I am wanting to record my lap times so I can plot my progress through training and bike upgrades. Being a trackday Newbie, Do the event organisers provide this, or is it solely down to me? What timing systems can be bought that are a little more sophisticated than a straight forward StopWatch.
Hummm! In most trackdays you are actually not allowed to time your laps with devices, though you can have a mate timing you on a stop whatch! Trackdays are not about race and not the place they want you to practise race pace. For that some trackday organizers will have and ACU special group on some days. Not sure if they will ask you to have an ACU licence though. B can correct me if I’m wrong but that’s what you get from ‘normal’ trackdays companies.
I would just go on the fast group of a traday company that have a really fast group, some do have regulars that are very fast and do your business.
BIKE2TRAVEL is spot on, trackday companies dont normally allow timing equipment, but getting a mate to time you is fine. Timing your laps is the best way of measuring your progress and seeing what improvements there are (if any) after changes in riding style or mechanical mods etc. To be honest, if youre new to trackdays dont worry too much about your lap times, except for curiosty. Youll be on a steep learning curve and the times will drop rapidly with practise. Learn some basic skills to start with and practise them, gain confidence and move on to the next step.
You`re idea of charting your progress is a good idea if you become a regular trackdayer or even racer, making notes from the lap times, gearing, weather and many other things can be a great source of information as well as amusement.
Spoke tha man! If you are starting now you will see huge differences on timing but as soon as you get to a certain level of expertise you will need to start to compare other factors as well, not just the time, as temperature, tyres type and conditions, pressure, machine changes etc will make you faster or slower. After that, on a next level a stop whatch wont do the job anymore as the finge wont be quick enough to mark your laps differences… But if you get there you will know it all and won’t need the help anymore. Just do as B said, concentrate on gain skills. Good luck and be safe
Thanks guys for the responses and putting me straight. It is more a curiosity thing and personal motivation for improvement. Am really looking forward to getting back on the Babyblade at Silverstone next month 
You can buy a laptimer that you can put on the bike. It records evry single lap that you do when running. Trackday companies do not like people timing themselves though. The best thing to do to start with is to gain confidence before you start worrying about the times.