5
After picking up a race prepped '05 CBR600RR several weeks ago I made it to my first track day last Friday at NHMS with Penguin Racing School. Found myself a cheap used suit, ponied up for a new set of Sidi's since no one wants some else's athletes foot and arrived Thursday night to camp at the track and be ready for 7 am registration and tech.
After a short classroom intro we head out for first session. First time out is follow the leader with 3 or 4 students behind each instructor. Slow pace but they show us the line and I shake the jitters by the end of the first lap. Next session we have 3 follow the leader laps and they turn us lose. I have a decent idea of the line and by the end of the session I'm pushing the bike a bit and manage to pass a few riders before the session is up.
3rd session is open from the start and I've had a few reference points suggested to me. I start towards the rear of our 18 rider group and by the end of the 2nd lap I'm up front following a guy on a race prepped SV who's had a number of days under his belt. His lines and corner speed are a bit better than mine but I keep it tight with my horsepower advantage. Definitely go to school a bit on the line and start picking up more reference points.
Have a lunch break for an hour, sit and talk with Jim and Frenchy and get a few more suggestions on reference points. Frenchy comes out with me for the next session and follows me for half then I follow him. Get some good pointers and feed back I try and apply for the rest of the day. Starts raining during the session and we end up with a downpour before the 5th starts.
Go out for 5th and the track is soaked. The guy on the SV and I start at the front and at this point are the only 2 willing to push the pace in the rain. 2nd lap I blow the line in turn 2 and he makes a nice pass on me entering the back straight. He brakes way late and blows turn 3, we're side by side in 4 and he gets a bit ham fisted, fishtails a few times and high sides pretty hard. He and his bike were fine but it turns out that was the last lap he's willing to turn that day.
The final 2 sessions I don't have anyone to race but continue to push the pace in the rain and end up turning some real nice laps. Pass some dudes, lap some dudes, big grins. Had a lot of situations where the bike got real squirrelly driving out of corners and had a couple of real nice tank slappers. Kept my cool and rode through the rough parts and learned a whole lot about traction in the rain. The bike REALLY needs a steering stabilizer, I'll be taking care of that soon. Also on the hunt for a spare set of wheels so I can get a set of rain tires.
Had a number of instructors who were very complimentary of my riding and asked when I'd be coming back to get my race license. Nothing like a good ego boost at the end of the day, so....Plan for the upcoming season; doing a 2 day track day event at New York Safety Track this weekend. After that June 18th and 19th is another 2 day event with Penguin where I'll test for my novice license and hopefully I'll then be eligible to ride the novice races that are available that weekend. Understand there isn't much during the Classic. Maybe a bit too soon but I'm the full retard kind of guy so here we go.
Really great to get some solid feedback from the instructors and the guys in Garage 10N and I'm looking forward to soaking up all they have to put down in the future. I'll have some pictures to post from last weekend when they're made available and plan on mounting my gopro for the next track day.
When you see this thing lugging around the track feel free to kick me in the ass on the way by and tell me to hurry the fück up: