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.

Slippery Shit

 I have been lucky enough to be doing some decent kilometres on the Ducati of late. Some of that was because I located it in Sydney at Steve’s place so I had transport to get out to Orange to visit Dad and some is because I just love riding it. 😁

What this means is that I have arrived at the half way point to the 15 000km service. Talking “oils” usually opens a can of worms on the various forums around the net but in my opinion going 14 000km (it got a change at the first service 1000km mark) on just three litres of the slippery stuff isn’t that conducive to engine longevity.

Ducati specify Shell Advance as the only oil to use. Just like KTM specify “only” using Motorex to ensure warranty compliance. Well, a mate in the industry enlightened me to the reality of this prescribed oil brand use. Apparently Motorex give a cash kick back to KTM dealers if they sell a certain amount of Motorex. I don’t know about the Ducati/Shell tie up but I would bet all of my biscuits that it is the same kickback deal.

So, my mate, who I trust very much, is a Maxima agent (yes, I see the potential conflict here but I trust him) and as such I can access Maxima fully synthetic for a very attractive price. Obviously with this offer on the table I went ahead with a bottle of Maxima’s finest and a genuine Ducati oil filter. I read somewhere that the genuine filter has a pressure switch in it (ala a thermostat I guess) while the engine warms up, hence the genuine purchase there.

Lucy gave me a hand with the change as I had given her a hand changing the oil and filter on her bike last week (yes, she is on Maxima 10W50 as well now). The little Z400 only holds 2 litres so we will change hers every 5000km in future.

I was a bit surprised at how black the Shell Advnce oil was after just 7000km. I would be horrified to run it to the 15 000km mark! I was also amazed at the torque on the sump plug. Admittedly, Ducati use some sort of sealant on the plug but I reckon it was a 40+nM undo. I didn’t have their sealant when reinstalling so went with some Permatex Blue and used the “elbow feel” 20nM “click” when tensioning it up.😉

She comes with a magnetic sump plug, which I think every bike should come with. Like, how much could it cost? Anyway, It looked pretty clean with just some very very fine swarf on it.

So, it was a very straight forward job and the apprentice Ranga did the refilling honours for me. I am really enjoying showing her how to do these jobs as she is very keen to learn and as an electrical engineering student she is showing me a thing or two with her knowledge. Yes, proud Dad moment here.🤗

So, I am done until the 15 000km service, which I will let Ducati complete so that my warranty remains unblemished. I did stress a bit about mixing the oils put through the engine during it’s lifetime but surely getting fresh fully synthetic oil every 7500km has to be better than letting the Shell stuff run for a full 15000km? I guess time will tell.

Next job will be fitting the Unifilter when I have some spare time.

Till then, Cheers.

Little Red-Head Riding to Redland Bay

With my trail care commitments I have been unable to take Lucy along to the regular kids ride at 10am on Saturday morning at Daisy Hill. The rain has also left a very disappointed little girl moping around on Saturday afternoons, so I promised her a ride on Sunday.

Luckily, good friends invited us down to Redland Bay for lunch on Sunday. I then began formulating a cunning plan to squeeze a kids ride in as well, because the route to Redland Bay can take in Bayview Conservation area (and it's MTB trails) along the way. It would also be a challenging ride for a nine year old to test herself.

So we readied ourselves, a little behind schedule, to set off on our little adventure. A certain little red-head was very excited. I was also a little thrilled at the prospect of riding through the bush with my not-so-little girl. She just seems to be growing up and exuding so much confidence lately.

First up were some walking paths here in Cornubia. All very familiar to us as these paths form some of our regular after school ride route. As a result, Red was zipping along and gabbling twenty to the dozen all the while.

As we then had to traverse a short section of busy road, the concentration face was bolted on and we made sure we stayed well left through here. I must admit, I wasn't apprehensive about her making the distance at all. I was most apprehensive about riding along this section of road. Putting my life (and my daughter's) in the hands of other road users is a bitter pill to swallow for me and I do avoid these situations, where I can, as a matter of priority.

Anyway, we survived this short stretch of Sunday drivers unscathed and were quickly plying the back roads of Mt Cotton where small acreages dominate the landscape. Spotting Shetland Ponies and regular nags...er..horses became the game until it was time to refuel.

About one kilometre down the road we turned off and entered Bayview Conservation area. I floated the idea that we could ride via single track or via fire road, pointing out that the fire road was probably faster and hence, we would be able to swim sooner. The little voice chose fire road and off we charged!

Only the odd stop for a drink was required. The questions were flowing freely though. "Hey dad, what are those squiggly lines on that tree?" "Hey Dad, did you see that goanna?"

With the layout of the trails, we did have to do some single track to get to our destination. This section of grass trees is, for me, the signature section for Bayview as it is always a bit surreal riding through the Grass Trees while negotiating the narrow single track. Lucy was riding really well and having a ball by this stage!

The only negative squeaks emanated when we were tackling some prolonged climbs and our speed was quite slow. The main area of concern wasn't that she was getting tired. It was that she was missing out on swimming time! So, a helping "dad hand" on her back through the climb raised the speed to adequately stifle these squeaks. It also raised my heart rate somewhat!

Passing by the chicken farm at the end of Days Road raised some choice nine year old comments that I will not repeat here! I must admit, the battery sheds do stink and the hot air that is being exhausted from the sheds isn't exactly the wafting of a gentle summer breeze. It must be as hot as hades in there for those poor chickens....

Out via Days Road and our little ride was almost at an end. Just a few kilometres of blacktop separated us from our post ride catch-up and swim.

I was very proud of my little girl's performance throughout the ride. She didn't really grizzle and was happy to be out on her bike, riding through the bush on a warm March afternoon. Stats wern't important either, but she did ride 17 kilometres with 300 metres of climbing on a warm, humid day.

On reflection, as I type this post, I see the value of this blog to me. Granted, it may be self indulgent drivel for the most part, but it's real value to me is that it demands I really think about what I have done on any particular day and it serves to highlight pivotal moments in my (and my family's) day to day lives that may otherwise go unnoticed. It is cliched, but it really does seem like just yesterday that I was first handed a tiny, pale faced baby that I had no idea what to do with and now here I am, indulging in my favourite past time with one of my favourite people in this world.

Does it get any better than this?

Yeah, actually, I think it will.........