Adrian

Wednesday was wet and windy, but in the evening there were signs of it brightning up for the MCI test day at Mallory Park the following morning, I just hoped that it would be fine and dry. Indeed it was, that morning was sunny, warm and dry and that's how the day went, in fact it got quite hot out on track and the grip was just great.

My first chosen bike of the day was from Triumph, their latest incarnation of the parallel twin, the 900 Thruxton. I had wanted to ride one of these ever since it was announced some months ago, the looks and styling just grab you and throw you back to the cafe-racer days of the 60's.

Sitting on the bike you realise just how slim the twin is, it has the trademark clip-on handlebars of the era, rear-set footpegs and a riding position clearly designed to angle you into the wind as there is absolutely no protection whatsoever. Fire up the 900 and the engine gives you immediate response and settles down to a low throb on tick-over. I was pleasantly surprised at the performance of the Thruxton 900, on track it went extremely well with lots of low down power always available. Accelerating out of corners saw the revs go right up to hit the limiter with ease, in fact you had to watch it closely, it just seemed so willing to rev that I started to run a gear higher in most corners and took advantage of the torque available instead.

The general handling of the Thruxton is excellent, on track the only thing I could fault it with was the possible need for a steering damper as the fork geometry made direction change somewhat slower that most sportsbikes, and it reacted with little front end twitches now and again. I did have a great time on this bike, it would corner at almost any speed with complete stability and you could push it in almost every situation without any adverse reaction. A great bike, well built and with lots of character. The Thruxton 900 is ideal for everyday rides and those weekend runs down your favourite twisty roads!!

Suzuki GSX-R750K4

Having been riding a GSX-R600K4 for the past few weeks I just had to try the 750 on track! Experience of the old model made me more than interested in just how the latest model differed. The latest 600 is so different from the past version that it reminds me of riding the older 750, there seems to be just as much power yet better handling. The latest 750 on track lived up to all my expectations, everything that was said a little earlier is absolutely correct! Why anyone needs a 1000 is beyond me, this 750 will run rings around most 1lt bikes and will surely be the best kept secret of 2004. Only vanity will make a lot of riders discount the 750 as a small bike, bravado does this to some people! Give me a new GSX-R600 or 750 and I'm a happy chap out on track!! Ok there are other bikes that will be just as satisfying as the 750, but none of them will inspire you with the confidence that this GSX-R does, the others you will have to learn first before you begin to explore their limits..

Kawasaki ZX10-R

The new ZX10 has been mooted as a truly difficult bike to get along with in everyday circumstances let alone on a track, so this opportunity to try it out, although for a mere 20 mins or so was welcome. Now don't get me wrong here but having said I like 600's and 750's I have done my fair share of track riding on 1000cc 4's over the years so the ZX10 posed little problem to me on first ride out on track. The one thing I do have to say for it is the motor is astounding in its power delivery and sheer performance. It is like a switch, its on or off, much like an earlier 600 hitting a power band. It is also a very short bike with some serious geometry a-la-GP bike, so it handles like one too! Every corner turn in is sharp, fairly precise and clean out, but beware of that power delivery. I had a rider highside a ZX10 directly in front of me today, not a pretty sight as the bike kicked wildly at the rear, but it wasn't even on full power, yet I was on another bike, an R1 (read about it later). This pretty much confirmed my overall thoughts about the ZX10, it is a tricky bike to master, has serious power and good handling, and will not suit the average weekend rider. The ZX10-R is a good bike, I did actually like it but I do think it is way too radical for the road..

Ducati 999S

I had the pleasure of riding a 999S after riding the standard 999 biposto for a week or so late last year on the road. I really wanted to try out the 999S on the track to see if it was as good there as it was on the familiar twisty roads of Oxfordshire, and all my expectations were proved to be true, it was better than I could ever have imagined!

The 999 is not to everyones liking, it's a bike you have to get used to and you have to learn how to make the best of it. The 999 is a small bike in reality, anyone slightly larger than normal will feel as if they are swamping the bike, but it's only because is is just so slim and everything is so tucked in for ultimate ground clearance. Riding the 999 makes you feel like a star, it is seriously fast, handles supremely and still has the best brakes on any bike in my opinion, even though they are not radials the Brembo Gold series brakes pull you up from some serious speed with just two fingers, ultimate feel and control is the name of the game with these brakes. On the suspension side you are greeted with Ohlins front and rear and an Ohlins stering damper, top kit!

The 999S took Mallory Park as if it were a quiet Sunday ride out, nothing phased it and not much would keep up with it, corners became a slight flick and the straights just passed by at top speed. A little braking into most corners and a bit of heavy braking for the chicane was about the only time you were ever off the throttle. The v-twin was supreme in its power delivery, a perfectly balanced and fantastic handling bike which takes any track and turns it into a nice ride out with your mates! The only criticism is the mirrors, you really can't see anything out of them unless you look under your armpits! Mirrors, who needs mirrors, anyone behind you doesn't matter, or so say the Italians! This bike has to be one of my all time favourites, it's just fantastic!!

Yamaha R1

When it come to the best looking 1lt Japanese bike I think the new R1 wins by a long way, the all new Yamaha looks awesome! So does it ride as well as it looks?? A 20 minute track test was all it needed to convince me that this bike is nothing like the previous model, and planets away from my first 2000 model R1 which I loved so much. This bike has lots of power, I mean LOTS of power, but it's all delivered so beautifully in a linear way, which is pretty useful when you have over 175bhp!

Never a twitch off line or a prevoked reaction came from the R1 on the track, it just took every bend, chicane or hairpin with ease and felt stable and solid under hard acceleration. The speed with which the next corners were coming up was indeed frightning, but a quick dab on the infamous Yamaha front brakes saw you down to a respectable corner entry speed. In fact I would say you can carry more speed into the corners than you dare to imagine on the new R1, it turns in without any hesitation or worry and holds a totally stable line around any corner.

The finish and build quality of the new R1 is beautiful, I don't think there is any other Japanese 1000cc Sportsbike bike that compares to the quality of the Yamaha, all the components fit properly and the finish and styling is just superb.

Triumph Daytona 955i -

I hadn't ridden a Triumph Daytona for a long time, in fact the last one I rode was my own bike, a 595i, some 3yrs ago which I had great times on over the 2yrs or more that I owned it, so I wanted to try out the new 2004 955i to see just what had changed since. On first impression not a great deal was that different in its feel and overall design, but get it out and fire it away out of the Mallory Park pit lane and wow what a difference! Power is up dramatically and the handling is razor sharp compared to the somewhat manhandling style you had to use with the previous versions.

The precision that you can ride this bike with is still amazing for quite a heavyweight sportsbike, it rides beautifully and has so much power and torque from the famous 3cyl motor that gearchanges almost become a thing of the past in many situations. Rool on the power in most corners and you just build up speed without any fuss or bother, turn in to a corner and the bike is stable as if it's on rails. Get to your braking point and those fantastic Triumph brakes do their job admirably, hauling up the 955i in an instant, yes this is a different bike entirely from its predecessors. I was impressed at the new Triumph Daytona, in fact as a track day bike it is seriously fast and will surprise a great number of other bikes with its agility and performance. On the road it is still a balistic missile with some seroius distance capability, and it doesn't use that much fuel, which means you can go a long long way on that big tank!

Honda CBR1000RR -

The new 'Blade' looks so wildly different from the previous model that at first glance you are hard pressed to distinguish it from the little CBR600RR, but twist the throttle and that's where you feel the difference! The CBR1000RR is light and agile, just like the 600, it rides just like the 600 with more power, and again just like the 600 is such a user-friendly package that it will surely be the top choice for the weekend bikers. In my opinion Honda should have made this new Blade different from the 600, it's styling is conservative and is not sufficiently different to make me decide on a 1000 instead of the much more agile and 'filckable' 600RR. As a track day bike the 600 will win every time, as a road bike then the Blade is the one.

Other Japanese manufacturers make 600's 750's and 1000's look the same like Suzuki, but there are sufficient differences in power and performance to give you a choice of which one to go for, Honda on the other hand seem to have made the 1000RR as an extension to the 600 and not 'so different' to ride. It is still a great bike and keeps up the tradition of the 'Blade' in every respect, well built and extra reliable as all Honda motorcycles are.

BMW R1200GS -

So on the the last bike I rode at Mallory Park, and what an experience to say the least!! I had recently completed a road test on the all new R1200GS and was impressed, or rather taken-aback at the capability of the new bike from BMW. It is a serious long distance motorcycle with pretty much go-anywhere capability. Big, tall, pretty long and wide are just some of the things it can be described as, but when it come to actually riding it there's another story!

This is a bike for tall people, anyone under about 5'6" in going to struggle to even get their legs down on the ground, it does have a lower seat option which will be useful for a lot of people, but as it was in standard trim on the day I think a lot of potential riders steered clear because of the height. Getting on it even for me is a little bit of a stretch, but I can touch the ground easily once on. The wide bars and high seating position doesn't normally inspire fast track day riding, but get it out there and explore it's limits and the sheer fun and exhilaration you get from the 1200GS is amazing!

The first thing you notice is that it corners, fast, it accelerates in the corner, hard and it brakes at the very last minute, way after other bikes have started to slow down. It has plenty of grip from its enduro style tyres even though the rear is only a 150 section! But the most amazing thing about this bike is its agility, it just rides around most other things on the track with total domination. Never before have I experienced this sort of 'pick a line, any line' in every corner, and get round it at almost any speed you care to go in at. If you brake hard at the very last minute into a corner, even cranked over, the Telelever suspension keeps the front end hard down into the tarmac, and the ABS linked brakes just haul you down from the most ridiculous entry speed you can imagine!!

Undertaking Supermotos became the game as there were about 6 of them out on track at the time, it wasn't difficult to do it at all! Overtaking Superbikes on the outside at Gerrards was next as you didn't need brakes before entry and the 'big ole' GS just rode around them with ease! Mmmmm I want one to play with for a long time!!!

All in all the Mallory Park MCI test day went off without a hitch, it was very enjoyable, it gave us a chance to ride a lot of different bikes on the track which we would never have had normally, and all praise to the organisers, Waterson Communications and the MCI for making it a great day.