fastblackblur
Registered
Well I thought I would do a little right up over an event I attended this Monday at Gingerman Raceways in South Haven Michigan. The school/track day was put on by Reg Pridmore’s Class motorcycle schools. Unfortunately I really was not able to do everything I wanted to during the day because of an ankle injury I have developed but I still managed to work on a few things. They were only running two groups this day so I got about as much time on the track as I could handle. By noon my thighs were just about wore out and by the end of the day my upper body was done also. I spend most of Tuesday laying on the couch whining about how sore I was feeling. Today I felt a lot better but still a little tight in my legs and shoulders.
The School…
The school seems to be primarily directed at street riding. The instructors seemed to be very hands off and preferred for you to come to them for help vs volunteering what they thought you should be doing. None of the groups were permitted to pass on the inside and they only ran control riders on the first session. Sessions 2 – 6 you were allowed to ride around the track however you saw fit. Safety was monitored by between 3 and 5 track marshals cruising around the track making sure nothing reckless was going on. For anyone who has never been to the track these guys would be a great place to start. B group was full of all sorts of bikes, Sportbikes, cruisers, sport touring were all present. It was a very non competitive environment where you could explore your limits safely.
Me…
I had really planned on spending most of the day working on body position but this bum ankle I seem to have going would not let me lean off the right side of the bike hardly at all without substantial pain. So I spent the day working on keeping my lines tight and rpms up. I also got to figure out how to use my GPS lap timer and my gopro camera a little. At the schools advisement I ran in the slow group to begin with… lets just say I got a ton of practice passing people. I’m not crazy fast, a slower intermediate rider, but I was surprised they left me in that group for so long because me and this other fellow on a RC51 were lapping the majority of the other riders twice in a 20-25minute sessions. I will say being substantially faster than most of the riders in the slow group really helped me appreciate tighter lines. As we were not allowed to pass on the inside (no matter how much space was available) when a slower rider would keep the line they were being taught to run, there is a ton of space on the outside to make a clean easy pass. At lunch I moved up to the faster group where I was running about mid pack. Even though my times generaly had gotten faster after lunch, fatigue was definitely slowing me down by the end of the day.
This was my second track day on my Dunlop Q2s I ran 30psi in the front and 29 in the rear. Stuck like glue all day long and still look like I can get at least 1 or 2 more days out of them before they need to be retired.
Gingerman Raceways
Interesting track… Lots of tar snakes, not too fond of those, there was a decent chunk of pavement damage on the last turn that made me a little skittish to really hit it hard. Turn 10 was pretty neat. It was 180 degree turn that starts as a downhill off camber to an uphill on camber. I went in a little too hot one time and almost thought I was going off road but I managed to get her pointed in the right direction at the last moment. I had heard the track may be a little too tight for a Busa and while I was riding my GSXR 1000, I think you could still have a ton of fun on a Hayabusa. You don’t get a lot of space to use the top end of the bike(my top speed of the day was about 130) but the track is wide enough you won’t have any problem getting her around the corners. Not a world class facility but definitely a really really fun way to spend a day or two on a motorcycle.
I definitely recommend you folks out there who haven’t yet attend riding schools do so. You’ll not only improve your skill set but also meet some amazing people along the way. This year I feel like I’m making some very good progress this year with just a little bit of guidance. I’ve only been on the track twice this year and each time I feel like I’ve made decent improvements to my riding both times out. This time out for the first time ever I had an easy time finding my lines, I didn’t always hit them right but felt like I knew when I was on a good one and when I had messed one up. I’m giving credit to that to our very own SteveO(Tufbusa) for teaching me that. I couldn’t do that before he spent a little time with me up in Spokane.
Here is a vid of one of my earlier session; I had improved about 10 seconds a lap by the end of the day. The Gopro was giving me fits by the end of the day and I didn’t get anything beyond my third session recorded.
http://www.vimeo.com/12996164
The School…
The school seems to be primarily directed at street riding. The instructors seemed to be very hands off and preferred for you to come to them for help vs volunteering what they thought you should be doing. None of the groups were permitted to pass on the inside and they only ran control riders on the first session. Sessions 2 – 6 you were allowed to ride around the track however you saw fit. Safety was monitored by between 3 and 5 track marshals cruising around the track making sure nothing reckless was going on. For anyone who has never been to the track these guys would be a great place to start. B group was full of all sorts of bikes, Sportbikes, cruisers, sport touring were all present. It was a very non competitive environment where you could explore your limits safely.
Me…
I had really planned on spending most of the day working on body position but this bum ankle I seem to have going would not let me lean off the right side of the bike hardly at all without substantial pain. So I spent the day working on keeping my lines tight and rpms up. I also got to figure out how to use my GPS lap timer and my gopro camera a little. At the schools advisement I ran in the slow group to begin with… lets just say I got a ton of practice passing people. I’m not crazy fast, a slower intermediate rider, but I was surprised they left me in that group for so long because me and this other fellow on a RC51 were lapping the majority of the other riders twice in a 20-25minute sessions. I will say being substantially faster than most of the riders in the slow group really helped me appreciate tighter lines. As we were not allowed to pass on the inside (no matter how much space was available) when a slower rider would keep the line they were being taught to run, there is a ton of space on the outside to make a clean easy pass. At lunch I moved up to the faster group where I was running about mid pack. Even though my times generaly had gotten faster after lunch, fatigue was definitely slowing me down by the end of the day.
This was my second track day on my Dunlop Q2s I ran 30psi in the front and 29 in the rear. Stuck like glue all day long and still look like I can get at least 1 or 2 more days out of them before they need to be retired.
Gingerman Raceways
Interesting track… Lots of tar snakes, not too fond of those, there was a decent chunk of pavement damage on the last turn that made me a little skittish to really hit it hard. Turn 10 was pretty neat. It was 180 degree turn that starts as a downhill off camber to an uphill on camber. I went in a little too hot one time and almost thought I was going off road but I managed to get her pointed in the right direction at the last moment. I had heard the track may be a little too tight for a Busa and while I was riding my GSXR 1000, I think you could still have a ton of fun on a Hayabusa. You don’t get a lot of space to use the top end of the bike(my top speed of the day was about 130) but the track is wide enough you won’t have any problem getting her around the corners. Not a world class facility but definitely a really really fun way to spend a day or two on a motorcycle.
I definitely recommend you folks out there who haven’t yet attend riding schools do so. You’ll not only improve your skill set but also meet some amazing people along the way. This year I feel like I’m making some very good progress this year with just a little bit of guidance. I’ve only been on the track twice this year and each time I feel like I’ve made decent improvements to my riding both times out. This time out for the first time ever I had an easy time finding my lines, I didn’t always hit them right but felt like I knew when I was on a good one and when I had messed one up. I’m giving credit to that to our very own SteveO(Tufbusa) for teaching me that. I couldn’t do that before he spent a little time with me up in Spokane.
Here is a vid of one of my earlier session; I had improved about 10 seconds a lap by the end of the day. The Gopro was giving me fits by the end of the day and I didn’t get anything beyond my third session recorded.
http://www.vimeo.com/12996164
