Portimao Focused Events 16th to 19th April 09

Hope you all got your bikes down to West Sussex safely yesterday. :thumbs:Had a slight accident yesterday getting my bike out of my garage, the garage door slammed down on my head - handle first. Lucky my wife Sam was going with me, as I could not drive. Got the bike down there in any event, drove past Box Hill was very busy with all shapes and sizes of bikes in attendance. Got home with a very sore head, been to A & E this morning to get checked out appears that I have got concussion:dizzy:
 
Ouch! I drove past Box Hill as well, how busy was it?? Always wondered where it was and was surprised just as many bikes were there. I wouldnt say it was exactly full of great riding roads down there, no wonder southerners are amazed when they come up north to ride. Damn long trip (600 miles) and not looking forward to having to do it all again. What time were you there? I arrive at 10 and had gone by 11.
 
Ouch! I drove past Box Hill as well, how busy was it?? Always wondered where it was and was surprised just as many bikes were there. I wouldnt say it was exactly full of great riding roads down there, no wonder southerners are amazed when they come up north to ride. Damn long trip (600 miles) and not looking forward to having to do it all again. What time were you there? I arrive at 10 and had gone by 11.

Hi Martin

Got there at 11.10am away just after 12 noon. I agree the roads were not exactly flowing. Took a wrong turn at one point had to turn round in a pub car park which was full of Harley tractors, never seen so many beards and that was just on the women:eek:
Are you flying from Liverpool or Leeds Bradford, booked in at the 3 star hotel are you.
 
Must have just missed you, there were a few turning up as I left. I was in a black Vivaro at the opposite end of the artics to where they were loading the bikes. I was wedged in by loads of Ducatis (2 1098s and a 996sps) and theres me with a gsxr750!!

Havent booked my flight yet, seen one from Blackpool which looks of (free car parking) its for a week though! Not stopping in the hotel as I have a little place just down the road at Vilamoura, been thinking bout leaving a bike out there...be great to get a track day or 2 in during family holidays!!
 
Must have just missed you, there were a few turning up as I left. I was in a black Vivaro at the opposite end of the artics to where they were loading the bikes. I was wedged in by loads of Ducatis (2 1098s and a 996sps) and theres me with a gsxr750!!

Havent booked my flight yet, seen one from Blackpool which looks of (free car parking) its for a week though! Not stopping in the hotel as I have a little place just down the road at Vilamoura, been thinking bout leaving a bike out there...be great to get a track day or 2 in during family holidays!!

I know what you mean!!! taking the old fireblade think it was the oldest bike there?:o

Would be nice to kick ass tho:bump2:
 
the box hill was an Italian Bike meet, you should have stopped in!!

we headed down on Saturday evening and kipped in the van in a pub field and then we were done and dusted by 9.45 as we had to do some collections on the way back.

Dunc - hope the head is not too sore!
 
the box hill was an Italian Bike meet, you should have stopped in!!

we headed down on Saturday evening and kipped in the van in a pub field and then we were done and dusted by 9.45 as we had to do some collections on the way back.

Dunc - hope the head is not too sore!

Hi Claire

I'am getting better now thanks, back to work today, wanted to call in at Box Hill but my head was splitting at that time just wanted to get home.
 
I know what you mean!!! taking the old fireblade think it was the oldest bike there?:o

Would be nice to kick ass tho:bump2:

At least its your bike! I'm on a borrowed Suzuki that I picked up 2 weeks ago...it had been crashed at a spanish trackday a year earlier. Got it back together and I'm just hoping its going to be ok. Looking forward to it now, though I havent been on track since that Thundersport GB race a year ago...which ended badly.
 
At least its your bike! I'm on a borrowed Suzuki that I picked up 2 weeks ago...it had been crashed at a spanish trackday a year earlier. Got it back together and I'm just hoping its going to be ok. Looking forward to it now, though I havent been on track since that Thundersport GB race a year ago...which ended badly.

You will be fine Martin take it easy its not a race this time, you will have a ball.
 
Soooooo my long report...

The Portimao trip had been booked for since WSB last year and it was my birthday and Christmas pressie off Lily, thanks hun. Then with days to go Lily goes and busts her wrist the whole trip was thrown up in the air and my enthusiasm was failing as I knew I wouldn't want to be there with a injury that "should" prevent me from riding whilst watching everyone else have fun.

We arrived on Thursday late afternoon to see a few familiar faces at a few local bars, good to catch up with Spliffy, Jimbers, Rattler, Chaz, Couchie, Lucie, Pete, Dave Reilly and meet the likes of Chef, Harry, RSVMan, fed and watered we all went to bed but we were expecting rain, ha... rain it was clear skies when we headed back to the hotel.

Friday morning and the skies were black, the rain was pouring down and it was freezing cold, I was more than a little p%ssed off lets say, I could of been at Mallory or Pembrey in this! We all headed off to the circuit and it was no better. The usual hour of located all of your gear (bike, paddock stands, gear, spare tyres etc) ensued then signing on and the briefing. Kevin's briefing was good and with James Whitham, James Haydon and Adrian Coates it promised to improve, Kevin explained they had 2 spaces left on the riders clinic on Friday if anyone was interested and straight after the briefing Claire and I asked about them, they had already been filled??!?! but if anyone dropped out we would have first refusal.

The wet paddock :-(

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As the track was soaking and it was everyone's first time there Kevin had a great idea, everyone could do some sighting laps in the car to get a rough idea of the circuit so we all set off, I'm so glad we did this.... the circuit is big over 4.5Km's in length and the turns and elevation changes are nothing like I've ever seen, one turn sticks out now where you enter on a really tight right hander up hill blind crest then plummits probably 3 stories before a left hand uphill sweeper. After 4 laps in the car I still had no idea where we were going. The only way I can describe it is like Oulton/Cadwell but bigger and on steroids!

Waiting to go out in the cars

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It continued to rain and rain and a few people ventured out, I hadn't taken any wets (it's Portugal!) and had to sit it out, Claire did have wets and she desperately wanted to go out but I really wasn't confortable with that on a new bike, broken wrist and a circuit that wanted to bite you. In the afternoon I grabbed 40 winks in the car only to wake up and see an orange KTM SUperDuke being trailered back to the paddock, what had Pete done?

His bike was a mess, subframe bent, cans wrecked, levers, rearsets etc, but he was OK.... he'd come off braking into turn one at somewhere between 100-120mph and slid for over 250 meters, the bike had flipped when it dug in and the subframe took the brunt of things, several of us set about fixing the bike and after some ingenious work with a Seat Ibiza car jack the subframe was slightly more respectable and he managed to ride on days 2 and 3.

I'd grabbed a jerry can of fuel off Focused and put it in the book as requested in anticipation of dry weather but it didn't come....

Day 2, Saturday after another night out in the rain we awoke hoping for sunnier skies, it was still wet but the rain had stopped everyone drove over to the circuit and it was still wet, several of us opted for a coffee whilst we waited for Mr Sun to appear only to find out we'd missed the briefing? What briefing? No-one had mentioned anything about a briefing on days 2 and 3???!?! So we had to have a seperate briefing which wasn't too bad and it wasn't like we were in a rush to get out it was just something else that hadn't been communicated, then I got a b*llocking off one of FE's staff for taking the fuel and not leaving any card details?!?!?! What? We were told to put it in the book that we had taken fuel, which I did... turns out you need to leave card details, again something else that hadn't been communicated, my already tainted view of FE was getting more tainted.

But I digress, the sun came out and myself, Claire, Spliffy and Danny had opted to follow and instructor as quite a few people had ventured out yesterday and we hadn't, it also meant we had to wear lovely yellow bibs LOL, the track is simply amazing, I hadn't ridden the R1 since Anglesey back in March and I'd fitted Dunlop NTec slicks, I'd never ridden with slicks so I was nervous to say the least and was soon dropping off the back of the instructor led group, I was scared of the bike and the slicks?!?! We came in at the end of the session and immediately went back out on the next one just before lunch and that session I concentrated much more on the track and forgot the R1 and the slicks and started to enjoy myself. The afternoons were open pit lane so many like us were trying to claw back the wet day so you had to queue for a few minutes to get out but I had some great sessions out there seeing 165+ on the straight was cool but braking for turn one became interesting! There was also a brief few drops of rain the afternoon but the track was hot so it was nothing to worry about but it still plays on your mind here and there LOL!

Day 3, Sunday and we awoke to sunny skies, yes! finally!! The track had a few damp patches but was drying quickly Claire and I didn't go out though until the afternoon I'd had quite an upset stomach and her wrist was aching badly by now, eventually we ventured out and I had the best afternoon on track in a long while, the R1 is awesome it still shakes it's head a little bit, it's impossible for it not to here but you just ride through it, and the slicks were just amazing lap after lap the confidence grew and I was trying in Bongo style for an elbow down but couldn't manage it... Hmmmm.

For information - A lap of the circuit goes down the start/finish flat out keeping left to avoid a large bump (which sets the bike off into a mild tank slapper the full length), the start/finish straight is elevated and the braking area drops away probably 30-40 ft by the turn in point, turn 1 and 2 are 4th gear pinned running from the outside to apex and back out but there are some unsettling bumps at the apexes of both, turn 3 is a right hand uphill hairpin into a sweeping left blind crest - turn 4 (elbow down territory) I struggled here for a few laps using second gear into turn 3 but needed to short shift on the uphill blind left, in the end I stuck with 3rd, then onto the short back straight into 4th then back to 2nd for turn 5, another hairpin now left but drops mid corner, uphill and accelerating hard there's a left hand kink (turn 6) and soon into turns 7 and 8 which flow nicely but 8 is a 2nd/3rd gear hairpin uphill over a blind crest (mentioned earlier in the car) snick 4th before the crest and hold on as the front goes airborn, bars frantically waggle as you plummit (literally) back towards the ground, imagine doing the mountain at Cadwell backwards but add another 30 feet! then you're into a fast 4th gear positive cambered uphill corner as fast as you dare as turns 10 and 11 approach from nowhere, totally blind entry and the trick seems to be to miss all the apexes and head out ridiculously wide to drag in back for a late apex and turn 11 where you plummit again but have to change direction (right to left) quickly for turn 12, this sends the bike skywards again and the bars let you know this, and fast downhill then rising corner into the final hairpin hard on the brakes turning left (turn 13) then accelerate hard towards turn 14 a kind of double right hander then a short straight and a blind entry fast super fast 4th gear right hander (reminds me of a bigger clearways) downhill onto the start finish straight, snick 5th before you rise onto the s/f straight to keep the bike settled then into 6th for your 160-170mph straight!

Finally, a few of us decided to go out and have a play late on the final day and because of the open pit lane a few got on track before me, so I spent a good 20 minutes thrashing the R1 taking some real liberties with the throttle and the slicks catching everyone, there's some video somewhere so hopefully someone will get that up at some point, need to speak to Wafty to get some memories I think Claire is on the case with that one.

Excellent trip and well organised apart from a few communication issues and some customer service skills, but Kevin, the track, the instructors and the company more than made up for it, looking forward to the next one now.

P.S. - Photos courtesy of Spliffy ;-)
 
Excellent write up Jon.

I know how frustrating it is with the rain, but you did the right thing sitting it out. The rain over there is not drained like here so it could be interesting!

The comments on the slicks are interesting. The photocopier is away being fettled for Almeria in a few weeks and I am opting for slicks. Can you give more insight on what was different. It would be good to hear from your aspect.

Glad to hear you are back in one piece. I had heard from one of our SEAT head office staff whose hubby was at the earlier Portimao event that someone had been airlifted after a crash!!

However, roll on Almeria!!

Ian
 
Fergie,

The slicks just inspired confidence, maybe a placebo thing I don't know but after speaking to various people in the know, Maxton, racers, tyre technicians everyone seemed to be pointing towards the Dunlop Ntecs and I was told to run 195/65 rear and 120/80 front which gives them a really steep profile but lots more side grip in theory. The front is normal pressures whereas the rear is 21psi cold 23 hot so I made a conscious effort to keep check on the rear pressures after every session and the wear rate was excellent.

Once I really started to push them they really gave good feedback and never really letting go, you could feel the rear move slightly, fractionally and then dig in and just push you foward it was small but interesting.

I was convinced I could hang off more and really get the bike over further than before, I was already having to tuck my knees back into the bike with the angles I was carrying towards the end.
 
Jon, that's a great write up. We discovered that the organiser had no great enthusiasm for coming up to Scotland... hence why none of us went. A very short sighted view I feel given that 29 riders and 36 bikes are heading for Almeria in a few weeks. I can't speak highly enough of Tracksense, they organise a seamless and safe event with around 40 riders per group. At the likes of Jerez and Alemeria it's as good as having the track to yourself.

Another thread mentioned slicks... tried them for the first time at Jerez. First corner is a shocker as the bike turns in MUCH quicker, then it's happy days. Jon's right, it's in the mind. For riders at my level Pirellia Diablo Corsa Race things are just "cut slicks", but it's good to try them. The 1098R tore up one a day, so that was a costly three days, Martin at DG and I did 6 rears and 2 fronts between us.

Almeria next month now, taking the 1098 and the Desmo - the back straight at Almeria is crying out for the elusive 200mph, I have three choices. Make it, brake in time, make it don't brake in time, make it and head into the kitty litter at 200+.... look out for the report next month !!!

I think I would only try Portimao if Track Sense did it, but as was commented the costs are significantly higher than Jerez, therefore far more bikes on track.

Besides that, Jerez is as good as it gets. As I said to Martin, "It's our spiritual home"
 
There were 140 bikes at Portimao but strangely I did a few laps without seeing any bikes and at worst a few bikes per lap!! It's massive over 4.5k's long
 
Jon, that seems OK, we heard they were ramming up the numbers, that seems to be rubbish. Absolutely gaggin' to go to be honest. Trouble is without a Scottish collection it's another 1 or 2 days for us. I'm sure Track Sense will see sense and meet the customer demand.

Are you going to the D16RR trackday at Donnington... I wasn't but it seems too good to miss. All those Desom's on the track at once. 75 I believe is the magic number. Last time I saw that many it's was in Martin showroom ;) It was actually "only" 7, side by side in the workshop... he had more D16's than Monsters or 1098's - common as muck, but boy, WHAT MUCK ;)
 
Quote from Jon

In the afternoon I grabbed 40 winks in the car only to wake up and see an orange KTM SUperDuke being trailered back to the paddock, what had Pete done?

His bike was a mess, subframe bent, cans wrecked, levers, rearsets etc, but he was OK.... he'd come off braking into turn one at somewhere between 100-120mph and slid for over 250 meters, the bike had flipped when it dug in and the subframe took the brunt of things, several of us set about fixing the bike and after some ingenious work with a Seat Ibiza car jack the subframe was slightly more respectable and he managed to ride on days 2 and 3.


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I will post some photos taken on track and i have some on bike vidio footage i took.

Friday was terrible but Saturday and Sunday really made up for the poor start to the weekend, it was fantastic.:D
 
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Photos

Just a few photos taken on circuit


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I think from the vidio my best lap was 2mins 26 seconds, av miles per/hr 71.49 over the 2.894 mile circuit.

Troys lap record was 1min 43 seconds av mile per hr 99.26 bugger.

The world super bike race was 22 laps, at that rate i would have finished 15mins after troy. ( must try harder )

Need a bigger bike.
 
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Looks like an epic place if the weather is nice :thumbs:

A visit here is what I'm saving my pennies for ! :D:D
 
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