The events of Silverstone GP
Posted: 29 Apr 2016, 08:53
Firstly... I forgot my leathers. Yes, yes, I genuinely forgot my clothes !! Thankfully 2 of the guys that were coming with us were travelling up in the morning so I got the leathers dropped off at their house and they arrived by personal delivery in the morning - it helped take my mind of the riding though so I wasn't spending all my time on the toilet in the AM.
Mishaps and compulsory items done with it was time to hit the track. My tyre warmers REALLY didn't fit so I decided to run without them for the day. First session was very cold (ground temp around 6*c and air temp around 3*c) so I was rather nervous but the Racetec RR K1/K2 felt great when they warmed up. Bedded the new brakes in but was concerned as there was a lot of judder coming from the front and I hopped my way around turn one.. I thought I had messed the brakes up.
Next session (with a freshly fitted cable tie and my sag adjusted to 30mm front and 35mm rear) the judder had almost disappeared so I started to press on and the judder came back and I nearly tucked the front end mid corner.
Back in the pits and inspection of the cable tie shows that I'm bottoming out on the front end travel so I up the compression and head back out on track - being able to brake and push harder still I find the exact same thing happening on the fork travel but at least I am no longer getting judder. Thankfully the judder was not down to me bedding in the brakes badly. Tyre wear was looking spot on too!
Brembo RCS 19 Master Cylinder, Brembo 320mm discs and SBS DC pads review:
Holy sh!tballs this brake setup is good! Barely any lever travel on the 19x18 setting (didn't feel the need to try the 19x20), incredible feel, incredible stopping power and I arrived at every corner far too slow! It requires a complete brain recalibration. In my opinion anything else done to the brakes would subtract from them so I will not be getting calipers. The DC brake pads were agonisingly bad when cold but they warm up soon enough and were outstanding - brief review but everything that needs to be said has been said.
The circuit itself is bonkers; extremely wide, astonishingly fast and frustratingly technical. In part thanks to the brakes I was never getting the corner entry right for half of the circuit and we only stayed on track until lunchtime as it started raining and I didn't want to risk it - I came away very happy indeed!
Gearing was absolutely perfect hitting an indicated 170mph as I hit the brakes down hangar straight doing over 16,000 RPM in 6th gear and I was in 6th absolutely pinned to the stop through Woodcote onto the pit straight.
Sensational day with relatively few mishaps with people I like to be around - what could be better than that?
Mishaps and compulsory items done with it was time to hit the track. My tyre warmers REALLY didn't fit so I decided to run without them for the day. First session was very cold (ground temp around 6*c and air temp around 3*c) so I was rather nervous but the Racetec RR K1/K2 felt great when they warmed up. Bedded the new brakes in but was concerned as there was a lot of judder coming from the front and I hopped my way around turn one.. I thought I had messed the brakes up.
Next session (with a freshly fitted cable tie and my sag adjusted to 30mm front and 35mm rear) the judder had almost disappeared so I started to press on and the judder came back and I nearly tucked the front end mid corner.
Back in the pits and inspection of the cable tie shows that I'm bottoming out on the front end travel so I up the compression and head back out on track - being able to brake and push harder still I find the exact same thing happening on the fork travel but at least I am no longer getting judder. Thankfully the judder was not down to me bedding in the brakes badly. Tyre wear was looking spot on too!
Brembo RCS 19 Master Cylinder, Brembo 320mm discs and SBS DC pads review:
Holy sh!tballs this brake setup is good! Barely any lever travel on the 19x18 setting (didn't feel the need to try the 19x20), incredible feel, incredible stopping power and I arrived at every corner far too slow! It requires a complete brain recalibration. In my opinion anything else done to the brakes would subtract from them so I will not be getting calipers. The DC brake pads were agonisingly bad when cold but they warm up soon enough and were outstanding - brief review but everything that needs to be said has been said.
The circuit itself is bonkers; extremely wide, astonishingly fast and frustratingly technical. In part thanks to the brakes I was never getting the corner entry right for half of the circuit and we only stayed on track until lunchtime as it started raining and I didn't want to risk it - I came away very happy indeed!
Gearing was absolutely perfect hitting an indicated 170mph as I hit the brakes down hangar straight doing over 16,000 RPM in 6th gear and I was in 6th absolutely pinned to the stop through Woodcote onto the pit straight.
Sensational day with relatively few mishaps with people I like to be around - what could be better than that?