Brand new stock 2012 Busa at the track

Dookoo

Registered
Drove 550 miles today for a Buttonwillow trackday, 350 travel and 200 miles on the track. Purchased new last week and waited for the first oil change. It was comfortable getting to the track on the Busa and comfortable on the track as well. The greatest limiting factor being the stock rear tires as I was spinning them out of turns constantly which added up to some pucker up/high side powerslides! Compared to my 1k, I really had to set the rear tire before giving full throttle. But for OEM rubber, they handled great with plenty of warning before letting go. The best part of the entire trackday was how I could stay in 3rd gear the entire time. The powerband is tremendous. Here's a few pics:
VP2_3267.jpg
VP3_0232.jpg
GOPR0343.jpg
VP2_5761.jpg
 
Very cool! :thumbsup:

Are you planning to track the BUSA more and what are your plans?

Get some Power One's or something more track friendly on it... :beerchug:
 
Awesome pics!

Somebody told me that Busas don't handle well on the track... but with time I learnt to ignore them and have been having the time of my life ever since!
 
Drove 550 miles today for a Buttonwillow trackday, 350 travel and 200 miles on the track. Purchased new last week and waited for the first oil change. It was comfortable getting to the track on the Busa and comfortable on the track as well. The greatest limiting factor being the stock rear tires as I was spinning them out of turns constantly which added up to some pucker up/high side powerslides! Compared to my 1k, I really had to set the rear tire before giving full throttle. But for OEM rubber, they handled great with plenty of warning before letting go. The best part of the entire trackday was how I could stay in 3rd gear the entire time. The powerband is tremendous. Here's a few pics

Congrats on the new ride. Sweet doesn't give it justice. And a track day at the first oil change sounds like you had fun in store for this girl as soon as she reached puberty.

Spinning the tire at midrange RPM while leaned over is not a combination for keeping the plastic shinny. I am surprised you got away with it once, much less multiple times. I can't ever remember picking up a street bike after a highside that wasn't one or two gears too tall for the corner. Controlling a spin while leaned over is hard enough to manage at near redline and virtually impossible at midrange.

I hope you bought a lottery ticket at days end before your luck changed! :beerchug:
 
Will definitely get some dedicated track tires as my plans are to visit Laguna Seca, my home track (5 minutes away) and Infinion/Sears Point. I'm researching a way to use the BST carbon wheels from my 1k track bike (my avatar) which always has a set of slicks mounted. Otherwise, I'll just have to mount track tires each time I go out. I've fooled around with street compound 'track' tires before and trust me, there is no substitute for race slicks.
 
Congrats on the new ride. Sweet doesn't give it justice. And a track day at the first oil change sounds like you had fun in store for this girl as soon as she reached puberty.

Spinning the tire at midrange RPM while leaned over is not a combination for keeping the plastic shinny. I am surprised you got away with it once, much less multiple times. I can't ever remember picking up a street bike after a highside that wasn't one or two gears too tall for the corner. Controlling a spin while leaned over is hard enough to manage at near redline and virtually impossible at midrange.

I hope you bought a lottery ticket at days end before your luck changed! :beerchug:

I've had the experience many years ago of picking up a bike off the track after being clueless to proper throttle control. I have to give kudos to the OEM BT015's as I had plenty of feedback when the rears were about to let go. Also the long/stable handling characteristics of the frame geometry. It got to the point where I was spinning the tires on exit and leaving darkies around corners. My thoughts are that the BT015 got hot and greasy after three or so hard laps and then I would start getting slippage. The way I managed my tires was to stay in 3rd gear and let the wonderful motor torque its way around the slower corners. I didn't get the immediate exit speed but it kept me upright as well. The liter bikes would squirt away for a couple of seconds until the Busa would make up ground so easily. It was a fun day.
 
Will definitely get some dedicated track tires as my plans are to visit Laguna Seca, my home track (5 minutes away) and Infinion/Sears Point. I'm researching a way to use the BST carbon wheels from my 1k track bike (my avatar) which always has a set of slicks mounted. Otherwise, I'll just have to mount track tires each time I go out. I've fooled around with street compound 'track' tires before and trust me, there is no substitute for race slicks.


I envy such things....You live a very cool part of the world! Thanks for the pics!
 
Pan, That guy never heard the term 'Run what you brung'?! The Busa is a gentleman's track bike. No, it is definitely not quicker around the track than my Gixxer 1000 (Ohlins, BST's, race slicks, etc) but she can handle just fine (They just don't make tracks fast enough!!!). I remember when the Corona race team used a Busa for a few 24 hour endurance events and how they commented that the Hayabusa is the most comfortable, dependable and powerful bike they have ever used. However, comfortable/powerful doesn't mean you win the race. We love our Busa's for many reasons that others will not ever understand. They laughed at me at the track when I showed up with a brand new, off the dealer floor, temporary plated Busa. By the end of the day, only a handful of riders would get around me and when I looked back, the rest of the pack were still a few turns behind. I think they will think twice about making such presumptions.
 
Next time. Look at the pic of my helmet, I had the freaking Gopro pointed at the ground! I didn't account for what angle the helmet would be in riding position. Duh. I can post that if you really wanna see:laugh:
 
good fun aren't they....not had mine on track as the local stuff is too short i'd be lucky to even rev out 3rd.
On the road a mate on a GSXR750 just can't loose me...as said what you loose in tight bends is easily recovered elsewhere.
My fav bit is the overall stability compared to superbikes.....its not been unchanged so long for good reason.
OEM tyre has been a surprise to me ... hated the same tyre on the GSXR but the added busa weight just seems to make them work better.
 
good fun aren't they....not had mine on track as the local stuff is too short i'd be lucky to even rev out 3rd.
On the road a mate on a GSXR750 just can't loose me...as said what you loose in tight bends is easily recovered elsewhere.
My fav bit is the overall stability compared to superbikes.....its not been unchanged so long for good reason.
OEM tyre has been a surprise to me ... hated the same tyre on the GSXR but the added busa weight just seems to make them work better.

Agreed on OEM tires, they really are that good for the street. When you can take them to the track and ride them hard enough to melt them all day long with plenty of tread left, handle predictably at 80% of race slick pace, I would say they are an excellent tire. Stability of this chassis is superb! Cheers
 
Back
Top