Well, as everyone has already mentioned...it was an awesome trip! Great bunch of guys at the best track in the world and bucket loads of fun to be had! As we all knew it was going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity to do it with mates you know and trust. Sure you can fly over and ride there if you wanted to, but what made it special was the mateship and fun of being in a group. Ok...enough of the warm and fuzzy wank...
Using the hire bikes was a brilliant idea. Sure it was expensive if things went wrong but still the same if it was your bike. After riding the track you realise, if you binned it, getting away for 3.5k would be the cheap option! Anyway, the bikes were a barrel of fun...bullet proof and ultra easy to ride.
The guys who supply the bikes were awesome. All we had to do was hop on and ride... and park at the end. They checked fuel, tyres and polished the bike through the day. No skimping on tyres either as quite a few of us had new Dunlop Qualifier rubber at some stage during the two days. Only down side was some bikes were used by other riders if they were booked outside your group. That was not all bad as it meant you hopped on to a bike with warm rubber but you sometimes had to wait a few minutes extra till they pulled in.
PI ride days is really well organised and everything went nice and smooth. The track facilities were great but one thing that could have been better was that we did not have a place to sit and relax between sessions since we didn't take our own chairs. A riders lounge would have been awesome!
We had a wet start on Friday which was actually a blessing in disguise. That meant we all concentrated really hard to get to know the track before we started playing around. Within two sessions it was dry and overcast so the fun just kept getting better. Could not have asked for better weather on Monday...blue sky, sunshine and a light breeze...doesn't get any better than that!
Well I'm sure there are plenty of other stories to come...so to get things underway here's a squids lap of the Phillip Island GP Circuit....
Gardner Straight...this goes on forever! Fully tucked in you pass the pits, the bridge and pit wall and expect that turn one is coming up pretty quick but it just keeps going on and on forever down hill. The rolling hills and ocean in the distance...hmmm...that's looks lovely....and then you pop your head up only to have it bashed around in the wind...OMG!! Turn One!!!
Turn One...I started breaking about 350-400 metres short on the first day. By the time the second afternoon came around I was confident enough to dab the brakes around the 100m marker, change down a gear and throw the bike in. It's damn scary as it feels like the front is pushing but it's a bit bumpy and nicely cambered. Always feel like you could have gone faster into it when you get there but just didn't have the balls to try any harder. I'll just keep my 3.5k thank you very much!
Turn Two - Awesome corner, no brakes into it, just down a gear and throw it in. Slightly off camber on the entry but positive camber on the exit. Was scary the first few sessions that I went a bit hard as it is a tightening radius so you see the ripple strip drift away on the inside and you feel like you are exiting too wide but the track is nice and wide so you just hit the gas, up a gear and go!, go!, go!!
Turn Three - In fourth gear..throttle pinned...hang off to the left and just sweep through...Yeeehaaaa!! A few bumps just as you tip in for the the sweep are enough to scare you every time but the K7's held their line perfectly and you just fly through it onto the short straight leading into the hairpin.
Turn Four - Slow as! Looks a lot tighter than it is. The run off/slip road going straight seemd to attract more people than the corner! Never really pushed the brakes to the limit here but did have a few rear wheel hops trying to avoid other squids who park on the entry. Realised the best way around for me was to stay wide and get the knee down and apex late at the ripple strip.
Turn Five - A non event really. A short squirt out of the hairpin and up a gear, before you just set yourself up for the entry to Siberia.
Turn Six - Awesome!! A bit like turn two with nice positive camber, but tightening radius on the exit so you start to drift wide as you exit. Loved the K7 through here as I got to ride around many a thou parked mid corner. Going up the inside into Siberia was also a great way to get past as most guys tended to enter really wide. Hard on the gas mid corner and exiting in third there are some crappy bumps that get the rear wheel hopping and wobbling under power as you pin it. A bit scary when that happens!
Turn Seven - Really fast left flick bit of a non event again but need to get this one right to enter Hayshed tight. Usually flick up to fourth before this.
Turn Eight - Flat out in fourth you realise how bad things can go if you lose it here...scary quick! Absolutely love this flowing section though as the track is really wide. The K7 seemed faster than the thousands here probably due to the change in direction from seven. Wooohoooo...outta my way!!!!
Turn Nine - Easy to get in trouble here and deceptive on entry. Goes on a lot longer than you think. Off camber entry means you run wide if you don't keep it turning from tip in, but then the corner straightens out and you can run on to the ripple strip mid corner if you don't adjust your rate of turn. Loved this one too as you expect it to start diving in to MG stright away but there is a flat table top where you give it a squirt on the exit before you drop into MG.
Turn Ten - Tight as! Again the wide sweep worked better for me here. A lot of squid diving action as people try to get you on the inside as you drift wide but realise they have to park it to turn it, as you sweep in front of them nice and smooth. A few bad highsides here so easy on the throttle. Another fun part of the track on the exit is when you stand up and do the flip flop from right to left for the left hand turn eleven. I changed to third before eleven so getting the flip flop and gear change to all flow was hard. Awesome when it did...
Turn Eleven - Left hander that you keep accelerating into and out of. Never really picked the camber here, but great place to stay tight and get past the thousands in the inside as they drift wide. A short straight coming up...hang off the bike on the left...throttle almost pinned....
Turn Twelve - Does this ever end?? Tip it in from wide, hanging off on the left throttle almost pinned and just listening to the K7 scream...Hmmm...this is bloody fast...this could turn very ugly...hope that rear tyre is sticking...damn...knee on the deck...ok...here comes the straight...stand it up and...pin it!!! Yeeeehhaaaa!!! Probably the most important corner of the whole lap as getting good drive meant a world of difference at the end of the straight. Not trying to talk myself up but I always seemed to get good drirve out of here and even out dragged a few thousands which was mint. How good your exit was doesn't really become apparent until about halfway down the straight and you get past the other bike. Drafting worked well too and you have the time to do that.
Here comes Turn one....let's do it all over again...woohooooo!!!!
would like to have gone around on the Gixxers 
