Through work, I was recently invited to be a guest at the annual Yamaha Dealer Experience event at Silverstone. Run over two days (March 22nd and 23rd, the day I attended) it's a unique opportunity to ride all the new 2012 models on road and track, attend seminars, meet 'top brass' from Yamaha Motors UK and enjoy superb hospitality. It's a full on day but to say it was EPIC is an understatement! Despite the early morning fog for the drive to the circuit (!) and it lingering around for a while, we were blessed with what I can only describe as perfect conditions from 10.00 am onwards (and just in time for the first riding sessions!) once it had burned off-it was like a hot summer's day, and the first really decent day of the year-glorious! RESULT! 
I managed to ride a wide selection of bikes during the course of the day, some of which I hadn't experienced before, including an FZ8, TDM900, WR250F Enduro, EC-03 Electric Moped (!), T-Max 530 (a 'maxi-scooter' that does over 120mph....!), R6 track bikes, WR125R and an FJR1300.
The road runs were conducted by the Warwickshire Police 'Bike Safe' Unit, and on one run (riding an FRJ1300, complete with panniers!) I was fortunate to have a one-to-one ride following in the wheel tracks of one of the officers present. I won't tell you what speeds we got up to, suffice to say 'progress' was being made....!
It was a highlight of my day to get an enthusiastic and approving thumbs up and comments from the officer when we got back to the circuit. I never saw his brakelight come on AT ALL, until he arrived back in the paddock, so smooth was his technique on the gears and his observation/road postioning skills! A fantastic ride and a real priviledge, one I will remember for a very long time. I was just pleased I was able to keep up with him safely on what was a challenging route along the roads and lanes surrounding the circuit, and the experience gave my confidence a huge boost to know that I must be doing something right on the roads after all these years! My current daily commute to work on my Yamaha FZS1000S Fazer and other 'company' bikes (60 odd miles round trip on sketchy [but great] roads...) keeps me sharp, but BOY those police lads can peddle a bike around! It took a while to get used to seeing them in my mirrors though, especially as we were (ahem!) pressing on a bit....Great fun, spirited for sure, but all nice and safe just the same. I learnt a great deal from that ride.
In fact the standard of riding was very high all day from everyone, and it was such a pleasure to go out with a group of confident and experienced professional riders, including one lady who certainly knew how to handle a bike. In fact, there was only one 'nutter' in our group, who was black flagged (and given a stiff talking to...
) on one of our track sessions for riding like a mentalist....There is always one, after all....
A tasty rider for sure, but he was young and seemed to have summat to prove, while the rest of us were just there to enjoy the day, learn something, and get home in one peice without lobbing a bike!!! We'd also been told decking out the pegs on track would be frowned upon (but they didn't say anything about knee sliders....!)
The track sessions were conducted superbly by the lads at the California Superbike School. Having the instructors (they prefer to be called coaches) circulating out on track with you is both reassuring and humbling. There you are, giving it your absolute best effort, and then one of the 'top guns' whistles past on the outside like you're standing still, and then calmly takes a hand off the bar (knee down!) to point at the track and indicate the apex you're supposed to be aiming for (and missing....again!!!) RESPECT!!!!!
+++ These lads truly are in a different league, but they couldn't have been friendlier or more approachable and helpful. Their hard work and the way they looked after us ensured safe and massively enjoyable track sessions for everyone throughout the day.
We also got to ride WR250F enduro bikes round an off-road course at the circuit, supervised by the Yamaha Off-Road Experience lads, including Geraint Jones (10 British Enduro Championships, 8 ISDE Gold Medals.) What a hoot!!! Although the course was in some ways more of a gentle trail ride, it still had it's challenges (especially with all that long travel suspension...!) and was a mixture of (dry) mud/clay, grass, deep gravel and wood chips, over varied terrain with open and nadgery stuff, hills, descents, and some tricky tight turns to negotiate. Great fun, good ride, nice bike!
The ride around the pit complex (including access to the new pit lane facilities, which not many will have seen yet as they've only just finished it in readiness for this years events) on the tiny little EC-03 electric 'peds was HILARIOUS!!! It was like being back in my old '70's moped 'gang' (as I think it was for several other particants as well...!) as evidenced by the wheelies, skids, etc! The number of little black lines left in the indoor pit section we rode through (it's what rear brakes are for isn't it...?!) got more numerous as the day progressed-it HAD to be done though! An interesting development this machine, and perhaps representing our future in many ways. We rode a lap of the circuit on half-power, then another on full-power, all switchable from the small console mounted on the bars, which looked more like the display from a digital camera with a speedo than a bike (!) In full-power mode they will do 30mph, and around 20mph on the half-power setting. The charge is good for a 20 mile range and takes around seven hours to charge a fully discharged battery. Ideal for motorhome/paddock use, as well as a short trip to the shops etc, it'll be interesting to see how this early production example of this emerging technology will fare in the market (costing around £2,500), and congratulations to Yamaha for being among the first of the big manufacturers to produce something like this. What a cracking little bike, and so easy to ride!
Other highlights, among far too many to mention here, were getting to meet current British Superbike Champion Tommy Hill (who was also out having fun on track with us!) and a superb stunt riding show from Dave Coates during the lunch break. To be so close to the action in such a small group, taking it all in from the pit plane wall, was just incredible! What this boy can do with a bike beggers belief! Check out the pic of his one-handed rolling stoppie on his tricked up R1 in post #4, whilst braking with his LEFT HAND.....!!! How.....?!!!+++
Oh yeah, did I mention that the food was also very good indeed (I've never been asked WHICH TYPE of bacon I want in my breakfast roll before...!), and that we all got excellent 'goodie bags' from Yamaha at the end of the day (including a very nice logo'd body warmer specially produced for the event) as well as a CD of professionally taken pics of the day by resident photography team 'Picman'? How they edited these and copied them all (in a presentation case with a proper cover!) for everyone so they could be given out at the end of the day is simply beyond my understanding....! Quality!
I spent the whole time grinning like a fool, and reminding myself that I was actually being PAID to do all this....!!! At the end of a truly memorable day, driving out around the circuit perimeter access roads and soaking up the atmosphere of a by now nearly deserted Silverstone basking in the warm late afternoon sunshine, I was stoked to the brim and couldn't help but feel how lucky I'd been to have taken part. I would like to take the opportunity here to extend my warmest thanks and appreciation to my boss Chris, and all of the team at Yamaha Motors UK (and everyone else involved) for making it possible for me to attend. It's a day I'll never forget, and I hope everyone enjoys reading this report and seeing the attached pics. I wore my Barry Sheene rep Arai with great pride (and Andy Peck only called me 'Barry' once....!!!)
Brian.
These pics are from the first track session of the day, and in the first Andy Peck (the man in charge of the track for the day, and California Superbike School Deputy Chief Rider Coach Class 1) and I are sharing a smile as I have just succesfully given him the 'secret password' in order to be allowed out on track. No, it was nothing to do with emu's (Dave!), it was in fact 'COLD TYRES!!!!' Quite right too. The FZ8 was a great choice of bike for the first track session while I was learning the way round.
Please Note; All images attached to this post are courtesy of Gary Bailey-www.picman.co.uk, used with kind permission. Many thanks guys!
I managed to ride a wide selection of bikes during the course of the day, some of which I hadn't experienced before, including an FZ8, TDM900, WR250F Enduro, EC-03 Electric Moped (!), T-Max 530 (a 'maxi-scooter' that does over 120mph....!), R6 track bikes, WR125R and an FJR1300.
The road runs were conducted by the Warwickshire Police 'Bike Safe' Unit, and on one run (riding an FRJ1300, complete with panniers!) I was fortunate to have a one-to-one ride following in the wheel tracks of one of the officers present. I won't tell you what speeds we got up to, suffice to say 'progress' was being made....!
It was a highlight of my day to get an enthusiastic and approving thumbs up and comments from the officer when we got back to the circuit. I never saw his brakelight come on AT ALL, until he arrived back in the paddock, so smooth was his technique on the gears and his observation/road postioning skills! A fantastic ride and a real priviledge, one I will remember for a very long time. I was just pleased I was able to keep up with him safely on what was a challenging route along the roads and lanes surrounding the circuit, and the experience gave my confidence a huge boost to know that I must be doing something right on the roads after all these years! My current daily commute to work on my Yamaha FZS1000S Fazer and other 'company' bikes (60 odd miles round trip on sketchy [but great] roads...) keeps me sharp, but BOY those police lads can peddle a bike around! It took a while to get used to seeing them in my mirrors though, especially as we were (ahem!) pressing on a bit....Great fun, spirited for sure, but all nice and safe just the same. I learnt a great deal from that ride. In fact the standard of riding was very high all day from everyone, and it was such a pleasure to go out with a group of confident and experienced professional riders, including one lady who certainly knew how to handle a bike. In fact, there was only one 'nutter' in our group, who was black flagged (and given a stiff talking to...
) on one of our track sessions for riding like a mentalist....There is always one, after all.... A tasty rider for sure, but he was young and seemed to have summat to prove, while the rest of us were just there to enjoy the day, learn something, and get home in one peice without lobbing a bike!!! We'd also been told decking out the pegs on track would be frowned upon (but they didn't say anything about knee sliders....!)The track sessions were conducted superbly by the lads at the California Superbike School. Having the instructors (they prefer to be called coaches) circulating out on track with you is both reassuring and humbling. There you are, giving it your absolute best effort, and then one of the 'top guns' whistles past on the outside like you're standing still, and then calmly takes a hand off the bar (knee down!) to point at the track and indicate the apex you're supposed to be aiming for (and missing....again!!!) RESPECT!!!!!
+++ These lads truly are in a different league, but they couldn't have been friendlier or more approachable and helpful. Their hard work and the way they looked after us ensured safe and massively enjoyable track sessions for everyone throughout the day. We also got to ride WR250F enduro bikes round an off-road course at the circuit, supervised by the Yamaha Off-Road Experience lads, including Geraint Jones (10 British Enduro Championships, 8 ISDE Gold Medals.) What a hoot!!! Although the course was in some ways more of a gentle trail ride, it still had it's challenges (especially with all that long travel suspension...!) and was a mixture of (dry) mud/clay, grass, deep gravel and wood chips, over varied terrain with open and nadgery stuff, hills, descents, and some tricky tight turns to negotiate. Great fun, good ride, nice bike!
The ride around the pit complex (including access to the new pit lane facilities, which not many will have seen yet as they've only just finished it in readiness for this years events) on the tiny little EC-03 electric 'peds was HILARIOUS!!! It was like being back in my old '70's moped 'gang' (as I think it was for several other particants as well...!) as evidenced by the wheelies, skids, etc! The number of little black lines left in the indoor pit section we rode through (it's what rear brakes are for isn't it...?!) got more numerous as the day progressed-it HAD to be done though!
An interesting development this machine, and perhaps representing our future in many ways. We rode a lap of the circuit on half-power, then another on full-power, all switchable from the small console mounted on the bars, which looked more like the display from a digital camera with a speedo than a bike (!) In full-power mode they will do 30mph, and around 20mph on the half-power setting. The charge is good for a 20 mile range and takes around seven hours to charge a fully discharged battery. Ideal for motorhome/paddock use, as well as a short trip to the shops etc, it'll be interesting to see how this early production example of this emerging technology will fare in the market (costing around £2,500), and congratulations to Yamaha for being among the first of the big manufacturers to produce something like this. What a cracking little bike, and so easy to ride!Other highlights, among far too many to mention here, were getting to meet current British Superbike Champion Tommy Hill (who was also out having fun on track with us!) and a superb stunt riding show from Dave Coates during the lunch break. To be so close to the action in such a small group, taking it all in from the pit plane wall, was just incredible! What this boy can do with a bike beggers belief! Check out the pic of his one-handed rolling stoppie on his tricked up R1 in post #4, whilst braking with his LEFT HAND.....!!! How.....?!!!
+++Oh yeah, did I mention that the food was also very good indeed (I've never been asked WHICH TYPE of bacon I want in my breakfast roll before...!), and that we all got excellent 'goodie bags' from Yamaha at the end of the day (including a very nice logo'd body warmer specially produced for the event) as well as a CD of professionally taken pics of the day by resident photography team 'Picman'? How they edited these and copied them all (in a presentation case with a proper cover!) for everyone so they could be given out at the end of the day is simply beyond my understanding....! Quality!
I spent the whole time grinning like a fool, and reminding myself that I was actually being PAID to do all this....!!! At the end of a truly memorable day, driving out around the circuit perimeter access roads and soaking up the atmosphere of a by now nearly deserted Silverstone basking in the warm late afternoon sunshine, I was stoked to the brim and couldn't help but feel how lucky I'd been to have taken part. I would like to take the opportunity here to extend my warmest thanks and appreciation to my boss Chris, and all of the team at Yamaha Motors UK (and everyone else involved) for making it possible for me to attend. It's a day I'll never forget, and I hope everyone enjoys reading this report and seeing the attached pics. I wore my Barry Sheene rep Arai with great pride (and Andy Peck only called me 'Barry' once....!!!)
Brian.
These pics are from the first track session of the day, and in the first Andy Peck (the man in charge of the track for the day, and California Superbike School Deputy Chief Rider Coach Class 1) and I are sharing a smile as I have just succesfully given him the 'secret password' in order to be allowed out on track. No, it was nothing to do with emu's (Dave!), it was in fact 'COLD TYRES!!!!' Quite right too. The FZ8 was a great choice of bike for the first track session while I was learning the way round.
Please Note; All images attached to this post are courtesy of Gary Bailey-www.picman.co.uk, used with kind permission. Many thanks guys!
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