2020 Suzuki GSX-R1000R Review & Advanced Track Day Guide. Is It The Greatest Sports Bike Ever Built?

Sponsored by McCams, getting you back on two wheels when it wasn't your fault. Welcome to the Bike World advanced track day guide. Now in our last track day guide we did a beginner's track day. We talked about what it's like to do your very first track day. This guide is aimed at those who are a little bit more hooked into the track day world. When you've well and truly got the bug and you're doing five, six, maybe even seven track days a year, maybe some overseas ones, this guide is for you. We're going to discuss everything from tyres to tyre warmers, from motorcycles to racing leathers, from set up to brakes to how much fuel to put in your bike. We're going to try and give you a good overview of all the things you need to consider when you start taking track riding a little bit more seriously. So for this guide we've brought along a Suzuki GSX-R 1000, fitted it with Michelin tyres and we've come to the beautiful Castle Combe circuit. Now Castle Combe is a proper grassroots local racetrack but what we talk about in this guide applies to every single track whether it's a track like this, whether it's Silverstone Grand Prix circuit or an international circuit like Cartagena. So why the GSX-R? Well, I bloody love riding them. That's as good an excuse as any. The thing to remember with track days, there are no lap times, there is no trophy, there is no world championship for being the fastest guy on the track day. If you want that stuff, go racing. Go club racing, go to BSB, that's where racing belongs. Now for sure riding on a track day is about going as fast as you can and as fast as you want but the underlying point of a track day is to have fun on your bike and so it doesn't matter whether you've got the absolute latest Fandango V4 with all the electronics, it doesn't matter whether you've got a 30-year-old two-stroke RGV, what matters is it's a bike that you love riding and that is the GSX-R for me. Whether it's the K1 right through to the latest generation, they've not always been the absolute fastest bike on track but they're always a bike that I really enjoy riding on track and they make me smile when I'm pushing them as hard as I can. So for my money, the GSX-R 1000 is a fantastic track day bike. No, it's not the quickest. Yes, it is the most fun. Now I've picked on the GSX-R there a bit. I've made it sound like it's not the absolute cutting edge of sports bike technology. It absolutely is but in such a hard fork class, it is maybe a fraction behind the very latest offerings in the 1000cc superbike class. That said, we're still talking 202 horsepower on a bike that weighs 202 kilos. We're still talking proper traction control, big piston forks, Brembo brakes, all the kit you need to go fast on track, maybe just not that last tenth of a percent of performance but let's be absolutely honest here. How many of us are going to use that minuscule percentage at the very top end of a bike performance? What matters more is how it feels to ride and how enjoyable it is to ride and I think for that, the GSX-R is bang on the money. Okay, so let's talk chassis. Oh, it's got very, very good suspension. The forks are blue. How can they not be good if they're blue? Now in all seriousness, the forks are a Showa big piston fork with the remote cartridge on the back. Showa might not have the kind of bling of Ohlins but let's not forget Showa are a absolutely world-class suspension manufacturer, even if they paint their forks blue to make us excited about them. The shock again is again a top-spec Showa unit, no electronic fanciness on it. In my mind, that helps to keep the weight down and certainly for a track bike, I wouldn't be so concerned about having electronically adjustable suspension. For me, electronically adjustable suspension and dynamic suspension is fantastic on the road where you're dealing with a huge range of conditions. On a track when you're in a more specific environment, just sticking with regular forks and regular adjustment is actually more than enough for everyone but the fastest MotoGP racers and those guys aren't even allowed to use it. Now, brakes. Brembo brakes on the front with the new style of disc. If you've keen-eyed, you'll notice they've got a different disc on them with an eyelet and a T-lock on it. It's a special type of floating disc that is stiffer and lighter. Looks fancy as well. And the back, it has a back brake. It definitely has a back brake. I'm sure it's great for catching wheelies but we won't worry about that on track. Now, elsewhere on the bike, the important things you need to know. It's got a proper traction control and ABS system. So we're not talking a safety-orientated system that kicks you off the brakes and doesn't let you come out of corners fast. This is a proper performance traction control system so you can get on the gas hard, you can dial the intervention up and down and get the bike to do what you want it to do but always with that safety net that if you overstep the mark, the bike's going to save you. We've also got a nice quick shifter on there, proper up and down quick shifter. Again, not an essential part of riding the bike on track but something that definitely in recent years we've all got used to if you're riding modern bikes and it's something that just makes riding on track fast, a little bit easier, a little bit smoother and a little bit nice. Now, the engine itself is unmistakably a GSX-R1000 which sounds like a cheap recycle cliche that everyone says but if you've ridden any of the GSX-Rs, particularly the 1000s, you'll recognise the engine the first time you get on this bike. The noise, the way it makes the power, everyone talks about that Suzuki howl, it's got that. They've done some clever stuff for this one. Obviously, 202 horsepower is a big step from previous models. This engine uses a really, really neat variable valve timing system. It actually uses a little centrifugal system that adjusts the valve timing at higher RPM. That makes it very light and a really clean top end so the motor's super compact and that is how they managed to get a bike that pulls hard out of the corners from mid-range but then can scream up to that 202 horsepower top end power. As you can see, this GSX-R1000 is a road bike. The honest reason for that, it's really easy for us to phone up Suzuki and get a completely stock road bike. For an actual track bike, if it's your money and you're going out, spending time doing track days and getting serious about it, there's actually nothing wrong with using a totally stock road bike. Even if you're riding regular track days in the fast group, it's still fine to ride the bike to the circuit on sports road tyres, do your track day and go home. As you get more serious about track days and maybe if you want a little bit of a safety factor if you drop the bike or if the bike breaks on the day, that's when you can look into modifying the bike and making it more specific for track only use. At that point, we're going to look at bearings, taking the mirrors off, taking the pillion footrests off, different rear sets, different exhaust. The list is endless of the mods you can do to make your bike particularly suited for track days but don't fall into the trap of thinking you can't use a stock road bike because you absolutely can. We're going to do a video in the future covering how to turn one of these into a full-on track bike but for now, we're going to stick with the road bike. We'll tape the mirrors up and we'll get stuck in. One of the absolutely most critical things to think about on track days is tyres. Now, tired old adage but they are the thing that connects your bike to the ground and I would rather ride a 15-year-old bike on really good tyres than a brand new bike on shit tyres because the tyres are the bit that gives you the experience. A good set of tyres will give you tons of grip, they'll warm up quickly and they'll give you good feel when you're trying to push to go as fast as you want to go. We've got a few different options here. Michelin have sorted us out for the day. There are other tyre brands out there. I'm a big fan of Michelin's. I used to race on them back in the day. I've turned this into a story about me racing. That almost happened. I almost started talking about when I used to be a racer. I'm not going to do that. I used to ride on Michelin's when I rode on track a lot and I really liked them. They're a fantastic tyre. What we're more interested in today though is not a Michelin advert, it's actually which set of tyres is going to be best for you on track. On this end, we've got these are Michelin's Power Cup 2. This is a hyper sport road tyre, if you like. Most of the tyre manufacturers will make one of these. They look like they're nearly as slick. They've got the smallest amount of tread available just to make them road legal. The point of a tyre like that is that you can still ride it on the road, which means your bike isn't just stuck as a track only bike. The other good thing about having a tyre with a little bit of tread on is they will warm up quicker and they will hold heat better. If you're riding on a cold day, if you're riding on a track and you haven't got tyre warmers, or if you're riding in kind of changeable conditions, that tyre is a little bit more versatile and less sensitive than a full-on slick. Now, the other end of the spectrum here, we've got Michelin's Power Slick 2. For the ultimate in grip and the ultimate in endurance for a given compound of tyre, it can't be a slick. More rubber on the ground, more grip, less tread grooves to cut in, less tearing on the tyre, slower wear. So, if you're doing tracks and you're only doing track days and you've got tyre warmers, that is a tyre to go for because you've got the best grip you can get, you'll get the most laps you're going to get out of the tyre and the performance is there. Now, in the middle, we have got the most wonderful-looking tyre. That's a Michelin Power Rain. That is a proper wet track tyre. These are not road legal. It'd be brilliant if you could ride them on the road. These are like chewing gum. A set of these will set you back 350-odd quid. There's always discounts available, but let's say 350 quid. That's a chunk of cash to have on a pair of tyres that you can only use when the weather turns bad. So, again, it depends how serious you are about track days, but consider this. If you've spent, let's say, 100 quids worth of fuel to get to a track, you've spent 200 quid on your track day, you're 300 quid in, and then it rains hard. Are you going to go out on your nearly slick road tyre? Are you going to go out on your slick? Probably not. Having a set of them in your van, even if you've just got the tyres and you get the tyre guy at the track to switch them onto your wheels, that can save your day. That can mean you're still out on track, you're still riding around having fun, and you're not sat in the garage sulking about the weather. So, again, there's all different levels of how much money you want to spend. In an ideal world, you have a set of the wets on a spare set of wheels, the weather turns like it's threatening to today, sling the other tyres in, and off you go. If you've never ridden on a wet circuit on proper wets, get a chance at some point in your life. It is a treat. It's not an arcade game sticky patch. You can't go flat out like you would in the dry, but you can go bloody fast on wets in full wet conditions. You can absolutely get your knee down, and you'll be able to do things that you find unbelievable in torrential rain if you put a proper wet tyre on. Key to remember, do everything you would normally do, just do it all a bit smoother. By the magic of television, we're back at Castle Combe, and it is now not pouring with rain. There are no longer massive puddles all over the straits. We've got the slicks on the GSX-R, and we're ready to get out and get stuck in some proper fast track action. Now, I don't need to tell you how to sign on, and how to get your sound test passed, and how to remember your paperwork. We've covered that in our track day video for beginners. This track day is about people who have now done a few track days, are getting more stuck into it, maybe five, six, seven, eight, nine track days a year, a couple overseas ones, and starting to ride in the fast group. Rule number one, just because you're in the fast group, still pay attention to the briefings. Every track day you go to can have a different rule about which side to pass on, what to do on the warm-down lap, whether you can overtake after the chequered flag, where they want you to hold, and where they want you to collect before each track session. Those bits are the mechanics of the day, and you need to get that stuff right, because even if you're the best rider in the world, if you're turning up riding the wrong way down pit lane, or duffing people up on a known problem corner on a track where it spooks people into crashing, you're not going to make yourself popular, and you're going to forever be having spoiled days due to being pulled in and black flagged. So same as your admin, just as any track day, you need to make sure you give your bike plenty of love. It's really easy when you're doing lots of track days and lots of time to just shove the bike in the garage and sort it out on the next track day, and it's hard on bike. Multiple track days will take its toll on your bike, whether that's the engine, the brake pads, the chains, the sprockets, the tyres, the brake fluid, you've got to look after it. So let's talk kit. Good leathers, good crash helmet. I'm not doing a Dainese and a showy advert here, those are just what I choose to ride in, but don't buy cheap junk. Believe me, no one wants to talk about crashing, but the one time you lob it down the road, you want to know that your leathers are going to hold up, and if you whack your head, you're as well protected as possible. So outside of mechanical preparation on your bike, you can do a few mods to improve its performance on track. Absolutely first call is tyres. Good tyres make a bike. Slicks last longer, give you more grip. Great success. That presents its own problems. Slicks, more grip, more grip, more cornering force, more cornering force, suspension's got a harder line. So the minute you switch to slicks, you're going to start looking at changes to your suspension, maybe even stiffer springs, depending on your speed, your weight, and your riding style. So tyres come with the added benefit of more grip. Follow that up with a bit of work on your suspension. Speak to the experts. Speak to someone who knows how to set bikes up for a track day. Get your bike tuned to suit your weight and your riding style. Now at this point, I'd love to talk about performance modifications. I'd love to say fit turbos and massive go-faster bits to your bike, but this is a standard GSXR 1000. It has 204 horsepower. I don't think we need 204 horsepower. It's awesome to have, but these days with modern elite sports bikes, they don't need any more power. So concentrate your modifications on suspension, tyres, and I have to say brakes. Now brakes are exactly like tyres. Your road bike comes with very, very good brakes that work really well on the road and are capable of doing some track work. But for a brake to work well on the road, it has to work when it's cold, it has to give constant lever performance, and it has to not wear out in three seconds flat. If you're doing track days and starting to push your speed a little, improving the brakes on your bike will pay dividends. We've actually been working with EBC today, testing all of their range of compounder pads, and it's been really interesting to go from a stock road bike pad through their Double H Sintered, to their EPFA, which is like a fast road track day pad, and then their GPFA, which is the Fancy Pants Fantastic Race Pad. Actually doing back-to-back tests today and seeing the benefit of having race pads has made me reconsider actually what I'd put in my own bikes for track day. Better brakes mean I'm spending less effort pulling lever and getting more stopping power and more consistent stopping power, which makes pushing for a fast lap time easier and safer. Think about how tired you were at the end of your last track day, then think about how tired your poor bike was feeling. Modern sports bikes are incredible, they are built to do this and they lap it up. That said, you can do a few things to look after it to keep it fresh and keep it running better for longer, particularly with the hard uses getting on track. The important stuff we're looking after is oil changes. Changing more frequently than you would on the road. What does that mean? When I was racing one of these and it was doing effectively three track days in a row over a race weekend, it would get an oil change every single weekend. So it would do three days of riding, then an oil change. At that point, the oil would come out looking pretty murky and like it had worked hard. So translate that into track day speak. Every three track days, if you're doing a big track day, somewhere Cartagena, somewhere multi-day track day abroad, change it before you go, change it when you get back. Oil is the lifeblood that will keep your bike running smooth and not tearing itself to shreds. The second thing that's worth changing regularly, brake fluid. A lot of heat goes into those calipers, a lot of heat then transferred to the fluid. You want to keep your brakes consistent, forming well and a good lever feel. Change your brake fluid when you change your oil. So every three track days. On top of that, wash your bike after a track day, go through it with a fine tooth comb. Check every bolt, check every fastener. That way you're always sure that you're going to get maximum track time and the least amount of time spent looking for your gear linkage that's fallen off on track. Why do I mention gear linkages falling off? They're a favourite bit to drop off of a race bike. So keep those bolts tight, lock tight if you've got a problem and make sure you check it after every day on track. At a track day, particularly if you've been a bit more serious, particularly if you're doing a few more a year, there are a few little absolute gems that are perfect to bring with you and will make your day easier, smoother and probably more enjoyable. Number one is one of these things. Fans are great. I've spent plenty of time at track days riding to them on a cold morning with my leathers on, freezing, having no tools, having nowhere to store fuel and having to do everything from the floor of the paddock. And these days being able to use a van makes a track day so much more enjoyable. Not only can you bring more kit, be more prepared and be a little bit more self-sufficient, if the worst should happen and you smash your bike up, you know you can get home. And even outside of that worst case scenario, at the end of the day when you're tired, you're worn out, your body's aching, your brain's fried, being able to tuck your bike in the van and cruise home in a comfy van is a much more enjoyable experience than riding home when you're knackered. It also avoids that temptation of carrying your track pace back onto the road, at least on two wheels anyway. Van World Championships aside, there are a few things that you can use a van to bring with you. One, fuel, aka paddock chair, but you can bring a tin of fuel. A litre bike like this on a full track day will drink fuel like it's going out of fashion, particularly when you start riding really hard. So you can bring a couple of jerry cans full of fuel, don't have to worry about that throughout the day. Next up, generator. We've talked about slicks. If you're running slicks, you really need to be on tyre warmers. Slicks don't work properly until they're warm. Having no tread blocks means slicks don't warm up very easily just by riding them. They will, but it takes a few laps. Do yourself a favour, get yourself a little suitcase generator, a set of tyre warmers, set of paddock stands to put the bike on, and you can keep those tyres warm, which means from lap one, you can be out there enjoying it, not worrying about whether your tyres are still cold or not. Next thing to bring is your old faithful toolkit. This is my toolkit that I've had for nearly a decade. It's been all around the world with me. It is absolutely battered, but it's got everything I know I need for a track day. There are a few must-haves. Cable ties and duct tape. You're not a mechanic if you don't have cable ties and duct tape with you. Tyre pressure gauge. Tyre pressures matter on the road. They matter even more on the track. So a good, accurate tyre pressure gauge so you can keep an eye on those pressures, particularly when the tyres are up to temperature, so when they're hot from the warmers. Checking those pressures is going to get the best performance and life out of your tyres. The things to pay attention to are front wheel spindle, rear wheel spindle. They're usually big sockets and usually outside of the range of what comes in a normal universal kit. Pop those bits in, there's an add-on. Remember your cable ties and duct tape, and you'll look like a pro mechanic in the paddock. Okay, so you've done a few track days now. The pace is improving. You're looking to step up to the fast group exactly as on your first track day. There was some track etiquette to learn, some basic rules of the road. Same thing applies when you're stepping up to the fast group. And number one of them is don't get distracted by racers. Track days are often used as testing sessions for racers. They could be local club racers. They could be British Superbike racers. You've no idea from the look on their leathers. So don't get sucked in chasing a race around and pushing yourself way out of your comfort zone too fast. There's nothing wrong with using a slightly faster rider as a target to help you improve your lap time. But if someone's come howling past you from out of nowhere, you're not going to hang on to the back of them. Don't crash trying. Secondly, if you're stepping up to the fast group, don't be intimidated. A lot of riders in the fast group, just like you coming up from the intermediates, they've been there. They can remember that time when they stepped up and how nerve-wracking it can seem going out in a grid full of bikes that look faster than you. And another thing to add to that, remember that when you're the fast guy in the group. When you're the fastest guy on a track day, you don't need to prove it. Enjoy your riding and give the slower riders plenty of room and be nice to them. They're probably absolutely terrified when you come past an inch under their elbow. So give them a ton of space. If you're faster, you'll be out of passing them safe. I first rode this GSX-R 1000, not this one, but I first rode the new GSX-R 1000 three years ago at a pretty special track. We went to Phillip Island, which was an absolute bucket list track for me. And we spent a whole day tearing round on the then brand new GSX-R 1000. That day, I was really impressed by the bike. It was a huge step up from the previous generation GSX-R 1000 without losing the character and the feeling that made the bike special. Now, obviously on that day, I was a very happy man. I was riding in Australia at Phillip Island, a track I've dreamed of riding since I was a kid. I even got a chance to try and headbutt a seagull. I ticked all the tourism boxes. Three years on, the GSX-R 1000 has got some different colour bodywork. There's a, there are blue forks. I stand by my words. This is still a fantastic motorcycle and a really enjoyable track bike. It's only got 204 horsepower. So these days, that's been eclipsed by bikes with 226 horsepower. It ain't slow. Sure, it's not the fastest thing out there. Sure, it's not the most cutting edge bike on the absolute limit of litre bike technology. As soon as I got out of that pit lane, I could not care a hoot. GSX-Rs, for me, have always been bikes that are fun to ride fast. They're not snappy. They're not twitchy. They never feel like they're going to kill you. They never punish you for mistakes. They're bikes that you can ride really, really fast, are really fun to ride fast and forgiving when you overstep the mark. In terms of a track day bike, that's worth way more than any tenth of a lap time. One of the things I find amusing about the GSX-R is in an era where everything's getting smaller and pointier and weirder, this thing is actually reassuringly large, which sounds like a polite way of saying fat. It's not fat. It's just the fact that you've got a decent-sized fuel tank in front of you. There's quite a big fairing. Nothing's low down and buried. Does it make it faster? Does that make me faster? Probably not. It just makes me happy. Now, this GSX-R has the adjustable traction control, but the non-switchable, non-adjustable ABS. The traction control has actually been really helpful. When we rode it in the wet, I could add traction control in and have the confidence to really sit on the throttle around this bumpy Castle Combe circuit and know that it would catch the bike when it started to slide in and out of those hollows and bumps. In the dry, we dialed it back down gradually and I end up using the bike on traction control setting one. That gave me a little bit of freedom for the rear tyre to move around and let me carry the wheelies and didn't immediately slam the front wheel down if I didn't get to the back brake quick enough. Would I have turned it off? Well, I tried turning it off and to be honest, I didn't feel like I was going any faster. I was just taking more risks. So I left it on setting one, the lowest setting, and just enjoyed having that safety net while I could hoon about having all the fun I wanted to. I did feel like I found a bit of a limit with the ABS on track. Castle Combe has a lot of hard braking zones that are rough and bumpy, particularly in some of the tighter chicanes. In those areas, how hard I could brake was limited by the ABS kicking in as the bike started to come sideways on the brakes. Did it spoil my enjoyment of the day? Not really, no. Would I have been miles faster without it? Miles faster? No, a fraction faster. I feel like I could have gone quicker than the ABS would allow. Take back to the wet track day and there's a completely different story. Riding in the wet with the ABS, it never kicked in, but it gave me a really good feeling of comfort when I was trying to push the lever, braking through some of the wetter parts of the circuit. Everything else on the GSX-R just works. Doesn't make a song and a dance about stuff. It's not super fancy, it just works with you and makes every little bit of your riding a bit more enjoyable. The up and down bi-directional quick shifter, you can shift up without shutting the throttle and shift down without touching the clutch. That is an absolute godsend and one of the greatest inventions on motorcycles for the last 10 years. On track, shut the throttle, tap down the gears for braking. No faffing around with the clutch, the bike sorts it all out on the way into a turn. On the Suzuki, works brilliantly, never had a problem with it all day despite some fairly clumsy gear changes as I was being bounced out of shape around this Castle Combe circuit. Is the GSX-R 1000 the greatest sports bike ever built? I don't know. Today it was because I was on a sunny track on slicks. Whatever I would have been on, I'd have been the happiest man on earth. I think the GSX-R is an awesome track bike. It isn't the highest tech, it isn't the most powerful, it isn't the lightest. But it's a bike that every single time I ride it, and this goes for every generation of GSX-R 1000, it puts a massive smile on my face. I enjoy riding it, it's fun, it's playful, it has a character to it and the engine note and the way it rides that just makes me want to ride it more. If I had a full lineup of bikes, all of the elite sports bikes, and I was going to a track day to razz around and do skids, this would probably be the first thing I picked over the fancier stuff from other manufacturers. If someone's looking at lap times, it'd be a different story. But if I'm going to enjoy myself, the old Suzuki is my number one go-to bike every time. I need to put a caveat in here. I've said several times that the GSX-R's not the highest horsepower, not the lightest, not the highest tech. Let's not forget price. This model, which is the GSX-R 1000 R, is 16 and a half grand. Show me a Panigale you can buy for 16 and a half grand. Not a brand new one, that's for sure. The base model GSX-R 1000 is just over 14. For this much performance, that is phenomenally good value. And I don't think that spending big chunks more than that will make you enjoy your track riding any more than you would on even the base model GSX-R 1000. This much horsepower for that price is freaking awesome and a homage to Suzuki's many decades of making really good value, really good fun bikes. So that concludes our guide for advanced group motorcycle track days. Prepare your bike carefully. Look after it. Never ever think you're too good to learn or too good to attend the briefing. Get out there and enjoy going fast on your bike. Whether it's Castle Combe on a beautiful sunny afternoon like this or Cartagena for some winter sunshine, getting a three-day proper track session in. Riding on track is addictive, brilliant fun and can be an awesome way to spend all of your money. Hey, you can't take it with you.