Snetterton Track Day

What's on your bike's screen - looks like some sort of artwork.. or is that
just the light?

 

Nice layout

Cool. TZ250s are *proper* racing bikes, so anyone who's got one
really out to be able to ride it.

It is quite a difficult corner to judge <waves at Ash>, and I never
felt I got it right when I've ridden there. Especially the time I
crashed.

 

a couple of weeks ago, I thought I was holding a can of spray on
detergent, whereas in actual fact, I was holding a can of Yoshimura
Phoxitorf super-strenght de-greaser. The screen was misted up in the 5
seconds between realising my mistake, and trying to wash it off with
the hose.

I've got a nice double-bubble for road use, now.

 

Champ says...

Its really impressive to see them go past. When you're watching from the
side or on the telly its hard to tell how fast they're really going. But
when your hanging on for grim death thinking you're on the limit and the
little buggers go round the outside of you least 20MPH faster it kinda
puts it all into perspective.

 

what, the HTML? Minimal is in right now, donchano.

oh - I thought there might be a more technical name for it than that -
in any case, I was heading right for the marker-cone on the apex, and
got closer to it than normal, and a little "skersh" occurred - only
nicked the slider, though.

he was - obviously - getting passed by also everyone on the straights,
but just didn't slow down, particularly in the esses.

[Riches corner]

Well, strangely enough it was my 2nd favourite corner on the
circuit[1] - my technique was as follows: nail it in 2nd[2] out of
Russell bend, into third at the redline, into 4th at the redline, pass
the pitlane around 125-130 mph[3] - change down into 3rd at the first
braking indicator, change down into 2nd at the 3rd braking indicator,
and gas it round the corner about 80-85 - no actual braking required;
people would "appear to go backwards" before the 1st braking marker,
and I'd just piss past them on the inside.


[1] Coram curve is so much fun going round the outside of people
[2] started the first couple of sessions trying this in first, but
kept finding myself wheelying out of the corner, which I didn't think
was ideal.
[3] digital speedos mean not having to "think" to see what speed
you're doing

 

Ah yes, as opposed to Tracktime "don't fucking crash" Promotions ...

 

So, you're claiming "artwork", naturally?

 

was that who we did Cadwell with? Yes, they were fairly disorganised.
The bunch me and Porl did Lydden with were fairly shocking - not even
a cursory attempt to ensure people were wearing protective gear etc.

 

it looks like a bukkake accident.

 

Isn't some of that down to the fear of being sued though? ie if they let you
on the track after checking your gear and you injure yourself
it's somehow their fault for letting you out.

 

A well ridden TZ250 shouldn't even be that slow down the straights.

<thinks> so, you just used engine braking (4th down to 2nd) on a
closed throttle? This was obviously working for you, but with brakes
too you'd have been faster still, I'd have thought. Tho of course, it
then becomes harder to judge.

Corams if just fucking ace

 

dwb says...

Its apparently why they don't check the bikes and just make you sign a
form saying that according to you the bike's safe.

During the pre-track brief they had to point out that the grass is not as
grippy as the tarmac for litigation reasons!

 

oh sure, you have to sign an indemnity form to say you're responsible
for the state of your kit and bike. The people (I can't remember who)
I did Lydden with just didn't seem interested in safety at all except
to say something like "this is a dangerous circuit - watch out!" in
the briefing.

Focused Events just seemed to be taking everything seriously.

 

yeah, but by the time you add rider weight into the equation, the
130-150 hp litrebikes are just walking away from everyone else - I
remember passing the likes of R6s and 749Ss obviously "going for it",
but I was just leaving them miles behind easily, on the back straight.
Speaking of which, what sort of speed to you reckon you'd be doing
there on the race bike? I saw 155 on the speedo at one point, though
admittedly that really didn't leave me much margin for error around
the esses (and ran wide of the apex by almost the width of the track
on the right hander). 145 or so was the "right speed", for me.

yeah, engine braking only, then progressively opening the throttle
starting just before the corner, ending up with WFO at the 2nd apex,
which seemed to help sit the bike up for the little bit of straight
before Sears.

*ding*

 

Champ says...

The bomb hole and Corams was deffo my favorite bit, Corams just seems to
go on forever.

Just out of idle curiosity Champ, what sort of lap times do you do at
Snetterton.

 

depends if he crashes or not.

 

I did a track day there on the gixxer 2 years ago and was regulalrly
seeing 170 on the back straight The current race bike (with the
'good' engine) is prolly making a little less power, but ought to be
getting off the corner a bit harder than a street bike on road tyres,
so similar sort of money, I would expect.

 

My best is a 1:17.

But, in the tradition of all racers, here's some excuses The
first year we were there, the bike was pretty stock, and I did a 1:18.
Last year, we had the faster/better bike, and I got down to low 18s,
high 17s in the first 20 mins - then it went bang. I like to think
that I'd have found another second in the rest of the session.

This year I *definitely* want 16s, if not 15s.

 

well, I would conclude from the above some of:

* the Gixer is faster than my 'blade
* the Gixer's got better brakes
* I'm a chicken.

 

I'd say the third one as my 600 managed the same indicated speeds as you