Post pics of your most recent track/racing BP (Body Positioning)

[adouglas]

Originally Posted by csmith12

This thread needs some new pics.

My most common bp nowadays

LOL.... These days, that's how I roll behind landscaping trucks, school buses and soccer moms obeying the 25 mph speed limit. Did it this very morning, in fact.

This, however, was the image in my head. But ATGATT.

[kdogg2077]

Originally Posted by adouglas

LOL.... These days, that's how I roll behind landscaping trucks, school buses and soccer moms obeying the 25 mph speed limit. Did it this very morning, in fact.

This, however, was the image in my head. But ATGATT.

I like how the crazy tough super agents still took the time to get frame sliders!

[Sirref]

Originally Posted by Mike K

That's an incredible looking track. Unfortunately I won't be going this time. Short staffed at work so I can't work a schedule change.

Can you camp at the track?

dude, I just broke my **** racing at vir north and am still gonna be there for mon or tue (can't do both anymore) so long as I get the parts in the mail in time (bar and rearset) The guy is overnighting them so I don't think there will be much issue

get off work, it's worth it

[AwDang]

[Sirref]

@AwDang that looks a hell of a lot like VIR N T5 (where I crashed yesterday) is it?

[AwDang]

it's the 4a-b complex

[Sirref]

ok, it is. I see it as T4 then T5 is the right

[csmith12]

Originally Posted by AwDang

it's the 4a-b complex

When I was there with CSS, it took me all damn day to get the entry to that section right to get the drive out into the esses. Must have charged that corner 50 times. Sooooo hard to get 2 quick turns, a hip flick and pick up at the exit all done in that short of a distance and that short of time.

Looks like your rollin' through there pretty good though.

[AwDang]

Originally Posted by csmith12

When I was there with CSS, it took me all damn day to get the entry to that section right to get the drive out into the esses. Must have charged that corner 50 times. Sooooo hard to get 2 quick turns, a hip flick and pick up at the exit all done in that short of a distance and that short of time.

Looks like your rollin' through there pretty good though.

Oh that's not me. That's the kid.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Sirref]

Originally Posted by csmith12

When I was there with CSS, it took me all damn day to get the entry to that section right to get the drive out into the esses. Must have charged that corner 50 times. Sooooo hard to get 2 quick turns, a hip flick and pick up at the exit all done in that short of a distance and that short of time.

Before I rode the track for the first time I watched the motoamerica races from the balcony above the food vendor with a perfect view of how people were taking that corner. Never had an issue there until yesterday which was a damn shame because I know I had the pace to battle it out for a podium.

[algs26]

My best shot was on the camera bike:

[adouglas]

Yet another example of why yellow helmets are so good for making you visible. It's not even hi-viz.

[CC Cowboy]

Originally Posted by algs26

My best shot was on the camera bike:

Is that a sissy bar on the back of your bike? Very cool!

[algs26]

Originally Posted by CC Cowboy

Is that a sissy bar on the back of your bike? Very cool!

Added the "sissy" bar's view as well.

[sharky nrk]

Originally Posted by algs26

Added the "sissy" bar's view as well.

that's a pretty sweet rig they got there

[adouglas]

Palmer Motorsports Park, 8/10/15.
@csmith12 (on the yellow/white/black R6) was kind enough to follow me for most of a session. Which is about the only way I'll ever be in front of him....

[Sirref]

I spy some serious improvement @adouglas

very nice

[csmith12]

ikr!!!

[csmith12]

Not my best work.

[adouglas]

I love the fact that in every shot where we can see through your visor, you have the eyes of a crazed gibbon.

[csmith12]

bwahahahahahha

[choneofakind]

'Tis true.


Good work, Andrew!!!!! You're killing it

[Bigballsofpaint]

[M42]

First trackday unofficial pics









Did ok. Lots of things need work. Scraped the stock pegs within a half inch of the tire's edge.

Dunno if it's cause I'm short or I'm just doing something wrong, but moving one buttcheek of the side means my other knee is barely hanging onto the very edge of the tank. Makes proper BP a bit difficult to pull off...

[adouglas]

Good BP can be achieved by short people... Look at Dani Pedrosa. He's 5'2" and MotoGP bikes aren't exactly tiny.

Also, IMHO knee on the back corner of the tank isn't bad... it's good. Here's a pic of Pol Espargaro, knee barely on the edge of the tank.




It might be that it feels odd to really hang off. I think I'm WAY off the bike and pics show I'm really not.

Your BP looks darned good, especially for a first track day!

Food for thought: Most of your mass is in your upper body (more for men than women, but still true). Your head alone weighs as much as a watermelon. So the more you get your upper body off, the less lean angle the bike will have.

Look at the pic a few posts back of csmith12 following me. We look pretty similar overall... but focus in on the right shoulder. See how his is centered in the windscreen, and mine is still over the right clip-on? His body is about six inches farther off the bike than mine is.

I don't know how much of a difference that makes, but I can say this... I have yet to touch a knee down.

[Sirref]

@M42 you do look great for a first track day, there is no doubt about that. However, what @adouglas says is right, moving your upper body more inside would make a huge difference, you could also pivot your knee out towards the track, if you start dragging knee with the BP you have now then you'll have been dragging elbow and that's sketchy. This is a simple foot positioning issue for your lower body, you do have it far enough off. Your upper body can come much farther down, especially your head. I'm waiting for my pictures from the races to get to me but they'll show that my upper body was every bit as far off, if not farther off, than my lower body which is optimal at max lean. The one thing to note about adouglas' post though is that dragging knee will actually happen sooner with his BP as opposed to csmith12's BP because he isn't as low off the bike so the bike is leaning slightly more to do the same speeds.

You may benefit from sitting closer to the tank, with your height it may work better for you. I'm not sure about this but I think it's worth trying as I find some corners easier when I'm closer to the tank and others easier when I'm farther back in the seat, BP is a very fluid thing that changes slightly from corner to corner.

In summary, try to pivot your inside knee out by using the balls of your feet as a pivot point and try to get your head where your inside hand is. I, and several others that I know of, have hit the kill switch with our chins by accident. Optimally speaking our heads should be lower than that, though this is anything but easy.

[M42]

Thanks for the tons of help, peeps! Things really clicked for me on my second-to-last session. Up until then I was juggling street habits and **** I learned in the classes, so everything I was trying was all over the place. Unfortunately neither my bf nor the track photog have pictures of that, AND I forgot to turn on my gopro for my last session, but I had a definite eureka moment in the penultimate one.

Session start:



Session end:




Not much but it's something! It was better in the last one, so I'm pretty steamed about the gopro thing

I really want to go again soon, but I have no access to towing stuff. I had to ride the bike back home after the track day. It was murder.

Originally Posted by Sirref

I, and several others that I know of, have hit the kill switch with our chins by accident.

Yikes. Good thing my torso's too short to do that.

[Sirref]

It's not that bad, you just roll on and nothing happens so you think the bike is broken then it takes you a few seconds to realize what happened while you're trying to get the bike started with a hand in the air

[Sirref]

Alright, my neighbor got a few good pics at summit main on sat of both me and @gogoKawi so I'll post them up here

[Sirref]

and the ones of @gogoKawi

[Supernam]

Originally Posted by M42

Dunno if it's cause I'm short or I'm just doing something wrong, but moving one buttcheek of the side means my other knee is barely hanging onto the very edge of the tank. Makes proper BP a bit difficult to pull off...

I've only been to the track twice so far but I found that having tank grips gives me a lot more confidence in leaning over.

[alex.s]

Originally Posted by Sirref

and the ones of @gogoKawi

thats hawt

[howlinhoss]

@Sirref thanks for posting those pics. I can already see that I need to lower my upper body, scoot back more in the seat and really get that back corner of the seat in my crack.

[M42]

Oh! I remembered now what I wanted to ask. When do you shift off the seat? I saw a lot of other riders doing it while braking and before turn-in, but when I tried it, I lost all ability to grip the tank with my knees and all my weight went into my arms. What do you guys do?

[Sirref]

Originally Posted by howlinhoss

@Sirref thanks for posting those pics. I can already see that I need to lower my upper body, scoot back more in the seat and really get that back corner of the seat in my crack.

definitely lower your upper body, that makes a huge difference. Lower body is less important than upper body, where you sit in the seat forward/back is a personal preference thing that I vary depending on the corner. I tend to sit farther back on the 300 in faster corners and closer to the tank in slower corners especially ones where I quickly switch direction.

Originally Posted by M42

Oh! I remembered now what I wanted to ask. When do you shift off the seat? I saw a lot of other riders doing it while braking and before turn-in, but when I tried it, I lost all ability to grip the tank with my knees and all my weight went into my arms. What do you guys do?

I shift off the seat before braking whenever possible. If I'm at your next track day I'll make it a point to show you how to grip the tank with your butt half off the seat but it's basically rotating your inside knee back in and holding yourself onto the tank at a slightly awkward angle. It can be done with one leg but I find it more comfortable to use both. There will be some weight that ends up on your arms under hard braking but using your lower body and core more can lessen that. Pro racers deal with arm-pump due to the forces that are transferred into their arms under hard braking, forces well beyond what either of our bikes are capable of (though we can still induce arm pump despite our lack of comparative braking power)

[gogoKawi]

Originally Posted by Sirref

and the ones of @gogoKawi

Nice! That first pic was the Supersport race at Summit. I wanted to pass Paul so bad. But it just wasn't worth taking the chance. He was playing really good defense in the turns.

[Sirref]

Paul's a good racer, no shame in not being able to get past him

Rick on the other hand I should have been able to get past

[alex.s]

Originally Posted by Sirref

Rick on the other hand I should have been able to get past

be humble.

[Sirref]

Originally Posted by alex.s

be humble.

That's still humble, I suck at passing against riders of similar pace. I was making on average 3 passing attempts per lap for 10 laps and only a small handful of them worked out only to have me blow the next corner and have him come right back. I had more outright pace than him because he slowed up in a few key corners that caused us to fall behind but I wasn't skilled enough to hop off line and take advantage of that in those corners. Rick is a good rider, but he's no Paul (Paul is one of the fastest coaches with TPM)

[gogoKawi]

Originally Posted by Sirref

Paul's a good racer, no shame in not being able to get past him

Rick on the other hand I should have been able to get past

No shame at all from me. It was the right decision to play it safe. And I learned a lot by following him. He made it very difficult to pass him. He was tight enough where I couldn't get underneath him, but wide enough he could carry decent speed. It was a good lesson!