CHARLIE YAMAHA YZF-R6
THIS MONTH I HAVE MOSTLY BEEN… “Quicker, much quicker...”
Iwalked into Yamaha’s HQ with two four-packs of Peroni undermy arm, one each for Zane and Bill who had put in overtime to get my R6 back together after its Spanish spill. As I have already wax ed lyrical about, the bike was not as bad as it could have been due to the crash protection, but even so the Yamaha chaps were incredibly busy meeting my deadline. The Supersport Pro Tour was in town at Silverstone, and they laboured above and beyond so I could take the R6 along. Tip of the cap chaps. As far as the bike goes, having assessed the damage they did not seem to think the R6 had high-sided and the fact it hadn’t rolled seems to sustain that argument, but I could only go on what I had been told. My only addition to the R6 this time was an ex haust protector from R&G. Having had the PipeWerx stubby can destroyed in the shunt the O E can was back on, so a bit of protection was due. £4 5 spent, j ob done. Whatever happened it’s in the past now, and before me was my R6 reborn, sparkling clean, complete with renewed Yamaha/ Gilles Crash protection ready for my track-filled month to come.
U nfortunately the R6 had not been ready for a trip to Silverstone to repeat my level 4 at the Superbike School. It had been five years since I had completed the four levels and I didn’t realise j ust how much I needed a refresher until I was advised on what I was no longer doing. I came out a better rider for sure and was ready to head to Silverstone once more the following week; only this time no Stowe – I was on the Grand Prix circuit, and on my beloved R6 rather than a Ducati 959.
I have a lot of love for Silverstone having ridden both the National and International circuits numerous times before, but never both at the same time. With it having only j ust been resurfaced I couldn’t wait to get round the 3 .66 mile circuit, which feels almost as wide as it is long, giving you plenty of room to play in, to pass and be passed. This was the perfect playground for me to put everything in place that I had learnt at CSS the week before, while also having a more familiar track to really test my skills on the R6.
It did not disappoint, as I picked up where I had left off at Navarra successfully utilising the full rev range, benefiting from even sharper steering than the O E bike with Dymags carbon wheels and upgraded Nitron suspension. The bike was running so sweetly and having practiced ‘ overtaking drills’ with CSS the week before I was passing more effectively, efficiently and confidently than I have ever done before. The only place I was lacking was on the straights. Not getting on the power early enough, mix ed with inefficient corner speed, meant the big litre boys had me on the straights – of which there are many on the GP circuit, though later more effective braking aided by the lighter wheels usually had
me taking them back… a few friendly battles were had that Marq uez and Rossi would’ve been j ealous of.
What made the day even better was the fact that Yamaha were present on the day with their Supersport Pro Tour as well. Fresh from Donington Park the tour is a gift from Yamaha giving all track day participants the chance to have the ultimate test ride of an R6, R1 or indeed the R1M totally free of charge ( unless you bin it) ! This provided me with another opportunity on the day, riding an R6 and R1 back to back, while also giving Yamaha’s Jeff Turner – the man who organised the R6 for me in the first place – a chance to take my bike out and give me his impression of my mods.
Jumping onto the R1 I was surprised by how svelte it is, weighing in amere 9kg more than the R6 and a slight ex tension of 3 0mm on the wheel base. I was ex pecting the steering to be more laboured than the R6, especially given the O E wheels, but it was not the case. The main difference I found being on the R1 was those aforementioned litre chaps were no longer gettingme on the straight which was great feeling. In fact on return to the pits and j umping off the R1, I was genuinely greeted with the comment: “You are q uick.” No-one has ever said that to me before.
Yamaha Jeff shortly returned full of praise for what I had done with the suspension and wheels on the R6. If anyone knows these bikes it is Jeff, so his appreciation of my mods further j ustified my choices. However he had struggled with the tyres at first, having ridden so far that day on Bridgestone R11s, as I j ust had on the R1. The T3 1s took him some time to gel with. But gel he did and this told me a lot about my choice of tyre.
The T3 1s are a Sports Touring tyre and have now completed 1,500 road miles, while being veterans of three trackdays which must be some 500 miles ridden in anger. They haven’t snotted up, the wear is marginal and I have to give a massive thumbs up as an all-round tyre suited to a high mileage rider who likes the occasional trackday without wanting to change wheels or tyres. They are a great all-rounder, as demonstrated later as the day at Silverstone came to a close and a downpour ensued that they lasted my entire, enthusiastic ride home. The T3 1s were as good at keeping me upright on wet roads as they had been knee down flying round Stowe corner.
I fear though that I need to change the R6’s shoes in the not too distant future. I am now in my ninth month of ‘ ownership’ of the R6 and have more to do to make the most of the mods made thus far. Carbon wheels deserve a more focused circuit-based tyre to really max imise the difference they can make. I still need to add a full systemto release the stifled ponies and reduce weight further and I need more time on track to make sure that I have absolutely no regrets when the R6 is finally returned. And j udging by the amount of fun Jeff had on my borrowed steed, he may be asking for it back pretty soon.
Don’t worry though, I’ll be avoiding his calls. Sorry Yamaha.
YOU ARE QUICK. NO-ONE HAS EVER SAID THAT TO ME BEFORE