paterick4o8
September 19th, 2009, 01:49 AM
I finally did what I've been wanting to do for a while in my 1.5 years of motorcycle riding.. go to the track! :happy120::happy50:
Not only that, but I've been hit by others, saying that I should or need go. Well, fine, so I went.. now street riding won't be the same :Twofinger: haha. It was a blast, and I want to go again.
Track was Thunderhill Raceway, up in Willows, CA and the event was hosted by Keigwins.
http://www.keigwin.com/images/img_track_thunderhill_raceway.png
Weather was great, sunny and about 85 degrees or so. Keigwins was a great host, they were pretty organized and pretty lenient as well. They had 3 groups depending on speed and skill, B-, B+, and A.
Being my first track day, I was required to start in B-. We started at the top of each hour from 9am-5pm, with a 1 hour lunch starting @ 1pm.
The 9am session was a for sighting; for B- to get used to the track, so we went in groups around in a mellow paced manner lead by an instructor, 5 riders per group. I was pretty intimidated on some of the turns after going around 2x. Some guy decided to go :squid: and leave my group to go ahead and faster-- he ended up going off track and had to spend the first 2 sessions fixing his bike :rolleyes:
haha but for the most part there was only 1 semi serious crash in B+ group on turn 5 on the downhill where the rider had to be put on stretcher. From what we heard he was ok.
One of the instructors talked to me before going back on the track right before my 4th session gave me tips on where to pass other riders since he saw me able to do so--he noted that since I don't have a lot of power, turns 2, 3, and the downhill of 5 were good ones to get on other riders and pass them on the outside while in the turn. Then he suggested I can bump up to B+ after lunch.. so I did :D
Going B+ was great because there was less traffic for me to have to deal with. Plus since the riders were more experienced, it was nice to have them to follow and motivate me to keep pushin along.
I was able to video record all but the first 2 sessions, as I used them to focus on practicing and getting to know the track. At the end of the day and after watching the videos, I'm eager to go back to the track. I would really like to work on turning later into the turn. My lines look like I go in to the the turn too early. I'll have an instructor follow me next time or vice versa. I also want to focus on being smoother and have less correction in my lines during a turn. Back to the basics.
The tires I ran were the BT003RS. All I can say is I am very impressed with how they ran. They were fairly solid even on a fast paced track like Thunderhill and didn't feel the need to change my PSI, 29 front and 29.5 rear. I guess where I can do more testing is when I start taking the turns faster next time to see how they respond. But overall, great tire! :)
Now as for the bike itself. It's lighter weight definitely was an advantage in the turns. I could keep up and even pass some of the bigger bikes in them when I was in the B+ group. However, one thing that bothered me was the amount of shifting I had to do; there were turns where I was right in the apex or while just exiting apex, and I was already redlining. And obviously it's not convenient to have to up shift while in a turn, no-sir-ree. I guess if I changed sprockets it'd help, but I wanted to get a chance to ride and report based on a stock set up perspective. Also, at tracks with longer straightaways like Thunderhill, things tend to feel slow when you're getting passed by everyone else in the straights. My thought is, this bike would be much faster on a more twisty and technical track.
But all-in-all, a fun time :biggrin1:.
Now with no further delay, the goodies:
Pictures
Camp Set Up
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/slmboypnoy/T-Hill%209-15-09/CIMG1804.jpg
Custom Ram Air :lol:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/slmboypnoy/T-Hill%209-15-09/CIMG1805.jpg
I have video footage from all but my first 2 sessions. I can post them up later either in here (since they're all track vids) or in the video section (since they're videos).
^What do you think, Alex?
4172 4173 4174 4175 4176
Not only that, but I've been hit by others, saying that I should or need go. Well, fine, so I went.. now street riding won't be the same :Twofinger: haha. It was a blast, and I want to go again.
Track was Thunderhill Raceway, up in Willows, CA and the event was hosted by Keigwins.
http://www.keigwin.com/images/img_track_thunderhill_raceway.png
Weather was great, sunny and about 85 degrees or so. Keigwins was a great host, they were pretty organized and pretty lenient as well. They had 3 groups depending on speed and skill, B-, B+, and A.
Being my first track day, I was required to start in B-. We started at the top of each hour from 9am-5pm, with a 1 hour lunch starting @ 1pm.
The 9am session was a for sighting; for B- to get used to the track, so we went in groups around in a mellow paced manner lead by an instructor, 5 riders per group. I was pretty intimidated on some of the turns after going around 2x. Some guy decided to go :squid: and leave my group to go ahead and faster-- he ended up going off track and had to spend the first 2 sessions fixing his bike :rolleyes:
haha but for the most part there was only 1 semi serious crash in B+ group on turn 5 on the downhill where the rider had to be put on stretcher. From what we heard he was ok.
One of the instructors talked to me before going back on the track right before my 4th session gave me tips on where to pass other riders since he saw me able to do so--he noted that since I don't have a lot of power, turns 2, 3, and the downhill of 5 were good ones to get on other riders and pass them on the outside while in the turn. Then he suggested I can bump up to B+ after lunch.. so I did :D
Going B+ was great because there was less traffic for me to have to deal with. Plus since the riders were more experienced, it was nice to have them to follow and motivate me to keep pushin along.
I was able to video record all but the first 2 sessions, as I used them to focus on practicing and getting to know the track. At the end of the day and after watching the videos, I'm eager to go back to the track. I would really like to work on turning later into the turn. My lines look like I go in to the the turn too early. I'll have an instructor follow me next time or vice versa. I also want to focus on being smoother and have less correction in my lines during a turn. Back to the basics.
The tires I ran were the BT003RS. All I can say is I am very impressed with how they ran. They were fairly solid even on a fast paced track like Thunderhill and didn't feel the need to change my PSI, 29 front and 29.5 rear. I guess where I can do more testing is when I start taking the turns faster next time to see how they respond. But overall, great tire! :)
Now as for the bike itself. It's lighter weight definitely was an advantage in the turns. I could keep up and even pass some of the bigger bikes in them when I was in the B+ group. However, one thing that bothered me was the amount of shifting I had to do; there were turns where I was right in the apex or while just exiting apex, and I was already redlining. And obviously it's not convenient to have to up shift while in a turn, no-sir-ree. I guess if I changed sprockets it'd help, but I wanted to get a chance to ride and report based on a stock set up perspective. Also, at tracks with longer straightaways like Thunderhill, things tend to feel slow when you're getting passed by everyone else in the straights. My thought is, this bike would be much faster on a more twisty and technical track.
But all-in-all, a fun time :biggrin1:.
Now with no further delay, the goodies:
Pictures
Camp Set Up
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/slmboypnoy/T-Hill%209-15-09/CIMG1804.jpg
Custom Ram Air :lol:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/slmboypnoy/T-Hill%209-15-09/CIMG1805.jpg
I have video footage from all but my first 2 sessions. I can post them up later either in here (since they're all track vids) or in the video section (since they're videos).
^What do you think, Alex?
4172 4173 4174 4175 4176