I'll start with, sorry no pics. (Yet). I'll post a couple later
Had a really good day yesterday. (Minus my HORRIBLE sunburn I got) I was told the sun never shines here. WRONG!
First off, the format is TOTALLY different here. There are 4 groups instead 3. And they classify by color instead of letters. Green = beginners, yellow = novice, blue = intermediate, red = confirmed racer.
I run mid intermediate group during all the trackdays I've done before/ in the states. No offense to my R1 OR American brethren, but these guys here... are FAST!!! My mid I group talent was mid to upper Green level here. And their red group riders were so dang fast, it was like watching AMA level racers do a free practice/qualifying session.
We got to do 6 sessions, at 20 mins each. With a 2 hour lunch break. (From session end to session start after 1 hour silence for lunch).
Next different thing was that EVERY ONE was assigned a lap timer/transponder to ensure they were in the right group. With the transponders they recorded everyone's times through the morning, then RE-placed people into the group they belonged in. With 81 riders there, after lunch they assigned 20 riders to each color group with 21 in green. I started out in blue and got THROWN back into green after lunch. Haha.
Passing rules were TOTALLY different as well. Green group was able to pass on the outside, down straights, and on the inside exiting corners. (Usually only allowed to pass when bikes are straight up and down where I've ridden in the states) and EVERY other group was open passing, and it was ENCOURAGED to pass on the INSIDE, but not take someones line. Because "if you pass on the outside, it'll make the other rider nervous/scared and they could take you out mid corner AND they might not turn in when you expect them to, causing you to drive off the track or into the other bike if you start your lean and they delay theirs." (Actually saw that happen too). it was kinda weird at first, but felt PERFECT after the first session. As mentioned earlier, I assigned myself to blue group to start, and after lunch, the moved me back to green group. I was the third fastest in that group after lunch. But still quite equally matched for the most part. And I'll give credit where credit is due, I deserved to be in green, and "fit in" much better there. Found the 2 other guys runnin my pace or just a little faster and followed them around, and got chased by them for the last 3 sessions. That was a lot more fun than getting passed constantly by the guys in blue group, they were pretty dang fast.
The track is about 2.208 km / 1.37 miles long, and the record lap time is 1:03.55 by a bike. I didn't get my lap times on paper, so I'm not sure what mine were. The fastest lap of the day was run by a 16yr old Belgian kid at 1:08.36 and the slowest was somewhere slower than 2 minutes by one of the guys I was with. Haha. So, as you can see... there were some very talented riders there, and some VERY inexperienced/new riders as well. I will be looking at my lap times on their website this afternoon and I'll put it up later.
Anyways, got to ride with a great organization at a very well maintained track, bike came home in the same condition it left the house, and can't wait to ride there again.
TLDR... rode at a cool arse track in Belgium. Thought I was a good/decent rider and got WHOOPED by fast Belgian/French riders. Stayed on 2 wheels all day and want to ride there again.
Link to tracks website (in french) so you can see it. http://www.circuit-mettet.be/presentation.cfm
Had a really good day yesterday. (Minus my HORRIBLE sunburn I got) I was told the sun never shines here. WRONG!
First off, the format is TOTALLY different here. There are 4 groups instead 3. And they classify by color instead of letters. Green = beginners, yellow = novice, blue = intermediate, red = confirmed racer.
I run mid intermediate group during all the trackdays I've done before/ in the states. No offense to my R1 OR American brethren, but these guys here... are FAST!!! My mid I group talent was mid to upper Green level here. And their red group riders were so dang fast, it was like watching AMA level racers do a free practice/qualifying session.
We got to do 6 sessions, at 20 mins each. With a 2 hour lunch break. (From session end to session start after 1 hour silence for lunch).
Next different thing was that EVERY ONE was assigned a lap timer/transponder to ensure they were in the right group. With the transponders they recorded everyone's times through the morning, then RE-placed people into the group they belonged in. With 81 riders there, after lunch they assigned 20 riders to each color group with 21 in green. I started out in blue and got THROWN back into green after lunch. Haha.
Passing rules were TOTALLY different as well. Green group was able to pass on the outside, down straights, and on the inside exiting corners. (Usually only allowed to pass when bikes are straight up and down where I've ridden in the states) and EVERY other group was open passing, and it was ENCOURAGED to pass on the INSIDE, but not take someones line. Because "if you pass on the outside, it'll make the other rider nervous/scared and they could take you out mid corner AND they might not turn in when you expect them to, causing you to drive off the track or into the other bike if you start your lean and they delay theirs." (Actually saw that happen too). it was kinda weird at first, but felt PERFECT after the first session. As mentioned earlier, I assigned myself to blue group to start, and after lunch, the moved me back to green group. I was the third fastest in that group after lunch. But still quite equally matched for the most part. And I'll give credit where credit is due, I deserved to be in green, and "fit in" much better there. Found the 2 other guys runnin my pace or just a little faster and followed them around, and got chased by them for the last 3 sessions. That was a lot more fun than getting passed constantly by the guys in blue group, they were pretty dang fast.
The track is about 2.208 km / 1.37 miles long, and the record lap time is 1:03.55 by a bike. I didn't get my lap times on paper, so I'm not sure what mine were. The fastest lap of the day was run by a 16yr old Belgian kid at 1:08.36 and the slowest was somewhere slower than 2 minutes by one of the guys I was with. Haha. So, as you can see... there were some very talented riders there, and some VERY inexperienced/new riders as well. I will be looking at my lap times on their website this afternoon and I'll put it up later.
Anyways, got to ride with a great organization at a very well maintained track, bike came home in the same condition it left the house, and can't wait to ride there again.
TLDR... rode at a cool arse track in Belgium. Thought I was a good/decent rider and got WHOOPED by fast Belgian/French riders. Stayed on 2 wheels all day and want to ride there again.
Link to tracks website (in french) so you can see it. http://www.circuit-mettet.be/presentation.cfm