Donnington Park 28/03/08 (Gixerjunkies Trackday)

As requested:

Well what a fantastic couple of days that was!

Got my things loaded into the van on Wednesday morning and then went over to my mate Rhys’ to load his CBR600 into the van too, then Thursday morning went over to Zanders to collect him and his GPz500, had to ditch some of my kit into Rhys’ car as it was a tight fit getting three bikes and my tools etc into a short wheelbase tranny:

Once loaded me and Zander drove up in the Tranny with Space and Rhys in his car, traffic was great and we got to Toddington services on the M1 in just under 2hrs where we met up with the rest of the Southern GJ’s:

blue Tranny was Mark and Doddy

Tranny with trailer was MadMatt, Rin + kids
We had another couple of vans in convoy with us too but no phots.

Another hours drive and we arrived at Donnington Park, sun shining and clear blue skys where we waited for them to let us in and the other various convoys of Junkies to arrive:

I grabbed garage 24 although most of the Southern lot grabbed one a few further up and we unloaded the bikes and more importantly the beer!

Gradually more and more peeps arrived and we poured more beer down our necks and a fantastic party followed. I have now discovered that RAF and beer and glow sticks don’t mix *lol* as my van got a paintjob in the middle of the night

*lol*

We all went for a little bimble round the track at about midnight for a “sighting lap” *lol* Yeah didn’t see much except a security guard come tell us off *oops* hehehe. Soon enough the beer ran dry and we all decided it was bed time, I was snug as a bug in a rug in my van with the amount of booze I’d had, well I was until about 0630 when Adam decided to start his van up and wake me, then I realised that I had passed out with me drivers window open which just happened to be on the windward side of the van and the rain had started to fill me seat up a bit []

After washin and waking up with a couple of cups of coffee we all trundled over to the sign on point and got our wrist bands and complimentary bacon buttie and were given the shambles of a safety brief! [}] It was aweful, no one could hear the guy and they ran late which ment that the circuit control were calling for the novice group before the brief had been given… I have never been to a track day where novice went out first and they were rushed to such an extent peeps went out without back protectors waterproofs etc on their 1st trackday, friggin aweful organisation!
I just had time to go to the loo after the brief and throw my leathers on as the final call for the blue group (inters) was piped and me tyre warmers had only been on the bike 5min so had not put any heat into them. Fortunately after the first session it calmed down and we were able to try and enjoy what was a very wet morning!

To say I was bricking it out there was an understatement, it was so slippy, on the start/finish straight I was on 1 lap wheelspinning the entire length of it until my bracking point! [:0] and the first 2 sessions were just terrifiying in a kind of fun way. If you think riding on the road in the wet requires concentration, try riding fast on track! The hardest bit for me was other people as they would brake way too early or have dodgy lines meaning I’d either be caught out with them slowing infront of me or have to dodge them change lines mid corner!

After I had gotten used to it I had a session with no rain and some of the water drained off the track, what a difference it made to my confidence!

Zander had a lil spill on his 2nd or 3rd session so sat out for a while till he got his confidence back his bike was not hurt and he just bruised his bum and was pretty cool about the whole thing:

After lunch the weather dried up and the track slowely got a dry line and by the last session the whole circuit was dry mostly! I was in my zone and so much happier, my new tyre warmers packed up after my second session “Grrr” so I was worried that I wouldnt have time to get any heat into them with our 15min sessions. The Michelin Pilot Power 2CT’s that I fitted a few weeks back were AWESOME! both in the wet and in the dry! Sure I had wheelspin on the straight but even guys on wet race tyres were spinning up there! I had a fiddle with me suspension as well and think by the end of the day the front was spot on, the back was not giving me any info at all when I out braked myself chasing a marshal round and I’m not sure if I had locked it up or if it was in the air or just rolling along behind me which was a very strange feeling, I was glad when the bike made it round the corner tho thats for sure []

By the last session I was proper buzzing and went out with the intention of taking it easy….

*lol* Yeah that didn’t happen, under the Dunlop bridge into 4th with the front wheel lifting and hitting me in the face, even made it into 5th gear on one lap (thats bloody fast on a GSX-R 750!)… Showboating round Melbourn loop, right knee on the deck and waggling me left foot in the air at Space and me other mates watchin grinning for the camera’s (bloody gits never took any pics, they just came and told me off for scaring them!) *lol*

All in all it was a fantastic day and I feel that allthough it was scary in the wet to start with I learnt so much from smooth riding through a river of a track to late braking as it dried out, I now know a lil bit about what the suspension needs to do and know not to buy cheep kit (tyre warmers).

If any people are looking to have a go at riding on track, don’t go “maybe” go out and do it, book up as novice and have a fantastic day out!

I am aquiring more phots by the hour as 150 bikes and probably 250 people all singing from the same hymn sheet are sending them to each person. I believe there is a video too, waiting on that still!