DeeKnow’s Grotto

A few weeks back Agent-748 asked me if I wanted to go on a track day with his Ducatsi mob. I've been dying to get along to one for ages so of course I had to accept. At the time I thought it was gonna be Pukekohe but when I turned up today at the ungodly meetup time of 7:45am (yes, in the morning) it turned out we were off to Taupo. This was a great result really coz Taupo seems better suited for bikes anyway.

I wasn't the only non-Italian on the track thank heavens, there were a couple of GSXR/1000's, a Hayabusa, an older GSX1100 and a TLR/1000. Just me and the Suzukis to try and defend a little Japanese honour.

Had one ugly incident on the first session, wound the power on too early exiting the corner at the start of the back straight, back tire lost traction and the machine started working its way sideways. I remember thinkin "Oh fuck" and holding on to the thing like some rodeo rider and magically it just righted itself... thank God.

We were doing a dozen or so laps per session and by the third session I was really getting into it, had pretty much found my lines and was starting to give it a bit more welly through the chicane that winds past the pits, the only two right-hand corners on the track.

Had a battle all day with Phil on his Duke ST4 (916 powered) he's more experienced and I never did manage to pass him coz the big twin just had too much torque entering the back straight which meant I really had to cane the ZXR to catch him during the rest of the lap. Was bloody great tho having someone else circulating at about the same speed. I think the other lads were getting some entertainment out of our little twin-vs-four battle.

My wrists are killing me from braking at the end of that back-straight, felt like I was really caning it down there. I've been riding the ZXR reasonably firmly since I bought it but the track work was a real test of the brakes, and they seemed to perform well for an old machine. Had some great sport trying to out-break others at the end of the back-straight, leaning it into the fast left hander down towards the hair-pin.

We rode down (and back) along Old Taupo Rd which was a blast on its own.  Bends galore and no traffic. I've got some photos but will prolly be some more once the other fellahs email theirs around.

Bloody Brilliant Day !!! ... highly recommend it. :-)

8:45:21 PM