Donington & Mallory 25th/26th August 2011

What a couple of days!



I suppose after the equivalent of roughly twenty full track days over 27 visits to track and six years I have to admit to being a reasonably experienced track day rider. This is the first time I've really felt it though.



Arrived to a damp Donington and decided it was too dry for a wet rear, so went out in the first session with only a wet front. As it turned out this was a bit of a mistake! The left hander of Craner Curves felt as greasy as hell and after feeling the back end skating around I backed up and just cruised around safely, trying to work out lines for later. Second session I was immediately so much happier and started to crack on (over half a minute faster), really enjoying it. There were some racers there showing the rest of us how it should really be done but I was loving it and really getting a kick out of getting a hang of the lines and starting to feel a little quicker. It kept getting better for me all day and I did something I've never done before - went fastest on my last flying lap of the last session.



Had a bit of fun playing innocent with a friend of MrsJ's who sells tyres that was utterly horrified by the state of the tyres I use - he thought the one I was fitting at the end of the day was fit for the bin. His face when he saw the one I was riding on was a picture.



It's a fun entrance to Mallory, we got to drive around half the track. It was slightly more than just damp, bloody soaking in fact. And it made me grin. I've used wets on damp tracks before but never where it was properly wet. What a complete hoot!



Full wets are awesome tyres, it just took a while to really start to trust them. Mallory was a great circuit too and very grippy in the wet, although I did light them up once or twice going up the hill towards the hairpin and have it kick sideways a bit. I found myself getting into the swing fairly soon and starting to rock on in the lovely quiet fast group. In the afternoon the standing water cleared and although the track was still properly wet I was able to make myself really start to trust the tyres and push on a bit (although the local racer type regularly showed me I still wasn't using them as hard as I could).

Overall I was really pleased with my progress - I feel like I'm starting to get properly used to the bike and I'm getting reasonably quick and relaxed it. Plus of course it was huge fun both on and off the track with such a great bunch of guys there.

First time at Donington GP (second time at Donington): 1:49.8 and well pleased.
First time ever at Mallory and properly wet: 1:05.10 and chuffed.

Now then Tazfiend

Awesome, glad you had two good days on and off the tracks Mate

Wish I could have joined you mate ................. pics look awesome ............even the wet ones

Got a couple more from Pete Wileman.