Donington - No Limits Track Day

Booked myself into the intermediate group, the weather looked to be picking up by Friday so I thought it might be my last opportunity this year to have a day out on the NC30.

Coppice

Early start to get down to Donington by 7:30am for sign in and riders meeting. Although the sun was out and there wasn't a cloud in the sky the track was very wet. The first two sessions were wet, everyone was being very careful and not taking any risks.

In the third session a dry line started to appear and with it some grip. As speeds increased so did the incidents, I think most of the dry sessions were red flagged! By the fourth session the track was pretty dry and I was starting to ride faster.

Melbourne

All afternoon the weather stayed fine and I got more and more confident. Getting Redgate right and keeping low on the bike heading through Hollywood, dropping down the hill through Craner Curves is a great feeling. The Old Hairpin is a faster bend than it's name suggests. Starkeys is very fast and I had to be careful at Schwantz Curve, making sure I could get rid of speed for Macleans.

Goddards

I enjoyed the up hill blind entry to Coppice, although unsighted I was quickly confident about hitting this fast. Some of the blind places at Oulton Park are more difficult to get right. I enjoyed exiting Coppice onto the straight. Braking for the Esses was a challenge, and I never got the left, right flick perfect, this is somewhere that I need to work on for next time.

I was comfortable with Melburne, but I didn't feel confident at Goddards, another area that I need to work on.

I had a great day and continued to improve on the bike. The first few sessions were a disappointment, but as the day improved the poor start was soon forgotten. I didn't touch any suspension setting today, leaving the bike as it was the last time out at Oulton, to be honest everything felt pretty good so why mess around! I was struggling at the slower left handers so I need to think about this for next time.