dumped it at Foulstons without completing a lap.....Bugger. I came round Shell oils on the next lap & there is my eldest sat on the wall next to his steaming bike.............Double Bugger. The FZR performed really well with no problems at all. Chris has cooked his engine, so wouldn't go to Anglesey, Matt's looked pretty bad, but was repairable - if he could find a RH Handlebar. Tim Devine came to the rescue & let Matt borrow his bars off his race bike.... what a star, so Matt had to repair his bike Saturday night











DAY 2: Anglesey. This was a very early start. I was up at 4am, made some food & a flask of coffee & scraped the ice off the van. I set off to pick Matt's bike up at 5.30 - it was -6 degrees according to the vans outside temp gauge, we must be mad
After popping to his girlfriends for her to get changed, we left Nantwich for the journey to Anglesey. The temperature was fluctuating between minus 7 & 0, so I wasn't very hopeful.
We arrived at the circuit at half 8, just in time for the briefing & then it was a quick off load of the bikes & 20 minutes later we were on track. It was dry & clear & a bit windy so the track dried pretty quickly. I checked the temperature & it said +7 degrees, it was positively summer
The track dried pretty quickly - this was going to be my 1st dry track day :0
It showed how slow I was in the dry as I got passed by a lot of riders, so I need to work on my technique & most of all my corner speed. I also need to move my bars above the yolks to make it a bit more comfy. The Super Motard boys were out in force, these lads are totally mental, they were chucking thier bikes around like mopeds, cutting people up & generally causing mayhem. After every session they were pulled over by the marshalls & told to calm it down.
Matts knees were hurting from the crash at Oulton, so we packed up at half 2 & started the long journey home, via Chester to give Tim Devine his Handlebars back.
Would I do 2 trackdays in 2 days again? Yes I think so, especially when the price for both cost less than £120 & the weather wasn't too bad considering it was December

Lucky you. Two xcellent tracks within easy striing distance and cheap trackdays to boot. Some good photos too.

[mister c]

Trying to do a deal with Wileman's. I dont fancy having to pay £60 for his photos, so I'll see what he comes back with

[Quiff Wichard]

ace write up col!! .. you should be a journalist.

and cool adscan advert I see there- product placement or what!



sorry I wasnt there to take picsa. mind you -7 maybe not too sorry

and get a tyree and some decs up (I been reading the other threads) I live on my own wasnt goin to bother- then when I did it really cheered me up.

[mister c]

Originally Posted by Quiff Wichard

ace write up col!! .. you should be a journalist.

and cool adscan advert I see there- product placement or what!



sorry I wasnt there to take picsa. mind you -7 maybe not too sorry

and get a tyree and some decs up (I been reading the other threads) I live on my own wasnt goin to bother- then when I did it really cheered me up.

TBH muck, with the tree, I just can't see what all of the fuss is. My kids are grown up & it is a time for the little ones so I dont bother.

I have to do the Addscan van thingy, cos they are our sister company & get the van for nowt Can't beat a bit of advertising.

On a personal note. Dont worry about not being at Oulton, I must admit, at the time, I didn't want to be there either so it's not a problem

Excellent, while most people are thinking towards next summer, you're out there on it hooning around the track. Must be a good feeling after your off fella.

[mister c]

Originally Posted by robchester

Excellent, while most people are thinking towards next summer, you're out there on it hooning around the track. Must be a good feeling after your off fella.

I think that is the reason I'm a bit of a whimp in the dry Rob, still worrying about falling off. I am going to try & battle my way through it though because I really enjoy riding on the track, it seems to have made me more sensible on the road because I know I can go as fast as I want on track, which is a good thing

Great to see the pics out on track at this time of year, real dedication. Sorry to hear about the bike mishaps, although the FZR sounds sorted. Anglesey looks a great place, how did you rate the track?

[mister c]

Originally Posted by Tim in Belgium

Great to see the pics out on track at this time of year, real dedication. Sorry to hear about the bike mishaps, although the FZR sounds sorted. Anglesey looks a great place, how did you rate the track?

Anglesey is a really nice track. We only did the Coastal circuit, but it does have the "Corkscrew" in it which is really good. I found myself every time I came over the top looking over to sea, which isn't the wisest things in the world to do, but the view is stunning
The surface is super smooth & very wide, & after watching the "No Limits" lads going round the corners, there is a lot of grip. I would like to ride there again definitely