First Trackday (Thunderhill, 9/29/09)

[krbreton]

All-

I just completed my first trackday and had an awesome time. It was a completely open track day - 9-Noon and 1 - 5pm, no groups. The weather was perfect - about 72 degrees for most of the day. I was the only 250 there and I was significantly slower than the rest of the field but I had a great time and learned a lot. There were only 22 riders at the day, so I spent most of the day utterly alone, working on positioning and line. I managed to put 174 miles on the bike, which works out to about 58 laps around the track - maybe it's time for endurance racing, eh?

I am curious what people on old gen 250's with sport demon tires are running around that track. I was definitely feeling some amount of sliding, and had the throttle completely open for most of the track (except 3, 5a, and 2, where I know I left a lot of time simply because I didn't have enough faith for greater lean angles) but I was only running around 2:50 to 3:00. This seems really, really slow to me, so I was curious what other people are finding. If I really was that slow, maybe I'm just getting old and feeling mortal, that wife pregnant with twins thing really does that to you

Here are some of the pictures that I got from Dito (of GotBlueMilk). Awesome shots, as usual - he can even make a hack like me look pro.

[Alex]

Glad you had a great time, Kyle! Believe it or not, the top guys in the 250 prod class are getting around THill in the 2:15 range on ninjettes. I'm trying to figure out which bikes are used in the 250 superbike class; I thought they were breathed on ninjettes and drz-400's, but the leaders are lapping at 2:02, and I didn't think that was possible on the ninjette. Here's a link to AFM results at the local tracks, with best lap times included.

[RaceBikeRentals]

Always good to get that first track day under your belt

Alex, fast bike for 250 Superbike is the TZR250. Aprilia RS250s also do well.

[krbreton]

Thanks, guys. I had a lot of fun.

Originally Posted by Alex

Believe it or not, the top guys in the 250 prod class are getting around THill in the 2:15 range on ninjettes.

I checked out the link. Pretty cool. I knew I was slow, but jeez. I was hoping to be in the low 2:40's, but I was pretty far off. Sounds like I really am just getting old. When I started playing with cars, I did a lot more "let's just chuck it in and see if it sticks". Now, I'm a little closer to "a mph faster is fine by me, I know that won't crash" It takes a hell of a lot longer to get the times down when you play it safe.

-Kyle

[fpanda]

Originally Posted by RaceBikeRentals

Alex, fast bike for 250 Superbike is the TZR250. Aprilia RS250s also do well.

where would you be able to find one of those bikes ? they look pretty awesome, but I have a feeling they're also pretty rare

[RaceBikeRentals]

They're around. Keep an eye on eBay, Craigslist and BARF.