First Monticello Experience

[bostongixxer]

Returned late last night from 2 days at Monticello. I'd heard great things, but never had a chance to ride there. The event was put on by STT, and well done by all measures. Tricky, Oxx and Duc Dave were control riding. Tricky and I finally got to turn some laps together this year. Some other NESRians were there, Finao, DHawks, Capitino, Sully749 , Miss Oxx, among others.

I was generally amazed at how fun this track is to ride. The courses are spectactular. Day 1 was the North Course in reverse. It was a trip to rip down the back straight and crap my pants trying to break into the left-hand hairpin. Turns were smooth and flowing. Day 2 was the 66. Doing the essess in reverse was a realy trip. Pushing the bike over the hill to the downward left toward the hairpin was such a rush. Serious amount of physics going on there. Had a couple of close calls, but no crash, on Day 2...mostly due to fatigue.

The crowd was good on Day 1, but Day 2 had a large share of knuckleheads. It was also very crowded on Day 2, and I spent a lot of time passing when the groups clumped up. I ran advanced, and there were definitely people out there who were not fast enough (or sure enough) of themselves. In general, it was well run, notwithstanding the large number of bikes.

I'd have to put Monticello up there with VIR North...though VIR will always be my favorite for an "accessable" track. I'll definitely be back.

[strgt]

Returned late last night from 2 days at Monticello. I'd heard great things, but never had a chance to ride there. The event was put on by STT, and well done by all measures. Tricky, Oxx and Duc Dave were control riding. Tricky and I finally got to turn some laps together this year. Some other NESRians were there, Finao, DHawks, Capitino, Sully749 , Miss Oxx, among others.

I was generally amazed at how fun this track is to ride. The courses are spectactular. Day 1 was the North Course in reverse. It was a trip to rip down the back straight and crap my pants trying to break into the left-hand hairpin. Turns were smooth and flowing. Day 2 was the 66. Doing the essess in reverse was a realy trip. Pushing the bike over the hill to the downward left toward the hairpin was such a rush. Serious amount of physics going on there. Had a couple of close calls, but no crash, on Day 2...mostly due to fatigue.

The crowd was good on Day 1, but Day 2 had a large share of knuckleheads. It was also very crowded on Day 2, and I spent a lot of time passing when the groups clumped up. I ran advanced, and there were definitely people out there who were not fast enough (or sure enough) of themselves. In general, it was well run, notwithstanding the large number of bikes.

I'd have to put Monticello up there with VIR North...though VIR will always be my favorite for an "accessable" track. I'll definitely be back.

I was there as well, and there were some knuckleheads out there for sure. One guy wanted to battle with me through a pack of riders and ended up taking someone out in front of me. BTW who was the photog?

[Tricky Mike]

event photo now

LINK

Good times for sure! Perfect weather. The 66 is so much fun to ride. The rare full course coming up in October for anyone who has yet to experience Monty!

[dhawks]

I was there as well, and there were some knuckleheads out there for sure. One guy wanted to battle with me through a pack of riders and ended up taking someone out in front of me. BTW who was the photog?

Event Photo Now -- 9/5 and 9/6 already on the website.

[lrrs699]

def a sick track, i have to agree with the knuckleheads. wayyy too many of them. early on but it seemed that ADV thinned out the longer the day went on.

[strgt]

Some knucklehead crashed in front of me in the chicane in the last session. Something about the paint he said. Like its the paints fault.

[bostongixxer]

def a sick track, i have to agree with the knuckleheads. wayyy too many of them. early on but it seemed that ADV thinned out the longer the day went on.

You must have been on the "other" moto addiction bike with matching leathers. You ripped by me several times. I couldn't keep pace. Agreed on it thinning out later in the day. On two different occasions yesterday I hit a group of 4 or so bikes who had slowed mid-course and were actually putting their hands up to let faster riders get by. They shouldn't have been in advanced if they weren't able to keep some decent pace, IMO...and definintely should not be waving their hands and slowing mid-course. There was no mechanical...just letting faster riders go by.

[bostongixxer]

Some knucklehead crashed in front of me in the chicane in the last session. Something about the paint he said. Like its the paints fault.

I saw a lot of guys going over the paint. I tried it once and didn't like the feel going through the second corner starting to lean.

[DucDave]

Awesome couple of days....the weather simply could not have been better! Great seeing all the NESR folks!

And yeah...the full Monti on Oct 11th could be the balls if the weather cooperates. Anyone thinking of going? I might be looking to share a ride and a room....

[SVRACER01]

Wirelessly posted (HTC EVO "DROID" : Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.2; en-us; Sprint APA9292KT Build/FRF91) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

Great track for sure.
You can ride the paint on the way in but not on the way out. I just skip it altogether.
I only got out in ADV a few times. I'm at an obvious disadvantage on the north course let alone the 66.
I def would put this track in the same category as VIR but it gets bonus points for being just 5hrs from home.
Weather was perfect, seemed hotter day 2 due to lack of the breeze we had on day 1

[TimmyB]

i witnessed a duo on ducatis that purposely straight lined the chicane, such a stupid line, but i guess they were afraid of leaning their bikes through that section. it really isnt that difficult, and feels good when you find that little sweet spot and get a good drive. even when not on the paint, my rear was constantly trying to come around on the right hander out of the chicane.

[sully749]

I hit the paint on the second turn in the chicane twice by accident, but wouldn't be comfortable making it part of my routine. It's shiny and my general plan is to not run over anything shiny with my moto unless it's DBKromz' chrome.

Great weekend, just about the best weather we could have hoped for, great company in the pits (new faces as well as the usual suspects), helpful instructors and a pretty safe coupla days (if a little crowded in the pits and track on Day 2). Wish we could do it again next weekend!!

[Tricky Mike]

+1 on skipping the paint in the chicane. You can run pretty quick through there without hitting it... and it's so much fun to go from right knee to left knee to right knee without your ass touching the seat... On of the most fun sections of the track. So good... even in reverse direction.

[scottieducati]

This thread makes me smile