Monticello Motor club post your review here

[superlink]

I think everyone had a great day, lets post reviews, photos and videos here.

I would like to say the guys who cam down from the new england area were supper top notch, good riders and nice guys. I would gamble to say there will be more Monticello dates added soon and it would be great to have you guys back.

My review:
As soon as you see the gate you knoe this place is differnt, the entire facility is beutifully landscaped, I usully dont care about this kind of stuff but when you are driving in the ride winds and if you look at the curb they plant red and white flowers the match the curbing that is out on the racetrack. lots of attention to detail and this place is still under construction. The people who pitted in the lower paddock near pit out were on the smooth cement that will be garages and hospitality.

This race track is a little short like loudon or pocono east but has lots of turn and elevation changes you feel like you are always turning or going uphill, down hill or both.

My favorite spots:
The front straight is only 110-120 mph depending on your bike and ability followed by a challenging turn one turn two combo.

The back side gets moving through the eses into an uphill wide double apex that exits downhill moving about 90mph in to a breaking zone and a tricky double apex right. (we had three crashes here and happily no one made it to the tires and everyone walked away unhurt) do this right and you can ussualy set someone up for an inside pass at the end of the short shute to the hard right hander.

The down side was the lack of amenities such as garages electricity for tire warmers, permanent bathrooms and showers has yet to be built but judging from everythinf else when they are finnish it will be really nice.

Thanks to everyone for being adventurous and comming out,
now lets hear more of what you thought.

Kevin

[Richyzfr1000]

I had a great time.. I look forward to riding it again. Beautiful facility.. Next time I go I plan on bringing my Ferrari and joining the club…. LOL…

[superlink]

Found this on youtube, people move fast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDwy86Cx4eQ

Kevin

[FirstDuc-1098]

had a good time. neat little track. very nice facility. strange little town with nothing much. stayed at the super 8 which i wouldn't again the next time.

went down with ku996r(Carlton) and pitted together


Carlton on the track


Akira rode Carlton's bike after his died


me out on the track


some motor club members


the BostonMoto guys


I've got some track photos with the Advanced guys running

[Richyzfr1000]

We stayed at the days inn.. Very sketchy there as well..

[FirstDuc-1098]

I think I heard the Best Western was ok

[finao]

Great Day!

Beautiful Facility. Some amazing cars! Lack of electricity was biggest issue for me; no tire warmers will need generator next time.

First impression was that the track was very small, 1.1 miles. On first sighting lap one was like...it that it?

Once adjusted track is not crazy fast but technical and rewards smooth flowing riding. Very smooth surface, only one or two bumpy sections, Turn 2 (worst corner of track. for me at least) bump and suface changes and a bump in the last fast (blind) sweeper but no issues. A couple of apexes refused to dry out they seemed to be damp the whole day even when sun came out.

Track doesn't tire you out like larger, faster tracks such as NJMP Thnunderbolt and VIR.

Absolutely no safety issues! Just ride within one's limits.

Will definitely be back to Monticello, it is great to have another track with in a reasonable driving distance.

[superlink]

Another video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpINcTERJh8

Kevin

[CEO]

As is common with the internet, a lot of hubbub and much ado about nothing.

This track is a fucking blast and by no means unsafe. Safer than Loudon IMO.

Would I want to race there? No. But for track days it is great, fun, flowing, great areas to work on trailbraking, some nice technical corners and elevation changes. Tons of fun.

Not to mention the facilities are AMAZING. Even the gates into the place are a work of art, the landscaping is perfect, the grass is trimmed, there are ferraris and porches everywhere. Once they finish construction this place will be amazing. THere are garages on the north course, they haven't built the south course garages yet but they plan to.

THe day went smoothly and without any significant incidents. At a track day pace I don't see anywhere where you are going to contact a wall or armco unless you ride off the track straight up and down like a dummy at full pace. The fast turn onto the straight has armco on the left but, unlike Loudon, you aren't really pointed directly at it. I can see a bike getting DESTROYED there especially a heavy bike like a 600 or 1000... but I wouldn't forsee a body impacting there. being a higher speed corner I don't think at track day pace you would see many/any crashes there anyways.

The double apex trailbraking right hander is the corner that I knew would bite people and I saw about 5 or 6 crashes there all day, none had any injuries/serious damage. That was actually my favorite corner.

STT ran a great and smooth day, tons of track time and everyone rode safely and courteously, even in the 'no rules' advanced group. Besides a couple of us racers playing around with eachother, no one was making silly passes or anything.

I had a blast getting used to the new motard and riding with degs and scottie and denno, and matty and black squirrel. Scottie should have some great videos of us playing around that I'm sure he will upload soon. Probably the most nice weather, ripping around fun I have had all year. I would not hesitate one second to go back there.

[noxin]

We stayed at the days inn.. Very sketchy there as well..

The Days Inn in Liberty?

I checked in late (10pm), but I thought it was a decent place.


About MMC:
Overall, it's an extremely nice facility and from what I heard, they're willing to spend some money and time improving the facility to bring in more TrackDays over both the South and North courses.

It took me most of the morning to get used to being on a track other than Loudon, but, even though I wasn't the fastest there, I spent my time on being smooth, finding the line, and body positioning.

Turn1/2 combo, I never quite got the rhythm through that section, and the double apex before the back straight were my problem sections.

I love a challenge and I would absolutely go back. Hopefully, they'll be able to get it more motorcycle friendly, both on and off the track.

[madkaw]

All the good things that I liked have already been mentioned in the threads above. I only have one complaint. Need better directions to get there!!! I punched in 548 Broadway on my GPS only to find no track!!! Just their corporate offices.

[noxin]

the email they sent out the week before said Cantrell Road. Did you get it?

[madkaw]

I did but I guess I didn't read that part. My bad

[scottieducati]

Disclaimer: THIS POST REPRESENTS MY PERSONAL OPINIONS and does not in no way reflect the "professional" opinions of Boston Moto. We'll (bostonmoto) will post up our "official" view of the track later and focus on safety issues and how we feel the track suits trackdays and such...

Another disclaimer, I likely have the turn numbers all wrong.... lol

I had a blast at Monticello, the first session out following the instructor was a bit, interesting.... he had absolutely no idea where the line was / should be... granted, they were learning their way 'round too, but it was kind of defeating the point of following a leader when he was all over the place...

After he waived us by, I got up to speed on the line, fairly quickly. I've seen some reviews elsewhere saying the track is not flowing or smooth, and can only shake my head and assume the author has no to very little track experience and basically shouldn't be posting reviews.



Anyway! Turn by turn....

You come down the front straight, which is maybe 1/4 mile at best, the paddock is on your left, you crest a small hill and enter a downhill hard-breaking area into turn 1, a left-hand turn that reminds me somewhat of the new T1 at NHMS. It's hard to figure out the right line, as there's no curbing on the inside, only a painted area with hatching to shade it off, the key is to set yourself up on the outside of T2, which is a tight flip-flop type turn to the right that opens out upon exit. There's some sealer / cement in the inside of T2, stay a foot off the curb (it was dirty) and there's plenty of grip. I rode the sealer patch upon exit from T2 as it was "the line" and avoided any issues with the seam between sealer and original asphalt. You have to get T2 exit right to get the proper drive, or you could run out of track pretty easy.

Accelerate hard and prepare to muscle the bike on it's side for the fast right hand kink (I don't believe it has a turn number?), only by the end of the day was I getting a knee down through this corner, pretty flat out. Roll off the gas past the right hand kink and ease into the brakes. T3 is a wide, flowing right right-hand turn and it's tightens up a little at the end. You ease onto the brakes and catch a down-shift, as once up to speed you're not standing the bike up to brake, all braking is done at pretty good lean angles. You want to stay wide on entry and let the bike tighten up as you scrub off speed, sort of like a flat right hand version of turn 9 at NHMS.

A short burst of acceleration, keeping your eyes towards the right-hand side of the track, you want to stay about mid-track so you don't drift too wide on exit... flick it over to the left hard for the start of my favorite section of the track. Turn 4 is a fast, flowing left hand turn that begins just at the crest of a small hill, if you get this right (I found myself too wide to the right all freakin day) you'll have a knee down all the way skipping across the curbing as you crest the hill and dive down a little bit. Turn 5 is a fast right hand kink just after the bottom of the swath, you start climbing the hill and again have to muscle the bike from full-lean to the left to full-lean to the right, this turn reminds me of T8 at NHMS (only it's uphill the whole time)... you only get a knee down here if you are FLYING.

The hill is a bit steeper after this kink, you're heading uphill to the entry of Turn 6, an epic left hand turn that continues forever (with such a late apex, it's almost like a double-apex). You enter this turn wide-right and get over on your knee... get comfy, it'll be down for a loooong time. Carry this corner up and over the hill, the eventual apex comes just after the crest of the hill and you get the power on (be careful, I had an almost-highside here) and dive down towards T7.

T7 you're approaching coming down a slight hill, it's a double-apex to the right and is tighter than it looks. I caught a downshift and got on the brakes as you turn into the right past the first curbing, and carry the trail baking as you drift wide to the left and pull the bike back to the right for the second apex. The exit is pretty critical as you have a short, up-hill chute into T8. You get on the gas hard, catch a quick upshift before braking hard for T9.. not quite a 90 degree right hander, but it's pretty tight... T9 leads onto another brief straightaway. This corner had more room no the exit than you expect, so you can pickup the gas right at the apex and drive out towards the left-hand curbing.

Catch one... two... three upshifts and enter the fastest corner (entry speed anyway) on the track.. This section is hard to carry speed through, but you can keep way more speed than you think by entering and staying wide to the left. As you head up the hill (yep, another corner up and over the crest of a hill) you catch a downshift and let the bike bleed speed as you approach the crest of the hill, here you want to be cracked on the gas to settle the bike as you go up and over the crest, and start rolling on as soon as you're heading down the hill. Its important here to LOOK RIGHT, you don't want to be looking to the left... you'll find yourself quickly running out of track if you don't keep the bike turning all the way into the fast T11 that leads you back onto the front straight. You're carrying good speed through here and it's one of those fast turns where you're getting the power down hard the whole time to get the best drive onto the short front straight as you can.

Once you figure out this track involves lots of double-apexes which require trail braking and plenty of patience, the track flows very well. It's kind of like a mini-VIR crossed with Loudon, perhaps that's why I was able to get along with it from the first session. The "hairy" sections, simply demand respect. If you can ride the track and know where and when to be patient and work on being smooth rather than outright speed, you will have a blast here as well. This track is one of those places you're far better off NOT hard-braking / hard-charging into the corners, you're best off flowing into the corners smoothly and controlled and working on making sure you're exits line you up well for the best drive and setup for the next turn possible. Once you string things together, it's an absolute blast to ride.

I've got some killer on-board video, featuring some of your favorite NESR folks... I just have to get the file to someone who knows how to compress it and format it to upload. Stay tuned











Can't wait to go back!!

[GixerJockey]

Ok, silly question. Why does Denno have a vest on?

[noxin]

they wanted to let everyone know who to avoid on track.

[BLACK SQUIRREL]

He was control riding, He did a good job at it, Lots of control

[FirstDuc-1098]

vid of a couple laps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxGSSC-P6aw

[madkaw]

Anymore vids from the Intermediate Group?

[TTD]

I agree with Scottie above about the track being flowing.

Once the line was established, I thought it flowed nicely. I loved Turn 1/2 area... reminds me of Turn 12 at Loudon.

If you're riding "ahead" of the bike... it's fun.

If you're lazy or unable to countersteer effectively, you'll find yourself running wide on 2.

[madkaw]

Piccy time. Thought I'd share a few of my own

[superlink]

found this on another forum

kevin

[The Crashing Tomato]

I can only hope the rest of you get to this track.

WOW ..... fun, flowing, and SMmmmmmmmmooooooth if you get your rythym going. the South course is short and has great elevation changes that never overwhealm you. it all just fits together and keeps you turning / doing something the entire time (seems like it because the straights are relatively short).

If you race this is a great 'warm up' track to get you back in the groove / brings back your track sense while allowing you to have fun.



*I am NOT affiliated with any org*


The safety thing ....... I took a lap or two to look around after getting comfortable with the line. there are two spots of concern IF I was to race there. It would be the 8-9 combo and the 11 and two maybe spots if another racer was being a bonehead (you know it happens) ... the T1 entrance and the T3 - entering T4.


the 8-9 combo is a flat double right according to most ppl but from a GT racers perspective it's a parabola and has only one apex which is where the trouble lies ... if I take it deep and you think you can get inside me with two turn ing it ... I am going to be acceling out while you are at full lean exiting the second of your two. Not sure others would see it this way but ????? we see it when the pro guys try to make a pass by deep braking a corner .... there is a pass then a re-pass this path / line crossing doesn't always happen smoothly in club racing as it does in the big show.

the 11 is a high speed right that crests a slight hill. if you get pushed wide at these speeds you could end up heading for a barrier after a short time in the grass. If you tried to save it you'd run out of real estate Fast. best idea any where around this track is to be prepared to lay it down quick. the loam is soft and the grass is tall so you can expect to be able to get the bike up and back on track relatively unharmed should you lay it down.

T1 is a maybe because it has a TIGHT and narrow (closing) set up and transition to T2. The danger isn't so much barriers, it's the ham fisted guy that locks and tucks the front tire coming up behind you. the line is fairly clear but it can be approached from either the inside or the outside of the front straight. the other part of this is the exit of T2 is almost in direct line of the end of the front straight. if you blow the tip in to T1 and run long you could T-bone a rider exiting T2. yeah it's that close. You'd really have to F things up to have this happen buuuuuuuut.

The other is T3 with the entrance to T4. It is similar to 1-2 but there is more of a thought of hitting barriers than hitting other riders. This is the only place I saw that was a real threat to sudden stops if you run it wide and try to keep it upright.

most likely crash is a low side which speeds are not high enough to carry you to a barrier especially with the soft ground between the track and the barriers. high sides are wellll high sides they hurt no matter what.


if you're a TD junkie you'll have a great time with the technical aspect of his short loop. the turn by turn sequences and flips from the super tight and quick T1 - T2 to the flowing high speed flip of 4,5,6 to the uphill blind super long left turn excitement of 7 back to the blind cresting downhill right hander leading you back to the short front straight :-)))))

I race and am a TD junkie. at the end of the day I wanted more .

Here's to hoping MMC and a TD org get it together in a contract

[FirstDuc-1098]

[The Crashing Tomato]

Hey Mad man,

The BS and I were pitted on the other side of the Royal Johnny, right next to the tire guy. Maybe intro's next time