PW_2_2021

Article

Trying a Motorcycle Track Day Stewart Hall , Hampshire Branch & Motorcycle SIG “Go for it! If you have been thinking about a track day and never done it, then do it. Maybe just once, but do it all the same.” I t all started with a chat after racquetball with a retired friend , who is 66. He was talking about doing the track days he used to do in his youth. Michael was so animated, anyone watching might have thought he was impersonating Michael Jackson, as he gyrated his hips from one side of his imaginary bike to the other. How much? We went with MSV track days at Brands Hatch mostly because it is fairly close. The track fee was £155.00, plus £69.00 to hire the leathers and I also paid £25.00 for a lesson, which was money very well spent. We all had to complete an online briefing due to COVID-19. This detailed the track rules and flags. Arrival at Brands Hatch I was not sure what to expect, and I did not realise that you need to get there very early. You have to scramble for garage space, or you will be sitting in the paddock area with no electrical socket for your tyre warmers or kettle. I was amazed at the number of people already there and set up by 0700 hours. In the queue to register, I spoke to an older gent riding an old 250cc Yamaha. It was one of his bucket list items to ride his old bike around Brands Hatch. He only managed 25 mph, so was black flagged. He complained that they had put him in the faster group by mistake, so he went out again with us at 25 mph, got black flagged again and went home. Still, he achieved his dream, stayed on the track and did not damage his lovely old bike. I was in the pink group for novices, of which there were about 38 newbies. Above us was the black group, then the intermediates. Finally, there was the red, advanced riders group, whose motto seemed to be, “Go first, go fast, go off at Paddocks Corner.” There seemed a lot of testosterone in the red group, whose off bike time was spent walking around in their leathers going “grrrr” and pretending to be professional racers. The Riding Brands Hatch

Queueing for the sound check

Stewart Hall

Ian and Michael in their track side garage

After an hour’s delay for the English weather, we were finally on the track, led by an instructor who shows you the racing lines round the corners. My instructor was an ex professional motorbike racer, who explained what we would be doing. His advice was simple, “don’t look backwards and don’t use your back brake.” I was to take over from him when he waved me through. If I got lost, he would reshow me the lines. I became more confident as the session went on, only looking back once. After my lesson I felt confident and the sessions came round very quickly, they also seemed to be over very quickly too. I loved it. The Fails The red group certainly lived up to their moto. They were very fast, and at least three crashed during the day. There were a couple of exploding bikes and at least one trip to A&E. Most came back in the pick-up, which went out to collect them with the fire truck and ambulance. One of them lost it on the Clarke Curve, demonstrating how well the auto expanding leather suits work. Just as we were about to leave, we were approached by an older gent, who asked for help to lift the remains of his sons R1 into their van. The father said his son had suffered a broken ankle, a lucky escape at Paddocks Hill Bend. This was a sobering end to our day, but it did not dent our feelings of success. The day for us had been excellent. Well planned, well executed and well ridden, and yes, I would do it again.

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POLICE WORLD Vol 66 No.2, 2021