First track day - any tips

Got my first ever track day on Thursday, Aug 25th at Donnington

Any tips for a novice?

I've got a set of Diablos on that are still in good nick (done less than 500 miles on them)

They should be ok shouldn't they?

Enjoy yourself, it's not a race, keep your wits about you don't try to impress anyone


You'll LOVE IT

Give your bike a good check over before you go out. Fluids, tyre pressure, chain tension and condition etc. All the stuff we are supposed to do on every pre ride check but sometimes don't bother to. As said, it's not a race. Let your pace pick up throughout the day with a natural progression, don't try to tame the track in your first three laps on cold tyres!

At a lot of these events there are instructors on hand free (well included in the price). See if one is available for a few laps to give you an idea of the lines. And most of all, take someone with a camera so you can post pics on here when you get back in one piece!! Enjoy!

Good advice above.

The key is to relax, enjoy it and take it at your own pace, So start off by getting there early and get the noise testing and signing-on out of the way in good time so you don't feel rushed.

Listen carefully at the briefing and clarify anything you're not sure about. It can be quite intimidating with all these battle-scarred riders around, but don't worry about making a fool of yourself by asking a question - you can bet there'll be a dozen others that wanted to ask the same thing. If the organisers do a longer, more detailed, briefing for first timers so much the better.

Get to the assembly area in good time after your group is called. The first session will start off with several sighting laps behind an instructor, with no overtaking until he peels off. It's up to you whereabouts you want to be during the sighting laps, but if you're more than a few bikes back you will not see the instructor's lines.

Start off with your tyres at standard road pressures, and give them at least a couple of laps to warm up. If there are power rangers in your group with tyre warmers they'll go off like rockets but don't be tempted to follow them. After a couple of sessions, when you've learned the way round and are starting to generate a bit more heat, you might find it gives you more confidence, and the tyres will warm up quicker, if you drop the pressures by a few psi, particularly the rear. But make sure you put them back up before you ride home or it will feel like riding on jelly once they've cooled off. There may be a tyre guru there who can advise.

Take your time to learn the lines and build up slowly - always slow in, fast out, and get all your braking done before you turn so the bike has time to settle - trailing the brakes into corners is for the Stoners of this world. Don't use the back brake, by the way, you'll just find the back end skipping around. As said, if you can get an instructor to show you the way round, so much the better. And remember - you go where you look, so head up and look where you want to go!

Check the bike, and yourself (helmet, leathers and gloves fastened etc.), systematically before each session - you don't want to get black flagged. And don't be afraid to come back in if you feel something's not quite right.

Don't feel you have to do all of every session - stop if you feel tired or your attention starts to wander. If you start to feel fatigued sooner than expected, you probably need to back off to 90% and just let it come to you - you may actually be faster doing that. Also remember that dehydration will increase fatigue, so keep drinking plenty of water (even if you have to pay a call before each session!) And don't eat a massive meal at lunchtime - small snacks through the day are better.

Quite a few people don't do the last session of the day because they feel tired or have a long way to go home, which may be an opportunity to get some quieter track time if you're up for it.

Have a great day, and ride safe.

P.s. I'm going to try one on Bike mag's "Reclaim our Tracks" days (no track bikes - all have to be ridden to the circuit) at Rockingham next week - will report back if I survive.

Great posts people. Nothing more to add except good luck and enjoy it.
That goes for you too

I'm sure your tyres will be fine.

Plenty of like minded people there too so get chatting especially if you see another cat.

Fingers crossed for some nice enough weather.

From memory the lower 'track' tyre pressures for the cat are 30 front and 33 rear. Please double check with the 'tyre' guy though.

Cheers
Rosco

how was it? any pictures ?

TomCom wrote:how was it? any pictures ?

Read the 1^st post

JAM wrote:Got my first ever track day on Thursday, Aug 25th at Donnington . . . . .

He hasn't done it yet

ERROR sorry

Getting closer

Well, I did the Bike mag "road bikes only" day at Rockingham yesterday.

Bit of a washout weather-wise, as the track only dried out properly for the final round of sessions. And that track is very slippery when it's wet, and even more so in that nasty greasy in-between stage. In fact, I abandoned the first session after lunch after a couple of laps - it had stopped raining but there was still plenty of damp around - because it felt like the front end was going to let go any minute.

There were quite a few "offs", almost all at either Turn 1, a 90-degree right at the end of the pit straight, or the sharp right at the bottom of the dip (next-to-last right-hander before the left-hand section). Fortunately, being low-speed, I think all the bikes were still capable of limping homeafterwards. Everyone I spoke seemed to have moments at these two, even taking it really steady. The surface is also quite inconsistent, with some patching here and there and ripples and smooth patches where the different circuits join. This was the "National" circuit, by the way - see [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] for plan and video.

I couldn't say I like the circuit particularly - it's all right-right-right then left-left-left. By the end I'd just about got the lines sorted for the right hand bit but was still struggling on the left hand part. And I guess with most circuits being clockwise you don't get a lot of practice at left-handers (that's my excuse, anyway!)

Because I'd done a few track days before they put me in the top (Inter/Expert) group, and I can definitely say I was the slowest in there, though not by a lot. Without a doubt the quickest guys on the circuit were the instructors from Rapid Training - it's a bit of a wake-up call when Andy Morrison comes past you bolt upright on his Tiger as if you're standing still when you think you're already at full lean!

Catering was a bit basic - just one mobile unit, though it's run by a local farm selling their own home-produced burgers, sausages etc. which were delicious - worth queueing in the rain for! And not too much seating either. On the plus side the extensive pit garages were open so we could put the bikes and ourselves in out of the rain. And we did get to chat with some of the Bike journos and have our pictures taken by the brilliant Chippy Wood, whose work I have always thought is the best in the business.

I didn't see any bad behaviour, carving up etc. in my group, nor did I see any in the other groups. So I'd definitely recommend these as a good intro to track riding if you've never done one - and worth doing even if you have. Bike have a couple more coming up - Oulton (which is a track that's still on my "to-do" list, but not this time) in late September and Bedford in October, which sounds interesting. Not sure about availability, though - see [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] for details.

Ride safe - Bob

Hi Jam,

apart from all of the above I found 2 bits of advice from my track day:

1. take some oil, high reving seemed to burn through the oil and I had to top up.
2. If you are gunning it watch your revs, the bike does not change speed or cut out when you hit the RED only when you start to go past the red which is not healthy for the engine especially in lower gears.

I found the Cat was great at excellerating out of the bends, even when leaning, just lay the power on progressivly and as bobh said slow in fast out.

Have a great day.
John.

It rained so hard last night it woke me up a 3:00am.

I was due to get up at 5:00am to set off for 6:00 and get down to Donington for 7:30.

Anyway 5:00 it was still torrential rain. So I knocked it on the head.

The weather forecast has it down for brightening up midday and even sunny by the afternoon.

But I didn't fancy riding down to Donington in torrential rain in the dark/twilight.

Nor did I fancy riding my first few sessions on a trackday on a wet/damp track.

I'll take the hit on the cost of the day.

I'm a 100% unashamed fair weather, I also have no appetite for taking unecessary risks or binning my beloved bike either on the road or on the track.

The wife is also glad I didn't set off, and promised to finance another day.

So I'll wait to next year, and when we have a few decent weeks forecast and book another one.

See you all at TOL - as long as it not pissing it down.

*****ing sunny now. :(

Sorry to hear it was a wash out.

You might be waiting a while on a few decent weeks forecast JAM.
Be cheaper booking one in Spain if this pattern continues.

Hope you get your track day soon and in the nice weather.

Cheers
Rosco

Gutted for you mate