Rockingham track day report/pics

Thought i'd pop up some pics from the day and i'll try and get a vid up later, although unfortunately the ATC2K cam seemed to be having little fits so only the one. Note to self, must remember needs fresh batteries before track days....**** :biggrin

Day started for us at 04.00am, splendid early morning troll in the hired transit upto Rockingham to be greeted by huge grandstands, pit lane garages and the paddock area full of various track day only machines, ducati's plugged into lap tops, tyre warmers and lots of serious looking faces.....and here's me thinking it might be a fun little day out at a racetrack and some ***** persuaded me to book for the intermediate group. Oh well, out with the plank come ramp and wheel out the two bikes whilst Tara says she wants to go home already :laugh

Got to say the set up and facilities at Rockingham are very professional/impressive and i'd imagine on a full race day with the stands full it must have quite some atmosphere. Although for us that are new to the track day scene, it certainly can be a bit intimidating.

Day turned out to be dry and got pretty hot come the afternoon and Hottrax certainly kept the sessions rolling with very few delays inspite of quite a few off's during the morning and afternoon sessions, and i'd thoroughly recommend them for a track day. Professional, well organised and that great thing that seems so lacking these days, trust that everyone will follow the rules and don't need them shoved down their throats or have them heavily policed. Briefing alarmed me however when he said "no sighting laps will be in place for the advanced and intermediates" Thanks a bunch :laugh

Anyway, enough rabbiting. Day was fantastic fun, and if the two guys that turned up on their Milles around lunch to watch (black 02 and an Edwards rep) have managed to find us here after our chat, hello again and nice to meet you :thumbup

Made it back to Bournemouth at 22.00pm, so bit of a long day but well well worth it. So any of you out there that keep saying to yourself "must do a track day, but it's to far, to this, to that, I might crash" etc My advice would be forget your worries and go for it, you'll not regret it :doug

I'll put the pics below, that way you can bypass the typing :nana

For those eagle eyed amongst you, yes that is the DAF rep RG500 in the background below in my group. Sounded so sweet on full chat :inlove

Top write up there bud..and some very nice photos to go along with it. Good news that it was a first class session for yer. The bike looks A1..did she run nicely on song enginewise..how about your suspension settings..did you have to fiddle or left at normal position. Glad yer day ended upright and a smile on ya face matey :thumbup

Where did you get hold of the 02 front headlight blockout cover please?

did u win??????

AusRSV said:

Top write up there bud..and some very nice photos to go along with it. Good news that it was a first class session for yer. The bike looks A1..did she run nicely on song enginewise..how about your suspension settings..did you have to fiddle or left at normal position. Glad yer day ended upright and a smile on ya face matey :thumbup

Where did you get hold of the 02 front headlight blockout cover please?

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Hi there Aus squire. The headlight cover was just a cheapy off of ebay here in the uk. It's not the best in the world, but it does the job. If you want one, pm me your details and i'll get one for you and pop it over airmail :thumbup

Engine ran really sweetly, and all the mods certainly are working together and make her pick up and go harder than before. Not bad considering she is 8 years old :inlove Certainly surprised a few of the GSXR/R1 crowd with its get up and go. Just wish sometimes there could be a bit more over rev available before the limiter calls time :laugh

Suspension wise, after the first session I took off a couple of clicks on the compression and rebound on the front, and added two on the rebound to the rear. I'd already taken off a turn of preload on the front before getting there as i'm just not heavy enough! The 2ct's were cool considering they are a road based tyre, but i'm thinking about trying corsa's as recommended by all the guys on here for the next outing as the back slid a few times, nothing violent, and the front feel goes a lttle vague at times, but it would be good to see what the difference is :thumbup

Nothing to win ark2001, just a trackday sir irate

oooppps, try again in a bit

good report & pics

how did ya find the triple left hander?

Hi cheesy. The triple left hander was great when you got the line going, but tricky if you mucked up the turn in to the second part I found! So did the guy in our last session who after 5 minutes binned it big style and brought the day to an end for our group. He was ok thankfully :thumbup just a bit winded and bashed about.

Video below for a couple of laps of Rockingham before the red flag brought the session to a halt. Apologies for the wind nosie, but the cam was only 40 off of ebay, so be kind to it :laugh

Good stuff Mr Cat, looks like you were getting a good run towards the back end of the vid. I'm no trackday expert but i've done a few and always prefer to have faster riders around me, the guy infront of you that you caught up with was taking some strainge lines and missing apex's.
Looked like you were having fun and stayed in one piece, Rockingham looks good too, what was the cost :thumbup

Hi Neil. The start of the vid is the first half of the first lap of the session so was warming the tyres up, which if you listen to the engine coming out of the hairpin at the end of the banked straight for the second lap you'll hear the 2 cuppa t's having a spin up whinge :laugh

The guy on the trackday SP2 wasn't to much of a late brake merchant, and that was something I found during the day alot was that my RSVR could late deep brake into the two hairpins seemingly far better than alot of the other bikes out there. Sounds funny, but I wish track day bikes had brake lights rather than suddenly seeing that the bike in front of you looks like they have hit reverse :lol

We did Rockingham International which is the long circuit. It was 129 for the day, 6 sessions at 20 minutes each (ok the last session was about 6 because of the crash), and the track is great fun and facilities second to none. No noise testing limits either :thumbup

I agree with having quick riders around you. I've come away with a bit of a theory that the Advanced group is actually the safest group to choose, as Novice is a real mixed bag of quick and slow first timers, Intermediate seems to be a dumping ground for testosterone driven "I'm not a fecking novice" hoons with something to prove but haven't got the balls to go into advanced and those that are genuinely trying to get quicker and don't feel ready to go into advanced. Advanced had a real array of riders and bikes from a 14 year old on a Husqvarna motored 125 GP style racer to a slick tyred Supermoto, lots of ex race bikes and a fair smattering of road bikes, but, they all seemed to just be getting out there to lap quickly and let one another by if they could hear someone quicker behind them.

The guy on the SP2 eventually seemed to let me by on the second part of the session as I think he got fed up of hearing an Italian tractor behind him and seeing my front wheel :laugh

Keep it sunny side up gents :thumbup

Xclnt vid there too ol mate! The bike is certainly sounding right on song
Thank you for the offer of obtaining a headlight cover for my 02..never seen one out here ..rare as rockin' horse **** i'd say. Very handy for track days..but even moreso just to cover myheadlight while daytime road riding. We have Road Train Trucks (55metres & 3 trailers) up here that suck rocks orf the side of the road and wizz em at ya..have been worried about getting the headlight trashed. I have radiator guards getting made now as they too are very vulnerable from incoming missiles.
If you wanna PM me your costs for doing me this fine favor matey, i can slip the readies to yer thru PayPal, if that is doable. Cheers

Pm'd you squire :thumbup

Thank you sir! :thumbup

Great pics and vid Cat :thumbup pity about the red flag, you were just getting to grips there catching up before you were stopped. Glad the day went well and no bike to repair :biggrin

Aye some great pics there mate - sounds like you had a great day despite the red flag at the end. Cest la vie that one I guess.

Must admit that getting at least one track day in next year is on my 'gotto do it' list. I've always fancied Brands full circuit myself although i'm not sure the bank account would be too chuffed.

I know the lads at the Aprilia dealers down this way do quite a few days through the year aimed at Italian bikes so will find out more when I'm down there next.

What sort of cash does a track day cost you? Not bike running costs..just name in box and allowed on the track. Cheers

This one was £129 Aus. They range from £79-219 depending on the tracks. Check out www.hottrax.co.uk or www.focusedevents.com for details of track days over here in the UK.

What do you pay down under squire?

Thanks for the comments gents, and Looney, get yourself out there once you've got a bike sorted, you won't regret it :thumbup

Bad news Cat, that will be you hooked now:biggrin

Great pics and good report:thumbup

Badger said:

Bad news Cat, that will be you hooked now:biggrin

Great pics and good report:thumbup

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Thank you for the kind comments Badger, need to learn how to get it over as far as you do now hooked? Me? Never.........ummmm, anyone ridden Lydden here? :lol

Cadwell is hopefully the next one :thumbup

caterpillar said:

This one was £129 Aus. They range from £79-219 depending on the tracks. Check out www.hottrax.co.uk or www.focusedevents.com for details of track days over here in the UK.

What do you pay down under squire?

Thanks for the comments gents, and Looney, get yourself out there once you've got a bike sorted, you won't regret it :thumbup

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They have a track day here at our local circuit once a month. Hidden Valley Race Circuit..you can do this for $150.oo AU