Yesterday (sunday) I was present at another DragRacingShowtrackday at the Estoril circuit (where else...). The day started with a cloudy sky and damp conditions, and once we started rolling, there were a couple of corners with some water patches. But the sun was making its appearance, and it was easy to see that after some time the wet patches would be rideable, specially with bikes passing over them constantly to help them dry up. Turns 2, 3 and the 6 were the ones demanding more carefulness, but we could ride normally everywhere else pretty much.
I had the intention to try out my GPS setup for looking at trajectories and top speeds that I used in the BMW test drive, but for some strange reason the Bluetooth connection between the GPS device and the PDA simply died after a couple of seconds. Only noticed it once I got home and tried to look at the data, though...Oh well, maybe next time. But you can still clearly see the GPS device taped to the top of my helmet in the pictures :-)
Some negative comments come up about this track day:
- No slippery conditions flags (red/yellow stripes) were waved at all on the wet corners in the first few laps, and it is usual to do so (at least in well organized trackdays...).
- Marshalls were an on/off deal. Sometimes lots of yellow flags when someone would try out the gravel, and others there were no flags to be seen...
- The sticker given to us to put on the bike to be able to get on the track was awful, made of simple paper that we just know it's gonna stick to the bike, then when trying to get it out, it will need special attention. I still have to go get some product to remove the remains of the damn thing from my bike. On the previous track day we were just given colored bands to put around the handlebar or similar place. Easy to put and take off. Don't know why it was different this time...
- Lost out on the second session of my group because they never announced it on the loudspeaker, and since the schedule was way off due to several delays, nobody knew when that session really started...
- And to top it all, they didn't let Miguel "Kidhornet" Santos ride is bike around the service roads to take his professional grade photos. Since they wanted him to walk around the whole circuit with his camera equipment, he simply left after he was told that. Nevertheless, he still managed to get some nice pictures warly on.
Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun on the track and around the pits, with many of my friends there having fun too. Funny thing too was when I was approached by a young man asking me "what have you done to that engine, it's tuned isn't it ?". No, all standard except for the Akrapovic slip-on and a PCIII. His question came up because he also had a CBR 600 RR, and he was seeing me pass a couple of liter bikes on the main straight. I tried to explain that the way we come out of the last turn influences the top speed a lot, and also many inexperienced riders don't really give it full gas out of the last turn, and lose momentum.
As usual, I taped my camcorder to the tank and got some nice video clips to share (you'll need the XVid codec installed):
- A guy riding an oldie 2 stroker Yamaha TZR 250, nice bike back then (I slowed down to get him on tape)
- I'm sorry, but what was this Ducati 999 doing in the fast group ??
- Nice clips of me passing (and getting passed) several other bikes (clip1, clip2, clip3). The thrid one is the most fun :-)
As always, the excellent photos are by Miguel "Kidhornet" Santos