Brands Hatch onboard FULL RACE - Honda CB500

[@ILikeMotorbikes]

Rate my race! What would you rate it out of 10?

[@Zbersac]

8/10. Your first half lap vas pretty bad considering that you came back strong and took back a couple of places back. A stronger start is whats needed. A fun and competitive class. :)

[@ILikeMotorbikes]

@Zbersac the bike cutting out was caused by my battery coming loose and nearly ripping the earth off my ignition! I could definitely have been stronger if it wasn't for that...but it also gave me motivation 😁

[@richardhorton25]

Good effort, a long time ago I raced at Brands which has changed quite a bit ( Paddock Hill bend is less tight and Graham Hill Bend is a lot sharper than in my day) I started in club racing and loved it and after a year moved to Nationals and later to Internationals. Watching your lines I would say Paddock Hill is your best corner, the most important advice I can give you here is work out exactly where your turn in point is. I watched Peter Williams and learned from him. He went across the start and finish line low and rode in a straight line at the marshall's post at the top of paddock (not sure if it is still there or in the same position). All his braking was done in a straight line with the bike completely upright he could therefore brake later. At the marshall's post about 2m from the outside edge of the track he laid the bike over onto its footrests and in one beautiful arc hit the apex and brushed the curb on the exit. The tip in point is critical as there is a hump in the track and you need the bike settled without too much load on the front forks and at near full lean before you crest the brow of the hump. Too late and you are trying to reach full lean as the camber changes on the far side of the hump and you will lose the rear tyre. Too early and you are pointing at the inside curb and have to make an adjustment. Trying to tighten the line mid corner at Paddock almost always ends badly. Entry positioning and commitment to an apex you cannot see are key to a fast line round Paddock. Druids is always a compromise, the fastest line on your own is one late apex and exiting no more than 2/3rds the way towards the outside curb. Actual racing involves you stopping chancers diving up the inside of you and then forcing you wide (or worse collecting you on the entry). If you have traffic around you then you need to enter Druids about halfway across the track and make it a double apex, running a bit wide in the middle and cutting back. The 2/3rds exit is still vital as it give you a cleaner entry to Graham Hill bend. Your line round South Bank is good, my advice here is to leave Graham Hill bend and drive straight and upright to point on the very outside of the corner within 6 inches of the white line just touch the back brake to steady the bike and drop one gear then lay it over all the while looking at the intersection point with the outside curb. Because the camber at the peel in point is positive and because the corner itself is uphill it can be taken a lot faster than many believe. If you intersect the outside curb upright you can aim upright and straight for the entry point for Clearways. Travelling upright and in a straight line towards Clearways you are travelling uphill to the outside of the track which means you can brake harder and later than with a curved approach. You must get the bike settled and off the brakes before you peel in to Clearways. The Clearways line in my day was always dictated by a patch of repaired tarmac which does not seem to be there now (ideally inside it and if over enthusiastic outside it but never over it because you would lose the rear) Pass the pit lane entrance no more than 2 metres from the inside edge which gives you your Paddock Hill Bend entry approach. Your video brought back many happy memories - keep up the good work and the best of luck for your future racing endeavours

[@ILikeMotorbikes]

Awesome comment! Loved the detail and I'm so pleased it brought back happy memories from your days of racing. What was your favourite bike you raced at Brands Hatch?

[@richardhorton25]

I raced a 650cc Triton, a 750cc Norton, a Bultaco 350TSS, a Yamsel TD3 250cc air-cooled and a Yamsel TZ350 - loved racing all of them except the Norton which for no apparent reason I kept falling off. At the end of the season I broke it and found the frame was about 10mm out of line from an earlier end of season accident when it was a Triton.

[@ILikeMotorbikes]

@@richardhorton25 Fantastic! You've certainly had a few icons of bikes there!

[@Zbersac]

Great race and commentary. :) It seems to be a very fun class to race in.

[@ILikeMotorbikes]

Thanks very much, it's a brilliant class! The level playing field and low horsepower really encourages close racing

[@jonnow1234]

I very much enjoyed that. I've watched hundreds of on-board videos and your commentary made it one of the best. Good job. For a novice I'll give you 7.5 out of 10. Loads more to come I'm sure.

[@ILikeMotorbikes]

Cheers! I'm glad you enjoyed it, I definitely could have been more aggressive at points and my fitness (or lack of) didn't help but it was great fun! One day I'll get round to editing my cadwell park race weekend 😅

[@FreedomBaba]

Great effort mate.

[@ILikeMotorbikes]

Cheers! Plenty of room for improvement though

[@roguebullet4220]

Great commentary, even better racing. For a novice that has to be at least an 8. Again, I'm jealous!

[@ILikeMotorbikes]

Thanks for the kind words! I'm really glad you liked it 😁

[@colly7912]

Well done, commentary very good. Really enjoyed watching your race. Recent subscriber and going through your content and really enjoying it. 👏👏👏👍🇬🇧

[@ILikeMotorbikes]

Cheers for watching through the back catalogue! I'm really pleased you're enjoying it - sadly the rest of my race footage from here and Cadwell Park a couple months after this was stolen... I guess I'll have to get another race bike to make more at some point 🤣

[@geewhite32]

Enjoyable watch, looks great fun. Stay Safe. Gee.

[@dayo-racings]

Well-done mate, looked good

[@ILikeMotorbikes]

Cheers Dayo!

[@grahamsmith8122]

2 out of ten for race preparation, 7 out of ten for effort, 10 out of ten for commentary

[@rjung_ch]

👍👍👍

[@michaelsigsworth3570]

What series and class is this? Great racing 👍🏻

[@ILikeMotorbikes]

It was with Thundersport GB who have now stopped running but No Limits have a race series for the Cb500s though I'm not entirely surely what the class name and limits are. It's a brilliant class for close racing and being relatively cheap

[@chrisdadigger1018]

I think your smallest riders would be your fastest on that , kind of bike