| A
bright, sunny day saw a gathering of nearly 150 journalists
from all areas of the press at Mallory Park
in Leicestershire for the first annual MCI test day. The idea
is to expose as many people as possible to bikes in a positive
way. That means minimal involvement with the bike press and
maximum from local and national newspapers and TV. The logic
is that bike shows and track tests are only attended and read
by people who are already into bikes while an event like this
opens the audience up much further. Can't argue with the logic,
and the management of the day was superb. Inevitably there
were a few spills - no more than usual for a trackday, though,
which was a surprise considering the cross section of riders
- which the emergency team handled admirably. The catering
was good and the staff were friendly. Mallory certainly lived
up to its reputation as 'the friendly circuit' despite the
addition of a new chicane last year which, as well as providing
an excellent photo opportunity, proved to be rather hazardous
for several riders. Hopefully the MCI will consider the day
a success and will repeat it next year, because the concept
is great and we didn't find anyone who was unhappy about any
aspect of the day at all.
As well as a track day, the day offered the
chance for escorted road rides of 30 minutes at a time. The
escorts were all Police riders on fully marked bikes, the
day being heavily supported by Ridesafe. The opportunity to
talk with a large number of traffic policemen proved to be
quite enlightening and in the next few weeks you will see
several features resulting from those conversations, some
of which may be quite thought provoking.
Because we mainly test our bikes on the road,
we took the opportunity to do as many track tests as possible.
Obviously a single 20 minute session is hardly definitive
but it's enough to learn a fair bit, I think you'll agree.
Because of the strange structure of the day we'll just do
a paragraph each on the bikes we rode and let you draw your
own conclusions.
Simon
Kawasaki ZX6-R
First bike of the day for me and a bit of
a disappointment to be honest. Having had a ZX6 before I expected
a lot more attitude, more passion. What I got felt a little
antiseptic and bland. Which is a surprise because it was one
of the fastest things I rode all day. The ZX6-R is extremely
easy to ride very fast. It doesn't threaten to bite like some
others, it was as comfortable as anything and it fitted me
beautifully. I did find it a little reluctant to turn in,
but that may be down to my being rusty on a first track session
for a while. Either way, once tipped into the corner it was
perfectly stable and allowed me to wind the power back on
very early without fear of getting it all tied up. The mirrors,
though academic on the track, were completely useless. Good
job it's fast, then, so you don't have to worry too much about
being overtaken. Might not be so useful on the road, though.
Overall I can't criticise the bike for its abilities because
it is incredibly capable and I was impressed. It just left
me feeling a bit cold, and that's a shame for one of the Japanese
makers with the most passion.
Aprilia Mille R
We had one on the road for a while and I
never got to ride it. Which is a shame, because 20 minutes
on the track just wasn't enough. It feels very different to
anything else I've ever ridden, the possible exception being
the Suzuki TL1000R which was also surprisingly bulky for a
vee twin. But the power delivery, the lightness of the controls,
the response are all generations ahead of the Japanese bike.
The Aprilia could be tipped into corners very easily and was
one of the easiest bikes I rode all day to be  consistent
with straight away. I felt that I could have easily lapped
within a few tenths of a second every lap, it really was that
precise. The large, wide seat is comfortable and the power
delivery is great though rather less torquey than you might
expect. Then again, there was still enough to light up the
back tyre when I applied the power a little too enthusiastically.
Nothing too alarming but enough to remind me that there was
a lot of oomph on tap.
20 minutes was really not enough to even
get close to this bike's abilities as it needs a distinctly
different approach to most other bikes, but it says a lot
for it that I was trying (unsuccessfully) to get another session
later in the day when I was better dialled in. A really nice
bike. Fantastic brakes, too, illustrated very well when a
(track) inexperienced rider stopped in front of me to allow
an ambulance onto the track. Hint for all new track riders
- YOU have right of way and the ambulance will follow you
around. After all, you are going to be rather quicker than
he is. Anyway, going from fully committed acceleration out
of an already fast corner to fully committed braking the Aprilia
was perfectly happy. It would have been better, of course,
had the other guy been on the 'R' and I'd been on the factory
version with even better brakes. As it was, I can say for
sure that his Factory stopped very well indeed and my 'R'
was nearly as good but more exciting than I really wanted.
I missed him, though.
Suzuki GSX-R 1000
I was looking forward to this. The oldest
of the current 1000s and probably the most flexible in terms
of power delivery. Also, bizarre as it may sound, the most
conservative in terms of power and chassis geometry. A couple
of laps are needed to get some warmth into the tyres before
opening up. Even then the immense power is very obvious. The
bike is very deliberate, needing a firm hand to turn in but
reassuringly stable when turning. The excitement comes at
the exit when dialling the power back in. Things start to
happen very fast, the front goes light and that straight suddenly
becomes rather short. The first time I found myself coming
onto the main straight I was partly horrified and partly delighted
to find the front wheel heading skywards as I changed from
third to fourth. It may be the oldest of the 1000s (So last
year, darling) but the GSX-R is still monstrously fast. Practically,
it was comfortable and relatively easy to ride. The session
was cut short by an accident so I can't say a great deal more
about the bike. Other than this. I genuinely believe that
it is a brilliant machine and probably one of the best road
bikes out there. But it is so much more capable than 99% of
people that on the track there is a great risk of getting
into trouble. Just treat it with the respect it needs...
Honda SP-2
 A
very short session because of an accident after just a few
minutes, but in that time I had the opportunity to learn a
few things about the SP-2. It's very, very firmly set up.
That doesn't mean it's harsh, far from it. Just very firm.
It's physically very small and is correspondingly easy to
chuck around on the track. In fact, it was very easy to ride,
full stop. And talking of stops, the brakes are amazing. Handling
was very neutral, needing a distinct shove to get turned in
but then happy to hold a line.
I suspect a lot of people will have written
the SP-2 off now as being obsolete. That would be a terrible
mistake. It would also be a real missed opportunity, because
though it may not be at the cutting edge any more, in the
right hands it feels as though it would still be a force to
be reckoned with.
Hopefully we will be able to get one to road
test in the near future, because it could well become one
of the usable performance bargains of the year.
Kawasaki ZX10-R
I had the chance to ride a dealer's ZX10-R
on the road a few weeks back, when it was still very new indeed.
It says a lot that we decided to miss a scoop first road test
because I had such a bad time on the bike that I didn't feel
I could give it a fair review. At the time I thought that
either it was a badly setup example or Kawasaki had done some
sort of deal with the Association of British Undertakers.
Because it was frankly horrible.
After watching an unfortunate soul highside
another ZX10 earlier in the day and listening to other people
saying what an animal it was, you can probably imagine that
I wasn't exactly jumping with glee at the prospect of letting
it loose on the track. So it was a very pleasant surprise
indeed to find that, rather than a slavering beast that just
wanted to turn around and hurt me, the ZX10-R was actually
a very rideable track weapon.
 Let's
talk about the handling first. Because the ZX10 has a very
short wheelbase, apparently with a chassis geometry aping
that of Kawasaki's MotoGP bike. On the track that translates
to a bike that turns in very easily. Very, very easily. It's
interesting that it feels as though it wants to flop into
corners and that given half a chance that is exaclty what
it will do. But ride it into the corner and make the turn
an exercise in control and it all becomes very progressive,
very smooth with lots of feedback and all the adjustability
you could ask for. And then some. In a straight line it got
a little flighty, especially with the front wheel in the air
as it seemed to be much of the time. But controllable and
fast. Very fast.
The engine is astonishing, and the throttle
response is one of the best I've encountered, allowing the
rider to roll power in smoothly and progressively. Of course
the front is still inclined to go light and of course the
bike may still run a little wide. No problem, just push it
in a bit harder and provided you are being reasonable in your
demands on tyres and chassis it will just tighten up and keep
going round.
The ZX10-R is a frighteningly fast, awesomely
capable motorbike. I suspect many will be bought by people
whose purchases and driven more by peer pressure and self
delusion than by ability or necessity. And I fear that the
result of this may be an amount of media hysteria as people
hurt themselves. A ZX10-R will put you at the entry to any
corner you like 20mph faster than you expected. It may well
have the ability to get round without breaking a sweat but
do you?
If the ZX10 were a dog it would be a Pit
Bull. A loyal, friendly one, for sure. But also one with toothache
and a bad attitude. And an empty stomach. One, in other words,
that will be all docile and nice right up until the moment
it decides you're taking liberties. Then it'll have you. So
by all means get one, ride it and enjoy. Just don't take the
mickey...
Triumph Tiger
Now it should come as no surprise to hear
that we rather like monster trailies. I mean, look at the
last few reviews we've done featuring them if there is any
doubt. You can commute, tour or go scratching on them quite
happily. And they make great trackday tools as well. Not convinced?
They usually have stonking engines with perfect gearing, soft
but ultra controlled suspension, wide bars to give stacks
of leverage and yards of ground clearance. Why wouldn't they
make great track bikes?
 OK,
I admit it. The Tiger was a bit of a surprise. Not because
it was good exactly. More because of just how good it actually
was. It's a big bike with an immense tank and it's a pretty
daunting distance off the ground as well. But the controls
are nice and light, it has that lovely Triumph growl and it's
the most comfortable bike I've ever chased down a necessarily
anonymous Japanese litre sportsbike on. Yep, this big ole'
trailie managed to catch and pass one of this year's crop
of superbikes on a racetrack. Round a corner. And it was only
scraping a footpeg at the time.
The Tiger is phenomenal value for money.
It looks good, it goes great, it hanles and it stops pretty
well thanks to the usual Triumph brakes. It also offer the
flexibilty to allow you to go grass tracking when the occasional
little off-track excursion comes up. Not many sportsbikes
would let you get away with that.
I expected to come away from this faintly
underwhelmed. Instead I came away knowing what my next bike
would be if I were to fancy a change from sportsbikes. It's
big, it's orange, it's stripy and I liked it a lot...
Ducati 749S
 We
tested the 749S when it first came out and came to the conclusion
that it was a truly excellent motorbike. Ducati have since
added some horses and made the engine even more flexible,
even more rewarding. The chassis, always good, comes alive
on the track and gives the sort of feedback that would be
uncomfotable on a lesser machine. But here, now, on this wailing
Ducati, it's damn' near perfection. Handling is precise, neutral,
effortless. Brakes are fantastic and the power delivery faultless.
It's no rocket ship, for sure, but the 749S is still one of
the fastest things you'll find on any trackday.
A good measure of how good a bike really
is on the track, I find, is how soon I'm prepared to really
push it. Some bikes today never got to that point. Some got
there eventually. On the 749S I found that I was approaching
maximum lean and getting on the power hard about halfway through
my session. That tells me that the Ducati 749S is a bike that
I could be completely confident with and that I didn't have
to make any major adjustments to my riding style to accomodate.
In short, then, the Ducati 749S was fantastic
before. Now it's even better.
Suzuki GSX-R 750
This was something I was really looking forward
to. Ever since trying one on the road I had been dying to
get my hands on a fully loosened up example that I could really
let loose with. And the only place to do that is a racetrack,
so having the last session of my day on the GSX-R 750 was
just right for me.
 As
soon as I got on the bike I felt at home. Of course, having
owned an older version for a few years there are bound to
be family connections but my day on the new bike had already
shown me that there were significant changes in power and
handling. What I didn't realise until I got out there was
just how significant those changes were.
Remember what I said earlier about confidence
and being able to push hard earlier? I found myself opening
the throttle harder and earlier on corner exits, leaning further
and braking later than I had on anything else. Quite simply,
the GSX-R 750 gave me so much confidence around Mallory that
I was able to tackle any section of the track far faster and
far more accurately than on anything else. What really brought
it home to me was exiting Gerrards with my knee on the deck
and the throttle on the way to the stop and then realising
that this was just the second warmup lap. Perhaps that was
a little overconfident, I don't know. But what I do know is
that the GSX-R may only be a 750 but it could easily live
with any of the litre bikes simply by giving the rider the
confidence to get on the power harder and earlier. At the
same time it managed to pull away from the 600s because it
has more power and torque but it's all just as accessible.
So they don't get the advantages they used to.
That last paragraph sounds a little big headed.
It isn't meant to be - the speed and confidence are down purely
to the bike, not me. I like corner speed, for sure, but the
GSX-R 750 takes even an average rider like me and flatters,
improves and gently massages into something faster, leaner
and safer.
Suzuki claim to own the ractrack. Well in
British Superbikes the GSX-R 1000 would seem to back that
claim up. And the GSX-R 750 should make pretty sure that it
works out here in the real world of mere mortal trackday riders
as well.
Go
to part 2 - The bikes that Adrian tested....
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