NIGHT Track day under flood lights at Streets of Willow - July 9

[nope]

An email from motoyard.com:

July track days can sometimes get hot out in the desert, so what did we come up with to solve that? A Track Night!

We will bring out floodlights and open up the Streets of Willow Springs on July 9th from 7pm to 2am.
Is there a better way to spend your Friday night? We don't think so.

Everything else is the same as any other track day we do.
We will run 20 minute sessions, 3 groups, so everyone can get plenty of track time.
Dunlop Tires will be available. Great deals on new (211GP-A, 211GP, Slicks) and take-off tires!
Suspension work will be provided by "In House Suspension". They only charge $40 to work with you all day!

The price is low as always - only $99. Free drinks, free instruction for anyone interested, no pressure atmosphere, and lots of track time. For you "late birds" we have a limited time special - 9pm to 2am for only $79

Register @ http://www.motoyard.com/trackday

My friend and I just signed up to take our ninjas out there. The Intermediate group is full so we're gonna see what happens in Advanced. :P
It's cheap and should be an awesome experience! There are still just a couple spots in Beginner and Advanced groups so come out and join us.

[Zombiphone]

I actually just signed up for the beginner group for that earlier this morning. I was initially going to sign up for the 10th, but it's sold out and this consequently caught my eye. Unfortunately, I didn't see it in time to get a spot in intermediate, so beginner it is. Probably better safety wise for me anyways, since I need to make sure my bike survives at least until the end of the month.

I opted for the late bird special though, since I have to work that day and it's $20 cheaper, so I'll be showing up not as on time this time around.

Should be an interesting experiment. I'm really looking forward to riding Streets again while not dying of heat exhaustion. See you there

[ztrack157]

Damn I would go but its AFM at THILL this weekend.

[nope]

Beginner and Intermediate are both full now. There are waiting lists, but.. I dunno.

[Betlog]

My friend was thinking of doing this. I opted for the July 10 one (next day) as that will be my first track day and I didn't want to do it at night. Watch out for the critters guys... rabbits, snakes and whatnot.

[Zombiphone]

That was pretty cool I've never seen streets so packed. With temperatures like that, I could have gone a couple more sessions easily and still been fit to function. I'm honestly surprised they lit it up so well. When I was first looking down the front straight from pre-grid, I admittedly had quite a few butterflies wondering what the hell I had just gotten myself into, but as soon as I actually got on the track, it was great. Felt amazing. I'd totally do that again.

I was hoping setting my camera to HD mode would get me some better footage, but my videos turned out pretty dark. Regardless, if anyone's curious what it looked like through my eyes, nice and slow and safe (>_<) I got what you need:

Link to original page on YouTube.

Not my best laps of the night I don't think, but this shows a bit more traffic. I swear the visibility in person was much better than it appears, especially with high beams and a clear visor. And they had lot of corner workers, so I felt pretty safe at least. I wanted to get pictures too, since it was something different, but the caliphotography people bowed out pretty early. Maybe when they post them up online I'll get some though, since my black on black in the blackness of the night looked pretty crazy.

[Betlog]

Good stuff Tiff, looks like you did really well. Though, it looks like they could use more lights. Specially turn 2 and the bowl. By the way what camera were you using?

[Zombiphone]

Yeah the outside of turn 2 and the bowl were pretty dark, but the asphalt was clearly visible for both. My camera definitely shows it a bit darker than it actually was in person. Interestingly enough though, I think that not being able to see the dirt and stuff outside those turns actually helped my lines in both. I didn't run wide on turn 2 even once all night, which is a first for me

I've got the contourHD mounted to my handle bars with a RAM mount. It actually works really well to dampen the vibrations and such, although not even that can hide the rough shaking at the apex of turn 11 (I think it's 11- the 90 degree left hander off the back straight), and the rough patches on the skid pad (Oh, the skid pad ). I love the setup. The only disadvantage, I think, is that you can't review any of the footage without a PC, but eh. I can always bring my laptop if I really want to see before I get home.

[Betlog]

Originally Posted by Zombiphone

Yeah the outside of turn 2 and the bowl were pretty dark, but the asphalt was clearly visible for both. My camera definitely shows it a bit darker than it actually was in person. Interestingly enough though, I think that not being able to see the dirt and stuff outside those turns actually helped my lines in both. I didn't run wide on turn 2 even once all night, which is a first for me

I've got the contourHD mounted to my handle bars with a RAM mount. It actually works really well to dampen the vibrations and such, although not even that can hide the rough shaking at the apex of turn 11 (I think it's 11- the 90 degree left hander off the back straight), and the rough patches on the skid pad (Oh, the skid pad ). I love the setup. The only disadvantage, I think, is that you can't review any of the footage without a PC, but eh. I can always bring my laptop if I really want to see before I get home.

Ah yeah, the rough patches at those two turn points are scary. Well, I'm glad you had fun and kept safe.

[nope]

That was so f'ing fun. Damn.

Just checked my vids. 1:32 laptime!

[Rexbo]

way to not post your vids tq

[Zombiphone]

+1

Seriously. I want to see some videos of how fast I could be going if I could just stumble upon some more cajones and crazy

[nope]

Well, my camera is crap compared to yours. It wasn't picking up any light really. But I'll cut a lap out and post that up when I get home.

I really wish my camera was better and that I was recording on the last run. We dropped down into the intermediate group to remember what it's like to pass. I had a really good battle goin with a ZX6R and 1000RR. I would pass them both twice every lap after they'd both blow by me in the front and back straights. The CBR was all over the place taking abrupt lines making it really dangerous to pass (which is why I wish I was recording) but the guy on the ZX6R stopped and had a laugh with me afterward because it was an epic 20 minute battle from start to end.

I pretty much raped my BT016.
GSXR front end is nuts, I realized I have brakes on godmode.

[RaceBikeRentals]

Swwweeeeeeet! Jealous here!

Johnathan, those are good laptimes. 1:32 is my best on the track before the repave, so I'm guessing 1:30-1:31 with the current config. Sounds like you have that streetfighter really setup well

[nope]

Yo, thanks Richard! Have you tracked there since the re-pave? It seems that the only part that's better is the chicane. However, even there your front end still lifts off a bit when you're blowing between apex 1 and 2. Turn 6 still has that one line at the apex that kicks you over an inch or so. The hard left after the chicane still has that rough spot if you miss the apex. The entire skidpad remains unchanged, so garbage (but still awkwardly fun).

Along with trusting my brakes more, one big thing that helped me go faster was remembering to bring the rear shock pre-load adjuster tool. Last time I kept nailing my exhaust in the bowl and it would throw my rear end out abruptly so I would get scared every time going through there and have to slow down a bunch. This time I remembered to borrow a buddy's and maxed out the preload. Exhaust was still scraping but not enough to punt my bike around.

I'm excited to try again when I can actually see what's in front of me. :P

[Rexbo]

looks like they;re havin another night track day on Sat Aug. 21st for $149... I'd be down to go, and this time with fresh tires and rearsets hopefully!

[Zombiphone]

Yeah, I'm pretty seriously considering it. Especially being it's on a Saturday this time, so I won't have to work all day and miss the first session. The only reason I'm a little iffy is that I'm going to be checking out Auto Club Speedway the following week, so that's a bit of an additional investment. Otherwise though, I'll have to go from now until then without any track days. Hmm, on second thought, I think I'll sign up when I get my check this week.

That'll give me time to install and get used to my clip ons anyways, so I can see what kind of difference those make. I imagine with all the feedback they got, it should be even better this time around too. I think I'll try B group if they have any spots left by the time I sign up. See if I can hang with those kinds of speeds and all

[RaceBikeRentals]

Tiffani, you'll love your clipons. Make a huge difference. Take your time adjusting them so they don't hit anything when turning the front lock to lock.

[Zombiphone]

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to trying them out ^_^ From the pictures I've seen of people using the clip ons, it looks like they help place your upper body much more on top of the gas tank and force you to ride less upright, which I assume makes for a comfortable and useful handling improvement on the track. The only reason I haven't installed them yet is because I wasn't sure how comfortable they'd be for long distance street riding, so I determined I'd put them on AFTER the 300 mile ride to Laguna Seca in.... holy crap- just another week and a half! Exciting

Then I figure I can rig up a lap timer in that extra space where the handle bars used to be, so I can start working on getting down from my slow and relaxed 1:50s

[tiggen]

I'm jealous. That looks awesome. Were there any track photographers out? Do the pics look like the Qatar GP?

[nope]

Nah, the photos kinda sucked, and they stopped at like 11pm. I was TOTALLY looking forward to Qatar'y photos too.. It's like she forgot to lower her ISO settings at all.