@pricetta and I had probably our last trackday of the year recently, this time hosted at Brands Hatch, on the GP circuit, run by No Limits.
This is a day we we eagerly anticipated as they don’t run many GP circuit variant trackdays there each year (due to local residents and noise complaints), and after weeks of amazing summer weather, of course our luck ran out and the forecast was miserable, with rain due for most of the day.
We still went, because you never know, sometimes it’s just not as bad as forecast. It ended up being that the morning was dry but overcast, so the track temperature was a little low to begin with, so we took it steady. Then at about 11am the drizzle started, but at this point it was only “mental rain”, i.e. it did not actually affect traction, but most people start slowing down out of an abundance of caution.
I realised my bike was feeling a little stiff for the conditions, so softened it up a bit and had a cracking third session before lunch in the drizzle. The bike and tarmac still felt good, but after lunch it started to properly rain and became pretty greasy out there so we didn’t go out out again, deciding to pack up early and head home as there was no sign it was going to clear up and we didn’t want to risk our bikes for no reason.
Still, we love the GP layout. We need to get back next year and make some inroads into the woodland section as we both are relatively inexperienced with that section, compared to the Indy sections which we have done many times. I’m braking way too early into Hawthawns for example 
It’s clear you can carry soooo much speed into that after the mega woodland straight.
If any other LBers are interested in doing trackdays, let us know and we can arrange something for next year!
Some pics…
Much more room in the LWB vans!
Getting our spot setup. We had to win the other guys over with charm as they weren’t too happy to share the garage initially. By the end of the day we were all good friends
Nice predecessor to my bike, the Ducati Panigale 959.
Absolutely stunning ex-BSB Yamaha R1
Our two bikes, on the left.
Spotting a bike in our garage with one of @B stickers.
The rest of the bike.
My Ducati Panigale V2 trackbike.
The drizzle started. Tyre warmers made all the difference in keeping confidence in grip levels in these conditions.
Our garage.
People starting to change wheels for those with wet tyres installed.
An example of the drizzle you can see on your visor, which doesn’t actually affect grip for hot tyres.
Hot AF.
Okay, this is also hot AF.
Claire on track
Claire on track
Claire on track
Me on track
Drizzle, leaves blowing over the track. I quite like this shot, as you block these things out when on it. Think this shot was taken during the sighting laps.
A nice promo shot for the circuit
This is when you’ve come barrelling out of the woodland section, before tipping into Clearways to rejoin the Indy circuit layout.
Softened the bike up and the feeling started to come back (it was setup too stiff for these conditions). We just needed one more session after this to be fully back in the groove, but the weather had other plans :-/
Top-tip, when tired at the end of the day, don’t make mistakes with getting a 190kg bike onto the workshop stand. The handle slipped out my hand at the worst possible time, and rotated 180 degrees in the blink of an eye as the weight of the bike brought it slamming down and the handle rotating up, hitting me in the side of the head, knocking me over. I was lucky not to be knocked out/concussed. Still healing.
. Back to Ducati red as a base to try to match the tank and then some accents or something on top for the racebike look.