The IAM offers a few ‘Rider Skills Days’ each year and in October UBG was invited to take part in an afternoon session at Mallory Park.

The Leicestershire track is one of the less demanding circuits in the UK but still provides its fair share of thrills.

After a safety briefing, the assortment of riders, (ranging in age from 25-70 and of mixed sex) were assigned to an instructor and split into groups. My group consisted of a 748 riding chap in his late fifties, a nervous track virgin of a similar age on a V-Strom, an IAM observer on a BMW GS850, myself on a borrowed Aprilia Shiver and our instructor, Kelvin Street – a fast riding and likeable West Midlands bike cop on his Honda Firestorm.

We were lucky enough to have a lovely bright and dry day offering near perfect track conditions. The early sessions were taken at a steady pace, following Kelvin as he showed us braking markers, entry and exit points around the track. Once we were all familiar with the track it was time for him to observe us for a lap while he followed in our tyre tracks.

The sessions lasted for around 15-20 minutes before a quick debrief where we could ask any questions, or for Kelvin to offer advice and encouragement. The track virgin was amazed at what his bike could do on a track and was excited about getting back on the road once the day was over. This just goes to show that track days, in the right environment, can benefit any road rider. He’d been riding for a few years but was still fairly nervous; he’d joined the IAM to help boost his confidence through advanced riding and after this day I’m sure it will have helped immensely.

Some track days leave you feeling like you’ve not had enough track time but with this one you were on track most of the time – a quick pit stop and drink before you were back out again. As the afternoon progressed the sessions started to relax a bit, leaving the more confident riders to let rip a bit, while the more sedate took things at their own steady pace – with no pressure to go faster than they were comfortable with.

The Aprilia Shiver may not be a natural choice for a track day but it was very competent. Ground clearance was a bit of an issue at times, especially coming out of the Devil’s Elbow with my boots scraping the floor but other than that I was impressed. Kelvin commented afterwards that I need to hang off the bike a bit more to get any faster which will help decrease the lean angle of the bike.

Of the 50 or so riders on track I only saw one lad being a nuisance; he was cutting people up in corners – forcing one lad to brake heavily around the fast right hand Gerard’s – not good when you’ve got a mixed ability group on track at the same time. Thankfully though no harm was done, on an ordinary track day this kind of behaviour can often be the norm in the faster groups.

If I’ve got one criticism of the way the day is run it’s that the groups should be split into some kind of order; novice, intermediate and fast, just so that the slower riders aren’t intimidated by the quicker ones. Speaking to the IAM afterwards, it seems like they may well alter things slightly for 2010 which I’m sure will help all riders get the best out of the day.

I usually find that when I’m on track time passes by faster than at any other and before I knew it the four hours had disappeared in a tank of fuel, I’d ridden over 100 miles of the 1.41 mile track and the tyres on my borrowed Shiver were covered in molten rubber (sorry to John Carr Motorcycles!). I don’t think anybody left without a grin and with no accidents during the afternoon everybody was able to ride their bikes home again.

The IAM offer quite a few benefits, besides helping you to become a more competent and safer rider members receive a regular magazine, qualify for insurance discounts and also discounts at Halfords, on Haynes manuals, airport parking etc. To become a full member you need to take the advanced riding (or driving) test and pay an annual fee of £30. For more info visit www.iam.org.uk or call 0845 126 8600.

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