trackday advice please??

[Tiddsey]

hi all,

i've just had my first trackday since i started biking.

its been something i always wanted to do. anyhoo i was back home (lincolnshire) visiting parents and i popped down to cadwell just to watch a few of the bikes go round and i found out they had a sessioned day running the next day and they werent fully booked.
so i got home and booked my bike in for a novice trackday @ £99

Now baring in mind the bike i would be using is a trx850, the bike i had used to ride up from bristol to visit the said parents.
Touring dunlop tyre on the back and dunlop qualifier on the front, slightly warped front disc and everything else as standard

It was Bloody brilliant and worth every penny. i lined up with the rest of the big boys on their gixxer thou's and r1's not to mention a few new ducati's
did a few sighting laps and then went for it.
i was seriously worried i was gonna be holding people up at this point.
However i had a friend watching my laps and he said i was lapping quicker than everyone out there. i was over taking many a bike in the bends.
i was really struggling on braking given the warped disc, but fortunately i had good engine braking!
i think i was pushing the limits of the rear tyre as it stepped out on many occasions ( i now see understand the usefulness of slipper clutch)

i dont know what made me ride so gung ho as this was my daily ride and had to make the 240 mile journey back to bristol next week.

Anyway i had a cracking day and recommend it to anyone whos on the fence on the issue.

Just take your own bike as it is and go and whatever speed you like. the main reason i was going past everyone was because they were probably nervous of binning their road bikes (of which 6 of them did  )

ANYWAY this experience has led me to a crossroads in my biking career. Since then riding on the roads has felt a bit naff. i just want to get back out on the track and thus have been researching track setup options

I will be selling all my roads bike and pumping funds into trackdays

I wondered if any guys and/or gals on here were frequent trackday goers and could advise me on budget options for a trackbike, transportation, bike setups etc

I am quite poor being a student, but have a car and my bikes at present are a trx 850, yammy diversion '95, and a vfr 400

My outlook was to sell all the bikes and look to get back between £2500 and £2750.
then buy a CB500 as i have heard they are great track bikes for the novice and ex cb500 cup racers can be had for decent money. i also saw 2 cb500s mixing it in the advance class and doing very well

SO.... advice please, oh and heres a few pics from the day

thanks

[mikiboy]

Convert the VFR400 if its an NC30 to a track bike.  I have a CBR400rr track bike and I can DESTROY my road ZX6R times with it despite the ZXR being faster.
I also have an R6 race bike.  I bought that ready to go.  If you have £2k, its the way to go.  Don't get stupidly tuned engines, but do get a bike with sorted suspension.  A tuned engine will make little time to a lap.  Suspension can make 3 or 4 seconds.
Also, 1 track day means you have a long way to go.  M<aybe try one of the schools

[Tiddsey]

ha i knew you'd say that mikiboy. and yes it is in nc30

i had given it a great deal of thought, but it needs a few bits doing to it as it is anyway (new headstock bearings, chain + sprocket, ideally new downpipes as the collars are rusty and have a halfords type repair on them)

all that aside essentially i love twins and always have, i enjoy the characteristics on the road and this was amplified on the track.

i can appreciate the qualities of the nc30 and im sure it would make a terrific track bike, but i'd prefer a twin and i'd prefer a bike thats set up already.

Hence my decision to opt for the cb500 as i know they do the cb500 thunder race series. i have had a browse and seen on the race forums that people sell them with a lot of additional bits for around the £1200 £1500 mark. This would be ideal for me, plus they would be easy to work on, and they are not massively powerful so they would give me a chance to learn tracks at a more comfortable pace.

i know i am getting ahead of myself having only done one trackday. As i say its something i always wanted to do and the actual experience surpassed my expectations.

I just want to lay everything out on the table as i was flanning on selling my vfr and divvy anyway. Obviously i am now considering getting rid of the trx to help fund a trackbike.

So what do you think is the best method to getting better on the tracks. should i just get in as many track days as possible and learn over a period of years?
I know i could use some tutoring as im sure you could pick a few things wrong with my body position on the pictures alone...

cheers for the advice so far

[mikiboy]

The CB500 will be appalling on track unless you can ride well.  The last time I raced, someone put one round 5 secs a lap faster than my R6.  How?  Don't ask me!  I can get that 5 secs a lap baxck on the R6, I am pretty confident of that, but that must mean, I should be able to take off 10 secs a lap on the R6.  That is unlikely to happen.
The CB500's were raced as a pretty basic motor with 090 tyres.  Not sure asbout suspension.  A VFR4 would beat one hands down in a straight line.

California Bike School.
Ron Haslam
are the 2 schools that come to mind, though there is Mick someone at Darley Moore.

I have noticed that now bikes are faster, the riders are not necessarily, but where as a few years ago, on my CBR400rr, I could happilly run in the top 3rd of most track days, these days, I would be more content in inters, even on the R6.  Ok, since my accident, I am not riding as fast, but thats more to money and lack of time on track to find out where my limits are on the R6.  I am barely scracthing the surface with it, but only 3 TD's last year, and none this year, plus The Rock isn't using the National Circuit which is one of my favs, and the Superbike and International, are not great tracks, I am doing more mileage on the road.

Back to TD's.  Use the TD instructors.  I still do usually every couple of TD's to see if I am doing something wrong or not doing something that I think I am.  You'd be surprised at what you think you are diong when you are not!

[Spudda]

I've done a few trackdays and I've got the bug as well ....... Donington this Monday

I'm looking for a trackbike too but if you are looking to sell the 400 as a project, then I might be interested

[greg]

i've been looking for something that's fun on track and also on the road.

i've been thinking about something like a cbr600rr/cbr900, r6, zx6r, gxsr 750, daytona 600, or  even an rsv 1000 (though i think that may be too big)

that said, i noticed that i was only using about 70-80% of the available power on my bike. as i wasn't revving it hard enough

[DoktorMandrake]

i had given it a great deal of thought, but it needs a few bits doing to it as it is anyway (new headstock bearings, chain + sprocket, ideally new downpipes as the collars are rusty and have a halfords type repair on them)

Headstock and C&S are simple enough and there's a chap on 400grey who will fix your existing pipes for £35

[Tiddsey]

Headstock and C&S are simple enough and there's a chap on 400grey who will fix your existing pipes for £35

aye i know its not the heftiest bill, but i have just had a brand new tyre fitted including bearings, as great a bike as it is i will be getting rid and i need something different. its not particularly capable 2 up.

so if anyone is interested i will be getting rid soonish for £1000 to any gbbiker.

i would basically like the cb500 to learn the trade. i know theyre not massively quick, but i was lapping cadwell in around 2 mins on the trx which is a slow time. But i enjoyed it and i would like a bike that i can push to its limits.

i will definately heed the advice of using the instructors, i didnt really give it much thought but in hindsight the one's at cadwell had a wealth of experience which would help. As i know my body position was wrong, amongst other things

[Daktana]

I'm off to Mallory on the 14th with Dave wood racing, my 1st track day on a bike, done loads in a car, going on my ER6N.

Dave.

[Wheelspin]

I'm off to Mallory on the 14th with Dave wood racing, my 1st track day on a bike, done loads in a car, going on my ER6N.

Dave.

Ditto mate.  See you there.

[Tiddsey]

I'm off to Mallory on the 14th with Dave wood racing, my 1st track day on a bike, done loads in a car, going on my ER6N.

Dave.

good lad, you'll love it i guarantee

[guru]

If you like twins then get an SV650. You would pretty much expect me to say this but even in stock form they're a million times better than a CB500 and at a medium-speed track like Cadwell you can stay with the big boys. A few quid on suspension helps of course. There are plenty of ex-race ones around, the Minitins rules are fairly tight though so they're not so far off the stock road bike really. If you've got a few more quid then look at the Triumph 675 triple, similar grunt, same sort of feel from the back, loads more top end scream.

In terms of instruction, I found many TD "instructors" pretty useless really, they are free though.

[mikiboy]

Spudda.  This is no project.  It's had around £20k thrown at it.  It's a bargain for what it is.
It will run side by side with an early CBR6 even with shortened gearing.
Next step is RLR if you want superspeed but that means a £1500 rebuild every 800 miles.  Mines set up for endurance so it only needs a refresh every 10k ish

[Tiddsey]

If you like twins then get an SV650. You would pretty much expect me to say this but even in stock form they're a million times better than a CB500 and at a medium-speed track like Cadwell you can stay with the big boys. A few quid on suspension helps of course. There are plenty of ex-race ones around, the Minitins rules are fairly tight though so they're not so far off the stock road bike really. If you've got a few more quid then look at the Triumph 675 triple, similar grunt, same sort of feel from the back, loads more top end scream.

In terms of instruction, I found many TD "instructors" pretty useless really, they are free though.

actually thats not a bad shout for the sv650. i'll have a look and see whats what once my road bike are sold   

[mikiboy]

I'd definately take the sv over a CB500

[Daktana]

Ditto mate.  See you there.

Do you keep following me

Dave.

[Herb]

I am quite poor being a student, but have a car and my bikes at present are a trx 850, yammy diversion '95, and a vfr 400

Obviously not that poor. When I was a student I had a 250 I could not afford to insure and shanks pony!

[Wheelspin]

Do you keep following me

Dave.

No, you keep following me.