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I did my last track day of the year on Friday with Penguin. Had a great day, probably some of my best riding ever in a few of the sessions. I'm finally getting a feel for the body position I need on my SV naked (bars, stock low pegs), and starting to dial in the lines I want to take at Loudon.
The "highlights" of my day:
I did my first trackday ever in July in pouring rain, and had a great day, so I was a little too confident going out for the late-morning session on Friday just after it started to rain (on Q2s). I went easy for about half a lap, then started pushing it. On lap 2 I got way too aggressive on the drive out of T2, lost the rear, and had my first encounter with the pavement. I couldnt believe how gentle it felt sliding at that speed! The bike ended up in the air fence, I ended up off the line on the outside, and we both escaped relatively unscathed. A new clutch lever and frame slider bolt later, and we were back in action.
In the afternoon, I was working one-on-one with one of the instructors (Steve ?, great guy), alternating laps between following and taking the lead. I had a few solid laps in a row where I felt like I was really nailing the lines, and started pushing the pace a bit in front of Steve. Scott had just told me to dial back my lower body position a bit, and I was concentrating on hanging off less. It felt awkward, as I have a fear of dragging the low pegs on my bike, and I was thinking about it too much going into T3. I came in hot, got nervous about clearance, and held onto the brakes too hard and too far into the corner. The front tucked and I hit the deck very awkwardly, somehow coming to a stop face-down. This was the second-to-last session of the day, so I called it a season at that point. Damage to the bike was minimal, just broken levers and some grinding of my headlight. I'm still a little sore today, but nothing serious.
To put a cherry on top of all this, I somehow lost my key at the end of the day. No idea how. I saw it in the bike after I had loaded everything up, pulled it out, and walked over to help somebody else load up. 10 minutes later, I couldnt remember what I had done with it. An hour later, I decided it was gone for good. That should be fun replacing, as I dont have a spare.
Penguin instruction:
Was awesome! The classroom sessions focused on walking through the common reference points and lines for each corner. We also looked at John Owen's photos and discussed body position, then practiced on a bike on stands. It was very helpful, although I think the body position I need for my SV naked may be slightly different than the body position for a typical sportbike with rear sets. The on-track instruction was excellent, I got plenty of time with an instructor, including at least one full session of one-on-one. I would definitely recommend the track experience to newer riders.
Pictures:
My girlfriend (an aspiring photographer) came along for the day, and took some very cool pics. You can see some on her blog here http://sarabawt.wordpress.com/. So far she has only posted shots of me and my buddy Mike (on the ZX6R), but I will update this if she posts more of everyone else. Next season I will ask her to take more shots of everyone else for at least a few sessions.
I can't wait to get back out there next year! First thing on the list for the winter is rear sets (and a new key). I have decided not to get a dedicated track bike, but I will now be able to think of my current bike as a true street/track bike, and push it appropriately on the track. It has most of the hardware (emulators, shock), now it just needs some attention from GMD.
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Originally Posted by bstnsboy
