2007 PSB Trackday

It was delayed by 5 months. We waited and waited until that first Sunday in November, for the PSB Trackday. It was a perfect sunny day, with a cooling breeze, some light cloud and the R1 was ready to sing its way around Wanneroo Raceway.

I had spent the Saturday waiting around for Robin to finish his bike, only to have mine washed last minute. It came up a trick though and we were both terribly excited to be heading out again.

The day started with stumbling across Sean, Glen, Hornet and Ryan at the BP in Wanneroo. Nice of them to wait for us /sarcasm. Off to grab some cash and off we went to Barbagallo. I was so excited to be heading up there on the R1; it would be my second time up there, but this time I would be in a pretty fast group (Group B) with a lot of familiar riders, so the pace was going to be quick! I had my new red knee sliders on my suit as well so I was keen to scrub those in too. After spending the last day bringing back the brightness in my white leathers, I was ready to ROCK!

Once at the track I signed in, grabbed my PSB Trackday 2007 limited edition pit shirt and headed back to the bike to tape it up for the day. I had noticed that someone had already started taping it up so I started ripping it all back off again and went over the bike with black race tape and a fine pocket knife. I had to make sure it was picture perfect.

The timetable of the day was set so that the four groups would have five sessions of 15 to 20 minutes, with a lunch break in the middle and a pillion session. Now THAT was what I was really excited about. Robin had the pillion seat and pegs attached just for me to hop on the back and it was a total blast to be going ape-shit around Wanneroo like that.

With the brilliant Continental tyres and fresh brake fluid, the bike was feeling fantastic. After a fairly slow and non-enthralling first session, the second session was interrupted by an off - a red GSXR. No injuries, just cosmetic bike damage. In the third session things were feeling much better and I could tell that I was getting faster. Not as many people were overtaking me :P

It was then the lunch break and the pillion session where Robin and I were out flat tack, so much so, that at some points I thought I was going to let go of the bike. It was getting a little bit painful to keep holding on so tight so we dropped it down from 11 to 9 out of 10 and still kept excellent pace.

I had some excellent comments from the instructors saying that my lines were spot on and that my corner speed was amazing. Which is pretty right, I'm just not keen on going fast in the straights. I might actually upgrade the pads on the R1 and maybe even the 400 for some more bite. I'll feel consciously better if I "feel" more bite on the brakes.

On the next session of the day, that was where I shone. I had kept up with all of the other riders the whole time and almost never had a gap large enough for anyone to get away. I was overtaken once only and was seriously hooking around the lefthander and the basin. I guess I'm pretty lucky in that I'm game enough to have rediculous corner speed. I'm still scared of braking though, which is why I never get the bike up to speed quickly or even for very long. I'm just paranoid that one day I won't stop...

During that session Hornet was following behind me with the pen camera mounted on his bike. I don't have the footage yet, but it would be interesting to see what kind of lap times I was getting.

I took it easy on the last session after the awesome buzz of the previous one. Was no point in going any harder as I was only getting more tired as the day progressed.

At the end of the day there was a roast lamb dinner where everyone pigged out and drank softies and was merry. It was fantastic to catch up with all the old mates, Mirkz, Seandre, Straye, Rhino, Buttnekkid, Ells, Fastgirl, Zephyrus, DTM, Nath, Chyna, Davey, Desmogod, Saf and Jana, Tyson, T_B_R1, Jamathi, Gryphen and Polishdude.