A lap of Donington Park (original) (raw)

Well as promised here's a brief description of a lap of Donington Park as seen by me on board my BMW R1200S.
I had previously ridden Donington Park on a CBR 600RR and had been used to a high revving VFR 800Vtec so jumping on the BMW with its low revving twin I found a bit strange and I hit the rev limiter few times as I was getting gear selection sorted. By the way I'm not a hardened track fiend, nor a racer and I know there were places I could have been faster and/or taken a faster line. But I stayed the right way up and enjoyed myself :o)
I was however very surprised at how many 600cc and 1000cc sports bikes I managed to get past, mainly out braking them on entry into corners, carrying more speed into the corners and out dragging them on the exit.
Here's my lap..
Across the stripe and accelerating into 5th, braking down from about 110mph down to 2nd for Redgate. Kept it wide to the left and tipped in late to give me a good exit onto Craner Curves. I kept the throttle pinned and shifting up to 4th, lifting slightly for the left hander before more throttle then heavy braking and down the 3rd for the Old Hairpin. Hitting the apex here I pinned the throttle again shifting up into 4the for Starkey's Bridge, then into 5th before braking hard for Mcleans. Keeping wide for Mcleans and shifting back down to 3rd to turn in late and accelerate up the hill. Into 4th for a brief moment then back down to 3rd for Coppice, probably the hardest corner on the circuit. Kept wide on the entry and turned in to hit the first apex, running a little wide then back in to hit the next apex then max throttle down the Dunlop Straight, up to 5th and 125mph, keeping to the right preparing for the Esses. Braking very hard and down 3 gears to 2nd for the quick left right of the Esses then back on the gas heading for the Melbourne Loop. Up to 4th then braking late and hard for the slowest 2nd gear corner on the circuit. I took a wide-narrow-wide line through the hairpin and accelerated toward my least favourite corner, Goddards. I took a wide slow line through Goddards as its a bumpy downhill 2nd gear left hander. Avoided the kerb exiting Goddards and pinned the throttle again, up through the gears and over the stripe once more.

The Melbourne Loop
Chilling out in the paddock area with my trusty steed.

Current Location: Work

Current Mood: chipper