After @pricetta got to ride on the back of a MotoGP bike at the British GP last year, she’s been itching to go on her first trackday. We decided to take a bit of a gamble with the weather and book her first trackday, and my first in seven years for this month at Brands Hatch, on the Indy circuit - a good one for a first timer, and nice and close.
Whilst I’ve done a ton of trackdays, I don’t mind admitting I was a little anxious about returning to the track after a seven year absence with a new road-bike and all new gear. I would normally ride in the advanced group, but thought it wise to step back to the Intermediate 2 group to avoid being a mobile chicane for the fast boys. Turns out there was nothing to worry about. I took it easy and worked up through the day, getting to know the bike, building trust in it (and myself).
We were also super lucky, we went to see @B a few days before to get Claire’s Aprilia RS 660 suspension looked at it, and whilst doing that, he said he would come down to the track and check in on us! True to his word, he arrived with Ricky and helped provide some laughs and much-needed suspension tweaks for my Ducati Panigale V2, which was a little too soft on the track. After some minor tweaks of the front and rear, the bike was stable and I was able to get back into the groove with some confidence.
Claire had a great time, she spent the morning getting into the swing of things, then in the afternoon spent some time with an instructor who helped give her some tips and also, some confidence by saying she was doing great, with very little to address this early on in trackday experience.
The weather was perfect. About 17c for most of the day, which was perfect for keeping cool 
Top day in all, a resounding success for Claire’s first trackday. We can’t wait for the next one. We’ve booked Donington Park on the 2nd of May, if anyone is interested in coming along?
Queueing up for noise-testing. 102db static test. The V2 was 102db with stock exhaust.
Reducing the pressures down, ready for the track
@B from BNRS looking after Claire’s bike, helping with tyre pressures
B adjusting my V2’s suspension, firming it up a bit for the track
Couple of vids made with a GoPro 7 and a hard-mount from Evotech Performance.
The day was organised by MSV themselves (owners of many of the UK circuits). They did a great job, both beforehand with the online checking-in and briefing videos, and then on the day with keeping things running smoothly, on-time and cheery.
The only negative was that I wish their professional photography was a bit better though. The photographer missed me from Druids when he moved there and most of the photos are out of focus. Not quite up to the https://photos.londonbikers.com standard.
i have only seen videos but still.
