2022 RTTL Pembrey trackday extravaganza. Sept 2/3/4

[Skub]

Any pics then?

[Taipan]

Is that it? One person. I think I can go to the trade descriptions act people about the use of the word extravaganza in the thread title!

[dern]

I only got pictures of wet gazebos. I have a video in the camera in the van and I'll upload it when I'm less tired.

[Taipan]

Eh? So rain stopped play! Been a scorcher down here...

[weeksy]

LOL that was neither Pembrey, nor one of us. The photos are not instant.... We're all bloody knackered too. Last night was a late one with beer, JD, cider and drinks with or without apples that look and taste like apply things. It went even more wrong after that as about 2am the wind went to gale force and monsoon rain kept most of us awake all night..

The overall report though was that everyone seemed to have a brilliant time.

It started with beers on Friday with a mate and then onto the track to see the boys and set up the paddock as per the earlier pics. With that all done we met the boss and his wife along with @tricol and @Couchy for a couple of beers and the Premier Inn.

Sat morning was amazingly DRY !!!! But that's where it fell apart slightly for me... As i pulled out the kit bag for @Welsh Muffin and opened it to air her leathers... only to find my leathers !!! I'd packed the wrong bag... So she had my suit, size 11 boots and XL gloves... Luckily we managed to beg, borrow and steal a helmet for her, a pair of boots that fitted her and out she went. "oh yea, those discs are deffo warped now we've mentioned it..."... Jeepers.

It was about then i noticed @twids had his wifes ZX6R too, which i then proceeded to dismantle and take off his discs to fit to the ZX6R... Which then made it awesome Many many thanks Twids... really appreciated.

Everyone seemed to be enjoying it, well i'm not sure Couchy was, as the SV650 of doom, really was the SV650 of doom and disappointed him a bit. I think he'd have been jumping straight on the SMC-R, but i hadn't taken it

We had some drizzle, but mostly people got out for most sessions and had lots of fun.

The sessions ended and we started on the beers, the BBQ and banter.... it's one of those things where, if you're not there you can't really get your head around how funny some of the things were, both @Vote for pedro the newbie and the old boy @Dodgy knees being the prime entertainment for the night.... @Vote for pedro was epic... Considering how he'd never met any of us, he wasn't shy at all.

We also learned that @dern used to own a 748S just like this..
748 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Which is Mrs Weeksys one...

Oh... hold on.... it was ACTUALLY this one.. he bought it from me at work lol. 15 years ago and we worked out he'd bought our 748S lol.

DSCN6567 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

How absolutely random !!!

The drive home was tough... but not as tough as it was unloading the van after and trying to get everything dry.... everything from the chairs to the tents, gazebo, all wet... now drying...

Awesome weekend though. At times i did miss not having the SMC-R there with me... but not massively.

[dern]

No, I just forgot to take any pictures of bikes. I got out in all sessions except for the last one as the rain was going sideways. Some were wet but the track was never sodden so it was all good.

Had an excellent evening last night and big thanks to @weeksy and @Welsh Muffin for organising the BBQ yesterday evening. Great company but had a thick head this morning.

Couldn't be arsed to unload the van.

Realising that I'd bought the 748 from @weeksy 15 years ago was genuinely jarring. I thought I'd met him before but I couldn't place when. It's a small world sometimes and my memory isn't what it used to be... apparently.

[Couchy]

It was fun well one session was. I haven’t ridden Pembrey in 3 years and only been on track once in the last year or so. Normally I’m back into it after a few laps and I had a well sorted SV so no worries. Well ermmm the SV felt wrong from the off I couldn’t get it to turn, it felt happy at a slow pace and so did I with it. When I came in I checked tyre pressures which were a bit high but what I really wanted was more ride height lots more. The shock was longer as per previous SV so my thought went to linkages. I’m now sure it has a lowering link in it which explains everything . Anyway next sessions were better and prob back up to my usual pace as no one came by in the middle group. For the last session I opted to take out the ZX6R, I stayed out all session despite it being wet and on normal tyres it was ace

[Dodgy69]

Home for about 1.15. 3 hours ish. Good ride back through Wales and no rain. Tent out to dry. Bike will get washed next weekend, can't be arsed now.

Another brilliant extravaganza, great track time.. great bbq and beers ... great company. I thought @tricol settled in brilliant. Looked very comfortable on track and a good laugh off. Plenty of good humour from the entire Weeks family, including James with his golden locks. Big thanks to @dern the milk man. .

Hope the couple in the bridal suite had an enjoyable evening.

All in all, a thoroughly fantastic weekend had. Cheers everybody.

[tricol]

Well where do I start...

First of all, again, a huge thank you to @weeksy for giving me the place and the chance to do my first ever trackday. It has a been a brilliant weekend, from the nice steady ride down on Friday in the sun to finally getting home this afternoon. Thanks to everyone at RTTL, all of you have been amazing at making me feel welcome and giving me lots of great advice throughout the day. Even the small things like @dern giving me some spanners to remove my wing mirrors and keeping them in his van, might seem like nothing, but all adds up.

As for the actual trackday, the weather was on our side in the morning and I got 3 solid sessions in before lunch. That first roll out from the assembly area had the heart pumping but after a few laps I'd figured the basic lines and got a feel for it. Second and third sessions I think I got into a nice rhythm and really really enjoyed it. Shame the drizzle turned up and I skipped the first session after lunch. Managed another once the rain passed and the track was fairly dry again. It was spitting near the end of the session but I didn't care, the grip was still there. I was dead last in the novice group and I didn't care. Everyone who passed me was great, gave plenty of room and didn't surprise me, even @Couchy just before the kink

Atmosphere for this trackday was really good, really relaxed. The banter was great, the food was great, and I was glad I was in a hotel for two nights after hearing the overnight weather reports

I took a few photos on my camera so I'll post those during the week. Now it's time for a curry and a night on the sofa.

Cheers,
Colin

[Bigyin]

That’s me home in one piece this year. Knackered after the long ride and boiling hot as it’s 28 degrees for the last 100 miles or so.

The missus met me on the drive with an open bottle of cold Cobra beer. Knew there was a reason we are still together

Showered. Tent is up in the garden drying out and now off to youngest lads house for a Sunday roast …. I’ll post some shit later about the weekend.

Summary: superb weekend despite the attempts of the weather as the track and company made up for it and more

[weeksy]

Van dropped off and put collecting Indian as we couldn't be bothered cooking.

[Alan PBTD]

Nige just messaged me - pictures are up :

http://www.edpphoto.com/bevan22/PhilBev ... index.html

And before anyone ask's it's Nick Lamb. I'll leave u to work out the connection..

Been a long day today....

ta

Alan

[Bigyin]

And before anyone ask's it's Nick Lamb. I'll leave u to work out the connection..

Been a long day today....

ta

Alan

Do you mean Nick Plumb

I recognised him Saturday afternoon while chatting as i knew his face from somewhere

"Adventure Bike Friends"

http://www.edpphoto.com/bevan22/PhilBev ... e_2662.JPG

[Bigyin]

My Pembrey weekend started Friday morning looking at weather forecasts etc so decided to wear my Goretex kit for the ride down and home as Saturday wasnt looking good and Sunday was looking terrible so i didnt fancy getting soaked through in leathers. Dug out the full panniers for the bike and loaded it all up with tent , roll mat, sleeping bag, fold up chair and all other camping gear and leathers which took up a full pannier on their own. Off we go, 350 miles to go



Not the best star when i left as the sat nav wasnt powering up and also noticed the fog lights were not working (i use them a lot when filtering through heavy traffic as they are at car mirror height and move people out of the way very well) . Figured it was just a fuse but didnt know which one so a quick detour to Seastar Superbikes, AKA Ducati Norwich and a chat with Dave on the parst section. Nick, one of the techs came out, had a poke about, found the fuse, swapped it out and gave me another spare just in case ....How much do you want? .... Dont worry about it, have a good trip



Superb ride down in lovely weather with all the vents open on my riding kit and arrived at Pembrey about 6 ish. Quick chat with Weeksy who was leaving the circuit and after saying hello to who was there, sorted my tent and kit out and into LLaneli to get a chippy and some beer etc. Good night Friday huddled under the Gazebos in biblical rain and a few beers and lots of laughs with the Friday night campers

Saturday morning dawns cloudy and damp but no rain....bonus





Session 1: bit damp, got swamped by some of the faster lads and felt like a mobile chicane as my first time in Inters on only my third ever trackday. Did discuss dropping down to Novice but stayed in Inters

Session 2: Felt better, found my way round, kept catching @Welsh Muffin on the brakes but didnt pass her as i knew i would hold her up on the back part of the circuit as it was my weak part so stayed behind her ( i assume there are loads of pics of us at the hairpin ) .....turns out she had warped discs and suffered under braking

Session 3: Got better again but still couldnt get the left handers sorted which was obviously the weakest point for me so had a chat with a couple of people and @singlesman Paul talked me through what i should be doing. He also answered about tyre pressure as did @Couchy so i knocked another few psi out of the tyres to get them to 30 psi hot. Dragged the right footpeg on the hairpin lap after lap so that one is sorted

Went out for fuel at lunchtime and on the way out had a quick chat with bloke on the GSA Beemer who had been wazzing round on Knobblies ,,,,,turns out i recognized him from stuff i had seen before online and TV and he had joked about the other "adventure bike" leaving as he saw me with the topbox on and thought i was just doing the morning with his mates.

Session 4: It rains as the call goes up and everyone looks at the floor and says "nope" ....i then see @Tricky get kitted and head off so figured i might as well as even in the damp Pembrey is fairly grippy. Head out, turns out there are 5 bikes on circuit and i can focus on what i need to apply for the left handers without other bikes around ....... i get passed by my "adventure bike friend" who waves at me and then i just concentrate on making it all smooth as the rain stops and the track is good. When i come in there are a couple of Fast group blokes who ask what its like and check my tyres for heat and are binning their thinking about wets



Session 5: Really good fun, felt comfortable, made a couple of mistakes, dragged my left footpeg for the first time but didnt get passed by as many as often and caught @Welsh Muffin and passed her (turns out she had visor issues at the time ...dammit)

Session 6: it started raining and we all decided we had done well with the weather so the marshals had an early finish and we all had an early beer o'clock

Many thanks to @weeksy and @Welsh Muffin for keeping us supplied in meat products for the next few hours while beer was consumed and general shit discussed ....as the evening turned to dark then more beer consumed and the chat got funnier and funnier . Good to get a chat with @singlesman and his lad James who was going well. @Tricky was his usual fast as fuck self but left earlier as the lovely isabella doesnt do camping...probably the right choice that night which we come to later. @dern and @Dodgy knees were having their own surrel chats at times along with @twids

Add in the new faces of @tricol who settled in well on track and really fitted in the off track stuff as well ....seemed like he have converted another one to TD's. Good chat with @Bowman too who i hadnt met before and then @Vote for pedro ........bloke has a sense of humour right up my street so a very funny saturday night till it was early morning

Storm hit middle of the night and lying their thought the gazebos and tents would be flying among the biblical rain that hammered down so not a lot of sleep. Woke up to clear blue sky, packed the bike and as i was getting sorted @Dodgy knees brought me a traditional Pembrey breakfast roll, so cheers mate for breakfast

Left about 0930 on soaking wet roads, took the Brecon road @Alan PBTD suggested which was lovely and rolling, got hit by rain around Gloucester on the way home so glad i took the textile option for the travel rides but after Oxford it dried up and got warmer. By the time i was 100 miles from home it had gone from 15 degrees to 28 degrees so every vent opened and still too warm but 350 miles done again

Fantastic weekend, enjoyed the travel there and back which i have questioned in the past but loved it this time......different people at track this weekend and good to meet new faces as well as those i already know .......you are all wonderful and made the slowest person in the Inters group a very happy bunny as i got better and enjoyed it immensely..... if i missed anyone i apologise, its late, i'm knackered and bed time

[Rockburner]

Sounds like s good weekend and everyone made it home in one piece? Score!

[weeksy]

Sounds like s good weekend and everyone made it home in one piece? Score!

No incidents at all.... lovely smooth and easy day as always.

It was a massive shame that others screwed up the Fridays for people, along with numbers on Sat and Sun that are not sustainable for @Alan PBTD and the gang to bother with. If people don't book, this could very easily be the last. I know i've said that before, but the numbers simply don't justify the time, effort and costs for the lads.

[twids]

I had a great time as always, it was fantastic to catch-up with you all over a few beers.

The MT performed alright on track after a collective effort to remove the hero blobs from the pegs! I had the suspension chap on track take a look at the settings which did make a good difference in regards to stability, braking and turning in but he's advice was update the forks and rear shock. I guess 6 years in is probably a good time to consider that or a bigger replacement...

Back home on Sunday for about 13:00 and the adrenaline and escapism of the last few days is starting to wear off - already planning my next get away as riding a bike, travelling and just feeling like a biker again was such a welcome break from the daily grind.

Too many to say thanks to for making it a great weekend but as always @weeksy and @Welsh Muffin for all your hard work in putting this together for us all. And everyone else for the use of tools, air pumps, general advice and the laughs.

[twids]

It was a massive shame that others screwed up the Fridays for people, along with numbers on Sat and Sun that are not sustainable for @Alan PBTD and the gang to bother with. If people don't book, this could very easily be the last. I know i've said that before, but the numbers simply don't justify the time, effort and costs for the lads.

As much as it was great to not have so many on track I agree with you, let's hope things pick up in the future.

[dern]

Just looked at the calendar and we're busy for the two remaining weekends available at Pembrey. Very careless.

[rodbargee]

Sounds like a good time had by all,I'm sadly sorting out my late BIL's affairs who died yesterday.