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.
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.