The track day season is now well under way and Sian has been out on two events. The first was a wet day at Silverstone and the second a dry day at Castle Combe. The 400 has been good and bad to Sian, here is the first of many updates...
Silverstone 4th March
I was feeling a bit nervous before Silverstone, it being my first big track day but as usual I felt at home as soon as I got on my bike! I turned down Ricky's offer to put wets on the 400 - the inters were fine in the damp at Pembrey last year (it started raining there and I hadn't even noticed, I had that much grip!) and I have to ride on the road on normal tyres anyway so the practice would do me good! Had some really good session's just practicing moving my arse off the seat as smoothly as possible. Obviously the puddles meant no heavy breaking but we can look forward to doing some of that in the dry...
Castle Coombe 25th April
Weather for Castle Coombe was great - a bit cloudy but dry and warm. Spent the first session getting used to the higher revs of the 400 again compared to the SV, then concentrated on what gears I was using at each corner so that I could build up some consistancy. In between sessions I went through my lap with Rick, testing myself to remember my gears with my eyes closed - I felt like those skiers you see on Eurosport going through their run! Had a couple of red hot sessions with Rick following behind me, even he was impressed!! First session out after lunch I got stuck behind a guy on a 600. Obviously I didn't have the speed or the acceleration to get past him on the straight/out of the corners but didn't have to balls to stuff it up the inside of him either! So I let him go on the straights and made it my mission to catch him up again as quickly as I could!!
Next session out I was back on it, Rick passed me to have a couple of quick laps on his own then it all went wrong!! I had passed the chequered flag for the end of the session on was finishing off my lap when I suddenly just came off at the Esses!!! Slid on my belly while watching the bike slide away from me! I jumped up and could hear the bike still reving and thought I'd better turn off the ignition (learnt that one when I got a telling off from Rick when I crashed his crosser and the poor thing was still screaming it's nuts of on the floor!). Managed to pick the bike up myself (hoorah!) and wheeled it off the track as it was leaking oil. Back in the paddock Rick got the tools out and tried to fix the split oil hose that had thrown oil all over my tryes (hence the crash!) but the pressure was too high for the bodge to hold. End of my day but the marshal's told me that the bike had started smoking half a lap earlier so I was lucky that I hadn't come off at the fast Quarry corner (coz I hadn't slowed down!!)
The track day was organised by the circuit and was just perfect for me. There was no fast or slow group but with only 12 people in each session is didn't matter at all. I would recommend a Castle Coombe track day to anyone new to the track or who just wants to have a go on their road bike (we're going to take our Dad's on their FJR and African Twin next time...) The day was absolutely fabulous, despite a slight deviation from the plan in the afternoon!