We had an amazing time at Donington Park yesterday! It was my second and @pricetta’s first trackday of the year.
It was a shakedown for Claire’s Aprilia RS 660 as we’ve been conveying it to a dedicated track bike over the winter, and we have a California Superbike School (Level 4) day next week at Bedford, so she needed to get her eye back in after the winter off.
We drove up the day before and stayed at a nearby hotel. For once, we drove up early and had time to enjoy a swim in their pool, and a (surprisingly) nice meal.
It was a “quiet” day, and the British GP was on down in Silverstone, so it really was a quiet day, not many people there, but those that were, were a great crowd. Really good vibes.
It rained really heavily in the morning after we got setup, before the first session. I had brand new near locks on 
. It wasn’t forecast to rain and it seemed like just a passing cloud, so didn’t put the wet wheels on.
We went out and did the two sighting laps, with me wobbling around! Then we both came straight back in, skipping the rest of the session, as it wasn’t the right conditions for us.
Though after 40 minutes, when our next session was up, it was 95% dry! Amazing. It got better from there and before long we were happy to go as fast as we wanted 
.
Claire had to go out without a baffle in her exhaust for the sighting laps we we had trouble securing it in place (as it’s a quiet day they said if you have baffle, you must fit it, even if you don’t need it, as if you get black flagged for excessive noise you will be sent home, no ifs, not buts).
We then worked frantically to secure the baffle. We hat to take her rear wheel out as Akrapovic in all their wisdom decided to out the bolt hole on the inside side of the muffler. We then lost the bolt in the exhaust.
I had to go round and ask people for bolts, and drills, to try and engineer a custom solution. Thanks to the helpful track day Community we got everything we needed! We drilled and bolted a new mount and all was good 
On track, as my pace got faster (I always build from slow to full pace over the day) I had gear shift problems, with loads of missed gears. I was also learning race shift for the first time! Race shift isn’t that hard to get used to as it goes. Did make a few mistakes braking into corners and changing up instead of down ahead, but I wasn’t at the pace where this would have been an issue - I was still getting to know the bike.
Over lunch I fixed the gear shift issue by adjusting the rearset lever position. It needed to be higher and further out. No more gear issues!
After lunch we were both in the zone and having a great time! We both made advancements. We used the new RaceBox Mini S units to track our progress. Claire felt at one with the bike and made improvements in two corners she had trouble with before, and so did I in trying to improve on T1 and T2.
I also started to feel more at one with the new Triumph, improving my body position and starting to feel I can commit to corners a bit more like I used to.
We met some real nice guys there. We had only four bikes in our garage, so had a close and supportive vibe going. It was great making a couple of new friends.
We did every session, and I set my best lap on the last full lap of 1:55. It was a messy lap though as I was trying to set a time, as I lost some previous session recordings for the RaceBox.
I have some pace left to come with the Triumph, I’m still not quite at one with it, but I now know where I can improve at Donington 
Roll on Bedford Autodrome for CSS L4!
Sometimes you just have to park any way you can with a trailer. Sorry other guests!
Our room for the night.
Power station, airport and race circuit, all next to each other; and the neighbours still complain about the circuit noise levels. Tsk. If you don’t like it, don’t live there! The circuit was there first!
Refreshment time
Post swim dinner. I must admit, I wasn’t expecting much for an airport hotel, but it was very nice indeed!
Found some very nice Moto2 replica custom build bikes. Took photos for inspiration! I was interested in the fairings, but the owner wasn’t at all interested in selling them (he commissioned their making).
Setup. Wait for it to dry.
Getting good feelings that the track will dry up at this point
My Triumph 675R/765 RS hybrid track bike
Claire’s Aprilia RS 660 in winter testing trim
Claire’s bike, and in the background evidence of us getting a bit more organised with tool chests and plastic containers
just need pit crew next.
Me about to fiddle with the gear shift lever. Taking a photo to know what the Before position was. Adjusted the linkage arm a bit to make it longer (to push the lever spigot up nearer my food), and the spigot further forward.
