Putnam IN Oct 15 & 16

[csmith12]

Will be posting a few pics of Putnam Park IN (MCRA) here. Will throw in some details after work.

Turn 10


Turn 7

[dubojr1]

[krakatak]

I was the other 250 in the race clinic...fluorescent orange and black track plastics. Hopefully you had a good time and we'll see you at other MCRA track days next summer. It's likely I'll be at the ones at Gateway, but until I'm done with my degree that'll be about it.

Is your buddy with the dreads alright?

[csmith12]

Sweet! It was nice meeting you there and unexpected to see you post here. I plan on doing more MCRA days next season, gotta finish that lic. So will be racing for sure.

Being in KY, its looking like Mid-Ohio, Putnam, Nashville & VA are the tracks I will be hitting up next year. I was told there will be 2 MCRA days/weekends at Putnam next year. If so, that is where I will do my races.

Preditor (my buddy with the dreads) he is alright. Just a banged up knee that will heal up with just some rest. It's funny, he still took 3rd in that race. He was working hard for 2nd when he went down.

[csmith12]

Putnam Park Track Day

Here is my review of my 2 days at Putnam Park hosted by MCRA.

Getting ready to go….

I had borrowed a trailer from a friend to haul my bike and essentials to the track. The first problem with was, it was a 16ft car trailer with a single ninja 250 and a few gas cans on it. The next problem was the light connector was a 7 pin and my Durango only had a 4 pin plug. I ended up cutting into my wire harness to hard wire the trailer lights.

The 3.5 hour drive to Putnam

I had planned on leaving at 5pm that Friday, but my work schedule got totally messed up and I didn’t end up leaving until 8pm. So after arriving at Putnam near midnight after getting lost a bit, I finally found a campsite to rest for the night. The alarm on my phone goes off at 6:15am and I load tent and supplies in Durango and head to the track. Bad luck strikes again! While coming to a stop at a light, I lost my brakes on the Durango. After a 35 minute limp to the track using the e-brake to stop, I finally park in the pit area.

Day 1 – Race Clinic & Sessions

Between the 15 minute sessions and race clinic classes the day was non-stop. Riders meeting, tech, race class, tire pressure, zip-ties helping friends on their bikes and prep on my own bike between sessions made for a very busy and full day of track lapping. My first few sessions on the track was enjoyable at a comfortable pace. I held back quite a bit to get a mental grasp on the track layout and find my pace where I was at 80%. I spent the first half of the day’s sessions working on upper body position. I found that on corner exit, my head would follow the bike back up, so I focused on the pick-up drill and that problem was solved. Next was my toe position. While I know to keep the balls of my foot on the pegs, I found myself moving my feet to the outside of the pegs allowing my toe to scrape. After pulling in my toes, ankles and heel to the inside of the rear set, no more toe dragging.

The rest of the day was spent working on lines, using the whole track and improving confidence through the corners at increasing speeds.

Highlights of the day;

1. Mock race at the end of the race clinic – wheelied the race start! it was caught on camera by the guy in front of me (awaiting vid from him) we all had a good laugh
2. Touched knee in turn 4 (everyone warned me about pushing hard in turn 4) and in turn 8 (dead bear on track map)
3. No pucker moments
4. It’s not fun to hit the rev limiter on corner exit (pick-up drill fun!)
5. Caging with friends to dinner and hotel (since I couldn’t drive my truck)

Day 2 – Sessions

I thought… today I am going to push my limits. Since I had no pucker moments on day 1. My friend, just there to help in the pits also spent half the day fixing my busted brake lines, he even had to leave the track twice to get parts! I owe him big time!

Highlights of the day;

1. Entered turn 1 at 95mph – first pucker moment! trying to set entry speed into turn 2 (scrubbing off 20mph in less than 50 or so feet… not fun)
2. Turn 4 looseness – I loved the feeling of turn 4, so I pushed really hard and felt the front and rear slide around at least once or twice per session
3. 250 entry speed oh my! – I locked the rear at least 2 times to prevent hitting the rider in front of me as my entry speed was much more than his. This was especially true on the 2 sharpest corners on the track (2 pucker moments)
4. Turn 7 back in – Down 2 gears hard with a touch of rear brake allows the rear to step out! I did this on purpose, it was scary fun! After the session I felt like Rossi for about a minute… hahahahah then I said to myself…. We will save this for later, like about 5 more track days later
5. Trusting myself a bit more – after a few sessions of skills work, increased speeds, lean angles and flirting with the limits of traction, I relaxed a lot more on the bars. After that, dragging knee became something I didn’t really try to do, it just happened.

Overall, I had a great time and learned so much. The weekend was expensive ($800 all said and done) but worth every penny. Putnam is a great track but somewhat bumpy in spots. I had a great time with friends and despite problems with transportation, it was a great time.

[csmith12]

[csmith12]

another good one

[Jiggyfly]

Nice. Putnam is a fun, fast, flowing track....& one that I've never raced at in good weather!!!

"pick up drill".......please explain?

[csmith12]

Link to original page on YouTube.

Leaving my head down and picking the bike up to come out of corner hard with more throttle.

Goes a long way in the wet too!

[Jiggyfly]

Good video, but I have a problem with so many of these "instructional videos".
Many of us already do these things and don't even realize it...... Which sometimes is better. The simpler, and therefore more "instinctual" it is, the more reserve thought processing you have leftover to think about those less instinctual things. People over think this stuff. Honestly..... It's something that comes to you with more laps. I'd never imply that he's wrong about a single thing he talks about in the video..... Its just more than most of us need to think about. I raced for years before I started thinking about my physical processes..... and once I started thinking about them, I slowed down..... I also realized that my technique was right on, or relatively enough to win races, let my mind go, and my lap times dropped again.


It's good if you're at the point to question something.... But otherwise, just ride more!
I still learn something every race weekend.

[csmith12]

Thanks for your insight Shon,

I wish advanced skills came instinctively to me, but sadly... I have to work very hard for them. I like to think I don't over think processes, but instead be overly prepared. For when the scenario presents itself, hopefully there will be little to no thinking involved or guesswork that comes from trial and error over 50 laps.

Until I build the years of race experience others have, I have to stick with what is working for me.

Thanks again, and see you on the track!

[Jiggyfly]

^

Look forward to it!!!!