Brands Indy, 13th Aug, MSV trackdays. Booked

[scottyuk]

The potential for disaster in that plan is high though as we'll have our 12 year old who may be turned away


Just checked in and listened to the briefing, they’re saying no to under 16 year olds in the pit lane , but ok for them to view from anywhere else around the circuit.
There is a Pedestrian tunnel between the pits and the main stand you know , but , will it be locked.

Kids are being turned away as if something happens to you on track then they end up having an issue with a child

[weeksy]

The potential for disaster in that plan is high though as we'll have our 12 year old who may be turned away


Just checked in and listened to the briefing, they’re saying no to under 16 year olds in the pit lane , but ok for them to view from anywhere else around the circuit.
There is a Pedestrian tunnel between the pits and the main stand you know , but , will it be locked.

Kids are being turned away as if something happens to you on track then they end up having an issue with a child

I'm not riding. If anything happens to me on track it's all gone very wrong indeed!

[Welsh Muffin]

So hubby has told me I need to post a write up of the day so here goes! It's normally his bag but you've got me today!

It's been a long old time since I was last at Brands, 2005 to be exact, fast forward 15 years and it's time for a rerun, albeit just the Indy circuit. I now remember why it's been so long since we've been, drove up last night and had the nightmare of the M25, check in to the Premier Inn and have a few bevvies waiting for Tricky. Then the obligatory curry which was top notch in a nearby village and we were joined by Tricky's other half. Plenty of banter, beer and gin drunk along with weather app watching. It wasn't looking promising!

6.30am wake up call to open pressies with James and Steve and we can hear the rain, the drive to circuit wasn't looking promising. However, by some miracle the rain stopped and the sun began to shine, after the first group went out there was a perfect dry line! I'd normally be out in inters but as it's been so long since I was last there, decided to go in the faster of the 2 novice groups. It was also a road bike only day which I don't think I've ever done. It definitely had a different feel to the day, it took me back to my early days of track riding when I'd ride to track. The levels of ability within the groups was scary! Considering nearly everyone had ridden to track they can obviously ride on the road, but it seems when they see a corner on track they lose the ability to ride! I've never overtaken so many riders in a session. One bloke I lapped twice in one session! I mean it felt great, but was also very frustrating as you had no idea which line would be taken into corners.

Plenty of red flags throughout the morning but by the afternoon things seemed to calm down a little. The bike as usual was awesome, I absolutely love it and the more I ride it, the more I'm pushing my limits, as one session showed when I went for an overtake and thought shit, too fast for the corner, not in the right gear, but had confidence in the bike and got by and round the corner, if a little wide! It seems both Weeksy and James had seen that move! Whoops

Managed to get 4 dry sessions in, then the sky turned black and the thunder and lightning began so that was my cue to call it a day. What a cracking way to spend my birthday, we managed to get James in so they were both with me during the day with Weeksy being an excellent support crew! The longest diversion home as the M25 was closed but home to pizza, cake and fizz. What more could a girl want!

A huge shout out to Tricky for taking my bike to track in the van and back and being fab company as always. Can't wait for Pembrey next weekend to do it all again with some more of you lovely lot!

[weeksy]

Was excellent to watch today and as I've said before, in a biking context she just needs to be a bit more blokey. Bit more assertive one the overtakes. She was in the top 5 for her group on outright speed on laps, but as soon as 2-3 back markers come into play she loses ground to the other fast ones.

The bike was as you'd expect, it even took a sessions thrash by Tricky who seemed to enjoy it.

It's now staying with him until Pembrey next weekend.

[Dodgy69]

Sound like she's enjoying herself and doesn't want to take unnecessary risks . Like she said, folks all over the place.

[weeksy]

Sound like she's enjoying herself and doesn't want to take unnecessary risks . Like she said, folks all over the place.

Very much so yes and nothing at all wrong with that. Was great to see smiles after every single session

[Horse]

Was excellent to watch today and as I've said before, in a biking context she just needs to be a bit more blokey. Bit more assertive one the overtakes. ... as soon as 2-3 back markers come into play she loses ground to the other fast ones.

You mentioned in another thread about cycle coaching for your lad. Would some good track-based instruction help here?

1. No, I'm not volunteering
2. I have absolutely no idea whether this is easily available. I'm sure someone here will know.
3. What's WM's view? If she is comfortable with the current situation, then leave as-is?

[weeksy]

Was excellent to watch today and as I've said before, in a biking context she just needs to be a bit more blokey. Bit more assertive one the overtakes. ... as soon as 2-3 back markers come into play she loses ground to the other fast ones.

You mentioned in another thread about cycle coaching for your lad. Would some good track-based instruction help here?

1. No, I'm not volunteering
2. I have absolutely no idea whether this is easily available. I'm sure someone here will know.
3. What's WM's view? If she is comfortable with the current situation, then leave as-is?

It's available yes but it's super expensive

She'd love to go faster, and she is going faster, but y s, she'd like to go faster faster.

For coaching day you're looking at £700-900 + your own trackday.

[Tricky]

Cracking day yesterday, we were so fortunate with the weather, as Ceri said, it was nigh on perfect overall and all in all, a very enjoyable evening and day, despite the shite drive back last night due to M25 closure
I’ll do a bit more of a write up on the bike itself in my thread on it, but in short, the 765RS performed faultlessly once I got the suspension sorted- it's felt fine on the road, but going down Paddock and into the fast left/right flick before Chris/Clearways rear was very choppy, and I suspect possibly even hitting the limit of travel, so I threw some money at a suspension man for the first time in a very long time – there were a couple of damping changes, but the main problem was sag and getting front/rear sitting balanced- I'm not far away from needing a heavier rear spring TBH, but got there with standard- we ended up approx. 15mm higher both ends and transformed it.

As Ceri also says, abilities on this day were certainly very mixed, even ( or perhaps especially) in Fast, which is where I was, and this was by no means what I’d call a fast group by any stretch of the imagination- I’m definitely not fast, and I think I only got passed two or three times all day and I was lapping loads and load of people- some twice in a session.

Great fun though, and I was so very thankful that I had my lucky charm with me on this one- someone was definitely watching over me yesterday as had a proper arse-clencher of a moment .
It was about half way through the day whilst dicing with a l guy on a Blade- he knew what he was doing and it’d been nip and tuck the whole session, I’d have him in one or two places and he’d get me back, usually along the pit straight, and it was there that it happened. He got by me and I was tucked right in desperately trying to hang on to be close enough to go up the inside into Paddock, or Druids if not, when just after we crossed the start/finish line and as you’re about to sit up to brake for Paddock, he disappeared in a massive cloud of smoke and I felt the splat and smell of hot oil on my visor
More by luck than judgement I shot down the inside, not touching the brakes , thinking awww no and getting ready to see sky and gravel when I tipped in, just as I saw his bike and bits of it 15ft in the air and him bounce off the safety fence through my peripheral vision.
The tyres gripped though- I used every inch of the track and the green paint too down paddock and miraculously I was still on (which I guess shows I should be trying harder ) so it was a steady cruise back to the pits not touching the brakes or leaning at all.
Thankfully Weeksy was on hand with the polishing cloths, so a can of brake cleaner later and the bike, my leathers gloves and lid etc were de-greased and we were straight back out next session with no further mishaps.
As for Mr Fireblade, I went down and had a chat with the marshals, the impact had knocked him out but he recovered consciousness by the time they took him away, and was sitting up OK so fingers crossed no serious injuries - that was a fast off and he would have hit the fence hard, so he is a very lucky boy IMO
The same couldn’t be said for his bike unfortunately, it had gone end over end , snapped yokes, frame, subframe etc etc, but I guess there’s an engine for someone’s kit car.
One cautionary note was the cause of the crash- it wasn’t, as I’d assumed, the engine lunching itself, but the oil filter slightly unscrewing itself, firing red hot oil at high pressure straight onto the front tyre and of course all the way down the track. He (or whoever changed the oil) obviously hadn’t nipped it up tight enough- a reminder of how important it is to take care over even the most basic maintenance tasks eh…

Anyway, I digress, thankfully it didn’t detract from our fun, and was a great day overall- roll on Pembrey next week-end and fingers crossed for some more of the same weather

[Tricky]

Oh and P.S. for Ceri- thanks for the wizz on the ZX6, loved it again, it really is such a screamer and handles so well, and sorry for not asking you personally - I didn't realise you didn't know!

[Yorick]

Was excellent to watch today and as I've said before, in a biking context she just needs to be a bit more blokey. Bit more assertive one the overtakes. ... as soon as 2-3 back markers come into play she loses ground to the other fast ones.

You mentioned in another thread about cycle coaching for your lad. Would some good track-based instruction help here?

1. No, I'm not volunteering
2. I have absolutely no idea whether this is easily available. I'm sure someone here will know.
3. What's WM's view? If she is comfortable with the current situation, then leave as-is?

It's available yes but it's super expensive

She'd love to go faster, and she is going faster, but y s, she'd like to go faster faster.

For coaching day you're looking at £700-900 + your own trackday.

When I was with F.E. one instruction session was free. A whole day 1-to-1 was about £120.

MSV charge about £40 per session, but all top level instructors. They paid very well

[weeksy]

You mentioned in another thread about cycle coaching for your lad. Would some good track-based instruction help here?

1. No, I'm not volunteering
2. I have absolutely no idea whether this is easily available. I'm sure someone here will know.
3. What's WM's view? If she is comfortable with the current situation, then leave as-is?

It's available yes but it's super expensive

She'd love to go faster, and she is going faster, but y s, she'd like to go faster faster.

For coaching day you're looking at £700-900 + your own trackday.

When I was with F.E. one instruction session was free. A whole day 1-to-1 was about £120.

MSV charge about £40 per session, but all top level instructors. They paid very well

That depends on what you class as 'instruction' though. This is more a full on riding style, positioning, cornering braking etc, whenever a trackday instructor takes anyone out all you get is *you need to go faster here, there, brake later etc.
Which is shit all use.

Even people like Crafar etc have taken mates out and given little more than that.

Mike Edwards, Gary at notsofast and Nemo, they do a lot lot more if you ask me

It's not a case of telling her to hang off more, lean more. It's something that needs breaking down, a change of thinking, riding etc. A whole redefining of how to think about a track.
That takes a certain teacher and a certain pupil.

I'm not sure either of us wants that level of seriousness and thought on track. I feel it detracts from the actual fun of riding and enjoying

Some riders go fast on instinct, balls, whatever, sone need a bit more.

[Yorick]

It's available yes but it's super expensive

She'd love to go faster, and she is going faster, but y s, she'd like to go faster faster.

For coaching day you're looking at £700-900 + your own trackday.

When I was with F.E. one instruction session was free. A whole day 1-to-1 was about £120.

MSV charge about £40 per session, but all top level instructors. They paid very well

That depends on what you class as 'instruction' though. This is more a full on riding style, positioning, cornering braking etc, whenever a trackday instructor takes anyone out all you get is *you need to go faster here, there, brake later etc.
Which is shit all use.

Even people like Crafar etc have taken mates out and given little more than that.

Mike Edwards, Gary at notsofast and Nemo, they do a lot lot more if you ask me

It's not a case of telling her to hang off more, lean more. It's something that needs breaking down, a change of thinking, riding etc. A whole redefining of how to think about a track.
That takes a certain teacher and a certain pupil.

I'm not sure either of us wants that level of seriousness and thought on track. I feel it detracts from the actual fun of riding and enjoying

Some riders go fast on instinct, balls, whatever, sone need a bit more.

I always asked the pupil exactly what they wanted and often spent 5 or 10 mins on and around the bike before we went out.
The lads at MSV are all BSB level. I was the only one who wasn't a current national level racer. Ask them what they can do for Ceri and then book them if you think it's worth it. Don't just let the instructor do what he thinks you might want.

I wish I was still around as I'd love to help

But Couchie was a decent instructor. I'm sure he could help

[weeksy]

But Couchie was a decent instructor. I'm sure he could help

There's plenty of the lads who can ride and see what Mrs Weeksy can do to make her quicker (Couchie, Tricky, Legion, RP1 etc), but it's then actually breaking into her mind on track and getting her to do what they're saying. Even watching her at Silverstone i could see her strengths and weaknesses, but getting her to address them, that's the tricky bit.

It's OK for me to say "Right, you're letting off on the straight too soon and not hard enough on the brakes"

"so what you need to do is pick a braking marker on the straight, then move it a bit more and more" etc..

But then the reality of doing that is quite a bit harder.

Corner speed, she's flying, but again with changes in body position she could make that a bit more controlled and a bit easier with less lean angle and possibly more speed.... but as above, the reality of doing it is harder.

Don't get me wrong in any of this, i'm not being harsh for a second, she's holding her own in Inters and corners quicker than I can ! But just making observations.

The day she buggers off and leaves me for dead, there won't be anyone more happy or more proud.

[Nobby]

Really enjoyed Yesterday. I have to thank Weeksy for posting the event on here. It’s been a long time since I’ve been on track , and to be honest, I thought my time had passed.
I was a bit apprehensive going into the first session, the only thing I knew was where I was going. I had road shift on the track for the first time in 36 years , there were several occasions where I nearly went the wrong way , with my foot hovering over the lever , but thankfully didn’t (I also kept the revs down 2k below red just in case)
Wobbled round and came back reasonably happy.
Pulled my finger out for all the other sessions, and if I may say ,for an old man , I waved the Flag for old men.
The fast group could be beckoning if there’s a next time ,but the cruiser is at its limits in the inters and would be giving away a 100 plus horses to some quick guys. Still that’s what could make it fun.
Nice to meet up with the three of you (and finally get my favorite mug back )
Till next time

[G.P]

Looking forward to catching up with you crazy kids next week at Pembrey

[Yorick]

But Couchie was a decent instructor. I'm sure he could help

There's plenty of the lads who can ride and see what Mrs Weeksy can do to make her quicker (Couchie, Tricky, Legion, RP1 etc), but it's then actually breaking into her mind on track and getting her to do what they're saying. Even watching her at Silverstone i could see her strengths and weaknesses, but getting her to address them, that's the tricky bit.

Without being rude, being a quickish rider isn't really enough. And without blowing my own trumpet, it takes a long time to become a good instructor. A good one knows how to convey the message properly and get the pupil to feel at ease and try the new method.

It became a real passion for me and I loved to help the rider improve. Only the last year at MSV did I make big bucks from it.

[weeksy]

But Couchie was a decent instructor. I'm sure he could help

There's plenty of the lads who can ride and see what Mrs Weeksy can do to make her quicker (Couchie, Tricky, Legion, RP1 etc), but it's then actually breaking into her mind on track and getting her to do what they're saying. Even watching her at Silverstone i could see her strengths and weaknesses, but getting her to address them, that's the tricky bit.

Without being rude, being a quickish rider isn't really enough. And without blowing my own trumpet, it takes a long time to become a good instructor. A good one knows how to convey the message properly and get the pupil to feel at ease and try the new method.

It became a real passion for me and I loved to help the rider improve. Only the last year at MSV did I make big bucks from it.

That's exactly what i'm saying and why i don't want to pay for "random fast guy" and want to go down some dedicated training if we were to do so.