2023 OFFICIAL Extravaganza trackday thread. come one, come all. 11/12/13 August

[Dodgy69]

@Dodgy69 with the gazebo lights was a highlight.

Trying to trace the wires and looking like a bemused child. Comedy gold

Nice little light that.

[Bigyin]

That’s me home, 7 hours from track to front door. Rain till the Welsh border then sunshine and 25 degrees so camping kit drying out in garden, time for a shower and a cold beer and might add some more later.

Top weekend, top people and many laughs to the point of Mrs Weeks crying and trying not to wet herself

[Bowman]

Thanks for a good weekend lads. We enjoyed the BBQ last night, great food and company, would've been even better if Wales had won .
Started wet this morning, dried steadily all day and had 3 nice sessions this afternoon. Very tired now though...

[Bigyin]

Thanks for a good weekend lads. We enjoyed the BBQ last night, great food and company, would've been even better if Wales had won .
Started wet this morning, dried steadily all day and had 3 nice sessions this afternoon. Very tired now though...

How did Dewi get on with his bike, has he made friends with it yet or are they still just on chatting terms. Last thing i said to him as i left was "have fun, dont overthink it"

[tricol]

I appear to be trolling the classifieds for a track bike.

[weeksy]

I appear to be trolling the classifieds for a track bike.

I have a lovely little zx6 here. Don't tell the wife

[Bigyin]

I appear to be trolling the classifieds for a track bike.

Is that purchase before or after the air fryer

Top riding Col, well done on winning Novice

[tricol]

Sh1t, forgot about the air fryer

[Bowman]

Thanks for a good weekend lads. We enjoyed the BBQ last night, great food and company, would've been even better if Wales had won .
Started wet this morning, dried steadily all day and had 3 nice sessions this afternoon. Very tired now though...

How did Dewi get on with his bike, has he made friends with it yet or are they still just on chatting terms. Last thing i said to him as i left was "have fun, dont overthink it"

He got on well with it today. First thing this morning he had it set up with Will the suspension expert. Will is great at what he does, it's not just a couple of adjustments and off you go, he has a chat and is very good at sorting out issues, not just suspension.
By this afternoon he was beaming from ear to ear and had properly settled. And you were right he wasn't overthinking it anymore.

[Bigyin]

He got on well with it today. First thing this morning he had it set up with Will the suspension expert. Will is great at what he does, it's not just a couple of adjustments and off you go, he has a chat and is very good at sorting out issues, not just suspension.
By this afternoon he was beaming from ear to ear and had properly settled. And you were right he wasn't overthinking it anymore.

Excellent, he really needed that as you could see yesterday the cogs whirring in his head. Glad he got things all sorted and can crack on now

[Bowman]

You're gentle words of encouragement were exactly what he needed. 2 crashes and then riding a brand new bike had really knocked him back.

[Beancounter]

Home pretty handy. Took us an hour to unload the van and start getting things dried and sorted.
Lots more to do but need to head out for birthday lunch for Mrs Weeksy.
Then load van up for heading to bike park Wales at 7am.

Trackday was ace and seeing the gang enjoy themselves was brilliant.

@Dodgy69 owes me a box

@Beancounter owes me a chair

Lots of fun though

Do let me know how much and I'll end the dosh over.

Thanks for a top weekend folks. Think I'm done with camping, BnB next time, possibly even with some van hire. I was pretty broken by the time I got home yesterday. The MT09 was much more fun on track than the GS but twenty minutes after leaving Pembrey I was wishing for the GS/RT/car.

[tricol]

Quick report from me then.

After my gurning about the weather mid week, it didn't turn out all that bad. The ride down on Friday was pretty non eventful, apart from some holiday traffic between Welshpool and Newtown. The blast along parts of the A483 is great, some of my favourite sections of tarmac. Got down nice and early on the Friday, checked into the hotel and had a wonder around Carmarthen. Then met up with dodgy at the chippy and headed to the circuit.

Come Saturday there had been some rain overnight. There was definitely a bigger crowd than last year, all those cancellations filled up the groups. Somehow, I managed to get out in every session despite the showers. The track really is very grippy in the wet. I felt like I've come on quite a bit since Pembrey last year and I did feel more confident. I was able to stay in the group and make a few passes. The MT is brilliant, a really fun bike to ride. That last session was great, being the only bike on track for a handful of laps isn't something that will happen again. Finished off with a good laugh and a BBQ and then back to the hotel later on.

Up nice and early on Sunday with a good breakfast. Set off just after 9 but the roads where soaked. Not much traffic about so made good progress back up home and got home just before 2. The bike was filthy so I spent the afternoon sorting that out. Much like Rob, once I hit the Welsh border the roads dried up. Always the way!

As always, big thanks to @weeksy for organising and providing the food. It was great to meet everyone again and some new people too. And happy birthday again to @Welsh Muffin . I think we all learnt something, from how to cut an onion, to dodgys favourite bin bags. I'm off to buy and air fryer, see you all next year. Who know's what I'll be riding then......

[dern]

You definitely won novices with your persistence in the rain. Top job.

[rodbargee]

A good time had by all by the sounds, twas pissing down in the dales anyway, so Shared the weather with you guys ! next time!

[Beancounter]

Get the air fryer, it'll change your life. Well, maybe just the way you cook but it's still worth it.

[Bigyin]

Got a bit of time after sorting replacement parts for the ones i lost over the weekend but we'll come back to that

Left home Friday in decent weather but wearing textiles as forecast mentioned showers along my entire route. Tried a different route this time courtesy of Abelrider/Adam whp many will know. As it was his choice of roads they were fast twisty and some very technical ones right down to single track with mud and grass along the middle. Took me 8 hours door to door only stopping for fuel and a 15 minute food break on the way. Lovely weather right till the last 20 miles into Llanelli and then drop in temp, thick clouds and rain. I had decided on the hotel option last minute as didnt fancy a weekend with wet kit from the ride down inside a tent and due to various things at home was lacking in sleep the last few nights



Dinner, beer and chat in the evening with the @weeksy clan and @Alan PBTD was very enjoyable and had a decent nights kip to be up bright and ready for the day at the track. Arrived to meet the others and set to work setting up the tent, stripping down the bike from comfy tourer to something more track friendly so luggage off, mirrors off (carefully securing the bolts so i didnt lose them ), dropping tyre pressures and stiffening up the suspension, getting rid of ABS and less traction control.



Following a chat with Alan the night before i find myself in Inters rather than the Novice i had asked as he needed move someone up to make space for some others and i was the prize winner Bit nervous as my first and only time in Inters i didnt really get the most from it as i was too worried about being "in the way" but this time it actually went fairly well and there were a few others in the group i was matching for pace and in some cases faster than them so all good

First couple of sessions were dry and i made good progress getting quicker and settled in making a couple of passes and comfortable with those going past me as well. 3rd session was wet but went out anyway and enjoyed it as there were fewer bikes on track as many had decided to either pull in at the start or sit it out. After lunch another dry session followed by wet iirc and for the last one of the day it hammered down with rain for the Fast group to the extant none of them went out and it was complete silence for their session as i sat and thought about joining the others who had already declared beer o'clock



Just as the Inters group was called i thought "fuck it" and got ready and headed to the assembly to find only 7 bikes including me. 4 on track bikes on full wets , @Tricky on his ZX6 having changed from full wets to sticky rubber just before the downpour and a blok i was keeping pace with in the dry sessions on a Tuono with sticky rubber. We all went out and after a couple of laps i saw tricky head down the pit lane and i was catching the Tuono while being passed by the lads on wets with their knees on the deck in corners. I was surprised just how much water the wets throw up in spray compared to road tyres. i stayed out for most of the session then had a bit of visor fogging, made a couple of mistakes and decided to head down to the paddock before i made any more.

Beer, talking bollocks on some different subjects and bbq followed which was hilarious at times amid the torrential rain showers hiding under the gazebos but didnt dampen the spirits at all

I also started putting my bike back to tourer mode for the trip home and while replacing the mirrors with those carefully secured bolts mananged to drop the right one down into the engine bay somewhere..... shook it, banged it, torches, magnetic probes, removing some panels and even swearing profusely at it didnt result in it appearing again ...bastard thing probably fell out as soon as i left the circuit at a guess. I also noticed the rubber bungs on the passenger peg hangers that keep the panniers from vibrating had decided to escape at some point as well so made some bodge repairs with some card and gaffa tape for the trip home. I'll be gluing the replacements on rather than push fit this time

Here is @Tricky 's secret bike before he sells it



The MT crew of @Beancounter , @Dodgy69 and @tricol (the winner of Novice session 6 )



Finally @Bowman 's crew of himself Sam and Dewi who got more practise at changing from wets to dry tyres than most others in the paddock between the 3 of them



7 hours riding home in the initial rain across the Brecon beacons managing to avoid a fucking bastard suicidal sheep that decided to stroll across the completely empty for a mile each way road just as i got to it resulting in a full on emergency stop in heavy rain and a sheep wondering why the human on the red thing was shouting about a "dozy, welsh woolly, grass munching death wish C**ting bastard" ...ah well , it woke me up for the rest of the trip. Once home everything that was wet was now in the garden drying out while i had a well deserved couple of cold beers



Thanks to all who came and made it the very enjoyable weekend as always and made me laugh so much "Oh i do love a bin bag"

And special mention to @weeksy and @Welsh Muffin for managing to organise and feed all of us while retaing their sanity

Roll on the next one

PS, @tricol i am just about to have lunch of 2 philly steak cheese bakes cooked to perfection in 8 minutes in the air fryer

[weeksy]

Sanity? I left that behind about the time the black pudding came out and the onion slicing sketch.

[Dodgy69]

Just telling my Mrs about the onion slicing, which way did wot.

[dern]

Just telling my Mrs about the onion slicing, which way did wot.