I just paid for my first track day through RideSmart here in Texas. This one is at TWS which just so happens to be about 10 minutes away from me. i am excited. Anything i should know before i go?

Also i might be moving soon to alabama any local riders on here? I will probably also be doing Barber Motorsports Park once i get there.

You will love Barber. I've done Barber a few times. Its worth living in Alabama just to have access to Barber Motorsports Park.

There's also a great little roadcourse outside of Talladega: the Talladega Gran Prix, aka "Little Tally."

It's a lot cheaper than Barber, and a lot of fun (especially on the little bikes, haha).

Talladega is flat and short. Barber is a World Class and well worth the extra money.

that was the one thing i did notice about the track day at barber it is around $250, when texas world speedway is roughly $150. But i guess the facility is worth it. I have been looking for groups and forums around the birmingham area but have yet to find one. What track days company should i go with, NESBA? Others?

Go with NESBA whenever possible. They are an excellent organization. Since they don't allow you to pick your own group (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced) you are truly riding with other riders of your same ability. Their control riders really pay attention to the group and riding ability. If you are riding at a level above the group you are in they will move you up. They are not looking for the fastest bikes on the track. They actually watch how you control the bike. I was moved up at my first track day with NESBA.
As far as forums, try alsportbike.com or NESBA has a forum.

Good luck Mitch. Your gonna be so hooked after. When you do move, NESBA is definately the group to ride with - truely a class act group.

yeah, they only have 2 more days after at barber, but i guess georgia isn't that long of a drive. I need to see what company does mini tally.

Loaded up and ready to go, can't wait for tomorrow.

http://www.ninjette.org/forums/picture.php?albumid=601&pictureid=4999 http://www.ninjette.org/forums/picture.php?albumid=601&pictureid=5001

Hope you had/are having a blast out there. Dont forget to show some action shots of you at the track

Talladega is flat and short. Barber is a World Class and well worth the extra money.

There's no doubt that Barber is worth the money, but Little Tally is perfect for the 250, especially for someone who doesn't have much tracktime (like the OP).

So, where are the pics?

So, where are the pics?

are you posting on ninjette FROM the track??

Nope. I'm in Blythe in my RV. Its only an hour from the track.

We don't need pics.....we already know he is on the fastest color :thumbup:

well the day went well until around 2pm. I was actually romping on it pretty good and found out i needed to work on my lines and body positon more. This was my first track day after all.

well there was this guy on a gsxr 1000, who probably shouldn't have been in the novice (level 1) group. In this group there is no passing in the corners until told you can, and once told you can only pass on the outside. Well this guy passed me in the horseshoe turn, which i was working my line on, on the outside and if you look at the map below there is an immediate left after the right horseshoe turn. Well he passed me on the inside on the immediate left hander and ran me off my line, which i had set up and finally nailed down, and forced me off the track. i wrecked out breaking bothe my rearsets and bending bothe handlebars. The crash was at roughly 40-45 mph. I am not 100% ok, but i am healing up nicely. My elbow is sprained and a little stiff, but besides that i am good now. i not really mad nor happy about the situation, the guy obviously passed me in a poor spot. I had to wait at the track til the end to get my bike and go home.

11695

(counter clockwise starting at the pit exit for turn 1, turns 10, 11, and 12 is where it happened, he passed me on the horse shoe (turn 10) and pushed me off the track going into turn 11, bik and i rolled almost to turn 12 in the crass alone)

I can say this without blinking, this definitely didn't turn me off of track days at all. I plan on doing more, just hope to not get stuck with a dillhole, which probably will happen regardless.

Damage to the bike. both rearsets were stapped at the mounting hardware, both handlebars were (bent one up and one down), rear left fairing was ripped off completely (I have a replacement), broken left main fairing (going to replace but i can tape it up for now), Cracked right fairing, bent exhaust.

I have the exhaust already replaced and the rear fairing also. I am going to order woodcraft clipons and rearsets, and tape up the fairing until i can afford to replace both.

Like i said i will be ok, just need some time to heal, and i will be back at the track hopefully in about 2 months.

There is also Roebling Road and Road Atlanta in Georgia which is a bit farther but those are decent tracks.

Glad to hear your okay from your wreck.

Sorry to hear about the wreck man! Did they kick the guy off for passing against club rules?

Don't get turned off to tracking... **** happens that you sometimes can't control (like dbags on gsxrs), but if you can take anything away from it (besides bruises), its leaving your own comfort zone for unknown eventualities like people passing you or rough pavement. As you get better you extend your comfort zone more and more until eventually you'll have knee down, and still feel like you have a good margin of error in store in case something goes wrong.

Wow Mitchell, sorry to hear about that. I was reading a post by a trackday rider on the ZX-6R forum and one of the things he mentioned was people getting tired or losing focus later in the day. Unfortunately it seems you had to experience it firsthand.

Glad to hear your recovery is going well and the bike is already being mended.

I am very sorry that you had a crash. It is good that you were not hurt badly.

I do not want to scare you, but I think that the bike is never completely fine after a crash. Those things that you see that are broken are easy part. If you find it odd or strange to ride after replacing everything it is quite possible that something really is slightly misaligned (rims, fork, even frame...). Fairings are the least of your worries, at least in my opinion. They always take damage and cost a lot, and don't do much at ninjette speeds.

Hey at least you lasted more than me.... wrecked first day 2 laps in... lol. Just fix the bike and go back as soon as you feel ready. I went back and successfully completed my second (first) track day.

As for other parts being bent. I have no damage to the front fairings so I find it kinda hard to have bent a fork with no damage done to that fairing. Also I thought my rear tail section was bent because when I out on my other tail fairing it seemed to be off but after I investigated it further it was one of the mounting points on that section (the bottom one). I put the bike on the rear stand and free spun the wheel for a bit and it had no wobble to it at all. I really won't know till I get all the parts and it back on the road, but I have a high certainty that nothing major is wrong with the bike.