Cadwell Park Track Day - Open Pit Lane March 2025 - Yamaha R1

First track day of 2025 after a dull and dim winter. Here's me enjoying a few laps of Cadwell Park. This is my third visit to this fantastic track. I'm running the Metzeler TD slicks that I last used for a day in November at Andalucia and so far they are wearing massively less than the Pirelli Supercorsas. I reckon after this outing they still have at least another day, maybe 2, left in them, whereas I can mostly or totally destroy a rear Supercorsa in one day. The gearing is 16:45 (front:rear) compared to 17:45 standard, so the speedo reading is approx 6% higher, so take indicated speeds with a small pinch of salt. This is my 4th session on track, it's about 3pm and the track has dried out nicely after a damp start from some overnight rain. I couldn't be bothered to change the slicks over for the wets given that the sun was on its way, so after a couple of damp siting laps at 9am I just watched some of the wet-shod riders circulating, had a bit of a chat etc. and didn't actually start doing laps until 11am. The Open Pit Lane format means you can have as much time on track as you like, joining at any time under the guidance of the marshalls. I max out at 30 minutes at a time with a decent rest between, so given the late start from a damp track it was probably a similar amount of time to a normal (fully dry) track day. It feels like I'm getting faster here now, best lap this time is a 1m46. I think I even very slightly troubled a couple of bars on the traction control but I'm a bit old-school and still find it hard to trust the electronics when powering on mid-corner. It was great to be on track with some more experienced riders, you'll see there's a few racers overtaking... following people who are faster lets you see where to push a bit harder. During the day I was getting faster off the start/finish straight into the uphill left hander (Coppice), at the top of the circuit around the long (Chris) curve and pinning the throttle for longer on the long uphill section (Park Straight). Still some areas for improvement as ably demonstrated by the racers flying past! Cadwell is quite a narrow circuit but this doesn't negatively impact the riders' experience. All the overtakes I witnessed on the day were worry-free with all the riders showing good respect for each others' safety. The facilities at Cadwell are a bit limited compared to other tracks so you have to bring a generator in order to use tyre warmers. The paddock area is open for camping - I stayed overnight in my van. There's a friendly atmosphere to the place whether coming up along as I did this time, or with a group of mates. Dorset is not brimming with race tracks and although it's a 250 mile trip from my place to this track it's totally worth the journey. This day was organised by MSV and thanks to them for a smoothly run day. If you haven't tried it yet, just do it. Bike: Yamaha R1 2007 model, ex-BSB 2008 superstock series: race kit, power commander, traction control & quick shifter; 175 Bhp at the rear wheel. Tyres: Metzeler TD slicks Gearing: 16:45 (vs 17:45 standard) Group: Open Pit Lane (intermediate/fast)