I use my bike less and less these days but I’ve not completely lost the love of it. I’ve grown weary of speeding on the roads (don’t want a debate about dangerous riding) and I’m a feeling a bit too mature to be messing about on the roads.
So I’ve been thinking about track-riding, but question is, where to start?
A friend of a friend gave me some info awhile back, he said basically what you need is a full licence, leathers and ACU approved helmet. He told me at the time about a track in Northamptonshire whereby you could actually either bring your own bike or you can rent one out, I think he said for about £200 a day (this was back in 2009 so I’m not clear on facts). He had his own track bike that he took on a trailer R6. He advised me not to ride yer own bike as it was it enduring and if you messed up on corner you’d be stuck in the middle of nowhere.
He said as long as you weren’t racing or time keeping you could get up to whatever you fancied (within reason I guess).
Also if i recall correctly my insurance states not for racing on it. Do you need to get special cover before getting on a track? (to protect other riders and yourself.
So how much of this was right? Where’s a good starting place? Is there a beginners course to get yourself going?
Track days are the beginners route . Take your own bike in a van /trailer pay your cash , join the novice group and carry on . Good luck getting anyone to insure you on a track , this is why people have track day bikes .
If you get the bug what happenes is you end up like my housemate … Ploughing thousands and thousands into R+D ,racing fuels ,tyres,100s of hours dyno time …etc etc …And driving big distances to attend races all over the place .
Hi,
Quite a few of us have been dabbling in track days over the past couple of years - and I thoroughly recommend it. I’m sure some of us will be posting up LB track-day “events” too, for everyone to join in on. Some, like Leon and PJ seem to be about to take it all a bit more seriously too!
As long as you’re “careful”, its absolutely fine to take your road bike on a track day. Just watch out for nutters cutting you up, and not going too mad around corners before you’re ready. On most of these track days there are “free” instructors to use too, who’ll show you the lines etc.
The main track day operators are No-Limits and Focused Events. Take a look at their websites.
If you don’t want to use your bike, you can even hire ones there … for around £300 + damage deposit. Some of these deals are actually quite good (some not so good).
Another thing to try is California Superbikes. A bit expensive, but CSS Level 1 is very good (Level 2… I’m not so sure, and possibly Level 3 is good again). You can use your own bike or hire one of theirs.
Finally, Focused Events sometimes do a “special” day which includes bike hire etc.
One thing - if you do hire a bike, ideally make it similar to yours - otherwise you spend half the day getting used to a “new” bike!
PS - other fun things away from the road include Golding Barn off-road/motocross and off-road days like Patsy Quick’s www.adventureridingacademy.com
I’ve done quite a few track days and always ride there and back as not lucky enough to have a van / trailer. You’ll be fine as long as you take a while to warm up tyres etc and push progressively (i.e. not tip toe around for 3 laps then pin it into and out of each corner…) Go for it – pretty much everyone I’ve ever convinced to do a track day loves it and has fallen for it big time.
I can recommend Lydden Hill (http://www.lyddenhill.co.uk/ - just outside Dover so a short ride down from London) as a great 1st time track; small and easy to learn, v friendly and relatively cheap. But there are no bad tracks. Some event organisers are a little more lassez faire than others. E.g. Hopp Rider Training makes you indicate when overtaking on track and is more suitable for the very very nervous (and somewhat richer) rider, whereas No Limits didn’t black flag the chap who almost knocked my slide off as he overtook me into a corner.
Whatever you do, have fun!
Further to Zander’s other recommendations which are great, also try ‘tricks in the sticks’ for trials riding down in Kent. A fantastic day!
Looks interesting, I figure this may lie on the back-burner for a bit though because of low-funds and possible difficulties ahead.
