GET ON TRACK

Father Christmas can poke his tree up his arse as far as we’re concerned. Never mind jingle bells and great aunty Mable’s stale mince pies, ’tis the season to be jolly right here, right now. That’s right, the days are getting longer, warmer and drier, and if you are anything like us that trackday itch will be dying for a good scratch. Doing a trackday is the best thing in the world, but there are still plenty of people who are yet to experience it, so we’re here to tell you that it has never, ever been easier to get your next, or your first trackday fix.

Nowadays, if you were to close your eyes and throw a tampon over your shoulder it would probably land on a track bike hire company – there are that many of them around. One that we rate among the best is Smallboy Trackbikes, who, as well as having Suzuki GSX-R600s, 750s and 1000s available to hire for full or evening trackdays, have just scooped up a bunch of Honda CBR650Fs to complement their stock. Don’t worry; you’re not the only one who’s never heard of a Honda CBR650F. I hadn’t either until Matt from Smallboy Trackbikes told me about his new batch of hire bikes that had formed the basis of the European Junior Cup (a series for riders from 14 to 24 years old, run in tandem with WSB). For the past few years it’s been home to some of the closest, scariest, and hardest