Morning all,
Second track day completed, this time at Brands and weather remain good throughout - a few drops of rain but nothing significant.
The rucksack was donned again, a slightly later and more agreeable start time of 0700 with only a 90 minute commute which involved decent A roads as opposed to just Motorway but a nice heavy downpour on the way there restricted the fun of an early morning empty (wildlife permitting) road.
The first thing that struck me is how undulating Brands is. I've watched BSB for years and always knew the first corner dropped and rose up to the hairpin but had no idea of the rise in the opposite side into the last corner and then sweeping down to the straight - Indy circuit. I grew to love this and indeed the entire track.
On arrival it was busy, hundreds of people milling around and four groups plus support people tightly nestled into the paddock side. The queue to sign on was thirty minutes and everyone appeared very focused as opposed to Bedford which had a really relaxed atmosphere. Bearing this in mind I carefully selected a spot furthest away from the garages that I could achieve as conscious not to get in the way and parked myself by a Marshall hut within the car park and unloaded everything - about 26 seconds and I was ready to go.
Luckily for me, the group next door (running Aprillia and Honda and supported by a guy on a Gen 3) were very welcoming and adopted me reconfirming that everyone is genuinely there to have fun and look out for each other - a huge thank you to those individuals as you made my day thoroughly enjoyable.
Following on from Bedford I adjusted the tyres (advice given by adopted family) to 32/34 - they suggested going lower but I resisted to start with. I also put the bike in Dynamic as at Bedford I had thought the suspension was soft in Road. What a difference in suspension, the bike felt planted at all times with no 'spongy' behaviour as I applied throttle mid corner. Next time I shall try Race but also aware that the electronics that kindly look after someone of my level get diluted down as Race mode used so gently, gently.
So first session, huge smile but aware of only one real left hander after the hairpin and the thought of cold tyres. The left hander after the hairpin took me a long time to master (if you can call it that). It also felt that there was a gentle camber going away and I often (to start with) felt like I missed my tip in point and was therefore late going in. I had listened to my adopted family as we watched other groups and they talked me through the lines for the later corners - late apex onto the straight and then aim close to pit wall and you can get the drive on early and overtake - this provided me much fun throughout the day and the power of the Gen 4 just enabled me to blast past people - lots of smiles in helmet.
Second session I went and found an instructor. This is undoubtedly the best part of the two trackdays I have attended so far as I love watching, learning and measuring my own improvement. The sessions were busy and the Indy is short so the instructor advised be positive on overtakes and follow him - what a difference as I was backing out far too early on overtakes before corners out of courtesy to other riders. By delaying the braking I was undertaking on most corners and then switching to the outside (following instructor) on the longer corners and holding greater speed so going round other riders - my grin almost split my helmet it was so enjoyable! There was only one piece of advice from the instructor and that was to drive through the pit lane if it's becoming too bunched as there was a tendency after a few laps for all the riders to become bunched and therefore hampered progress.
So overall, I'm thoroughly enjoying the trackdays, I've fallen in love with Brands as you can probably tell from the pictures of my tyres in the posts above - if that's telling you anything I should know please share - pressure/temperature etc. Few pics from the day added, comments welcome as know I have more to learn and body position will become key as I progress.
And finally, I got soaked on the way home again - probably not a bad thing as prior to the shower I was rather progressive on my ride home so need to contain that in the future as I don't believe Mr Plod would be very understanding.
See you soon, the rucksack wearing becoming addicted to trackdays member,
Rich