Trackday
This week's trackday instructing at Silverstone was altogether rather unpleasant. Track conditions were damp with a constant drizzle which just got worse as the day progressed. I lasted two full sighting laps on Metzeler Racetec RR race tyres before returning to the pits to rapidly fit wets before going straight out again. The general rule of thumb is you only need to fit wets if you can see spray coming off the tyres. The conditions were not really wet enough for wets or dry enough for race tyres which proved slightly problematic.
It also doesn't help that Silverstone's track surface is notorious for offering poor levels of grip in the damp/wet. The surface becomes quite greasy which makes it difficult to push hard in order to retain heat in the wet tyres and generate grip. Conversely if you go to slow you loose all heat in the tyres which makes it even harder to keep the bike upright. I only managed 23 laps, with six of those being sighting laps, and I didn't even bother turning on the lap timer. I don't mind riding in the wet... just not at Silverstone.
On a positive note I did get to try out both my new alpha Racing rearsets and Brembo calipers. I'm really pleased with the rearsets and didn't have to make any adjustments. That said I was only registering an indicated 43? of lean on the wet tyres so I was never going to have any issues with ground clearance. I suspect I will have to raise the foot rests when I'm next out on track in dry conditions. I'm really happy with them and the foot rests offer plenty of grip in the wet.
As for the Brembo GP4-RX calipers my first impressions are that they feel really consistent but to be honest I didn't apply the brakes all that hard as I didn't fancy lowsiding in the wet conditions. Especially as you don't want to be 'that' instructor that crashed! I'm not expecting night and day differences with the OEM calipers, as I'm using the same Brembo Z04 brake pads and Castrol SRF fluid, but it will be good to properly try them out in the dry.
Overall I can't really complain as ultimately it's more time on track and whatever the weather riding through Vale into Club and down the straight to Abbey is always enjoyable at Silverstone. That, and unlike my last trackday in the wet, both the bike and I remained shiny side up and returned in exactly the same condition as we left. Now to prepare the BMW for the next one...