For the first time, we took a trailer to a trackday, our ZX-6R acoompanying Sol's TL1000S on his dodgy trailer (which had lost a wheel with two bikes on board on it's last outing!). Dave's R1 had eaten it's gearbox a couple of days before, so he had to play on his TT600 Supermoto.
Since it was Sol's first visit to Donington, and I wasn't feeling on top form, we were a bit intimidated by the reputation of the Speed Freaks track days and opted for the middle group (which turned out to be a bit slow, ho hum).
Mr. Whitham was not only in attendance, but was signing people on, writing out the stickers, etc. James then led the sighting laps, not on his Suzuki World Superbike, but in his Subaru Impreza :-)
The organisation was slightly different to other trackdays I've been on. For the first time, there were no turn or apex cones - disaster! How would we know which way to go? :-) Also, instead of letting riders on to the circuit at short intervals, it was more "right, off you go" which made it a bit unnerving going into Redgate on the first lap, and a bit irritating picking through the slower riders too. We quickly learned to make sure we started at the front of the group.
Dave had fun with his Supermoto in the slow group (where he wasn't the slowest by any means), often wheelying the entire length of the pit straight - which the marshalls didn't seem to mind at all!
One thing which wasn't quite so much fun was that there was a British Superbike team out practising in the slow group. Amanda doesn't mind being passed by quicker riders, but when two pass a foot either side with a 60mph speed difference, it can be a bit unsettling to say the least.
Amanda told James that she'd like some instruction, expecting one of the
fluorescent-jacketed helpers to be nominated. Instead, he picked up his
helmet and said "I'll come out with you next session"!
Gulp. Amanda, followed by a God of bike racing, took fifteen
seconds off her lap time. James later said "You don't have any problem
leaning over, do you? T' bike were right on it's side going through t' Esses
...". She was quite pleased :-)
(When Amanda later told him she'd gone 15 seconds quicker than before,
James said "'kinell, I wish I could do that!")
The high speeds at Donington mean the suspension is compressed by cornering
forces, and in the long sweeping turns this really started to show the limits
of ground clearance on the ZX-6R (which are rarely apparent at Cadwell), with
lots of erosion of knee-sliders and peg blobs. I removed the right-hand peg
blob, which was OK until the exhaust touched down!
In an early session I had the nearest I've come yet to a track crash:
exiting Goddards (the left-hand hairpin onto the start/finish straight) the
back wheel let go, and I had one of those slow-motion "I'm just a passenger
on this thing" moments. I found myself sitting on the tank , looking over the
screen at the headlight, and then a moment later it had swung back and I
dabbed the ground - which was very close and hard - with my left foot. The
bike sorted itself out, and I was glad that my performance hadn't been wasted
as Sol behind me and the spectators on the pit wall all enjoyed the show!
After that I decided that it wasn't my day to set the lap record and that I
should start at the back and slow it down a bit. The trouble with that is,
rather than just being smooth, gentle on the brakes etc., you start
thinking slow, and turning slow. There were still people to pass, so I got
inexorably faster as I squirted past this rider (but didn't slow down
afterwards), then squirted past another ... soon I was back at full speed,
but still in lazy thinking mode.
At the end of the start/finish straight, I turned too lazily into Redgate. I was running out of road, and stuff was scraping on the ground. Knowing it was better to run off whilst upright, I stood the bike up, braked until I ran off the tarmac, and then hit the gravel at about 20mph.
That gravel's amazing stuff. The bike skimmed over the top like a pebble, then as it slowed the front wheel started to weave and then sink. At about 5mph, it toppled over to the side. Luckily I'd removed the mirror; the indicator pinged off and the bike appeared otherwise unscathed, save for some dust. I picked it up and tried to ride it out of the gravel, but the rear wheel span uselessly and sank to it's axle. I just got off and left it standing there :-)
After the session, the recovery bod helped me extract it. After removing a
considerable number of pebbles from inside the fairing (see picture!),
I washed off the dust and found the gravel had roughed up the side of the
fairing. Not too bad though - just a T-Cut project!
