Park Algar review

Put this in here as I thought a few people might be interested and miss it if it's in track days

So I just got back from a 3-day trip to Park Algar near Portimao. There's a few firsts - my first european track day, my first on the GSX-R.

First of all - it was brilliant (as you'd expect). It's a very technical track though - where by 'technical' I mean you can't see sh*t round corners and have to spend time learning it. After the first session, I thought I had wasted my money on this trip - you have to pootle round for fear of not knowing what's round the next bend, it's all up-and-down so you can't see anything.

However during the first day it got a LOT better and I can definitely say it's a great track now. You can't master it in 3 days by any stretch but you can learn it enough to have a great time.

A few other points...
1) Tyre warmers, brilliant brilliant brilliant - not a poser thing, it means you get to enjoy the session right from the off. Over 3 days it amounts to a fair bit of time!
2) Pilot Power 2CTs - worked excellently the whole time, minimal wear given the track (supposed to be very abrasive and eats tyres) - rear is about half worn, front is only a little bit worn. They gave me no trouble at all, no movement, nothing - I'm no tyre expert but I loved these.
3) Suspension set up!! I was doing OK but at the start of the third day decided to get my suspension looked at as I was getting a lot of dive when braking, which ultimately meant less braking force. Yes I could probably have done it all myself, but was good to get a pro on the job. I needed a hell of a lot of compression damping added! Prior to setup, braking *hard* resulted in a lot of rear wheel movement, and even some bouncing (I could hear a tyre chirp every time the rear wheel hit the ground). After it was firmed up, I could brake harder, it was way more settled on the rear, and as a consequence the bike was actually more settled going into the corner.

So if you made it through all that you get rewarded with some photos

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...3&id=500013699

[chris8886]

you lucky sod, i hate you more than ever! what's with only the one picture though after all that reading?

Lol - you can click 'next' right? Or have I screwed up my link...it works for me but then it's my facebook account!

you have to be singed in for the link to work

cool pics

Originally Posted by barwel1992

you have to be singed in for the link to work

cool pics

Ah - 'tis a public album I think (well, Facebook told me I could give the link to people outside of Facebook! ). Cheers

you can but i have to be singed in to my face book to view it

Sounds like a good 3 days

Bike looks awesome in the white track fairing!

Originally Posted by Tim in Belgium

Sounds like a good 3 days

Cheers - I seem to recall you had a 'ring weekend planned around the same time with 'free lapping' or something? How was it?

Originally Posted by fatneck

Bike looks awesome in the white track fairing!

It's the eyes that do it, isn't it

Ring TD didn't come off as parents came over to visit on one of the few weekends they could make it, but did a normal trip there the weekend before.

The blind corners sound fun after a day or two on track, and elevation changes must have been good. It sounds like a good venue for a multi day TD, enough to keep you interested.