Have you ever been to a motorcycle track day?
They are great fun. The perfect way to see if you’ve got what it takes to be a MotoGP or World Super Bike rider. Or just to see how fast your new bike is. Or how quickly you can ruin a set of tyres. Or how close you can get your knee to the track on a tight bend.
I’ve been to a couple of Track Days now. They were well organised with the appropriate focus on safety. There is just no point taking your bike or yourself home in bits from a day that is meant to be fun, so always be sure to ride within your limits.
Go with some mates, preferably mates with the same track day experience or riding skills. Then you can get out on the track in the same group. Make sure one or more of you has a GoPro HD Hero mounted on the front or rear of your bike and take some video of a few laps of each other.
Sure, you’ll probably be able to buy some digital stills from one of the vendors with some clever kit strategically placed on the side of the track (they will burn photos of your cornering sytle onto a CD or DVD) but still photos are nothing compared to full HD quality video action.
Why have only a few single frames when you can have 30 frames per second and moving images from the entire circuit? But if you want stills the HD Hero will handle this also, now at 11mp in the new Hero2 from GoPro.
But see for yourself. Here’s some action from a Track Day at Brands Hatch. These video were taken on full 1080p high definition on the Hero Original (some picture quality has been lost when compressing the file for web viewing). My guess is that the narrow FOV lens setting on the new Hero2 would be even better for “on bike” Track Day action.
I think the engine noise provides the perfect sound track.
First up, take a ride on board Lux’s Kawasaki ZX10R, following Nigel on a BMW S1000RR.
Now it’s Nigel ‘s (BMW S1000RR) turn to be the camera man/bike, following the Kawasaki ZX10R.
Go on, get a GoPro for your next Track Day and send us some videos of your on track action.
