Cadwell Park - No Limits Track Day




Old Hairpin

Set off for Cadwell on Sunday afternoon, we planned to spend the evening at the track and be ready for a full day out on track. Staying at Cadwell is straight forward, pull up pay £10 per person and use the facilities....

Monday morning, signing on and getting noise tested ready for the first session. It now dawned on me that I had never actually ridden the NC30, I had no idea what to expect. At least I knew Cadwell Park, back in the early 90's I'd proddy raced a Yam 250 LC and Cadwell was one of the tracks that New Era and Auto 66 used to frequent!


First session in the Novice group taught me that there many ways to describe 'Novice'. Some riders are being very careful, others are pretty scary to follow, best I use my own judgment and leave tonnes of space! Taking it very easy I soon got the hang of the speed again and heading towards lunch time was was back in the groove!

Hall Bends

By mid afternoon the weather was deteriorating, and halfway through the 6th session it started to rain, I ran round carefully, and at the end of the session called it a day. No point in going out in the wet, I'm not trying to prove anything, just there for enjoyment! Best time for the day was 2min 3sec, how do the top guys get around the track in under 1min 30secs?

So what do I make of Cadwell in 2011, I'm not sure about the chicane, it's tidgy! more to do with slowing you down than enjoying a cool set of corners.

First time out on bike, and 20 years since I rode at these sort of speeds meant I was being careful. I used to hate Mansfield, but it doesn't seem so bad now. On the LC I hated how much the front pushed, but the NC30 gave me tonnes of confidence.

Barn

I always liked the gooseneck, so I quickly got back into the swing of the tightening right hander and the flick left down the hill.

I'll need to have a think about Charlies, more speed going into the bend, but care on the way out due to front pushing.

Coppice is scary. More thought needed here. I should be able to hit this much faster, but for now I'm happy enough with the buzz of going fast....

I really enjoyed Barn and was on the gas early. The Little 400 goes a treat through the bends and is quite surprising down the straights. I had a great day, no accidents and started to learn about going fast again, after some 20 years off!!

Hope I'll get a couple more days on the little VFR before the end of the year.....