There’s nothing wrong with slow Steve, interspersed with moments of quick for a tad of adrenaline the back to slow before the inevitable happens , why have a fast bike if you don’t use it to it’s full potential we hear them cry, well because you happen to like that bikes looks, because you’re interested in the technology and because you do use it’s full potential from time to time amongst other reasons, my mate that I went to RH’s with is one of those that has to be the fastest, own the fastest bike/car, our instructor took us to our limit, during the track time he occasionally signals you to swap places, I saw my mate almost lose it several times, his comment when we finished? “He was holding us back at times, we could’ve gone faster”, I agree, we could’ve gone faster, straight into the Armco PS he was genuinely pissed off not to have scored higher than me on the assessment, life’s too short to worry about being fastest on a RH experience day isn’t it? :-/
I've been doing a lot of data work whilst racing this year and I take regular track temp readings through the day to try and get an idea of the best tyres to use and what is safe. At the moment on a cold day its around 5 degrees air temp and similar track surface temp in the morning. by about 1100hrs it gets to 10 degrees which is ok for the SC1/2 slicks with some caution and at lunch time its ~15 which is warm enough to get some speed on. Going out on SC1 or 2 that most people use in 10 degree conditions is an absolute lottery and a complete crash fest for anyone who is not in the top 10 fastest riders and able to keep heat in the tyres. Last year I used the Metzeller M7RR on the R6 when conditions were like this and apart from losing a few seconds off my laptimes they were ideal. At the beginning of this year I used them again on the BMW and whilst they didn't feel very good in morning qualifying they kept me upright whilst 35 bikes were smashed up through crashing on Craner Curves at Donny! (seriously 35!!) The problem I had then was once it warmed up a bit at lunch time they were definitely not great for hard racing and I really missed the slicks. It was the right choice as it was the safe choice but I definitely suffered on the more powerful bike when pushing harder. Pirelli SC0 will operate down to 5 degrees track surface temp apparently and I'll likely try these next time I'm forced to go out in those conditions. Frankly I'd rather be somewhere warm though!
What I can tell you from my experience. Last week I was in Hungary for a race. In the first two morning sessions the track had 10 degrees. What I used on my 1199 was Pirreli SBK SC1 in the front and SC3 in the back. I put on a fresh set. Fresh of the warmers I can tell you that after the outing lap, I could push it up to my riding abilities(I am in the lower part of the fastest group). In the afternoon when the track tem got up to temp(17-19 degrees) I put an SC1 in the back keeping the SC1 in the front. Everything was OK. What Pirreli told me that in sketchy and low temp conditions the SC1 in front and SC3 in the back is the best combination because they have the most wide temp range. The down side of the SC3 in the back is that the best riders can get up to 2 second slower laps, which for us amateurs doesn't matter
I'm not claiming to be a riding god, and I only ride in the dry these days, but based on riding sports litre bikes on the road for over 30 years I don't think you can have too much front tyre. By that I mean at least the likes of a Rosso Corsa.
Cant remember the guys name when I attended this. https://www.i2imca.com/KneeDown.asp An eye opener though. Was getting my knee down on an old cbr600 steel frame track bike. Tyres were road biased for sure. That said, you dont need to be going fast to get knee down. And I would not have fancied the same tyres on my S1r when pushing on!
Hi @Mark9, I was at the same school as you, but not sure if we were in the same group (11AM start group). I did have my own leathers but am not a track day regular (did one 10 years ago), so probably a different group. I signed up for the Elite course; a little worried about the big bike but very interested to use the telemetry to improve. My 1098 came with Supercorsa SPs, and they have moved around on me when cold and damp, which I don't like. I've had 2 opportunities to get something new (rear tyre picked up a nail after 2 months of ownership, and front was dead 9 months later), but didn't want different compounds/brands so I stuck with the Supercorsas even though they are probably not a great choice for commuting. I used to only have Pilot Powers on previous bikes and those just seemed like the right balance of grip, operating temp window, and wear.
Strange the way that nails are attracted to new tyres!, hope you enjoyed your day there, I did but not quite enough to go again, got a bit “sameish” towards the end, but I guess that’s the nature of a race track :-/
