chris128

Ah ok, yeah I'm thinking of getting a better camera soon for mine as well. I like the look of the Contour HDs:

http://www.dogcamsport.co.uk/images/Ahighslides/contourhd/contour-hd-camera.png

Here's a sample video from one:

compared to the quality on my camera...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgWMSxXlM8s

(although I think that one was kinda just ruined by compressing it for youtube)

clubmsv are ok, they have some stupid policy were you cant overtake while insight of a corner or something stupif like that, people call it a procession rather than a track day

They said try to save your overtaking for the straights as this is a track day not a race, but I thought that was the same for all track days. They werent real strict about it anyway, plenty of people overtook me going into corners.

Overall it was pretty well run and organised, and they sat us all down after the first session and gave us some tips on which lines to take through the corners and answered questions, which I thought was good (I put some of their 'racing line' tips into practice and it certainly helped).

Oh yeah and what camera setup did you use to film those videos?

Cheers

Chris

nice one chris, ill see you there and do both, your riding will come on so much if you do a two dayer....

Yeah I am tempted... I dont know if I could camp though because I would just be doing it on my road bike and I've not got a trailer so I would have to ride the bike there n I dont think I could fit a tent + everything else in my back pack I only live about 30 mins away from cadwell though so might just kip at home and come back in the morning (if I do end up doing both days that is)

How many track days have you done now then phil, are you a bit of a track day king?

No sorry I didnt get any video as they told me that you cant use suction mounted cameras and I only have a suction mount for mine, plus I thought as its just my first track day I would rather just go out and think about the track without having to worry about whether or not the camera has fallen off or is still recording etc. Next time I'll be sure to get some video though

Just got back from doing my first ever track day - a "novice only" day at cadwell park. Got there at 7:30 and thought I must have come on the wrong day as there were only cars and no bikes, but it turned out they were doing car track days today as well, we just basically took it in turns with the car, each getting a 20 minute session.

Obviously because its the middle of winter there were not that many bikers, I think there was only about 12 of us in total, so it was nice and relaxed. Even though it was a novice only day, there were a couple of guys there that had clearly done this a lot before (the fact that they turned up with proper race bikes on a trailer and tyre warmers etc gave us a bit of a clue that they werent quite the same level as the rest of us...) but I don't think they caused anyone any problems, just went a lot faster than the rest of us and overtook in some places that I would not have dreamt of.

So anyway, we got out onto the track and did a few laps behind a pace car just to get to know the circuit a bit. It was quite foggy to begin with but cleared up after the first session, so I took it steady on the first session and just tried to learn what was on the other side of some of the blind hills. One thing I did do which scared the crap out of me, was get my front wheel off the ground on "the mountain" part of the track... I didnt even think about it I just went up there in 2nd gear as fast as I could and didnt realise my wheel had left the ground until I felt a big thud as it hit the ground again and made me wobble all over the place didnt do that again lol

After that first session, the instructors there gave us a few tips on some of the lines to take through the corners and answered any questions we had. Of course one guy had the question "I want to get my knee down, how do I do it?" but the instructors basically just said dont try to do it, its just something that will happen as you get better body position and go faster through the corners.

On the second session I felt a lot more confident now that I knew the track a bit and tried using lower gears a bit more and going faster round the long sweeping corners (which was fun!). Scared myself a couple of times though when I left braking a bit too late or got the wrong line through a corner, but never felt like I was pushing it too hard really. I even managed to overtake a couple of people lol

Anyway, we got another session after lunch but I wasn't feeling it so much on that one, dont know why... probably just cos quite a few people overtook me and I messed up a few corners. Was still fun though, just really cold on my fingers!

Then it started to rain quite a bit so me and a few of the other riders there decided to call it a day as there was only one more session left anyway. Oh and someone in a new lotus sports car crashed into the barrier just before that,

All in all, definitely worth the £49 that it cost as the first few sessions were pretty dry and it was a nice introduction to track riding. Needless to say, I have now caught the track day bug and want to do another one as soon as it starts getting a bit warmer I'm even considering selling my Audi A3 that I just bought (which has been nothing but trouble so far anyway) and buying a cheaper car and a track bike... but I will probably go off that idea by tomorrow

I just got back from my first track day at cadwell and am definitely up for going again, so I'm gonna book this. Its quite expensive for both days though so I might just do the Friday, not sure yet.

Nice videos Phil

I got a reply to my email but it says although you are allowed them, they have to be securely mounted and apparently that rules out suction mounts. So how else are you supposed to mount the camera to your bike without drilling holes in the fairing?

Yeah I know generally you are allowed but I just thought I would check with this particular organiser to make sure. Still no answer to my email yesterday so I might give them a ring... Also just rang the ticket place for BSB at Cadwell in May to tell them that I couldnt make it now and wanted a refund on the two tickets I had bought and they told me they wont give me any money back... apparently it says somewhere in the terms and conditions when you buy them that they are non refundable. I dont quite understand how thats legal, but that was a nice waste of £100. And before someone suggests selling them, the reason I wanted to cancel them is because they are being delivered to my ex-girlfriends house and as we are now no longer together I dont think she will give them to me when they arrive

Will do I've sent them an email asking if I'm allowed to use a bike mounted camera when on track (but no response yet) so I'll put a little bit of video up if I get any

Well I've booked the £49 track day for this sunday at Cadwell gives me something to do this weekend. If I enjoy it then I'll certainly try and get to the March one as well

Thanks Phil, I might take you up on that and book one for 13th of March as thats a saturday - which organiser are you doing it with? I am surprised to see that more than one organiser provides track days on the same day at the same track in some cases. For example, trackdays.co.uk have a bike track day (and a car track day!?) on 24th Jan and so do ClubMSV.

I went out on my bike yesterday for the first time since it has been derestricted (damn snow) and firstly jeesus christ its fast, secondly it made me realise that when I have got the power I go far too fast on public roads... so I think its a good idea if I do a few track days and try and keep the speeding to the track rather than on the road. My girlfriend (well, ex) got me a voucher for trackdays.co.uk which I'm planning to use in the summer but I just found this site: http://www.clubmsv.com/bike-home.aspx which seems to do track days for a much cheaper rate than anywhere else I have found, so I just wondered if anyone had used them before (clubmsv) and had any comments? £49 for the full day at cadwell seems like a bargain to me but maybe its just that cheap because it is winter and not many people go on them. Plus its a "Novice Only" day which sounds good to me!

For £49 though I'm tempted to take my chances and just hope it doesnt rain - if it does then I'll just have to take it very steady but even then I've only wasted £49 (and it wont be a complete waste). What do you think?

I know how you feel - I still need to claim back for my 2 tests that were cancelled so I'm currently about £100 out of pocket (what with the time I had to take off work for each one as well). Hope you are feeling better soon anyway, and hopefully you will be able to take your test soon!

haha thanks everyone and yeah I realise its not the best time of year to get your bike unrestricted... but at least its ready for when the nice weather comes now and I'm sure I'll have a blast on it when we get the odd nice day in winter

I'm supposed to be getting it unrestricted this saturday but my car is having problems so I might have to take that in to the garage and keep my bike around for transport, but I'm sure I can wait another week or so for it to be unrestricted as its not exactly pleasant weather at the moment anyway! Just looking forward to seeing how different it is..

EDIT: Oh and thanks to whoever changed the thread title

Thanks guys, and yes I had already done my test but that was before I was 21 so it was the restricted test. I could have just waited 2 years for the restriction to be lifted but I got bored of 33 bhp well before that 2 year limit

Anyway, I took the test yesterday... got there and the examiner was considering cancelling it (yet again!) but this time because of the weather as it was very windy. He said that because I had already had 2 tests cancelled then he would give it a go but if he thought it was getting too windy then he might have to cancel it half way through. Thankfully though he didnt and I passed with 2 minors

Off to get the bike derestricted at the weekend, just a shame its such rubbish weather at the moment as I doubt I'll be able to enjoy it fully until spring. Ah well!

I did it the other way round (car and then a couple of years later a bike) but personally I would say you would need less hours due to riding a bike for a few years. I know I found the CBT and bike lessons a hell of a lot easier than I would have done if I hadnt been driving a car for a while, because all I had to think about was what I was doing with the bike - where as someone who had never driven a car would have been thinking about the road rules and other drivers much more than I was (I dont mean I wasnt paying attention to those things, just that it becomes second nature after you have been driving/riding for a few years as I'm sure you know).

Also, think how much time on your bike/car lessons you actually spend learning how to control the vehicle and then think how much more time you spend learning the rules of the road etc. Once you know how to change gear and brake etc then there's not really much more to it, you then learn about how to actually ride/drive on the road.

Obviously there will be a few things to get used to but I still think understanding how to use the road and knowing what sort of thing to expect other drivers to do is by far the most important thing. Personally I find riding a bike requires more concentration, forward planning, and awareness than a car so I would say its easier learning to drive a car but maybe that is just me.

In response to Cobbz post, there are those additional elements but dont forget that anyone completely new to driving would have to learn those as well as all of the other things that you already know from riding a bike. So if you are asking if you think you need more or less hours than the average new driver then I would still say less myself

So I booked my Mod 2 about 2 months ago and there was a test available about 3 weeks later - so I turned up on the day and went for an hour of lessons with my instructor and was feeling fairly confident. Then we get to the test centre and the examiner comes out and does all the paperwork etc, then we go out to get onto the bike and set off but the examiner's bike wont start... after a couple of minutes of trying he gives up and says we will have to reschedule it. I later find out that he should have given me a compensation form (as I had to take the day off work) so I go back and get that later in the day and the test gets rescheduled for in a couple of weeks time.

I took another day off for this rescheduled test and as I was getting out of bed on the day of my rescheduled test I got a phone call from the bike school telling me that the test has been cancelled again! This time because the examiner is off ill... and apparently the DSA told them that the next available test would be 23rd of December! They told the DSA that this was not acceptable and eventually managed to sort out a test date for the Monday after next (so 30th November).

So hopefully I will actually get a go at the bloody test this time and also hoping that I can claim for the second day off work as well..

Will update this topic with the results once I have taken the test

Oh and my car engine blew up at the weekend too that was my fault really though as I ignored the oil light on the dashboard for a little too long... cant really blame that one on bad luck

Passed my Mod 1 today 2 Minors, both for observations. Apparently I didnt check my shoulders after the emergency stop but I could have sworn I did... The other one was for not checking my shoulders when setting off after the U turn for the "slow ride". I admit to that one - totally forgot.

The surface was quite wet when we got there which was a bit of a bummer but didnt seem to make a big difference (apparently they have 'special' tarmac that gives more grip but I dont know how true that is). I was under my speed for the first avoidance test, so I had to do it again and ended up going almost too fast - I had to actually slam the brakes on quite hard to stop in the box after it, which I dont normally have to do when I've been practising. I just looked at my test sheet and it says I was doing 61 kmph for the second avoidance one so thats probably why

Felt really sorry for the guy who went before me, he did everything fine but just failed because he didnt go fast enough for the avoidance (he got another chance but didnt go fast enough again). Must be annoying knowing that you didnt actually do anything wrong but you still failed.

Mod 2 booked for a week on Thursday

Well had a 2 hour lesson today and covered most of the Module 1 parts, including the swerve part and it seemed a lot easier than I was expecting One reason for that though is because I wasnt going fast enough because the training area at the place where I have my lessons is not as big as the proper ones used for module 1 so I couldnt get up enough speed, I didnt check my speedo but I imagine I was doing 20 - 25 mph so hopefully the real thing wont be too much different.

One thing I did struggle with at first though was the slalom part... which is odd as I'm normally fine with clutch control and slow riding and I could do the figure of 8 fine every time. Still, I got the hang of the slalom after a while so I've got another lesson booked and my mod 1 booked for 14th October (that was the earliest they had unfortunately!).

thanks for the tips guys, sure they will come in handy! On that second video it looks quite sharp from the on board camera view but then when you see the ground camera you can see that the rider barely leans at all so thats made me feel a bit better lol

OK, so I did my A2 test a few months ago so I've been riding my restricted 600cc bike around for the last couple of months and although I'm not super confident yet (especially with a pillion) I would say I'm pretty happy riding around doing whatever I want in a controlled way.

However, now I am going to take my Mod 1 and Mod 2 tests so that I can get the bike unrestricted so lucky me has to go through the whole test thing again after doing the old style test just a few months ago

I think because I've been riding a 'big' bike for a while I shouldnt have any problems with the mod 2 part as its just riding around like normal (maybe with a few more mirror checks..) but the Mod 1 I am a little nervous about. The slow speed stuff I can practice and make sure I can do it, I'm not too fussed about the U turn and I've always been ok at emergency stops - its just this new swerve thing that I am slightly concerned about.

So can anyone who has actually done it just tell me what its like as I've heard a lot of different things? What sort of angle is it that you have to swerve at, I've got images in my head of like a 90 degree turn and having to nearly get my knee down on it haha I know it wont be anything like that but do you think for someone who has been riding for a few months on a heavy bike (heavy compared to a 125 anyway) would just find it quite easy or is it still going to be pretty tricky? I know that depends on the rider but I cant help wondering if the reason why a lot of people say its hard is because a lot of them are doing their DAS and maybe the first time they sat on a motorbike was just a week before they are doing this test or something..

Thanks

Chris

Well this is the codec pack that I installed to get it to play on Windows Media Player - http://www.free-codecs.com/download_sof ... 5305&s=775

However, having just tried that on my new PC I still cant view the videos in Vegas. Might need a reboot for it to start working...

Chris how did slove the video streming issues with sony vegas

I'm using Sony Vegas 5 but I probably had the same issue originally and I'm sure it would have been solved by just installing the relevant video codec. Cant remember which one it was that I had to install but I'll have a look on my PC when I get chance and let you know

At cadwell park today to watch the BSB and as I've been thinking about getting a proper 1 piece leather suit recently anyway I bought some leathers from one of the stands there. They were £150 so I know they are not going to be amazing but I figure they will probably still be better than my textiles. Anyway I just wondered if anyone has had any of these leathers before (GPL is the brand) and if so what did you think of them?

Yeah that looks pretty good As for the editing, I personally use a program called Sony Vegas for general editing and Adobe After Effects for adding animations and titles etc. I remember when I got my dogcam setup I had to install an extra codec for it to play on Windows Media Player though.