If you’re reading this mag, there’s every chance you’ve done a trackday – raced, or at least watched a mate go round and round in circles at such an event. Track riding and sportsbikes go hand in hand like pints of beer and salted crisps. I fondly remember my very first time on track. I was 16, it was at Mallory Park, and I was inadvertently adding another chicane to the stop-start circuit’s configuration. I had the best day ever: my Mito came home in one piece and I was so excited that I booked a visit to Cadwell Park two weeks later… leaving the circuit in a neck brace. In my opinion, riding on track is one of the best experiences you can have, regardless of how fast or slow you are, or whether you’re on a bike with 400bhp or 50 ponies – as long as you’re having fun, that’s all that matters.
If, like me, you can remember how things were back in the early Noughties, you’ll appreciate that the track scene has changed massively. By comparison, it’s so much bigger now, better organised, and the frequency of trackdays has gone through the roof. To throw that heavily used phrase into the equation, we’ve never had it so good. I myself have been guilty of doing far too few trackdays in recent years, but I hope to make amends this season, getting as many laps in the bag as possible, and I’d encourage you to do the same.