By Tinkytot on Thursday, August 22, 2002 - 03:48 am:

It's a long shot, but is anyone going to donny tommorrow (SpeedFreaks trackday)?

I just got my falco on Sunday and have decided to take the day off work on Friday to try her out on the track.

Also, I have Pilot Sport tyres, does anyone know how well these warm-up? They dont feel good on the road. I might well just bite the bullet and get some new shoes fitted tonight.

Cheers,
- rob.  

By Daz on Thursday, August 22, 2002 - 08:20 am:

Rob,

I had the same tyres on my Falco - I blame them partially for two low speed crashes and hated them accordingly!! Apparently once they warm up they are okay - they just take ages on the road to warm up, if ever. They might be better on the track but....

I swapped for Dragon Evo Corsa's and loved the change they made.

Hope you have a good time tomorrow...

Daz  

By Dangerous on Thursday, August 22, 2002 - 08:35 am:

Rob,

I went with a mate to a trackday who had Pilot Sports fitted at the track. It took him 3 frigging laps to get heat into the tyres to the point where he felt comfortable with them. You could see the bike moving around, as he struggled with them while cold. He has since changed to Pirelli Super Corsas, which he reckons on being much, much better.
Go change 'em, you won't regret it!

Dangerous  

By Tinkytot on Thursday, August 22, 2002 - 09:00 am:

Thanks, I'm looking forward to say the least.

Those tyres have also nearly had me off. About 10 minutes after buying the bike I had a massive 'twitch' from the rear and had to sit the bike up which nearly resulted in an appointment with the Ramsey 40ft (a drain in lowlands of England). I've also managed to lock the front, all in 400 miles.

I hope they have some decent tyres at the track.

I read your crashing thread - not nice. I'm in the fast group tomorrow (should be in the inters but no room) I might well know the feeling this time tomorrow.

- rob.  

By Exdukenut on Thursday, August 22, 2002 - 10:07 pm:

tinkytot, the Michelin Pilot Sports are not a great tyre for the road/track whilst cold, however they are acceptable once warm, and yes they may take an extra lap to get to a decent operating temp.

Get some 012ss's, or 010's minimum, the 010's heat up within a lap, haven't tried the 012ss's but understand they are really good. They also steer very well (very neutral and you can feel what they are doing on the tar).

P.S. Just ensure you drop the tyre pressures to around the 30psi mark for the track, as this will enable the tyres to get quite warm quite quickly.

Just ensure you stay upright.  

By Tinkytot on Tuesday, August 27, 2002 - 03:12 am:

Fellas,
18 bikes went down the road and I was not one of them - whooooo (no-one badly hurt).

It was wet for the first 3 sessions, hence the number of fallers, carnage it were.

It was that trackday run by Whitam, I liked him and was amazed to see that he runs and manages the day personally (and very well I might add).

Only problem was that the guy doing the tyres had never taken a wheel out of a bike (un-believeable but true) and did not have the correct tools to do so. So it was the Pilot Sports all day for me then. They were ok in the wet, although I put this mainly down to the fact most other riders in my group were using tyres with no tread on the sidewalls and were taking it easy.

My overtaking heroics soon stopped when the track dryed and I got spanked by numbers of riders. In all honesty, I don't think the tyres held me back very much but I did wait 2 laps before really going for it on the back of your advice so that might have helped. Most of my time was spent learning the bike, so they could not spoil my fun.

The lesson learned for the day was how damn quick the boys in the fast group are, going from fastest in the inters to the fast group is a big step. I was still doing some passing but I was trying too hard and not concentrating on learning my new bike, and I got passed round the outside through Redgate a number of times, which just pissed me off even more.

I look forward to someone organinsing the next trackday and will keep a lookout.

PS, the pegs did go down (my fault apparently, not hanging off the bike enough).

- rob.  

By Daz on Tuesday, August 27, 2002 - 04:23 am:

Excellent, congratulations Rob!! Sounds like you had a great day and well done on not binning it! You'd recommend the spead freak days then?

Daz  

By Tinkytot on Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 07:24 am:

Daz,
Well, Speedfreaks was no better than any other trackday I have been on - in fairness. They have all been well organised, even a shitty little one at Mallory Park.

I'd recommend all of them I have been on but the best fun was the MCN trackday as I got to follow Steve Plater round on his R1. And anyone could have, it's not that I was special or anything, just because I asked for an instructor and he was free. How sweet is that!

- rob.