I hear you. I was just being flippant. I know a few guys who are Johnny big bananas on the forums but then don’t like putting miles on their vehicles when it actually comes to it etc. That said, I’ve come at this the other way round. I’ve been working the classifieds for a nice 996s or 998 - but you’re looking at £10k plus for something v clean, then have to assume £2k plus for thorough service / reconditioning, then mods etc. and who knows what for unexpecteds. When you can get an early v4 for £15k which you can actually ride, is the ultimate experience, doesn’t need belt changes etc etc is still pretty much the most charismatic bike you can buy etc. Maybe it’s too much for the road but you only live once, man maths etc etc
Changing from a 79 Z1R to a 94 GPZ 900 is the biggest jump in speed and handling I've experienced. That was decades ago, but I can only think of a couple of similar experiences since. They were the 98 Fireblade to a 99 R1 and 06 GSXR1000 to a 13 S1000RR. I didn't find more talent, the bikes and tyres just got a lot better. So I don't necessarily agree there's no point in buying a better bike. Though what you might have got away with 15 or 20 years ago on the road won't fly now. Big wheelies or knee downs can be the fast route to a ban.
Laptimes haven’t really budged a great deal in many many years. Some lap records from the 2000’s I believe still stand or have done up until recently. That speaks volumes about what’s usable and what isn’t to me
On bikes? I guess physics come into it eventually. Once you've maxed out on braking, grip and lean angle there's not much room for improvement.
Yep. Bikes are more powerful and we have a whole load more tech. But still only a small contact patch and tyre tech although better, hasn’t grown at the rate the bikes have. My opinion anyway. Not overly dissimilar in cars either tbh, it took fooking ages for the modern era of f1 cars to beat laptimes from back in the v10 era.
That’s not actually unusual for bikes in race form to be downtuned. Especially in certain gears. It’s for similar reasons bikes aren’t run with one to one throttle connection. It’s a real buzz word over the last few years, but the things would be unrideable
The gear position sensor on my V4 went tits up on an out lap. Then ALL the electronics dropped out. It was so shit to ride back it was funny. Awful!! It was an excellent demonstration of what those little pixies are doing whilst hooning along….
I did hear over the last few seasons of riders complaining about the organisers of the likes of bsb and wsbk who kept bringing in softer and softer tyre compounds in order to bring faster laptimes but naturally at a high degradation cost. Leaving riders in situations where they’ve got no tyre left halfway through the race (or worse). Riders stating they’d rather have longevity than shit loads of grip for 5-10 laps. Seems logical to me. whats the point of going a second quicker if you can’t finish the race
It begs the question, when will the powers that be put a sensible limit on it... Don't all jump in, I know the answer in reality is never. Actually, I think the answer is that they might when the road going public dictate what gets raced again, i.e. if stuff like the RS660 sells as well as it looks like it is, and the race grids start getting better and better for small capacity bikes again, and popularity drops on superbikes then maybe naturally they will develop the lower classes more. It's probably 10 years away though, because as of now, I'd say 75% of bikes on trackdays are 1000cc.
I had some experience of Higgs this year, he doesn't listen... he's a manic professor and clearly getting the job done but he often doesn't leave a good first/second impression. I won't go into the specifics but in my experience it involved my friend getting told he had his place taken off him 3 days before R1 and told 'tough luck' over something that he had been working with higgs on for months. We even went to the BSB Testing and were well within the allotted targets.
He’s too busy getting up to the back wheels in Faye Ho. Can’t blame the bloke tbf. I wouldn’t kick her out of bed for farting either. Higgs is well known for being a monumental bellend though, saying that so is Palmer so it’s a match made in heaven.
After getting Michelins with my Pantah I as quickly as possibly changed them for Phantoms and swore never to darken M Michelin's doorstep ever. Until my 749 then 999 came with Pilot Powers and I was converted to Michelin. Not tried scs or the other modern tyres mentioned but I am always confident in the Michelins and get reaonable mileage. On wear my 600 Yam single tore through BT45's relentlessly.
I’ll forgive Palmer a lot for the fact that he could probably make quite a bit more money just selling all the land off for residential property development - but chooses to let us ride / drive the circuits instead…
I reckon he probably would do/that might be the long game. The circuits have protection against them (brands especially). My Old man was one of the original instructors back in the Webb and Epstein era of the group and the Foulstons who used to own the group prior to octagon and now palmergheddon we used to be friendly with. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but it’s a pretty water tight agreement against the land some of which is green belt. Palmer is an interesting character, not very well liked in the motorsport world and his motorsport cv isn’t exactly stellar, exaggerated in many’s eyes. I’m sure he used to call himself “turbo f1 champion”.. no context as he was the only turbo car on the grid. Bit like saying I’ve got the biggest cock in the world.. and calling the world my living room. But… he has operated the circuits to a reasonable level and the series’s he owns are doing well also in what is a dying industry. It is little known but true that he is not the sole owner of msv, it was originally a group of gents who purchased the circuits from the American company octagon. Palmer wasn’t really the money, he was the front man and I believe the money he put up was actually his missus’s (although that I’m not 100% on). I’m not very involved with the place anymore but I’m pretty sure some members of the group have been gradually buying each other out and there’s only a few left of the original. Attendance is pretty dire in motorsport across the board, my old man has chopper photos of wsbk at brands with over 100k in attendance in one day. They’re lucky to get 30/50k over the whole weekend these days. I’d wager he’s making his money from track hire (trackdays) and the series he runs. The schools (if you can call them that anymore) don’t make much and are a bit shit these days. Money from ticket sales wouldn’t go very far either.
Good to know thank you - I did hear something about plans for Bedford to built over a couple of yrs back - but not heard anything since. V good news re Brands - always seems mad that people are building / extending houses right on the circuit perimeter - can imagine them then complaining about noise and access issues... Understand that is why the GP circuit is so rarely used for TD's...(?)
Yeah, there’s an agreement with the council and local residents that they’ll only run X’amount of ‘noisy days’ and days on the GP loop. The noise issue has been ongoing ever since I was a kid but has gradually been getting worse. I was essentially brought up at brands and know the place like the back of my hand. Very sad state of affairs now with it all. Mental isn’t it, move next door to a renowned motorracing circuit and then complain about noise… begs belief really. But people are mostly cnuts so it’s hardly surprising. One of the previous owners went at it with the local residents many years ago (no names), it was all rather funny. The locals don’t want noise and don’t want a race track. They also don’t want houses there or in fact anything else either.
