Trackday!!!!!!!

[Psychopath]

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !


I went to my first trackday on August 29th! I'm pretty sure I am hooked.

The condition: I won the trackday and the weather was BEAUTIFUL! I really wanted to lower the clip ons to below the top clamp and remove the center stand but I had NO time to do it. Btw my 23rd birthday was the Monday before (24th) so this was an awesome present!

The track: http://www.blackhawkfarms.com/about.cfm

The rules/schedule: Seven 20 minute sessions, 1.9 miles of track, No passing in corners, (They didn't really have to worry about ME doing any passing) and 127 miles of joy/stress/crushed egos on the track.

One very close call. It rained HARD the night before so the grass was pretty much a total slip and slide. Early in the day I messed up the second apex of turn 6 and went wide on the left side getting on the grass at 60mph. Somefrickinhow I kept the bike upright and made it back to the track. Shook me up real good. (I love my bike)



Feel free to point out EVERYTHING I am doing wrong in these pictures. I can do nothing but learn right now.
PICTURES!! http://www.gron4.com/2009/083009/nov/101/


I really want to go to more trackdays but it feels wrong to do that to my flawless R11S with 10k on the clock. I would want a dedicated track bike but I really don't want to use a cookie cutter Japanese bike. I've always been the kind of guy that does everything differently. Anybody have an R11S I can just....have?...for trackdays.

[chewie]

Nice one!

Good idea to get something else though, especially if you're inclined to push it a bit

[JimMoore]

It's giggle-in-the-helmet fun, isn't it? Here's a good idea to get you used to the feeling of track days. Get out your wallet. Open it up. See all that money? Throw it in the garbage. Now open your wallet again. See how there's no money in there? Get used to that.

Definitely think about getting a track bike. You can find a used SV-650 for a couple grand, or one of the big four 600s for a little more than that.

[signit98]

Good to hear that you were having fun and a belated happy birthday...

As for what you are doing "wrong"?... a little bit more head-turn and then slide of the bike a tad more for starters and you'll be fine for now... the rest will come with practice and experience.

It's like it is with everything else... don't try to be the best, just do the best you can and then let it grow naturally, there are no prizes... at lest not at the TD's we have here

Nice bike...

[PFFOG]

Originally Posted by Psychopath

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !

.............................

I really want to go to more trackdays but it feels wrong to do that to my flawless R11S with 10k on the clock. I would want a dedicated track bike but I really don't want to use a cookie cutter Japanese bike. I've always been the kind of guy that does everything differently. Anybody have an R11S I can just....have?...for trackdays.

Forget the track bike, I have a CBR600F3 that was run in WERA and CCS race series. I had the same issue, and figured that to reduce the risk to the BCR, I would just get a track bike.

Well I generally take both, but ride the BCR 90% of the time, It is just too much fun for me to pass "sport" bikes in the Intermediate and Expert classes with the BMW ridden by an old guy.

And in 40+ track days on the BCR, no crashes. Should I throw it away, I carry collision on it, and insurance will pay if the bike is damaged at a track day, as it is NOT a race.

Yes, track days are the 3rd most fun you can have on a bike, the first being riding it in Europe, the 2nd involves a partner, but is hard to do while moving.

As far as critique or advice, Ralf had some good wisdom. I will add: listen the the track coaches, seek them out for some one-on-one instructions. And finally NEVER try to go fast, just try to be SMOOTH, and soon you will be very fast, and comfortable and relaxed.

[Guest24]

I'm a little concerned about the order of you priorities Richard.

[Don Ro]

Originally Posted by pffog

never try to go fast, just try to be smooth, and soon you will be very fast, and comfortable and relaxed.

+1

[Psychopath]

Originally Posted by JimMoore

Get out your wallet. Open it up. See all that money? Throw it in the garbage. Now open your wallet again. See how there's no money in there? Get used to that.

Haha I've realized how poor I will be if I start hitting the tracks a lot. I'll see how things go for a bit.

Originally Posted by PFFOG

Forget the track bike, I have a CBR600F3 that was run in WERA and CCS race series. I had the same issue, and figured that to reduce the risk to the BCR, I would just get a track bike.

Well I generally take both, but ride the BCR 90% of the time, It is just too much fun for me to pass "sport" bikes in the Intermediate and Expert classes with the BMW ridden by an old guy.

And in 40+ track days on the BCR, no crashes. Should I throw it away, I carry collision on it, and insurance will pay if the bike is damaged at a track day, as it is NOT a race.

Yes, track days are the 3rd most fun you can have on a bike, the first being riding it in Europe, the 2nd involves a partner, but is hard to do while moving.

As far as critique or advice, Ralf had some good wisdom. I will add: listen the the track coaches, seek them out for some one-on-one instructions. And finally NEVER try to go fast, just try to be SMOOTH, and soon you will be very fast, and comfortable and relaxed.

I'm going to have to look into insurance if this(the bold) really is true. If I do track my bike I'm going to pick up a second set of wheels to put my track tires on. Makes for an easy swap. Other than lowering the clipons and removing the centerstand I should be set to "learn" on the track.

[slowrider]

I talked to my insurance agent and mentioned trackday coverage. He said they cover the damage because to them its considered training class/school. Like all insurance companies, make too many claims, and they'll drop you.

I have heard other people mention that their policy does not cover any closed course riding. It probably depends very much what company you have, and possibly what state laws allow/prevent them from denying your claims.

RE: track bike - if you really want a bike you can throw down the road and not care too much about the cosmetic damage, its not a bad idea. But if your track bike is only ridden at the track and feels very different from your daily ride, its possible that you'll spend a good chunk of your day just getting used to your track bike. If you're doing lots of trackdays, less of an issue.

Ive seen some people just get a beat up (but mechanically sound) version of their street bike. You can spot these because all the plastics and hard parts are scraped to hell, but they have a perfectly setup Ohlins & race exhaust sitting underneath it all

If you're getting a different bike, the SV650 is hard to beat for track duty. So much cheaper to fix and upgrade than most other bikes. And really enough bike for most tracks/riders just getting into the addiction.

I'm a recent addict as well, and now I'm setting my sites on some other tracks NJMS, Calabogie, VIR, etc. Though I am quite thankful for having a track as technical as NHMS in my back yard.

[PFFOG]

Originally Posted by slowrider

.............

I'm a recent addict as well, and now I'm setting my sites on some other tracks NJMS, Calabogie, VIR, etc. Though I am quite thankful for having a track as technical as NHMS in my back yard.

Let me know when you are headed to Calabogie. I may try to do a couple of days there in October.