First Track Day

fallenarch

THE SLOW RIDER
Registered
Well it’s in the books! My first track day experience was both what I expected and surprising in many ways. It also changed how I think about riding in some unexpected ways.
Things all started several years ago. A good friend and a great rider told me that you can learn the same thing on a track you can learn in the streets, it just takes longer. Obviously, the street is more dangerous, but tracks aren’t necessarily “safe†either. The real thing is you can do something 25 times in one day on a track. It might take years to get that experience on the streets. Also when you begin to learn something it’s the most likely time you will crash. It just makes sense to learn it when there is an experienced person to help you and the price you pay for getting it wrong is less. That really stuck with me. About a year ago I decided to get on the track. I’m a petty advanced rider and I know a lot about how a bike works dynamically. But I was mostly curious. What would these guys tell me that I don’t already know?

First Problem: The track bike. I decided “I go with the horse that got me here.†I want to learn how to ride the Busa better, not just any bike. Then I found out the insurance would cover the bike in supervised rider training! Problem one – check.

Second Problem: A suit. You can read about that here: Problem two – check. Oops got the suit. Awesome quality, very soft leather, doesn’t fit. DOESN’T FIT! Panic, what do you do with a $1200 custom suit that doesn’t fit? I called Dave at Spartan Leathers and he said they would stretch. Said to soak them and stretch them. I didn’t think that would work so he offered people who can alter the suit but I was worried about sending measurements again, so Dave offered to make a new pair of pants for less that alterations would cost. New pants come in and they are cavernous! They are so big that they won’t zip into the jacket! So my wife hears sloshing in the bathroom and comes in to see me doing squats in a tub half full of hot water. She walks out of the bathroom shaking her head. But it worked! After that suit felt a little snug but great. OK now problem two - check.

Third Problem: Transporting a bike. I want to buy a trailer but I can’t store it in my driveway or yard. So it looks like U-Haul. I came up with a quick hold down system that can be moved from trailer to trailer, is easy to get the bike on and off of, and that doesn’t cost a fortune. I have attached some images of that. Problem three – check.
So I signed up for an ART1 class with Team Promotion that was held at NCBike in Garysburg, NC. The track is used by cars and bikes but only for track days and testing. It is a decent track but doesn’t have curbing and other things necessary for competition. It was a 2-day session but I only signed up for the first. The class was fun. We had about 15-20 minutes of class then back out to the track for a 20 minute session. The first 2 sessions were “follow the coach sessionsâ€. We were not allowed to pass in these sessions. In the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] session, it was free form with coaches zooming around looking and telling people to follow them to see the proper lines. There were 9 sessions total, I only made 7 sessions before I simply couldn’t pull the adrenaline together to go out and line up for another few laps.

I must say I was surprised at what I learned:

1. First I learned that I was moving my weight as far forward as I could, which is wrong. Proper body position (rotating the leg and torso into the turn) actually is easier to achieve if you are back in the seat. I was fine doing it wrong in the first two sessions of follow the coach. But as speeds increased I found my wrong body position was unsettling the bike. Once I was in the right position the bike started doing exactly what I wanted and there was 30-40 mph more speed available to me right away.

2. The second thing I learned is that there is a low level of dynamic control over a bike that is possible to learn on the street. But the true limit of these bikes is way up there. This “additional†level of performance can only be accessed by riding the bike correctly, which is tough to learn on a road. I took a ride yesterday afternoon and the turn I was taking at the “limit†before the track day I was casually strolling around with my corrected body position. There was a coach named Omar who kept saying “speed equals safety.†I was very skeptical of this and sort of dismissed it as track junky cult talk. By my last session I had begun to understand this. When you are putting your weight in the right place, keeping weight off the arms for control, and following the proper lines you get safer. You react faster, see better (farther down the track) and understand what the bike is telling you. I don’t want to pile on to my buddy IG but it was clear after the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] class session why FA’s won’t work for good riders – it requires bad body position.

3. The third thing I learned is how much a tire can take. There is a turn at NCBike that I actually had nightmares about. It’s at the end of the front straight so you enter it trying to brake from 140 mph or so. As it turns out you can slow the bike only 40 mph or so, lay the bike over and never get as much as a twitch from the tires. Omar (coach) did another demonstration that really was an epiphany. He had a new front tire and held it in his hands, stretching them forward. Then with the tire on the floor and leaning at 60-70 degrees, supported his body weight! Obviously a tire can do this but seeing it really raises your trust level.

Tracks are crazy fun. Sitting in line to go onto the track is a mind game. You look around and start to identify people you can pass, then you see people you and you think "I'll just be in the way". But once you get out there you can take the bike to a level you can’t on the street and with each lap something happens that makes you say to yourself: “Did I just F’n do that?â€. On the other hand street riding is fun too and I don’t think I will be one of those guys who swears off the touring because only tracks are real riding. I will definitely be dedicating some funds and effort to the track from now on though! Getting to the track was a bit harder than I expected as far as equipment and cash but in the end, it ranks near the top of the many excellent adventures the Busa and I have shared.

So how did I do? Not so good in my estimation. I thought I would be faster compared to the other people but this to me seemed to be a pretty serious/experienced group. At one point I was leaned over at somewhere between 90 and 100 mph in a 280 degree sweeper. Suddenly my engine noise turned to that harmony of other bikes. One guy passed me on the inside and the other on the outside. I was thinking they had to be doing 120 mph, knees dragging. Part of this was the Busa was outclassed in some corners but more of it was my inexperience at that performance level. So now I have to go back………

Unfortunately both my GoPro 3 & 4 and my Sony action cam did not get good recordings. The USB charging block I had the GoPros on must be broken as it did not charge. Then the mount for the Sony didn’t work too well and the vibration made the video useless. I also forgot to turn it on in the last session I did because I lined up so late. And finally the shots of me by the pro photographer really sucked. He didn’t get one shot of me with the knee out getting off the bike.

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Thanks for pushing me out there. But promise you won't tell Skydiver I actually listen to him sometimes!
 
awesome, Arch! I knew you'd love it.... It's amazing to see what sport bikes are capable of (Yes even a Busa :laugh: )...

Riding the track is a totally different game from the street. Last year, one guy came to his first track day (in novice, obviously) and kept popping off how many years and street miles he has under his belt.. "I've logged 180k street miles".. It didn't take long for him to realize that meant nothing when it came to the track..

Great job! Now you're going to have a blast as you continue to get better, faster, smoother and be able to look back at where you started :thumbsup:
 
Awesome Willie!!! Glad you had a great experience! I wish we'd known you needed a trailer - we have an enclosed trailer for hauling bikes. That would have saved you some $ and stress over hauling your baby in the open U-haul.

I've never done a track day...I used to really want to do one, but it seems the older I get, the less I think about it :( Not sure if I feel more intimidated as the years go by or what.

Just glad you had a great time and here's to many more! :beerchug:
 
Woo Hoo! Glad you got to go and had a great time! I've been 2-3 times and love it! One day, after projects are done, I need to try to get out and do another one! (Need to get a new suit first).
 
Well I'm 53 and in pretty sorry shape so I know you would have no problems Vabs. There were a lot of women out there too. They actually had a race for the MotoGP Girls. One other thing I learned that I left out of the OP - never talk trash to a girl! They will spank your behind! :laugh: I was giving one girl a had time in the track meeting and she lapped me! Made for a very funny time in the classroom session after that track session ........
 
Thanks for pushing me out there. But promise you won't tell Skydiver I actually listen to him sometimes!

Bwaaah :)

Glad you liked it Arch...now, get ready to not have any extra spending money, as it will all be in tires/gas/parts and trackday fees...because trackdays are VERY addictive. I'm glad you had a good day, and welcome to the addiction! Now, if you'll just come on down to Barber, we'll show you a real good time!

It's amazing how just a few hours on a racetrack can change your entire outlook and survival skills riding the street. Did everybody come up and oooh and aaah over your Busa?

P.S. I'll bet if you repented your liberal ways and started voting conservative, it would be worth AT LEAST 5 seconds off your laptimes :)

Let the Smacktalk begin...let me know when you want a TEAM GIXXER sticker for your bike!
 
Bwaaah :)

Glad you liked it Arch...now, get ready to not have any extra spending money, as it will all be in tires/gas/parts and trackday fees...because trackdays are VERY addictive. I'm glad you had a good day, and welcome to the addiction! Now, if you'll just come on down to Barber, we'll show you a real good time!

It's amazing how just a few hours on a racetrack can change your entire outlook and survival skills riding the street. Did everybody come up and oooh and aaah over your Busa?

P.S. I'll bet if you repented your liberal ways and started voting conservative, it would be worth AT LEAST 5 seconds off your laptimes :)

Let the Smacktalk begin...let me know when you want a TEAM GIXXER sticker for your bike!

I have been thinking about a Barber trip next year. Have to talk my buds into it because that's a long one from Virginia Beach. Got a few funny looks at the Busa and a lot of people got more interested when they saw the Ohlins and Brembos on her. I was the only bike out there with cruise control though!
 
The Busa on the track is a workout, but she is capable of a dignified showing. Glad you finally made it out there.
 
Great write up. I wanted to do a track day before, now I have to do one. The hanks for giving me more excuses.
 
:rofl::rofl::rofl: If I'm so young why am I limping today I'm so sore?

I'm giggling...I felt that way after my first trackday too...

Now, this last weekend, I coached all 9 of my own N group sessions, and rode every Intermediate Session of the afternoon on top of it...can't do it when it's hot, but that was 12 or 13 almost full sessions in one day...
 
I think we have a new posterchild of why trackdays are such a learning experience, and sooo much freakin fun!
 
Well as you know I tend to think I know everything, and usually that's true :whistle: But if I'm being honest I came back from the 3rd session where everyone was allowed to pass me with my tail between my legs. I was quiet during the lunch break and man did I take it from my bros who were saying stuff like "damn we finally figured out how to shut his big mouth"! Guess that's what friends are for? I tell you I was real attentive to the coaches after that! I made a little better showing after lunch but now it's sort of a mission.
 
Wow, good job overcoming the hurdles! I just had my first track day about a month ago. I had similar issues with getting everything ready:) especially the gear.

Your track experience sounds more like what I think is typical with the groups. I went to a smaller track that has some really great advantages, such as no riding sessions, it's all groups all day. So I got a lot of track time. Although there were experienced riders (some on 250's) blowing passed me.

Did you think that some of the track instruction was really off for the busa? Stuff like, 'at this point in the exit, you're wide open and hitting your power rpm range.' With the overage of horsepower we have, I feel like I'd be sliding off the track at any point that I fully open the throttle while still in a lean. Perhaps it's just my inexperience, but I think some of it is just that the busa has to be treated a little differently. Another rider suggested I run in C mode, but after a few laps of that, I didn't like the power not being where I expected it to be, so I went back to A.

As far as street wisdom, the track did change the way I see riding. I've decided to do whatever I can to keep the two separate. Seems to me there are some seriously bad habits that could get formed from getting better at track riding. Specifically, holding your line despite what's going on behind you and not keeping track of what everyone around you is doing. There is a lot of trust in that the other riders will do what they are expected to do when you're inches away from each other in high speed turn. Also there's a necessary trust in the track conditions being ideal that I hope I never start counting on when on the street. It's the opposite of driving like everyone is trying to kill you:)

I took the busa out to an empty parking lot after I bought her and was happy with how stable she cornered and was nimble (once I got passed sliding around on the new tires). And of course, I was blown away when I tapped into her power. Now that I've been to the track, my view has changed. I'm blown away by how well the busa, a heavier bike, with a heavy rider was able to shred thru the corners like a true sport bike. Of course the light bikes were able to do it and hold higher speeds (both experience and physics), but I am really happy with the busa as my 'all around bike'. I've driven other bikes for extended rides on the interstate, and no thanks, no more. I am watching track bikes now though. If I improve enough on the track, and want to push it farther, I may just give in and get something I wont be so heartbroken about if I slide it off the track:)

It's a welcome new way of looking at riding that I don't get from the street. And best of all, no tickets, no oncoming traffic, and there's an EMT watching the track the whole time! I may be hooked as well.
 
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