Lydden track day info

[Keir_K3]

Looking to book a track day and have found that Lydden is only £90. I know some of you are track day addicts so can i have some info on this track please. Bear in mind i'll be doing it on an NC30....
Whats it like? Long/short? Technical/boring any reviews really.

Would anyone else be interested? 18th August is the next one.
Cheers.

[DoodleBug]

Look at my Signature, and THIS (http://www.essexbikers.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=8398&highlight=oops)

Good fun track this. Like brands indy in reverse and a bit smaller.

We have done 1 track day here and the Moped Madness race, good fun was had by all. (well okay, I spent most of the track day sulking over a crashed bike) only downside to the place is that there is no real paddock, just 3 small car parks..

[DoodleBug]

Whos organizing this as it is on a saturday?

[becky]

Simple Dont GO!

its like walking into a travelers site :laugh1

its a really small track not even a mile long, very good for smaller bikes, ur 400 will be alrite.

il let others tell you about it who were actually conscious for the whole day LOL!

[Keir_K3]

cheers for that. I found it on the lydden website. It appears they do 6 track days a year...

http://www.lyddenracecircuit.co.uk/bike_track_days1.htm

[DoodleBug]

Simple Dont GO!

its like walking into a travelers site :laugh1

its a really small track not even a mile long, very good for smaller bikes, ur 400 will be alrite.

il let others tell you about it who were actually conscious for the whole day LOL!

A little harsh that Becky, maybe your opinion is flavoured by your out of body experience you had, and the fact they cut up your leathers :(

It is a very basic site and a very short track, there is definantly some good riding to be had there though, however for that price you could go to and ride on some MUCH better circuits.

[kasandrich]

It is a very short circuit where corners are what its about, I think it is the perfect circuit for an NC30 and cornering practice.

If you want to learn about cornering on a little nimble bike its great.

If you want to get on a big long straight and find out what your bike tops out at, then its not the place for you.

There is a vid link posted up by Perilous of him on a 400 at Lydden last weekend. That should give you an insight.

[becky]

A little harsh that Becky, maybe your opinion is flavoured by your out of body experience you had, and the fact they cut up your leathers :(

It is a very basic site and a very short track, there is definantly some good riding to be had there though, however for that price you could go to and ride on some MUCH better circuits.

What bit was harsh - it looking like a travellers site, some wooden sheds loads of mud and some gravel.

LOL:laugh1

Of course i wouldnt want to go back there coz i didnt like it. I found it far too small for a 600.

I have never said that i didnt want ti go back there because i crashed!

[the captain]

i'll let others tell you about it who were actually conscious for the whole day LOL!

Ha Ha Ha.....i can laugh about this now!

Not very amusing at the time though.....we'll until they rolled you out of the back of tha ambulance, thats when it turned funny!:grin2

[MICKTLS]

Lydden is a good little circuit to ride but there are a few places that can catch you out mainly paddock with an off camber exit but as its been said before check out the video very kindly filmed by perilous

[kasandrich]

Of course i wouldnt want to go back there coz i didnt like it. I found it far too small for a 600.



If you think its small for a 600, try it on a 1000 sports tourer

[becky]

LOL :grin1

[Perilous]

As a rule the people who slate Lydden are intermediate track day level riders who blame the track for their inabilty to deal with off camber corner corner exits and no time to plan the next corner.

After that its a bit like Marmite. You either love it or hate it.

Although in reality it is actually very nearly the same length as Brands Indy For modern 1000s its a bit tight for most people. (That said though I had a brilliant time round there on a 98 Fireblade and a lot of Bemsee Power bike riders get on very well there.)

On hot sunny days grip can be abit iffy has sand tends to blow on the track. By contrast though in proper rain (not drizzle) the level of grip is very good compared with most tracks.

It is a technical track. Any half decent rider can get down to a reasonable pace round there ( 47 ish) with abit of practice but every tenth after that gets progressively more infuriatingly difficult.:grin2

Chessons is one of the most unique corners on an English track where you carry considerable more speed going in than you do coming out. Basically if you not scared going in your not going fast enough.:grin2

Out of all the choices, other than a 250 two stroke the NC30 or 35s are probably the bikes best suited to the circuit. If you do go a one tooth smaller front sprocket would be a good investment. You'll find it a lot easier if you are geared to use the closer ration top gears especially with the NC30s tall first and close ratio gear box.

Downside is that the facilities (other the Gails food stand ) are sh1t.

Make sure you have a good rear tyre on though, Lydden eats them. Even at 2 seconds off race pace a rear slick only lasted 45 minutes before it was totally wrecked last week.

If I had the choice of driving an hour to Mallory or five hours to Lydden I'd take Lydden every time.

Heres a bit longer video for you to give you a better idea. The bike is geared very low so you wouldn't epect to change gear as often as the video.

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=902890010455085562

[Perilous]

Actually this video will be better from a track day perspective. It's on slicks in the damp so its nearer a more realistic track day speed (46 up) and its on taller gearing, ie the 1 tooth down on the front I suggested in the last post.

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=1109854704340068608

[Perilous]

Lydden is a good little circuit to ride but there are a few places that can catch you out mainly paddock with an off camber exit but as its been said before check out the video very kindly filmed by perilous

Very true. That caught out avery obnoxious 916 Ducati rider who thought my Aprilia looked too scruffy to be alongside his bike.
My ole 'prilia didn't look half so bad alongside his 916 after he highsided it folllowing me out of Paddock.:grin2:grin2

As we were explaining to Dave's mate Simon at the weekend, Paddock's very late apex catches people as much as the adverse camber. (As Rik found out at the end of the first video on this post:grin2) Still you can avoid it by just crashing going in like I do of course.:rolleyes::grin2

Anyway enough racing bulls##t.

As far as I'm concerned it's tricky nature where its the ability of the rider rather than the speed of the bike that counts is what gives Lydden its appeal and keeps it interesting. :)

[harriebird]

Chessons is one of the most unique corners on an English track where you carry considerable more speed going in than you do coming out. Basically if you not scared going in your not going fast enough.:grin2



i loved that on the ped, it was terrifying but in a good way!

i'd like to go back, i think it would be fun on the monster right up to the point where i would be getting caught out by gravel/mud/general dodgy paddock surfaces :grin2

and the loos are definitely better than mallory at the moment :eek: - and there are showers in the ladies at lydden (wouldnt like to comment on the hot/cold status)

i would definitely take lydden over mallory :grin2

[robsal0230]

With my extensive trackday knowledge (1 so far) I found lydden to be good fun for a first track day.

The plus for me was that you can see the whole track clearly so you know what you are letting yourself in for.

But Still crashed just before the start/finish line!

A good experience though , go for it you`ll love it.

[DoodleBug]

But Still crashed just before the start/finish line!
It was almost compulsory that day :)

[robsal0230]

I know! I think me becky and doug had the van of doom that day.

[Perilous]

Nothing wrong with crashing before the start finish line.:rolleyes::D

[DoodleBug]

Been there done that, at least I managed to stay tyre side down on that occasion.

[stu600cc]

I loved Lydden it was really small so it was all go! go! go! every session :jumping2

The ameneties are not great but the track is perfect for a 400

On my zx6 didnt get outta 3rd maybe 4th wen ! was brave

I reccommend it

Oh and moped madness was great

Whens the next one?

[Lateshift]

He crashed because he was too busy looking at the Shiny GSXR that was just about to go underneath him at paddock :D

Proper target fixation when he looked directly at the gravel and went hoofing off into it :D

And astonished expression from me as i went past him thinking to myself "what did he do that for?" :D :D

Was quite funny at the time :D

I enjoyed Lydden but not as much as i enjoyed Mallory, there is a lot to be said for that Gerards corner (without the chicane) :eek:

The feeling of getting the bus stop right is really good too :)

But Lydden is as Perilous says an extremely technical circuit, where just to scrape a tenth back on the lap times once you are at race pace is extremely difficult, from a spectators point of view race pace is right on the edge stuff, but from a track day point of view it presents some really challenging corners that test your bottle and cornering if you are used to big circuits that have long straights, simply because Lydden is exactly the same as Mallory in so much as you dont get a second to rest between gear changing and corners :D

[RaceMeNSee]

i would most def recomend it! its an awsome track! the only thing with it is that its a tad small....but that just means you always have to concentrate cause the corners are always there...i did it on my 600...and i thought it was fine...however as stu said...barely got out of 3rd! so if you wana go like 160mph....its not the place for you!

[Perilous]

so if you wana go like 160mph....its not the place for you!

True enough but despite it having a second gear hairpin and a tight left hander my average speed on a 400 running low 44s last weekend was 81.55 MPH.

Or for a better comparison for the track day hard nuts who don't ride 400 girlies bikes like me :grin2 85 for an MRO SS 600 running low 42s.

That compares to 82.38 when I was last at Brands running high 51 second laps or 90.8 for low 1.17s round Snetterton.

Or 86 for a SS 600 running low 51s round Brands or 98 for a SS600 running 1.11s round Snetterton. (Or 95 for 1.13s.)


So despite its lack of straights it is by no means a slow circuit and fairly comparable to Brands Indy. :)

Obviously it looses out to Snetterton but then any muppet can just get on a fast bike an just hold the throttle open down a couple of long straights.

[Perilous]

I enjoyed Lydden but not as much as i enjoyed Mallory, there is a lot to be said for that Gerards corner (without the chicane) :eek:



True enough and Gerards is an awesome corner (without the chicane:grin2) but there are few people who don't just consider the rest of the track as just the route back to Gerards.
There are alot of racers who hate Lydden with quite some enthusiasm but I have actually yet to speak to anyone who is actually looking forward to going to Mallory or ever did before even before the new bits were added.

[Lateshift]

I agree totally, even as a non racer, for me it did seem that everything at Mallory revolved around who got round Gerards the quickest, once through Gerards and on to Edwinas from a racing point of view its extremely difficult to pass anyone (maybe at the Esses if you get out of Edwinas well enough, or on the straight if you got out of the Bus stop well enough).

In terms of difficulty i didnt actually find it that bad from a technical point of view, granted its known to be one of the most tecnically demanding circuits but i found it the most tiring and that was plodding round at trackday pace :D

Lydden i actually found to be a good circuit once you built a rythmn and had managed to settle into it.

But again this is a trackday v racing debate in that sense, most track day riders just want to experience riding on a track, its not until you have done a few that you start to understand what racers are on about and why they like or dislike a circuit really ;)

[Perilous]

But again this is a trackday v racing debate in that sense, most track day riders just want to experience riding on a track, its not until you have done a few that you start to understand what racers are on about and why they like or dislike a circuit really ;)
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Yeah true enough its a different outlook to it I suppose.

Snetterton for example I have always found fairly dull for trackdays (on any sized bike) but I quite enjoy racing there.

[Lateshift]

Yeah true enough its a different outlook to it I suppose.

Snetterton for example I have always found fairly dull for trackdays (on any sized bike) but I quite enjoy racing there.

reduce the two straights to 200 metres and i would love it to bits :D

better still put a roof over it and i wouldnt go anywhere else then :D

[Perilous]

Turning Russell back into a proper corner would help. Say a nice fourth gear left hander. Be a bit cr4p on a 400 mind.:grin2

[Lateshift]

Would a hairpin suffice in the mean time? :D

http://www.motorsportvision.co.uk/resources/sn_buspark/images/sm_12_big.jpg

[Perilous]

As long as they do everything else as well.:grin2

The sooner they get that lot done the better. I aint getting any younger and it looks a bit too long a track for zimmer frame racing.:grin2

Maybe they'll make it so spectators don't have to be three miles away from the track in most places while they're at it.:)

[DoodleBug]

better still put a roof over it and i wouldnt go anywhere else then :D
:grin2:grin2 Think we actually suggested this last Monday.

I take it that diagram is what MSV plan on doing to the track? Looks much more interesting.

[Perilous]

:grin2:grin2 Think we actually suggested this last Monday..

As long as they make a better job of it than garage 13. :grin2

I take it that diagram is what MSV plan on doing to the track? Looks much more interesting.

Yes but at the rate its moving at the moment you'll be about 83 time its done.:rolleyes:

[Keir_K3]

ok, im convinced. Im booked.

If anyone else is going on that day, let me know and i'll keep an eye out for you.

[DoodleBug]

Yes but at the rate its moving at the moment you'll be about 83 time its done.:rolleyes:
..and 84 before I complete my first lap. :grin2 I think I'm getting slower!!!!



Enjoy yourself Kier.

[MICKTLS]

i think the next track day is most prob going to be at rockingham on the 11th august

[Perilous]

ok, im convinced. Im booked.

If anyone else is going on that day, let me know and i'll keep an eye out for you.

I was quite tempted to give my two stroke a run dowen there but that falls in my month off from all things track related so shan't be there.

By the way the bike in front off me in that crash video is an NC30 albeit heavily modified.

Also don't take any notice of the lines in that particualr video. As my mate Colonel pointed out this morning I missed do many apexs in the lap before the crash I was lucky to get as far as Paddock where I binned it. :grin2:grin2:grin2