Really fancy doing a track day this year. Been riding for 15 yrs but always though track days were for motogp wannabe’s. Don’t want to learn to get knee down, but think it would be good fun and would help with confidence in bikes ability. However, very nervous of being a mobile chicane and basically embarrassing myself. Any suggestions? I’m based in North Wales so could get to Oulton Park or Anglesey.

Surely realising that it is a little scary for a beginner and that you will be slower than some other riders makes you MUCH safer than a lot of first timers??

ps. When I eventually get my bike, I’ll have to try it, too!

Rachel

My wife bought me a motorcycle experience day (using the tracks own bikes)at Cadwell park, scared the bejeesus out of me as like you I wasn’t a knee down kind of rider.
I would say go for it, yes you can go at your own pace and you will find that will increase as the laps go by.

MSV (who run Oulton Park along with other circuits) run novice only trackdays, one of those would probably be your best bet.

Saying that I did my first track day at a general session at Cadwell and I didn’t have any problems. The safety briefing makes it very clear that overtaking is allowed only on the straights and as a novice you can ask for a bib that marks you out as such, as much for your own piece of mind as to let others know.

The other thing I did was wait at the back of the group in the first few sessions until I calmed down and got my eye in a bit.

You’ll be fine, go for it.

I remember being anxious at my first track day, but as others have said you get split into groups by ability and will therefore only be out on track with people of similar abilities. The first few sessions are normally no overtaking and follow the leader which gives you confidence. There is a big emphasis on safety and the organisers want everyone to have a great day.

As you are based in North Wales have a look for the weekends held at RAF Valley. I did my first track day with them last year & had a great time. The track is interesting, well laid out and the surface gives amazing grip in the wet, which provides a bit of confidence when dealing with our British climate.
The atmosphere is a bit more relaxed as compared to Oulton or Ty Croes and there are 3 groups for Novice, Intermediate and Fast.
It is also very good value, I’m not sure of the prices this year but I think last year was £100.00 for 2 days (sat & sun) & £60.00 if you only wanted to do 1.
All proceeds also go to charity. I think the best way to contact them is to find their facebook page which has contact details search for Valley Track Weekend 2014.
1st weekend this year is 5th & 6th April but they do fill up fast.

Recommend having a session with the California Superbike School first. Did one a few years ago at Silverstone and was a great start to riding on the track with some brilliant tuition. Well worth the money. Went on to do quite a few track days and was very glad to have done the CSS first.

No Limits do really good track days all classes catered for, give them a call to see what they say.

A novice only session is a good idea if available- not to be offputting but in my experience the slow group is sometimes the worst place, not because of the slow/inexperienced riders as you might think but because of the bellends. There’s always at least one dick who should be in inters or fast but who just likes overtaking people. Some trackdays are better at dealing with this than others, knockhill couldn’t care less. Racer in novice? By all means, go ahead.

It can be great though, especially if you’re with friends (though, I always seemed to meet people fast even when riding alone). And on a positive-negative front, if you’re relying on riding home, take a spare brake and clutch lever at least, these are good to have regardless but a slow-speed spill could cause you a lot of hassle.

You could try one of the race schools – I did a couple of sessions with Ron Haslam & certainly learnt a lot but pretty pricey, or try one of the RAF riding days as they seem a bit more forgiving & are darn good value for money if you can get on them – I’ve got one booked at Benson at beginning of May 🙂

not cadwell, and oulton is probably a bit much too!

oh, angelsey is awesome and not too many tricky corners, give that a go

The track you choose really doesn’t matter, whichever track you pick will be better than the majority of roads, it’s a stretch of tarmac with some corners. What does matter is who you go with.

I did my first track day last year, after 20 years of riding most weeks. It was organised by a group of members on a motorbike forum I use, and the main focus was on fun, not lap times/knee down or any of the other bravado BS. It was superb, track time, beers and BBQ with a great bunch, we’re doing it again this year and you’d be more than welcome to join us.

Many years ago I did a ‘knee down’ day at some track in Derbyshire. VF250’s if I remember rightly. They guaranteed we’d get our knees down and we all did.

Best ones I have been on, were the road bike only ones run by Bike magazine, because everyone has ridden there and is on normal road tyres with there shiny pride and joys it’s a lot more courteous. The groups are well sorted, and most days go off without anyone causing a red flag, so full track time is had by all.

There’s a company called Rapid Training which is run by current and ex-coppers, they don’t allow bikes that are track bike, dont allow tyre warmers and really look after people well. My wife used them for her first 3-4 trackdays. I’d recommend them greatly.

MSV do ‘Novice days’ which if you’re not 100% confident are a great oppertunity for learning in a safer environment.

I’ve got one coming up in July with Phil Bevan Trackdays, (ex-racer i used to race with) and it’s a weekend event down in Pembrey. I’ve got 20+ people from another forum going for the Sat/Sun so it’s a good bit of banter. We’ve had plenty of complete novices over the years and they’ve all come away very safe and very happy.