Yesterday I headed up to Rockingham Motor Speedway in Northamptonshire with my mate Dean and his father, to do a trackday with Bike Magazine. I've been reading Bike now since I started riding and it remains an excellent publication (no, I'm not being asked to say this). Their concept, which they put into place several years back, was to run relaxed 'road only' bike trackdays, therefore opening them up to regular riders, who make up the vast majority of their readership, who want to experience what time on track is like. They used to run these days alongside MotorSport Vision (MSV) and held them across the country, with the magazine drawing in the riders and MSV running the day. It worked well and I did loads of them back in 2010/11/12. I really enjoyed them and helped make me the rider I am today.
The day itself started the evening before. I was hugely stressed as I left work really late and still had jobs to do on the bike to get it ready. The FireBlade recently developed a fault, so I had no option but to take the Ducati.
The day itself started the evening before. I was hugely stressed as I left work really late and still had jobs to do on the bike to get it ready. The FireBlade recently developed a fault, so I had no option but to take the Ducati.
With both bikes loaded into the van the night before, my day started at 03:15. Dean and his father picked me up at 04:00 and we took the three hour plus drive to Rockingham. When we got there we were told not to park the van in the paddock area, which was a pain as we just wanted to drop off our stuff, unload the bikes and then sign in etc. So getting changed in a dusty gravel car park was less than ideal, made even more irksome, by riding into the paddock and finding, yes you've guessed it, vans and cars in the paddock. Not many, but they were still there and they stayed there all day.
Dean had never done a trackday before so he was a mixture of nervous and excited and although Rockingham isn't the best track in the world, its not too fast and fairly easy to learn, but difficult to master.
The safety briefing was late and in my opinion, incomplete. Pete Boast and Mike Armitage from the magazine took the briefing and went through the basics, which would have been fine if most of the crowd had done trackdays before, but they hadn't. They covered the basics, such as flags etc, but didn't set out clear rules for the day regarding positioning, overtaking, etiquette on track and around the paddock, what to do if you come off (although they did mention what to do if you see a rider come off - which was slow down and ride past) and they glossed over what the opening session would be like and how you should ride it.
I was out in the Inters/Advanced and followed a rider who had clearly never been on track before. I was in the second wave, which was lead off far to quickly from the start. The guy in front lost ground almost immediately and then, by the time the third lap came around, the one where you have to return to the pits, he had no clue. He moved himself into one of the two novice groups and I never saw him again.
Dean had never done a trackday before so he was a mixture of nervous and excited and although Rockingham isn't the best track in the world, its not too fast and fairly easy to learn, but difficult to master.
The safety briefing was late and in my opinion, incomplete. Pete Boast and Mike Armitage from the magazine took the briefing and went through the basics, which would have been fine if most of the crowd had done trackdays before, but they hadn't. They covered the basics, such as flags etc, but didn't set out clear rules for the day regarding positioning, overtaking, etiquette on track and around the paddock, what to do if you come off (although they did mention what to do if you see a rider come off - which was slow down and ride past) and they glossed over what the opening session would be like and how you should ride it.
I was out in the Inters/Advanced and followed a rider who had clearly never been on track before. I was in the second wave, which was lead off far to quickly from the start. The guy in front lost ground almost immediately and then, by the time the third lap came around, the one where you have to return to the pits, he had no clue. He moved himself into one of the two novice groups and I never saw him again.
During the day there were a lot of offs, much more than I would expect. The weather was good, so I can only imagine that riders were getting a bit over confident, or possibly frustrated with slower riders. Speaking of which, as they hadn't clearly set out the rules for the day, there were lots of very aggressive overtakes in each group. Speaking with riders I was hearing about people diving down the inside into corners and I know of two people that were hit by other riders going into a turn. This is unacceptable. You may expect a little bit of this on a No Limits type of day, when pretty much everybody is on a track weapon, but this was supposed to be a relaxed day for the 'normal' rider.
In my group there were some genuinely fast guys, but also some inconsiderate assholes, who were reasonably fast in places, but certainly not the best riders. During the day these clowns thought it a good idea to try and do stoppies in the paddock area, without lids on for good measure. The paddock area had people, even children, wandering around and nobody from Rockingham or the organising team seemed to notice or care. This is not the kind of event that Bike Magazine put together in previous years. The last time I was at Rockingham, the day was run by Rapid Training and as ex police riders, the day ran like clockwork and there was no confusion, nor pissing around.
My time on track itself was good though. I knew what I was looking to achieve on the day and that was build up slowly and just have an enjoyable time riding the bike as its supposed to be ridden. I tried to remember my California Superbike lessons regarding lines and braking points etc, remembering some, forgetting others. Seven sessions later the day was over. People had started to leave the circuit after lunchtime, which although very strange, is most likely a mixture of people having a long way to go or not being happy and enjoying the day.
My final session was intentionally slower than the two previous ones. On the session before and the two preceding lunch, I was getting more confident and pushing the bike harder through the corners. I was still taking it easy on the braking though as for me, I was able to maintain the level of bike control that I wanted.
Working on my technique and in a group that was been thinned down to less than half, I was enjoying the ride, but was tired. With the proper fast guys on track, I was happy to do half the session and head in.
In my group there were some genuinely fast guys, but also some inconsiderate assholes, who were reasonably fast in places, but certainly not the best riders. During the day these clowns thought it a good idea to try and do stoppies in the paddock area, without lids on for good measure. The paddock area had people, even children, wandering around and nobody from Rockingham or the organising team seemed to notice or care. This is not the kind of event that Bike Magazine put together in previous years. The last time I was at Rockingham, the day was run by Rapid Training and as ex police riders, the day ran like clockwork and there was no confusion, nor pissing around.
My time on track itself was good though. I knew what I was looking to achieve on the day and that was build up slowly and just have an enjoyable time riding the bike as its supposed to be ridden. I tried to remember my California Superbike lessons regarding lines and braking points etc, remembering some, forgetting others. Seven sessions later the day was over. People had started to leave the circuit after lunchtime, which although very strange, is most likely a mixture of people having a long way to go or not being happy and enjoying the day.
My final session was intentionally slower than the two previous ones. On the session before and the two preceding lunch, I was getting more confident and pushing the bike harder through the corners. I was still taking it easy on the braking though as for me, I was able to maintain the level of bike control that I wanted.
Working on my technique and in a group that was been thinned down to less than half, I was enjoying the ride, but was tired. With the proper fast guys on track, I was happy to do half the session and head in.
Dean's day had been great. He kept getting his kneedown in a few places, which bolstered his confidence and he had managed to avoid any serious problems on track and both our bikes got loaded into the van in the same condition as they went in (apart from the shredded rear tyres of course).
The drive home was really long and all three of us were shattered. Stopping regularly to get food / coffee, we eventually started uploading the kit at 22:30, with my bike returning to the garage at 23:00.
In conclusion, something has clearly happened between Bike Magazine and MSV, meaning they don't run the days in collaboration anymore. Bike Magazine need to be careful here. Yesterday's event was a shadow of it former self. Paul Lang and Mike Armitage are both really nice guys, and very good riders, both of whom gave up a little of their time to speak to me and this is not a criticism of them nor the magazine itself, but this was probably the worst trackday I've been on when I didn't crash.
I hope MSV and Bike can overcome their differences and get back on track (excuse the pun) with delivering these kind of days. Bike magazine is a brand and the way that MSV run their trackdays would only support this in the eyes of the readers and riders. With Bike being arguably the best and most popular UK motorcycle magazine, you want to have an experience a day that truly reflects this. These days used to sell out in a week because they were that good, but this wasn't the case here and having experienced it here today, I can see why.
The drive home was really long and all three of us were shattered. Stopping regularly to get food / coffee, we eventually started uploading the kit at 22:30, with my bike returning to the garage at 23:00.
In conclusion, something has clearly happened between Bike Magazine and MSV, meaning they don't run the days in collaboration anymore. Bike Magazine need to be careful here. Yesterday's event was a shadow of it former self. Paul Lang and Mike Armitage are both really nice guys, and very good riders, both of whom gave up a little of their time to speak to me and this is not a criticism of them nor the magazine itself, but this was probably the worst trackday I've been on when I didn't crash.
I hope MSV and Bike can overcome their differences and get back on track (excuse the pun) with delivering these kind of days. Bike magazine is a brand and the way that MSV run their trackdays would only support this in the eyes of the readers and riders. With Bike being arguably the best and most popular UK motorcycle magazine, you want to have an experience a day that truly reflects this. These days used to sell out in a week because they were that good, but this wasn't the case here and having experienced it here today, I can see why.
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