TRACK DAY MADNESS!

Went to brands hatch today for my first track day on the SD.

1st session was to sort everybody out in their respective qroups. doing really well chasing a nutter on a Honda SP1, just managed to overtake him on the way into druids (sharp 180 hairpin) then on the way round clearways (long fast right-hander) i low-sided at about 85-90 mph. did not have far to go until i hit the the gravel trap!

got the bike back to the pit garage. damage was broken front lever, rear brake lever worn down half-way, scuffed gearbox cover, scuffed plastics and a few scratches on my new akras.

The cause of the crash was the fact i had the bike too far over on its side and had run out of tread on the side of the tyre.

Anyway fixed the front brake and went out again next session, took a while to get my confidence back but after that it was BLOODY FANTASTIC.

I think i can count the number of people who passed me all day on one hand.

Fastest speed i saw was 134 on the start finsh straight.

best bit of the day was the "RACE" on the last session, started 5th on the grid and by the !st corner i was 3rd! managed to get by the other 2 by about lap 7 and didn't see anyone again. ,can't wait for them to post the timing sheets on the wbsite.

I think the bike opened a few peoples eyes, both for what it could do and just how bloody strong it was to survive the crash with so little damage.

All i can say is..... IF YOU HAVE AN SD, BOOK A TRACK-DAY NOW!

Only thing i did to the bike was to remove mirrors and indicators, set the suspension to "SPORT" (as the book) and drop the tyre pressures to 28F- 29R.

BTW, the was another SD there and he only picked it up last Thursday and this was his second track-day already.

Top work dude

Salute and Respect,

Starting 5th and winning the race!!

Sounds more like Rossi to me.

Well done fleegal, certainly inspired me

Great write up he he he

Lee

great write up!

just as i finished posting my "california superbike school" post i read this! eery!

needless to say i'm hooked... sorry to hear about the cosmetic damage, but as we say here in greece "it's just metal and plastic bits"... good news is you're ok and you had a blast

damn i can't wait until the weather cools down for my first track day in september

have you fitted the ktm crash bobbins? do you think they would have helped?

I didn't have any bobbins fitted as i had no money left after buying the akras.

Most of the damage was to the gearbox cover on the right-hand side of the engine, so i don't think the KTM bobbins would have helped a lot.
I think that the bobbins that R&G do for the top and bottom of the engine and maybe the carbon covers for the clutch and gearbox would have helped alot if i had have slid down the track for any longer. Folding brake levers too!

As you say angelo, its only metal and plastic. The akras will polish out with some OOO grade wire wool and with new stickers will look good as new. The Rad shields will buff-up with some quality polish too. Got a new gearbox casing and brake lever sitting in the garage already.

All in all a fantastic day and i cant wait to go again. Who's comming?

was using Dunlop sportmax "GP RACER" they are (or were) the control tyre in the R6 cup.

fantastic tyre with loads of feedback from front and rear and very quick warm-up.

loads of grip all the way 'till i ran out of tyre-edge.