Lydden Track day Saturday 7th May

[Dodgy69]

Maybe the other wheel lifts off the ground at 45 +.

[Tricky]

Well , what a difference 24hrs can make- it was all falling apart a bit yesterday and I was in two minds as to whether today would happen, but it did and it was F. brilliant- lots to report , but that will have to wait bit as right now I have beer to drink and shortly curry to eat whilst watching the mighty Spurs humiliate the boys in red and in so doing spice up the dash for the final few points in the Prem

Full Lydden report (with pics, and hopefully one or two vids as well ) to follow tomorrow

[weeksy]

Well , what a difference 24hrs can make- it was all falling apart a bit yesterday and I was in two minds as to whether today would happen, but it did and it was F. brilliant- lots to report , but that will have to wait bit as right now I have beer to drink and shortly curry to eat whilst watching the mighty Spurs humiliate the boys in red and in so doing spice up the dash for the final few points in the Prem

Full Lydden report (with pics, and hopefully one or two vids as well ) to follow tomorrow

Bwahahaha you daft bugger.

[Tricky]

Well , what a difference 24hrs can make- it was all falling apart a bit yesterday and I was in two minds as to whether today would happen, but it did and it was F. brilliant- lots to report , but that will have to wait bit as right now I have beer to drink and shortly curry to eat whilst watching the mighty Spurs humiliate the boys in red and in so doing spice up the dash for the final few points in the Prem

Full Lydden report (with pics, and hopefully one or two vids as well ) to follow tomorrow

Bwahahaha you daft bugger.

I would definitely not bet my house on the above outcome, but stranger things have happened- at least I think they have?

[2xtwins]

Well , what a difference 24hrs can make- it was all falling apart a bit yesterday and I was in two minds as to whether today would happen, but it did and it was F. brilliant- lots to report , but that will have to wait bit as right now I have beer to drink and shortly curry to eat whilst watching the mighty Spurs humiliate the boys in red and in so doing spice up the dash for the final few points in the Prem

Full Lydden report (with pics, and hopefully one or two vids as well ) to follow tomorrow

Glad you had a great day, Rich, looking forward to the report and pictures .

Shame Spurs couldn't quite get the three points against the Bindippers but at least we got something out of the game.....Not holding my breath but here's hoping Leeds can upset the Arse later.

Kev

[weeksy]

Well , what a difference 24hrs can make- it was all falling apart a bit yesterday and I was in two minds as to whether today would happen, but it did and it was F. brilliant- lots to report , but that will have to wait bit as right now I have beer to drink and shortly curry to eat whilst watching the mighty Spurs humiliate the boys in red and in so doing spice up the dash for the final few points in the Prem

Full Lydden report (with pics, and hopefully one or two vids as well ) to follow tomorrow

Glad you had a great day, Rich, looking forward to the report and pictures .

Shame Spurs couldn't quite get the three points against the Bindippers but at least we got something out of the game.....Not holding my breath but here's hoping Leeds can upset the Arse later.

Kev

And your report @2xtwins ??

[Tricky]

As I hinted at above, Friday evening I was seriously thinking about binning the whole event off- Friday was quite a tough day in itself for me, and then just as I’d got the bikes (my ZX6 and my mate Tim’s R6 which had been residing in my garage since Donington) loaded , Tim called and said that he and his OH had been feeling a bit rough during the day and had just tested covid [positive , and although he still wanted to come and somehow socially distance in the paddock etc, it is a no-no.
And as you can read earlier in this thread, it looked like Kev (@2xtwins ) probably wasn’t fancying it either as the weather was looking a bit uncertain, so that meant I'd be billy-no-mates on this one, hmmm.

I've doubtless said it many times before, but trackdays these days for me are very much, and mainly about the social aspects and shared experience rather than the actual round-and-round bit , and although you nearly always meet new people there if you want to, I wasn't fancying it much as I’d be going by myself - Isabella (my OH) had had 3hrs in a dentist chair friday afternoon which had made her face go a bit Fred Flintstone, she was sore and understandably not feeling sociable and definitely not fancying getting up at an ungodly hour for the 2-2.5 hr drive there.
But she convinced me I should go , and am so glad she did, as it was a cracking day.

Didn’t start brilliantly as it was drizzling when I got up at 4:30, and as soon as I’d got onto the M40 it flashed up that the M25 was closed for a couple of junctions in Surrey so it meant I headed north/clockwise, and over the Dart crossing rather than south as usual.
Anyway, a few extra miles and £3.00 for crossing the bridge, but no real hassle, and a nice uneventful journey.

I arrived about 730ish to a nice dry track that even had plenty of space down in the tarmacked bit of the paddock, result, and even better, I parked up, turned around, and saw Kev @2xtwins just taking his helmet and wet weather gear off- he’s come after all, nice, really perked me up, this was going to be fun!



I unloaded the ZX6 from the van, we signed on, and got a coffee and bacon roll- one thing that was very apparent was that it was very much quieter than the last time I’d been there when it was rammed- this time apparently it was only approx 50% booked, and it made for a very relaxed day, both on and off the track.

I’m sure Kev will add his own thoughts, but I reckon he was pretty nervous about this one- understandably IMO, both as he hasn't been on a track for a while (and only ever Lydden once about 100 years ago I think), and of course, he was on the special needs bike...
That all evaporated after the first session though for him I think, and it certainly generated some interest and he met quite a few new people as a result,

This was him lining up for one of his sessions- as you can see, there was a right mixture of bikes in the group, ranging from Uncle Albert out of OFAH on his MZ racer (he was a really nice bloke who was next to us in the paddock ), a Ronnie Pickering look-a-like on a Husky 701 with lairy spokes (what else eh ) , an old KR1S racer , an RS660 and the usual smattering of Gixxers and Fireblades etc






Oh and even a girl on a totally unsuitable blue Suzuki thing @Le_Fromage_Grande



And one or two action pics of the the old boy - not great quality as it's me standing at the side of the track with my phone, but you get the idea.







And I'm sure Kev will elaborate a bit more, but as you'll see if you watch my little vid below, his bike got a little work-out from one of the instructors, and a mention on No limits Insta too

https://www.instagram.com/accounts/logi ... QqGtiIHqy/



As for me and the ZX6, pre-TD preparations had included new stickers, which had to be worth a few seconds a lap I reckoned




And I had fun on track, albeit my rear tyre seems to have gone right off and I was really struggling for RH grip which was a bit of a pain, so I need to get them changed before Bedford in a week's time if I can, as it was seriously affecting how soon and hard I could get on the power when right over, and hence my on-track fun to an extent- Overall though, a very very enjoyable day ( that made me realise just how unfit I've got! ) with some great little scraps on track, and a very friendly paddock.

I’m still struggling a bit with working out how to stop my Drift camera to stop shaking on this bike, but we’re getting there- here's a few laps that show how short (and fun IMO) Lydden is- watch out for the particularly wide “bike” 2 mins in

[weeksy]

She's screams huh!

[Tricky]

She's screams huh!

Yup, lovely engine in it, goes well for a 19 YO bike IMO

[weeksy]

She's screams huh!

Yup, lovely engine in it, goes well for a 19 YO bike IMO

Will be interesting at Pembrey if you back to back compare with the 2010

[Tricky]

Aye, I'd be interested in doing that- may be of interest to Ceri too

[Dodgy69]

Nice read @Tricky . Glad that Kev made it on the Yamaha monster.

Hope you both make it next week looking forward to it.

[Tricky]

Nice read @Tricky . Glad that Kev made it on the Yamaha monster.

Hope you both make it next week looking forward to it.

Cheers and yup, we'll be there, looking forward to it too

[2xtwins]

I think @Tricky has covered most of the important stuff re the trackday so my "report" will be considerably shorter,

Where do we start? Well Friday pm, I guess - I got a text from Rich to say that his regular sparring partner was a victim of the pandemic. Up until this stage I wasn't even sure I would travel to Lydden, never mind do the trackday but looked at NL website.....again, looked at the weather forecast.....again and nothing had changed so I booked a place in Novice at about 17:00 Friday.

Come Saturday morning it had rained overnight and was still spitting at half five when I left.

Showers/light rain for the first 50 or 60 miles but 115 miles later the carriage and I arrived. Needless to say, I didn't even have time to take my waterproof off than someone came across to chat...something I am getting used to every time I venture out on the Trike.

Shortly afterwards, Rich turns up and you pretty much know the rest if you've read his piece above.

I'll cover how Trike performed on track on its thread in Owners Bikes but agree with all of Rich says above........

I had a brilliant day and will readily admit that I was as nervous as hell when I lined up for the first session as I just didn't know what to expect:- unconventional bike/trike, that I'd never ridden on track, OEM Bridgestone tyres that wouldn't, to my eyes at least, look out of place on a tractor and the whole paddock watching me too. Not my idea of fun at that moment.

Still, 6 sessions and umpteen laps later and all was well with the world. Actually, it was more than that - I was like a dog with two tails and didn't even care that I had a 115 mile ride home and it had just started spitting with rain, despite being dry all day.

Even the fact that the first two petrol stations I went to were closed / being refurbed and I was on reserve was not an issue............nor the fact that my number plate disappeared somewhere between Lydden and home. Feck knows where or when

Brilliant day, although I might already have said that, and although @Dodgy knees I won't see which way you went next week, I reckon I'll be having just as much fun .

Kev

[Bigyin]

She's screams huh!

The little 636 is still the wife’s favourite bike she has been pillion on with me as it had an engine that screams and was all involved in the riding. Since I went to bigger more upright bikes she says they aren’t the same