I recently had a chance to attend the bmw experience at the old eastern creek, where i could ride a new bmw s1000rr for a session and 3 sessions on my own bike, its my first ride around sydney motorsport park. I was concentrating on being smooth with correct lines and body position rather than speed. as my wife said, if i crashed, it be a long walk to work.
Had the track day at sydney motorsport park on the 8th of march 2016. Ive never ridden on this track before with very little experience. I rate my self as a fairly decent road rider but that accounts for very little on the track. Put new pirelli corsa road track tyres on my vfr800. Took off my panniers and topbox. Left the suspention as is running road psi tyre pressure. As its my only vehicle i wanted to ride sensibility as i cant afford to crash so didnt want to ride as hard or as fast as i could.
They tape your mirrors up so you cant see behind you and i just couldnt do head checks.
the first session i was a bit overwhelmed by it all. overtaken on the inside a free for all, my lines were over the place coz i was worried people were gona come up the inside if i was cutting across and they did.
2nd session i just practiced my lines, didnt gun it between corners, got pegs down a heep. Wanted to be smooth and focus on the entry points.
3rd session, i practiced the lines, and moved my body position a heep, got the pegs down a heep at higher speeds than session 2
got to about 220 on the straight on the vfr
about 250 on the 1000rr.
I did chicken out on the straight. I braked too early to a point well below the corner speed under 130 and then accelerated up to 140. Most people time it right roll off the throttle a bit and take the corner at 160+.
Corner 2 i constantly stuffed up. Its a double. Take corner 1 wide to set up for corner 2 and then corner 3 is right but ran wide on corner 2 stuffed corner 3. Know this yet did not do this.
Its an experience
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I got about 2.26 seconds around the track, expected times for groups Red should be sub 1.45, green 1.46 to 1.55, yellow 1.55 to 2.05, white everything else. so thats saying i wasnt very fast.
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it was hot, very hot that day, about 38 degrees in full leathers, very exhausting
My brother crashed his tuono that day on turn 7 or so around 130kph, just after going uphill under the bridge. He didn't get to ride the RR, but we have both done previous RR ride days.
I love the creek. Glad you had fun. The Beemer is a bit differnt to the VFR.
Thanks for posting your experience and the photos.
In that heat, doing everything possible to preserve your road bike, in an intense workout, while the first time on the track, that certainly is a lot to take in.
I'm sorry but that's slow I have been around that track in the wet still faster than that and I am 53 years young lol on my vfr800. :cool:
thats a confidence boost
keef
My brother crashed his tuono that day on turn 7 or so around 130kph, just after going uphill under the bridge. He didn't get to ride the RR, but we have both done previous RR ride days.
I love the creek. Glad you had fun. The Beemer is a bit differnt to the VFR.
i saw him with bandages all over his elbows, i didnt see the crash though
He wore through his leathers, road rash on his elbows, bruised the living shit outta his fingers on one hand ( must have slapped his hand down hard when he came off) and swollen feet from rolling and tumbling along. He's fine now though, nothing actually broken.
His bike only wore down the crash knobs and broke the gear shift lever. He was lucky it just slid off down the access road that joins the short and long course, if you know what I mean. The bike didn't flip at all, just slid down the road.
He wore through his leathers, road rash on his elbows, bruised the living shit outta his fingers on one hand ( must have slapped his hand down hard when he came off) and swollen feet from rolling and tumbling along. He's fine now though, nothing actually broken.
His bike only wore down the crash knobs and broke the gear shift lever. He was lucky it just slid off down the access road that joins the short and long course, if you know what I mean. The bike didn't flip at all, just slid down the road.
i gota admit, thats one reason why i was careful and braked early on the main straight, i said red mist isnt going to get me,
He wore through his leathers, road rash on his elbows, bruised the living shit outta his fingers on one hand ( must have slapped his hand down hard when he came off) and swollen feet from rolling and tumbling along. He's fine now though, nothing actually broken.
His bike only wore down the crash knobs and broke the gear shift lever. He was lucky it just slid off down the access road that joins the short and long course, if you know what I mean. The bike didn't flip at all, just slid down the road.
i gota admit, thats one reason why i was careful and braked early on the main straight, i said red mist isnt going to get me,
He's pretty quick for a road rider, but i've been riding a lot longer (20yrs vs 8 or so), I'm a bit quicker, but the tuono has 70hp on a vfr. He needs to get his suspension done - hes 110kgs or so, far too big for any stock springs. Bike cranked over, bad body position, soft suspension, too much throttle, elevation changes through that part of the track - the tyre just lost traction and down he went.
the vid below is from the last track day we did together, he follows me for a bit then smashes past me on the straight. I'm in black leathers, black and white helmet, and on a black fightered VFR.
My bro is bob goblin on YouTube. He has posted a vid of the crash. It has a lap and a half or so before the crash, and cuts out just as it hits the fan.
He wants to do superbike school level 2 with me for my birthday. He's good big brother.
as the missus pointed out as were brought a house as we are moving 45 minutes away from work next weeek, which ill be commuting on a bike,
id have a long walk to work.
it was fun, i didnt die i didnt crash. i didnt beat anybody but i wasnt the slowest person there, which im happy about. got the pegs down a lot, didnt get the knee down though, tore my tires right up to the edge. im happy. doesnt matter what anybody else recons really.