Tight Club

If you like riding bikes fast, there comes a time in your life where only track days will scratch that itch. And old bikes make great track day bikes…

- Mark Forsyth

Let’s face it, speeding – proper speeding – has become about as socially acceptable as drink driving. Get caught and you’re not going to just get a ticking off and you’re not going to hear the phrase, ‘oo d’you think you are, Barry Sheene?’ any more.

Nope, get caught speeding properly and you’re going to prison. And on modern sportsbikes, you don’t have to be trying particularly hard before you get your collar felt. Short shift through the gears of a Kawasaki ZZ-R1400 – and even on part throttle you’re deep into three figure speeds quicker than you can deliver your mitigating circumstances.

There’s a bunch of us who have had enough of this risk. Well, a bunch of us with little or no willpower who find it impossible to ride at legal speeds on the roads who have all taken the track day plunge and bought (old) bikes just for this purpose.

People treat track days very differently. We’re just in it for a good time with minimal fuss, bother and spannering on the day. We just want to put fuel in and ride. We don’t want to be fannying around with tyre warmers, paddock stands, generators, GoPros, transponders and laptops. We want to be drinking tea, taking the piss out of each other and having a laugh. But doing it all as cheaply as possible has turned out to be more competitive and nearly as much fun as being out on track.

A mate and myself started the ball rolling three or four years ago on our road bikes. He (Adam) had never done a track day before so we both booked into a Donington Park event (£100 each). Adam owns a fairly new ZX-10 Kawasaki and is a rapid road rider. Seven 20-minute sessions was enough for the bug to bite.