Yamaha’s retro racer XSR900 GP versus race track

What better way to celebrate a mere two years with a bike licence than to arrive at a track day on the most ostentatiously race-liveried street bike you can buy? Yes, I am that all-the-gear-no-idea idiot, turning up to Cadwell Park on the utterly gorgeous Yamaha XSR900 GP with its racing colours celebrating Wayne Rainey’s 500cc Grand Prix championship winning streak in the early 90s. Any resemblance to the cigarette brand sponsoring the team back then is purely coincidental, obviously. It was a different time, and all that.

I’m here at the invitation of insurance specialist Bennetts, which runs track days for members of its Bike Social channel. Among them I’ll be sharing track time with TT legend John McGuinness and TV personality and pundit Grace Webb, face of kids’ show Grace’s Amazing Machines but a seriously handy rider and racer in her own right. No pressure.

As discussed in our track day how-to, you need to be ready for an early start for all the pre-event prep. First job is to remove the trendy bar-end mirrors and fit the required brake-lever guard. I quickly make friends with the Yamaha Track Experience guys, here with a fleet of new R9s available for hire but happy to help with a once-over for the GP before I go out.

A light dusting of rain ahead of the briefing fills me with dread, Cadwell a technical track at the best of times. I’m glad my novice group will be the last out, hopeful the breeze will have dried the circuit before I turn a wheel.

Bennetts pitches its track days as beginner friendly, the offer of extra classroom sessions very much welcome. But not until I’ve done my sighting laps, conducted at a sensible pace behind an instructor for a sense of where the track goes. These done I roll out for my first solo laps, the fear factor not helped when John McGuinness peels onto the circuit ahead of me. Well, if you’re going to follow in anyone’s tyre tracks it may as well be those of a 23-time TT winner!
Thankfully John’s just out to warm his tyres, which is absolutely fine by me as I try to follow his lines without getting too star struck. Even at this pace I’m somewhat alarmed at my front wheel lifting off the ground as we go over Cadwell’s Mountain section, the track surprisingly lumpy for Lincolnshire. Thankfully for all its retro clothing the Yamaha is a very modern bike underneath, with a full suite of face-saving electronics to support me. Wheelie control included.

That out of the way I join the extended novice briefing in the Clubhouse, with a detailed explanation of Cadwell’s lines from one of the in-house instructors. Back in the paddock Jason from the Yamaha Track Experience gives the GP a once-over, taking some pressure out of the hard-working rear tyre and checking the fully adjustable forks and shock are set correctly. Which it seems they already have been!

Another benefit of the Bennetts day is a free session of on-track instruction, which given my lack of experience feels a no-brainer. My instructor is ready and waiting for me in the paddock for my next session, and I follow his instruction stick to his wheel and pointers on body position. Will this be the day my conspicuously unscuffed knee sliders finally get broken in?
It's certainly a full mind and body workout, the Yamaha’s 119 horsepower and zingy three-cylinder engine fighting hard to keep up with my instructor’s BMW as we find a way through my fellow novices. Which isn’t always easy, given most are taking it steady through the corners but happy to gas it up the straights.

We swap positions so my instructor can observe what I’m up to, at which point target fixation for the turn-in cone for the fast right-hander into the Gooseneck has me running out of track. Rather than risk laying it down I stand the bike up and bump over the grass, where there is thankfully plenty of space to sort myself out before rejoining the circuit. My instructor pulls no punches with his boot-cooling advice in the debrief...
I’m glad when the lunch bell rings, conscious flagging energy levels are contributing to my mistakes. Suitably refuelled the afternoon sessions flow a lot more smoothly, though.

Another tutorial on body position has the instructor pointing out that why we might feel like we’re throwing shapes around the bike worthy of a MotoGP winner the reality for beginners is we’re often too planted to the saddle. With the bike on stands he shows us how it should be done, balls of the feet on the pegs, bum shuffled across the seat, inside arm dropped and loose and head low as if looking along the side of the bike instead of over the top of it. Easy in theory.
When it does come together it feels amazing, though, Cadwell’s longer corners meaning there’s time to really feel like I’m hanging off the side of the bike. Even if the post-match photos suggest otherwise.

Still, the GP is a surprisingly friendly on track for how ferocious it feels on the road, the relatively high bar position and mid-set pegs making it as comfortable around Cadwell’s undulations as it is on the ride home. Which is surprising, given other reviewers have criticised its racy riding position. But, to me, it feels very much of the new-school, friendlier end of the sports bike spectrum like the Ducati Panigale V2 I rode previously. And less extreme than the R9.
Somewhat out of character I decide to call it on the day before the last session, even with the offer of another ride with McGuinness. Given my flagging concentration levels quitting while still ahead feels the sensible option, especially with a two-hour ride home. I’m not convinced I’ve done Wayne Rainey’s legacy proud and the imposter syndrome of riding a bike in those famous colours nags somewhat. But the opportunity to take the GP on track – and learn some fresh skills along the way – is more than enough to drown out any self-doubt. It’s been a hell of a day! Photos: Impact Images Photography