After the wet disaster last year I wanted to go back to Brands to make a better job of it and last night I couldn’t think of something constructive to do today so booked it, £59 with Hottrax.
Fecking cold on the way down at 6am, -2C apparantly but bone dry, the pit lane was still -2 at 8.30am. Warmed up a bit later on but a load of people binned their bikes by not warming tyres up, probably about 6 or 7 bikes with a couple being seriously wrecked.
Being a bit slower and not taking the pi*s I had agreat day, four sesions in the morning, one with an instructor for a few laps and I was really improving and managed to get rid of my problems with Clarke and Paddock hill. They’re still difficult but at least I know how to attack them andmanage to make a reasonable job of it.
Had one off, going into Druids messed up a gear change and forgot to brake enough to turn (Duh !) so had to brake as hard as I could on the track then run straight ahead into the gravel, no damage but a silly mistake that I shouldnlt be making now.
It was actually a really good day despite the cold, nice people, Hottrax are pretty good, easy going but safe, definately book with them again.
Good to hear you’re back on track mate! Shame about the ‘off.’ Druids does catch out a lot of riders, I guess it’s because it’s deceptive and the approach is fast.
But it is normally very forgiving if you do try to make the corner. Speed will be scrubbed off fast as you’re going uphill and there’s a big positive camber all the way round until you start to exit where it then levels off.
Sounds like it was a good day, sorry about the off but no damage so thats good. Can’t wait to get my 1st track day in, I am waiting for warmer days though, you were brave doing it today, it was bloody freezing!!!
Sounds like your session was a lot colder AND tougher than ours.
We had rain, but cloud cover meant it was much warmer than your report. No offs at ours at all, so I guess the cold does do some funny things to the rider as well as the kit…
Nice one fella, none of this “fair weather” riding nonsense.
BIKES ARE FOR LIFE, NOT JUST SUNNY DAYS FOR POSING ON!
I was bitten years ago with cars, I started going to track days when they were just a bloke who hired an airfield for a day, put some cones up and charged us £20 for as long as we wanted !
Looking at Snetterton this weekend too, only £39 and the weather looks good.
One thing that holds me back is the bike, not wanting to trash it so will get a track bike for this summer until I get more proficient then go back on the Kawasaki.
Got to get some more tuition too . . . Brands Indy was really enjoyable once I had somebody tell me how to get round each corner. Being in novice group doesn’t always help either as the only other people I have to follow don’t necessarily know what they’re doing either ! :w00t: