Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

The GSX-R's First Outing

After a couple of trips in the little Pug it was time to take the GSX-R to the Ring for it’s first outing, the insurance documents had come through, the only issue was the incorrect sized rear due to my local bike shop. So Saturday morning the bike went in for a quick tyre change, and was soon fitted with a 180/55.

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As I hadn’t had the GSX-R on any twisties (the roads are carp here in the Swamp) I decided I’d ride it down and get accustomed to it on the B258, so I left from a sunny Haarlem full of enthusiasm.

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I was soon in some great Dutch traffic jams, in which I found the 4 way flashers (how novel on a bike) and mirror mounted indicators ideal to aid filtering, after some roads works and the odd diversion I made it the long way into Germany and set about for Aachen. As the roads were fast and traffic free it appeared that the rain gods decided to thwart me and the going got a little on the damp side, although the GSX-R did a good job of high speed cruising. Finally I joined the B258, the rain had stopped but the road was damp, it was still a fair bit better than anything Holland has to offer. I bumped into a Kiwi I knew en route so stopped for a quick coffee before pressing on. The GSX-R was a revelation compared to my old SV, no surprise, 130bhp claimed vs 69 bhp claimed was always going to be a bit of a Quantum leap. I found that 3rd gear has a pretty good top end……

Soon I’d reached Bren’s place, met the others and had a beer before heading to the comfy corner for some good food and beer.

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The next morning it was a steady start with a nice fry up courtesy of Bren. The roads were still damp so after watching the first half of the F1 GP I decided to head off and went down to Breidscheid to inspect the state of the track. The roads were damp in places on the way there, but the track appeared dry. After seeing a few bikes head round I headed up to the car park and started lapping at about 11 am, there were still a few damp patches but as I was taking it easy on the new bike.

Again on track it was a completely different beast to the old SV so I took it gently and came in after two. I then met some of the others from Bren’s and showed a couple of new guys (Xavier and Millsy?) round for a lap.

My bike in the car park:

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Plob’s (Dan) Urban Cammo/Desert Storm R1:

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Xavier’s Ninja 600:

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Milsy’s (sp??) GSX-R 600:

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And the lads getting some helpful tips from Andy Carlile:

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It was then more lapping , slowly getting in the groove, getting put off by Ross taking photos at Wehrseifen, amazed at the phenomenon of power wheelies (Ex-Muhle and the exit of Streilstrecke) and taking the crest before Schwadenkreuz at speeds of well over 230 km/h, Kesselchen became a whole new world too.

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So after 12.5 laps and a few closures I headed back to Bren’s to pick up my bag and head back to Haarlem, a nice evening ride along the 258 with Xavier in tow before hitting the great dutch motorway network with too many speed cameras and roadworks.

So another great weekend with a great bike, I’m sure it’s got a lot more to give and should allow me to develop my riding nicely, good to meet some of the same old faces and some new ones, Plob, Xavier, Millsy (?). Also thanks to Andy for the tips, I’ll hopefully get a couple of laps with him next time.

Re: Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

GSXR750's work well don't they :D My dad rode his to the 'ring, only to get there and find out the track was shut for a rich mans track day :rolleyes:

Still, I expect he'll find out soon how good a K6 is round there...and from what you say, I think he'll enjoy it ;):mrgreen:

Re: Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

How much better in the twisty bits then? Set the suspenders up?

Re: Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

Love the knee sliders :D

Re: Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

It's a lot better than the SV at high speed direction changes, so much so that I was amazed how easy Kesselchen and Klostertal could be taken.

I think it could do stiffening up the front end a little, it felt a little soft under braking. I've still to play around with sag etc., I wanted to give it a go on proper roads before I started fiddling with it. First thing to do is record the current settings, set the sag for me and put the damping back to original so I can start from there. I've still to figure out which knob does what yet..... but then I haven't had an in depth look.

Re: Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

Photos of the tyres after the 'Ring? :D

Re: Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

Sounds like a fair plan. Though id advise doing Sag no matter what. ;)

Top of the forks is rebound dampening, the bottom compression. Bottom of the shocker rebound, top (remote reservoir) compression. :)

Re: Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

Nice bike! I'm amazed your knee can stick out so far from the bike

Re: Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

He is a lanky git :smt118

Re: Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

how much you reckon you chopped off your lap times?

Re: Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

Sorry, no pics, doh! But I got rid of the chicken strips, they were nicely grained, but nothing excessive, I find the Ring is kinder on tyres than a lot of short tracks.

Re: Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

It's better than being short ;)

Re: Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

Tim, how long does it take for you to get to the ring from your current location in Holland?

Re: Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

To begin with I was slower than I was than on the SV as it took a while to get used to the GSXR, not quite sure in absolutes, a little quicker, but will find out later in the year with my GPS/Nokia/Race Chrono timing set up...

Re: Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

3 1/2 - 4hrs depending on traffic. If you're on a british registered bike about 3 hours as you can ignore the speed cameras :D - as long as you don't get lost.

Re: Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

Sometimes maybe. :)

Re: Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

Almost got your knee down :p;)

Re: Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

How does that work? :D

Re: Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

That fALCO #17 behind yours in the car park looks tasty.
Was it quick ?

Re: Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

:smt100

Re: Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

Just another few degrees.......

Got a fair bit of KD, and the best thing is you can use sparky sliders, but I still can't find any pics.....

Re: Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

Yeh well i'm not in the least bit jealous of you Tim. No, not even a teeen tiny bit.










Need a flatmate over there in Holland by any chance? I;'m so bored of living here :(

Re: Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

Meh...They let you use sparky sliders on trackdays in Aus and NZ :p

Then again, One trackday organiser let people on the track in textiles.........:rolleyes:

Re: Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

Nice description Tim. I reckon I'm still slower on the 750 than the 600 as I've just not used it that much. Did you find the course much bumpier now you can hit some decent top end? Surprised me how rough it felt once times came down.

Sparkies, OK for Spanish track days too!

Re: Yesterday at the Nurburgring on the GSX-R
 

To be honest I didn't feel any extra bumps, but then my SV had quite a stiff front end and wasn't the smoothest of rides, and I have a feeling my GSX-R has been set up for smoothness rather than speed, so after a bit of twiddling I may indeed notice some more.

Also a few bits of the track were resurfaced over the winter.