Trackday
A good trackday yesterday on the Snetterton 300 circuit. The weather was a little intermittent with sunny intervals but fortunately no rain despite the forecast. I'm starting to really feel at home on the S1000RR now especially after completing another 44 laps of Snetterton. It also provided the first opportunity to try the new Bridgestone RS10s having worn out my previous set of tyres.
Bridgestone recommended cold pressures are 1.9 Bar F and 1.7 Bar R for the RS10s. Whilst they do not require tyre warmers I used a set throughout the day apart from in the first session. They heat up extremely quickly from cold given that they are a more road biased tyre and by T9 knee sliders were scraping the tarmac. With tyre warmers on they are pretty much good to go from the second or third corner. The profile, particularly the rear, is much flatter than the Pirelli Supercorsa SPs and they do not turn in quite so quickly. Once leaned over they do feel really planted, even an at an indicated 48?, and the front gives plenty of grip. However, under hard acceleration the rear moves around a lot more than the SPs and the traction control subtly intervenes more often. This was instantly apparent as the DTC readout on the dash increased. I ended up increasing DTC in increments to increase stability. The front felt very neutral throughout and would go wherever you pointed the bike without hesitation. It also required no changes to suspension setup and tyre wear and pressures were spot on. Halfway through the day I did experience a tear on the right hand side of the rear tyre which is not uncommon for Snetterton. The wear pattern indicated an overinflated tyre so a change in hot pressure was required which addressed the issue. Overall they are a very good tyre and are ideal for fast road and track use. My lap times were in the distinctly average low 2:15s as I didn't want to push my luck and was quite content just adding laps and getting even more used to the BMW. For outright grip and better lap times however I would personally revert back to the Pirellis. As for longevity the Bridgestones should last much longer as the compound appears not to be as soft and the profile suggests that they won't square off quite so quickly. For my next tyres I will be opting for either a set of SC compound race tyres or trying the new Metzeler RR K2 or K1 race compounds.
For those interested the Akrapovič HP slip-on when noise tested produced 97.4 dB without the baffle fitted. The good news is it means that there should be no issue with noise testing at most of the main UK circuits. With a baffle fitted it should easily meet the even stricter noise test limits like those found on Donington Park quiet days. As a bonus the blueing of the titanium internals also looks very cool as well.
Overall another good trackday and I will post up a few pictures once they become available.
