Living on the edge

281kmh with throttle to the stop before diving into Sydney Motor Sport Parks fast left hand turn 1 at 200kmh. THIS IS LIVING ON THE EDGE. Life at 110%. This is better than any drug! Dropping the knee on the deck at 190kmh sure has the adrenaline pumping.

This was the scene of our recent ride day last Friday at Sydney Motorsport Park. I was initially going to take my 00 R1 but a flat battery and no rego quickly put that to the sword and with a brand spanking new 2015 R1 with Traction control, slide control, abs, slipper clutch, quick shifter and a race pedigree a mile long behind it the choice was pretty simple.

Both Bushpig and I had booked well in advance and after much discussion went in the Green group, which is the second fastest group. I'm not sure if it was this decision or not but this was the first ride day that I had ever done where I got a good night sleep the night before. Previous Phillip Island and Eastern Creek ride days and I was awake most of the night before hand not being able to sleep. but not this time. As it turns out going in the green group was a god send for today's event as it turned out the RED(Fast) group was full of Australian Superbikes as today was also a practise session for them as the Australian Superbike round was also on this weekend, and I can attest these guys are F#*cking fast. I wouldn't like to be out on track with all of those guys.

Hugo's RS250

Bush pigs friend Hugo turned up with both of his RS250 race bikes, fabulous looking bike and he could really ride too as he races them in the national series. Hugo had set up a bbq breakfast and lunch, he was setup superbly well and had obviously spent many a days at the track. We shared our pit garage with some of the Kawasaki racing team who were here for the ASBK round although we all pretty much kept to ourselves as they were busy as well as us. Stay upright Motorcycle training has now taken over the SMSP ride days and now Gopro's etc are now allowed to be used as long as they are tethered to the bike in case of a mount breaking. I got some excellent footage today.

April like you've never seen her before

A surprise for me was York turning up with April with a full race fairing, racing slicks and a brand spanking new set of Akrapovic exhausts. Ohh that things sounds so good....

Me on Turn 2

 The quick shifter on this new R1 is stupidly fun and hammering down the main straight on this thing is so easy, I was catching just about every bike down the front chute. Here is a quick one lap video from my gopro, just listen to the cross plane engine, it's the sound that angels would desire, angry angry angels.......

ASBK Riders waiting for their session

Watching the Australian Super bike riders from pit roof really put into perspective your own riding, like how slow I really am. These guys were absolutely flying and it was magic to watch them on their magnificent machines.

Riding the new R1 on the track was a meeting of two great entities. The smooth asphalt of the twisty SMSP track versus the race spec Yamaha road bike. This is the new R1's home and it felt like the purest of magic, it could do no wrong, only I could do the wrongness. It was time to exercise the demons of last years off on the Bonang Hwy and see if I could ride this thing. I met my limits well before the bike hit any that's for sure and I can easily see that now when I watch back the video. This bike is fast, very fast, superbly fast and I did my highest top speed and fastest lap time ever on this bike all that and I hadn't ridden around here in over 12 months.

Repsol Hondas

Ducati Race team

We saw ex-world super bike champion Troy Bayliss wandering around the pits as he was here with the Ducati factory team for the weekend, and I'm sure he got out for a few laps in disguise(I'm sure he overtook me in one of the sessions).

Session times

For those not in the know the ride day is set up as follows. There are four groups with a 20 minute allocation of on track time with 6 sessions each group. The groups are 

1. Red - Fast   Race bikes and fast road riders.
2. Green - Medium Fast  Fast Road Riders
3. Yellow - Medium  Moderate Road Rider
4. White - Slow   First Timers to the track and slow riders.

Bushpig on Turn 2

ASBK Riders at full speed

Stay Upright Scrutineering

I had already decided at the start of the day that I was only going to do 4 sessions, I missed the first due to time constraints and the last as by then I was very tired. Actually by the 4th session I saw that the fuel light had come on and by the time I pulled in it had been on fuel light for 9kms. Back in the pit I checked and I had used 16 litres(17 Ltr tank) for 100kms, Yikes but it was oh so much fun. So I ended up getting 3 & half sessions. Next time will have to take more fuel I think another lap and I would probably have run out.

York & April in action

My go pro went flat at the start of the 3rd session but lucky I took my charger and had it up and running for the fourth session. Here's a short video of the fun that we all had during the day. Hope you enjoy.

After 4 sessions I'm getting knackered.

Bushpig and I on turn 9

Bushpig at the end of the final session

After a fun filled day at the track I had accomplished everything that I wanted to do today. First come home in one piece with the bike undamaged. Check. Threats from the minister of finance and warfare also ensured this as I didn't want to be living at Bushpigs house. Lol

Ride as fast as I can and have lots of fun, check.

We also had Tim Munro Photograph out there taking photos of everyone as we went around so thanks to him for our greats action shots, he takes great photos as you can see from this post.

Anyone that has ever wondered about doing a ride day, my advice is just go and do it. It's some of the most fun you can have on your bike in a relatively safe ish environment. No speeding fines, go as fast as you want and have as much fun as you can.

Yep this is living life at 110%, living on the edge. Now new R1 maybe you should meet Mr Phillip Island!!!!!

Looks who's ready to play.......

Oh look who has brand spanking new Bridgestone RS10's.

R stands for RACE
S stands for SPEED

SMSP stands for Sydney Motorsport Park

I feel the need, the need for speed..............

Phillip Island Trip Day 1 & 2

DAY 1

With a week off work and MotoGP on the cards at Phillip Island you could have excused me for being a little excited about hitting the road. That's an understatement if there ever was one. I was frothing at the Gib to get going as I hadn't ridden to the Island in years. I had packed my backpack as best I could. This new R1 has no luggage carrying capacity, that was my first hurdle but I didn't let that dampen my enthusiasm as Bushpig and I hit the road at 7:30.

First up was the boring slab work along the dreaded Hume Highway to Goulburn which consists of long boring straights that go on forever. Goulburn was our first fuel stop and time for a quick coffee at Trappers bakery. They do excellent pies and sausage rolls here, just take the second exit from the freeway or you'll have a 15 minute ride through town, it's only a minute from the second freeway exit. The local highway patrol arrived and there was 6 or 8 of them, just after we had our coffee which I was keen to get going and leave them, where we know where they are. I'd noticed my rear tyre was balling up rubber just on this straight slab section, that's how soft these bridgestone RS10 battlax tyres are. I was hoping they would make it to Bairnsdale as I'd booked a tyre change there tomorrow morning.

Next stop was Cooma for more fuel and a cool drink. As we had been doing mostly straight roads to here with a 110 kmh limit I'd noticed that the fuel economy on the R1 was pretty good when just riding steady and it was getting figures of 4.8 - 5.0 L/100km. I was pretty impressed with that. We could have ridden to Queenbeyan for our first fuel stop but I was being cautious. I don't want to run out again and it also gives me a little break. 4 hours in the saddle and I was getting a sore ass, this seat seems to be a lot harder than the older bike.

Cooma

We had to stop again shortly after in Bombala as the trumpy needed some fuel. He didn't fill up when I did in Cooma so we had another short break. Just after the photo below we had our first encounter with the NSW HWP who were hiding off the side of the road with the radar out, he was shaking his fist at us as we went past. Was it because we weren't going fast enough to book us or was it for us to slow down, I'll never know. We were only just over the limit. We knew we were going to see HWP patrol out for MotoGP weekend as its been blasted all around in the media, but it wasn't the NSW HWP we were worried about. No Vicpol are notorious for pulling some dodgy stuff.

Delegate

Turning off after Bombala we headed into Delegate and the Bonang Highway. There were lots of bikes heading down this way with a few passing by us a some speeds we thought were a bit fast, especially seeing it's HWP season.

The first section of dirt on the Bonang seems to be a lot shorter now more like about 3kms rather than the 7-8 kms it used to be, but the twisty dirt section is still 10 kms long. The R1 handled it pretty easily with only the occasional sliding about, Bushpig disappeared on the trumpy. Then the road gets into the thick of it with 105kms of beautiful twists and turns. Unfortunately the speed limit has been dropped from 100kmh to 80 kmh making this a perfect spot for the HWP to lurk about.

Beautiful twists and turns on the Bonang

No longer than 5 minutes after the we stopped at the curve in the above picture than we came down this wee little straight in the picture below. BAM out onto the road pops one of Vicpols finest and it's all over. Nice hiding spot in the bushes. Bastards got Bushpig, and just as we were leaving they were pulling in the next lot of bikes. We spoke to that guy in Bairnsdale later that night and 3 of his mates got done and the next lot of guys behind them. Everyone was less than 20 kmh over. They must have made thousands that day. Revenue or safety - I'll let you be the judge.

A brief stop to chat at the fire place in the above picture and there must have been 20 bikes went past us. I said to Bushpig "Look at how slow all of these bikes are going, I bet every single one of them just got done." He nodded in agreement.

We rolled on out a little more weary and with a lighter hip pocket as we finally motored into Bairnsdale late in the arvo. Filling up I noticed a pub next the the petrol station. I said lets stay here as after sitting on the R1 for 750kms was really starting to hurt my ass now and I didn't really want to ride any further. Luckily they had a room at the pub and we finished the night with several refreshing ales.

DAY 2

We started out by dropping my bike off at Bairnsdale Yamaha for a new set of hoops. The old tyre had just started to crack in the centre of the carcass. It was completely shot with only 2600 kms on it. I think I would only get these tyres again if I was doing a track day as they had excellent grip but oh so short life. I went with a set of Bridgestone S20 Evos.

Whilst my tyres were getting fitted we made a bee line for the main street to get a yummy bacon and egg breakfast. We were not disappointed. With our bellies full we made our way back and picked up the bikes and made our way through East Gipslands quagmire of road works and potholes till we got to Mirboo North. The victorian roads used to be in great condition compared with NSW roads but now they seem to be reversed.

We stopped in for a spot of morning coffee and a toasted samich at the Inline 4 Cafe. What a great little cafe this is with all the motorcycle paraphernalia inside, they even had a set of Casey Stoners Repsol leathers hanging up. The food and coffee was fantastic and a great atmosphere to boot. I highly recommend any bike riders to stop in here and support these guys.

Inline 4 Cafe

Interesting table decorations

Tom Sykes WSBK 2012 Tyre

Bushpig just had to have a photo with the sign below, he couldn't help himself.

The final stretch from Mirboo North out to the Island itself was short and sweet and we were there in no time, it's a bit of a boring ride and we had to stop in at San Remo to have a quick beer to appease the motorcycling gods. Iwas glad to get off the bike as I was quite tender around the buttock area. Yes I know it's not a sports tourer.

Beer at San Remo

Selfie Time

Getting to the cabin in the caravan park at Cowes I waited for a bus to the track but it never came. The caravan park owner took pity on me and gave me a lift out to the track. There are still some good people in the world after all. I gave him the $10 that I was going to give the bus driver for beer or petrol either way he didn't have to do it and was a nice gesture that was very much appreciated. I did have visions of him axe murdering me when I noticed he wasn't driving in the direction of the track but it was all good.

After watching the last of the Aussie superbikes and supersports it was off to the camp ground for some beers with some of Bushpigs mates and other like minded people.