Almeria Report
Posted: 25 Apr 2016, 07:26
Just back from Almeria, should have been 3 great days on track, went down to the truck/track when we landed on Tuesday to sort the bikes out and help unload as we do....seems mine was dropping fluid no idea where or how, so proceeded to do the rad weld bit, as it seems to be the radiator, left overnight until track time the next morning.
Weather who'd a thought it! Drizzle at times, overcast.....turned out OK as we all just managed to get out as and when it seemed good, regardless of this I don't think we lost much if any track time. Bike done well, repair held and all was good. Went into day two very positive, if it held yesterday today should be fine.
Cracking weather, went out straight away to get some laps in, push, push ha ha this is great, then all of a sudden, it was a steam clean going on....and this was the top blind corner where I am sure I was flagged, but could not see lol.
Got to pits and it was the rad again, a lot of fluid found its way to the rear wheel! (Dovi-Esk) lol.
So now it was time to strip off the fairings again, loosen up the rad, take off the fan, and yes a great big spurt of water coming out, once I got her up to temp again borrowed some metal weld and slapped it all over hole, went to lunch, came back filled her up, and another leak, down the bottom now. At this point I gave up the rad was shot waste of time trying to fix it. I did try everywhere to find a breaker or some kind of bike spares outfit, nothing, this was asking locals, the owner of the track, everyone . So it was time to put her back together and forget about it nothing I can do now, well unless somehow a rad shows up.
Glad I took the camera, as I spent a bit of time taking pics of everyone else.
However, it's time likes these you know who your pals are, and what a lot of them, Mick obviously said I could take the 999 out for a wobble, I did not want to as it is in race shift and I would not want to get that wrong down the back straight...but thanks again mate it was very much appreciated. Got to ride Pauls gsxr 1100, the old beast with the twin headlights, holy crap for an old girl it's quick, but it was like having a steering damper turned up fully, it would not turn, well with me on it, he managed to rag it round plenty quick enough, as did Dave the truck driver ha ha.
There were other offers for a couple of Tuono's (road bikes) again I did not feel comfortable so I declined the kind offers.
Then I took Gary's Cbr600 out, the mistake here was he had a lap timer on it, and no matter how much I tried I could not take my eyes off it each sector and lap, ha ha.....needless to say I was out a little longer than expected.
Day three, I managed to ride out most of the time of the instructor bike, the hornet, what a fun machine that was, the advice I was given, hang off like a gibbon lol....so I did, must have looked comical.
Then Neil one of the instructors said while he has having lunch, take his gsxr 750 out for a blast, oh my god, I know the bike is not your normal 750, but the power in comparison to a 600 is very noticeable, loved it and again has all the lap timer gizmo's on it. Spend a good amount of time on it trying to get quicker, plus I did not think I would get another chance on it. As soon as I came in Jake the other instructor said get on his, and beat the time I did on Neil's machine, wow chalk and cheese, even thought the bikes are similar. Really hard steering, but the faster you went to more planted the front felt, so I pushed a little harder, after some fun I came in with another second off the time I did on Neil's bike. So much fun, then the rest of the time, I was taking pics, and riding the hornet, well until I ran out of fuel on the back straight, I stayed out just one lap to many doh! The walk of shame after coming in on the trailer lol
Even though I had a few bike issues, I still managed to get a high amount of track time, on various machines which was pretty awesome.
Oh yes and on day three in the morning, I took the hornet around the new track, with almost everyone else, David said we could all have a littl bimble around it to see what we thought.
My personal view is that I would not want to be on a sessioned track day on this, it is tight and twisty with a lot of blind bends, very undulating. I can see a lot of red and yellow flags being shown on a track day with mixed abilities for sure.
It will take some time to learn, lovely as it was I like the track we were on. I suppose I am knowing that one a little more.
Weather who'd a thought it! Drizzle at times, overcast.....turned out OK as we all just managed to get out as and when it seemed good, regardless of this I don't think we lost much if any track time. Bike done well, repair held and all was good. Went into day two very positive, if it held yesterday today should be fine.
Cracking weather, went out straight away to get some laps in, push, push ha ha this is great, then all of a sudden, it was a steam clean going on....and this was the top blind corner where I am sure I was flagged, but could not see lol.
Got to pits and it was the rad again, a lot of fluid found its way to the rear wheel! (Dovi-Esk) lol.
So now it was time to strip off the fairings again, loosen up the rad, take off the fan, and yes a great big spurt of water coming out, once I got her up to temp again borrowed some metal weld and slapped it all over hole, went to lunch, came back filled her up, and another leak, down the bottom now. At this point I gave up the rad was shot waste of time trying to fix it. I did try everywhere to find a breaker or some kind of bike spares outfit, nothing, this was asking locals, the owner of the track, everyone . So it was time to put her back together and forget about it nothing I can do now, well unless somehow a rad shows up.
Glad I took the camera, as I spent a bit of time taking pics of everyone else.
However, it's time likes these you know who your pals are, and what a lot of them, Mick obviously said I could take the 999 out for a wobble, I did not want to as it is in race shift and I would not want to get that wrong down the back straight...but thanks again mate it was very much appreciated. Got to ride Pauls gsxr 1100, the old beast with the twin headlights, holy crap for an old girl it's quick, but it was like having a steering damper turned up fully, it would not turn, well with me on it, he managed to rag it round plenty quick enough, as did Dave the truck driver ha ha.
There were other offers for a couple of Tuono's (road bikes) again I did not feel comfortable so I declined the kind offers.
Then I took Gary's Cbr600 out, the mistake here was he had a lap timer on it, and no matter how much I tried I could not take my eyes off it each sector and lap, ha ha.....needless to say I was out a little longer than expected.
Day three, I managed to ride out most of the time of the instructor bike, the hornet, what a fun machine that was, the advice I was given, hang off like a gibbon lol....so I did, must have looked comical.
Then Neil one of the instructors said while he has having lunch, take his gsxr 750 out for a blast, oh my god, I know the bike is not your normal 750, but the power in comparison to a 600 is very noticeable, loved it and again has all the lap timer gizmo's on it. Spend a good amount of time on it trying to get quicker, plus I did not think I would get another chance on it. As soon as I came in Jake the other instructor said get on his, and beat the time I did on Neil's machine, wow chalk and cheese, even thought the bikes are similar. Really hard steering, but the faster you went to more planted the front felt, so I pushed a little harder, after some fun I came in with another second off the time I did on Neil's bike. So much fun, then the rest of the time, I was taking pics, and riding the hornet, well until I ran out of fuel on the back straight, I stayed out just one lap to many doh! The walk of shame after coming in on the trailer lol
Even though I had a few bike issues, I still managed to get a high amount of track time, on various machines which was pretty awesome.
Oh yes and on day three in the morning, I took the hornet around the new track, with almost everyone else, David said we could all have a littl bimble around it to see what we thought.
My personal view is that I would not want to be on a sessioned track day on this, it is tight and twisty with a lot of blind bends, very undulating. I can see a lot of red and yellow flags being shown on a track day with mixed abilities for sure.
It will take some time to learn, lovely as it was I like the track we were on. I suppose I am knowing that one a little more.