Bedford Autodrome Track Day, July 2012

The Venue

Bedford Autodrome is owned by MSV and is just North of Bedford Town. Although there are a few different track layouts at Bedford, the SW circuit is normally used for the bike track days and is 2.8 miles long. The 1km straight (the longest of any UK race track) means that 600cc sports bike riders will typically achieve 160mph or more! :) The site itself is on a little known airfield, which is still in use but only for light aircraft and is in good order. It takes a while to learn this circuit but once you are familiar with the layout, it is very rewarding. The only down side is that the surroundings are a little featureless and the site is very flat with few landmarks to get your bearings on. However, once you have done a few laps, this is only a minor consideration.

Arriving

We had agreed to meet at the Sainsbury's just north of Bedford at around 07:00. As usual, I over estimated the time required to get there and ended up being over 20 minutes early but as the sun was out, I bought a paper and sat down for a read. 07:00 came and went and I was still on my own but knowing Frank well, this was not a concern. I was just beginning to wonder if there was more than one Sainsbury's just North of Bedford when the distant thumping of an un-baffled Aprilia could be heard approaching. Franks bike could still be 10 miles away, as it makes more noise than a heard of stampeding elephants but they soon arrived. Before departing to the track, the thirsty Aprilia needing feeding with fuel, Frank must have left the afterburner on again. Dave had the SatNav running, so was immediately given the task of leading us in. We are too lazy to work it out for ourselves.

Noise Testing

As soon as we arrived, we were directed to the pit area for the static noise tests. I had already put my baffles back in, so 101db was not an issue for me. Frank, with no baffles, sounding like a Lancaster bomber, boldly pulled up for testing. To my surprise he was just on the limit but they immediately advised him that the 'drive by' tests were not so easy to get through. We were advised that failing the 'drive by' test would mean an instant black flag and the end of your day. Next step was to tame the Aprilia with some very shiny (never used) baffles, which resulted in a very cool Thump, Thump, Thump being tamed into a very Gay sounding Puff, Puff, Puff. Registration was in the same area. This is basically where they tag you to indicate that you have agreed that if anything goes wrong, its your fault and you cannot sue them.

Briefing Sessions (Yawn)

Next, was a short ride over to the Trackside Suite for the mandatory briefing sessions. In the briefing room Breakfast was available, so being real men, the Bacon Butty was the hunger taming weapon of choice.

Once you have been on one track day, the briefing sessions can get a bit tedious. This track seems to have a real issue with noise, which is a bit strange being a racetrack an all. It seemed to me that the briefing was heavily focussed on making sure that your bike was quite, oh and something about safety. The moral of the story was "If you are going to crash, make sure you do it quietly".

We were also advised that there was only 1 ambulance available in the region, due to another function. The result of this was that any trips to 'A and E' would mean everyone else would have sit around and wait for its return, before track time could resume. Moral of the story, "Crash Quietly and make your own way to 'A and E' OR get lynched by angry bikers".

First Session Around The Track

The first session in the Novice group is always a bit processional and slow as you are not allowed to overtake and have to follow the instructor. On an unfamiliar track, which still has some standing water, this is probably a good thing. After a few laps the standing water was drying off and the track layout was making some sense. There are very few landmarks to help you remember where you are, so it is very easy to get caught out if you get too cocky.

Suddenly the session is ended prematurely! As we returned to the pits wondering what kind of Nob could manage to crash at speeds more accustomed to a mobility scooter, it became apparent that someone had broken down. Bugger!

Second Session

The track was now almost completely dry on the racing lines, apart from a little water on the main straight about halfway down, which means we can now have some fun. Each lap is getting faster and faster but I was still a little unsure about the layout. Just as I was beginning to think that I had sussed it, I found the tightest corner on the track had an unexpected adverse camber. I was about 2/3 of the way through the corner when I started to lift the bike up and open the throttle, which was when I realised that there was more corner and to top it off, it had a slight adverse camber. The result was an unexpected knee down moment, without even hanging off the bike and some soiled armour. This made me realise a few things:

I had still not managed to learn this track.
Does my bike really lean that far over without throwing me off.
Bring clean underwear.

Briefing Session - Track Review

This briefing session was a little more interesting as it provided a detailed look at each corner on the track. After riding the track, it was quite helpful to review each corner and get some tips on how to handle them. We were warned that this track takes a long time to learn properly but I was already aware of this. Session over, eager to get back on the track.

Final Sessions Before Lunch

Getting faster all the time now and I am starting to get my knee down in a more controlled way on some of the corners. The long left hand bend on 'West 8' is the perfect place to try and get your knee down. This corner is long enough to get yourself set up comfortable and slowly lean further and slide off the bike enough to get the correct position. After finding the ground a few times with my knee this gave me more confidence on some of the more difficult corners.

Nigel has been moving around the track and taking lots of Photo's of us making hard work of racing. He seems to be getting lots of good pictures and we do not look that bad after all. I guess it must be just Nigel's photography skills that made us look good.

Lunch

Very civilised, Pasty and chips, plus some discussions on the mornings escapades and a bit of putting the world to rights. Cannot complain about the facilities, does the job.

During the break there was an opportunity to look at some of the professional photo's. The photograper seems to have taken lots of photo's of everyone else. I did find a few of myself but he had obviously missed me quite a bit, for some corners there were no photos. I must have just been going too fast for him! :0) Frank on the other hand seemed to be a camera magnet OR maybe those gay sounding pipes had just attracted a rather camp photographer.

Second Briefing Session

This session was focussed on how to 'hang off' the bike and get your knee down. The instructor explained that there was a point where leaning the bike over any further was not a good idea, due to lack of tyre left at the edges. At this point you either have to 'hang off' or get thrown off, as your bike looses traction with the tarmac.

Even though I have managed to get my knee down a few times in the morning, this session was extremely useful. Being shown the correct positioning for arms and butt seemed to make a little more sense. We were told to ride slower and practice the correct body position in the next session. Yeah right, surely he means faster.

Afternoon Track Sessions

First session back out on the track and time to put some of the briefing sessions advice to practice. Keeping my arms straight and pushing back away from the tank really helped me to feel comfortable hanging off the bike. It seems un-natural to hang off the bike so much at first but after a while, it starts to feel right.

Just when you think you are doing well, someone comes along and rains on your parade. I was following an Indian dude on an old 500cc twin and really struggling to keep up through the twisty bits. He was really throwing the thing around and did not seem to be slowing down for anything. After a full lap together we hit the straight and used the 1000cc on my bike to blast past him with easy (not really a surprise). Nearing the end of the straight and over 160mph it was time to hit the brakes but as soon as I did, the Indian dude flew past me like I was standing still. This not only scared the shit out of me, it also put a big dent in my pride. This dude had obviously disconnected his brakes and got his throttle jammed wide open, No Fear, Respect! Following him around again, I could see that I was rapidly catching him on any straight parts of the track but he just did not seem to brake for the corners and was carrying huge amounts of corner speed.

Quite a few of the afternoon session seemed to end early with red flags. I guess this is just everyone getting a bit cocky and throwing themselves at the scenery.

Dave has brought a video camera, which he attached to his bike facing to the rear, ready for the next session. Obviously, me and Frank were keen to be behind Dave in order to see some footage of ourselves. Once on the track Frank managed to get behind Dave but I had a few bikes ahead of me. It took a short while but after blasting past a few people, I caught up. Once behind Dave, lots of wild swerving and trying to get the knee down was in order.

Thirsty Aprilia, more fuel! The Arprillia had drunk most of its reserves of fuel, so we headed off to a filling point on the track. Got in trouble for not wearing a helmet even though Frank had just ridden past the marshalls without his on, which they seemed to ignore.

Last session of the day was red flagged again - even though we were all tired we still wanted to continue but the marshal's were already packing up to go home. Oh well, it's been a good day.

Pub on the way home

On the way home we stopped at the Falcon Pub on the A6 for refreshment (Shandy). This gave us an opportunity to reflect on the day and relax a little before the ride home.

Summary

This was a great day out and went exactly to plan, the weather even turned out to be perfect, warm and dry. The track was a good layout and did not have too many humps and bumps to negotiate. MSV were a well organised outfit and put on a good day for us. As ever the company was good and the track action was a blast. Lets do this one again next year.

The Professionals in Action

Click on the image below to start the picture slidehow or the links to the videos:

Below are some videos taken by Dave:

Link to video 1
Link to video 2