Wednesday November 01, 2006
Track Day Report - Donington Park
I couldn't really turn this one down - £69 for a noisy day at Donington National is an absolute bargain. It's the only track day I've done all year which hasn't been at a track I'm racing at, so for the first time it was a chance for me to just have some fun, and not be preoccupied with working on specific things in preparation for racing.
Greg and I stayed overnight at my sister's place in Coventry, so thankfully we only had a 45 minute drive in the morning to get to the circuit, and when we arrived Steve P had already sorted us a garage. It had started to rain a little on the way, which I wasn't too chuffed about as I've had just about enough of changing my wheels for the time being! Not to mention my wet tyres aren't exactly at their best now. Luckily the rain didn't stay, and we had a dry track all day, with the sun even making an appearance in the afternoon.
I was a tiny bit apprehensive about riding a track I know so little - I'd ridden there once before, but it was over 2 years ago, back when I still had the CBR. I don't tend to learn circuits too quick either, but the pressure was totally off, this was just for fun, so I wasn't overly worried as I knew I could just take my time. Plus, I'd booked into the inters group, I think probably the right move in the end, as Donington really isn't a 400 circuit! Three sighting laps later, and I was really surprised how quickly I got the hang of it - I managed to sort out what gear to be in where pretty quickly and was soon working on places to overtake  I guess, as Red suggested, that's something racing has taught me: I'm now more skilled at being able to know (roughly) how to ride any corner - lines come more naturally than before.
I must admit, I'd forgotton just how good Donington is. It really flows and is great fun to ride. Every lap I found places I could ride better, faster; I found instructing myself, so to speak, came relatively easily. There were a couple of other 400s in the group, including Mick, from 400GreyBike who I had a bit of a play with throughout the day. Although my bike was more powerful than his NC30, he showed my just how rubbish my braking is by outbraking me at the end of the straight quite a few times! It was something I tried to work on as the day went on, but definitely still a big weak spot for me.
Despite an absolutely ridiculous number of red flag stoppages during the day, we somehow managed to squeeze in all 7 sessions, but by the end of the penultimate one I was so tired I was unsure as to whether I was going to go out for the final one. In the end I did, and I'm glad as I had a really good session chasing down a 600. It was hard work, but great fun - even though I didn't end up passing him!
I think all three of us had a good day - I really enjoyed just riding for fun, Greg was finding his feet again after his off at Brands, and seemed to go really well, and Steve was kicking arse in the fast group with some really good lap times. All in all, I think I'd put it down as one of my best track days of the year!
And that'll be it, at least for a few weeks. I'm dropping the bike down to Dynotech this afternoon for a much-needed engine refresh. Who knows though, I might brave the winter weather and get out again before the year is up...
( Nov 01 2006, 10:39:24 AM GMT+00:00 )
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