Morgan Park Track Day

It has been a couple of years since I last did a track day here. So when I noticed that Champions had a Monday ride day AND that you could bring a "buddy" along for free, I decided to jump on it! That "buddy" would be my daughter, Lucy.

This led to some frantic hunting around for tyres on both of our bikes. Mine because I wanted something more track oriented than the Michelin Road 4 and 5 that I was running on the R1 and for Lucy because her tyres were the OEM hoops that came with the Z400. She also had a plug in her rear tyre which is a no-no for track days. 

Of course, I ripped the tyres out of the bikes as my local bike shop will work minor miracles to change your tyres if they just get the wheels. Book in weeks ahead if you want them to take the wheels out of your bike though. (No Andrew, I'm not going to do my own changes...yet.)

Lucy went for a Michelin Road 6 rear and as they only had a 5 in stock, she went a Road 5 front. They will be great all round tyres for her style of riding/commuting.

I went for some Michelin Power GPs. They are touted as 50/50 road track as opposed to the GP Cup track weapons that had a ridiculously steep profile on the rear tyre. I also had 90 degree valve stems installed which is something I have wanted to do for years but with so little use, I just don't change tyres on the R1 very often.

While we were at it we changed Will's CBR500R over to a Michelin Road 6 on the rear and he took my Road 5 front which had done under 1000km on my R1. This was due to the fact his OEM Dunlops felt like rubbish with no feel when I had a ride of it. Steve backed this up on a recent visit when we rode the R1, CBR and my Desert X back to back to back on a twisty bit of road near home. I saw it as a safety improvement for Will and hence helped cover some of the cost of the new Road 6 (have you seen how much Michelin tyres are these days?!!) 

So, the $200 track day with a free buddy had turned into an ~$1500 affair once new tyres, hiring of leathers, motels, food etc etc was carried out! 

Oh well.

Lucy and I were going to head up to Warwick the night before so we didn't have to be up at 3am to do the two and a bit hour drive out there on the Monday morning. This led to Will suffering major jealousy and him pleading to come along. He wanted to chuck a "sicky" but I told him being sick on a Monday as a 1st year apprentice wasn't a good look at all. Instead, I reminded him that most of his workmates and his boss all ride. I suggested he call his boss and ask for an annual leave day. He did and his boss said "yeah, sure!" so it was the three musketeers for the track day then. Bloody glad I got Will's tyres sorted while we were doing ours!

Not a great photo but the sunset coming into Warwick was spectacular.

We were up early but not as early as if we were coming from home. I filled the jerry can while the kids got some breakfast and coffees, then we headed out to the track. It was a cold morning with quite a brisk wind blowing. I didn't mind as most times I have been to Morgan park I have sweated my proverbial off!

We unloaded and set up, then headed around to scrutineering. That done it was back to the pit. When Lucy arrived she looked like someone had pinched her puppy. She had failed scrutineering because her throttle wouldn't spring closed. She normally has bar end mirrors and when we removed them we also removed a spacer that kept them from jamming the throttle tube. Now, the original bar ends that we had refitted were jamming it. Bugger!

I had no spares but some limited tools - what to do? I know, "hey kids, look around on the ground for washers" I suggested. After five minutes of doing this we had found two suitable washers that spaced out the bar end weight enough for her throttle to work properly. She took off to scrutineering again and was back two minutes later with the all clear. 

Crisis averted!

 

We were ready nice and early so I thought it prudent to give the kids a bit of a pep talk as I could see they were nervous. I reminded them that they only have to ride around at their own pace and you could use all of the road. If they ran off I told them to just ride straight and use a little bit of rear brake to slow down, then get back on the track. Don't panic as there is nothing to hit. I also put a bit of tape over their speedo readout so that they wouldn't be distracted by looking at their speed. They used their Strava cycling app on their phones to record the top speeds that they could then look at while sitting safely in the pit.

I was pleased that when we attended the riders briefing the Champions people emphasised exactly the same points as I had. They also had an extra briefing for the first timers too, which they kept low key and was very welcoming. 

Nice.

I was in the second slowest group so went out just before the kids. It was cold, only about 14 Celsius so I took a few laps to warm the tyres but our group was so small that by going last onto the track I didn't get passed all session and basically had a clear track in front at all times. Just like a private test day!

By the time I got off my bike the kids were out there, ripping it. Well, not quite - I was pleased to see that they were taking it easy and feeling their way into it. I had been especially concerned for Will as he has only had his provisional licence for about six weeks and hence doesn't have much experience.

Will.

Lucy

As they rode back into the pit after that first session, I think I actually teared up a little. I'm not sure if it was from pride or from relief that I was going to be able to go home that night. A little of both I guess?

Anyway, they both had huge grins on their faces and I was as proud as a Dad can be of them.

The day didn't warm up much. I think it got to 18C but that was great as it wasn't hot in the leathers which made for a more enjoyable day. 

As per usual, Champions had a photographer roaming around the track and I decided to fork out for some decent photos as a memento of the day. These are all by Motothing photography.

Just checking in - yes, still having fun here.......

I changed to the kids group for two session so that I could take some video of them and see how they were going. That was bloody good fun and I must say I was surprised at their mid corner speed on the tight corners. If I'm honest it was faster than mine!

Done and dusted! We had ridden every session and outstayed a lot of people as the last sessions were almost private track days. There were only three of us in my last session! The kids had had a great time and were still in one piece, as were the bikes. 

Hell yeah!

Lucy had uni the next day, so once loaded up we headed for home. 

The only downer for the whole day is that my bike and Will's bike had a bit of a coming together on the way home with his pillion footpeg coming into contact with my pristine Staintune exhaust can and scratching it up a bit. I will see if I can get it polished out but if that is the worst that happened on the day, then I am sort of ok with it...but I really do need to buy a proper motorcycle trailer.

Cheers.