Track Day Review #5: Zandvoort August 2015
I went to Zandvoort for a two day track event hosted by Motorsport Lifestyle on the 15th and 16th of August. It was nice to be back at Zandvoort with my own car, tools and spare parts, after going to Mettet last month on just the bike. It is definiltey inspires more confidence.
I had a very basic plan set out for the first day (I originally was only planning on attending a single day - more on that later). Basically, I wanted to focus on a single item per session. The schedule was:
Session 1: - Warm up, get familiar to the track
Session 2: - Body position
Session 3: - Trail braking
Session 4: - Trying different lines on the track
The weather forecast in the week leading up to the trackday was terrible. Everything was prediciting rain, but thankfully on the day we had no rain! Though the track was a little damp in places in the first session...
After about 10 minutes on the track, in the very first session, I made a stupid mistake and took a corner a little too tight - and hit a damp/wet white line. I immediately lost the front end, and almost got run over by another rider behind me!
Thankfully I wasn't hurt and the bike only had a bent footpeg, which I quickly fixed.
I had the bike ready for the second session but my confidence was completely gone. I felt like I'd never been on a motorcycle before. I had absolutely zero confidence in the front wheel, even though I knew I had the crash because of wet conditions. My personal best at Zandoort is 2:10, but even after 3 more sessions, I was struggling to get under 2:20. Honestly, I was very disappointed in myself and my abilities.
Thankfully Sarah came to the track at lunch time, and with her support and encouragement, I ended up hitting 2:14 in the last session. While I was still annoyed that I wasn't even close to my personal best, I was happy that some of my confidence was back.
I originally only planned on going to a single track day. But after the crash and my lack of confidence, I decided it would probably be a good idea to get back on the track as soon as possible - so I booked the next day.
By the end of the second day I regained my confidence and ended up matching my personal best of 2:10. I also got to focus on some specific things in some fo the sessions, mostly working on my body position so I was more comfortable in the corners.
I'm disappointed with myself due to the silly mistake that I made in the very first session, but much like my previous (and first) crash - I've learnt a lot from it, and it means that it is unlikely that I'll make the same mistake again. I must look at the positives! I also got great footage of the crash, which is also a good thing!
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