June 2'nd track day

[OreoGaborio]

my banana's dancin

[ChrisNoF4i]

Wow, what a crappy day for a track day.

[TTD]

Hey all,

Just a quick thank you to all those that attended.

I know we had a lot of "issues" in the morning, but overall I think we did OK as far as track time.

For those of you that this was your first time on the track for the year... don't sweat it that you weren't on your game. My first time this year was at VIR and I totally sucked. I then did a Loudon date, and it wasn't until mid day that I started to "feel it".

Like anything that takes a lot of skill... you can't just pick up where you left off. I can almost guarantee that about mid day through your next track day... things will start to fall into place.

As for those that crashed...

If you crashed in the first 2 laps of the session, that is bad. That means you are not letting your body and the tires "come up to speed" even after being told repeatedly to do so. Hopefully, everyone that did it will learn... and those that lost track time because of it... will learn from others mistakes.

The fact that people are riding "too fast too soon" was especially apparent to me when I would go out first. When I got to turn 11 or 12 on the first lap, I would have a line of bikes behind me. After the second lap, there would be no one.

Since I go about 70% of my normal pace on the first lap... that tells me that many others were going closer to their full pace on the first lap. If everyone would just chill out on the first couple of laps, we would have had about 1/2 the number of crashes.

For those that crashed after the first 2 laps... I am less concerned. I understand as well as anybody that we're out there "exploring the limits". So while it does cut down on track time, people can't really be upset about that. Hopefully you all learned from your mistakes as well.

(I won't even comment on the oil filter coming loose problem... I think we all know how we feel about something so simple causing so many other people to lose track time)

Guess that's about it... thanks again and hope to see all of you at another event this year. My guess is that a lot of the "silly crashes" won't happen next time.

Ride safe out on the street!

[OreoGaborio]

Originally posted by 35racer
(I won't even comment on the oil filter coming loose problem... I think we all know how we feel about something so simple causing so many other people to lose track time)

yeah, and i don't think the guilty party needs to hear about that any more, either... i have a feeling that everyone who heard about it will NOT make the same mistake


... and noooo, for those who weren't there ( )... it wasn't me... mine's still safety wired from VA

[TTD]

I agree...

The guy made the mistake and I'm sure he feels bad enough at this point.

My goal is to see that others are aware of it... and it doesn't happen again.

It's really a very simple thing to throw a hose clamp on an oil filter, and it solves the problem.

For those that don't know...

With a spin on filter, just tighten it PROPERLY, then put a big hose clamp on the filter.

If possible, rotate the clamp such that the SCREW area is tight up against the motor, then tighten the clamp. The motor will prevent the clamp and filter from loosening.

If your filter has lots of free space around it, then tighten the clamp and run a piece of safety wire to something. Just be sure the wire is pulling the clamp/filter in the TIGHTENING direction.

This literally will cost you about a buck and 10 minutes of time... and it can not only save a lot of track time, but can save you (and others) from crashing.

[Awesome]

Tony,

You put on an incredible trackday. I was going out hard right off the start but I had tire warmers, so one less thing to worry about. Thanks for overlooking the rear brake for me too. I made some great improvements in my lines, reference points, shifts, speed, body possition and just smoothness all together. Can't wait to see how well it does for me in the races!

[TTD]

No sweat...

Thanks for not making me regret it.





Having said that... for anyone else coming to our events... please make sure that both your front and rear brake are operational.

I know that most people don't use the rear brake... but we like to see both work.

[Rice-rocket1]

Originally posted by 35racer
I agree...

The guy made the mistake and I'm sure he feels bad enough at this point.

I trailered his bike for him and he did feel extremely bad about the incident, but we had to bust his ass at dinner and most off the way to his house. Told him his bike secretly wanted to be a "Hardley Ableson" and need to mark it's territory.

Kept telling him we were going to have to change his name to "OIL STREAK".

[Ken C]

Yeah, the morning crashes were silly and "oiling" was bad luck. But sh*t happens and we recovered.

As far as securing the oil filter goes, I'll add that with a hose clamp, you simply unscrew it and slip it off the old filter, letting it dangle from the wire that it's connected to (and secured to the frame or whatever) while you replace the filter. Then you simply slide the clamp back on and rotate it so the wire pulls to tightening direction and snug it down. It's the easiest thing to do.

I think everyone ended up having a good day. We try hard to accommodate all the requests for one-on-one riding instruction, but I know of one rider who asked me to follow him that I didn't get to.

We're always interested in feedback, so let us know how tonystrackdays can accommodate your needs better.

The June 21st day is shaping up to be a good time. Sign up and wire those filters. 'Nuff said.

[Awesome]

oh....waving through the turn 3/10 run off for red flags was great. Would be good to bring that up when you're going over the two flags to give riders a heads up, and I'm sure it saves a good bit on recovering and getting everyone back out there.

[TTD]

We had a "real" cornerworker in 3/10 this time, so we were able to do more.

FYI... we now have 3 "real" cornerworkers (Turn 1, 3/10, and 8)

We do this in the hopes of minimizing downtime and maximizing safety.

It costs more... but you're worth it.

[Ken C]

Yeah, the turn 3/10 bypass is used failrly regularly in LRRS, but we haven't had an experienced CW in that corner before who would have thought to execute that move. I'll mention it next time. Thanks.

[Rice-rocket1]

When the red flag came out, I was coming through two and saw him scrambling and wave me through. Just had to keep an eye open for the riders coming through 9 -10 that wouldn't have known that I was waved through....

[TTD]

Correct, even though you're waved through... you are merging with the 9/10 riders.

Since it is under RED FLAG... no one should be coming down 9/10 with any speed though.

[oreo_n2]

Originally posted by 35racer
Like anything that takes a lot of skill... you can't just pick up where you left off. I can almost guarantee that about mid day through your next track day... things will start to fall into place.

I sure hope so, i wasn't too impressed with myself yesterday.

One thing i definitely NEED to do is get my legs back in decent shape, then i can start working on my braking skills on the track!

[Honclfibr]

Great day yesterday, as usual. Looking forward to June 21st, I think it might call for a new set of tires...

[Rice-rocket1]

Tony and all the instructors I'd like to give you a big "Thank You" and job well done.

Degs thanks for the one-on-one, you got me setting up for and going through the turns much smoother. After that I was getting a knee down in most of the turns regularly.

Had a great day other than the little bit of target fixation issue in three. But I know what I did wrong and learned from it. Also looked good to see you taring it up on the FZR.

[Rice-rocket1]

Some of the pics from the track day.

Red group fllow the leader


Highsider and ?




JJS777




Degs on my FZR 1000





Turn 9 from the top


Me



Off road excursion


The rest of the pics will have a link posted by Double"D"

[highsider]

Those are some most excellent pics - thanks Double D!!!!!

[By-Tor]

That is my friend Gabe on the RC51 behind Highsider in the first picture.


Great pictures bro!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Off roading

I also went off roading when my right foot slipped off my rearset while tipping into the right hand section of turn 12. The bike stood back up and I had to cut across the grass and into Pit Road

[jjs777]

yep...that bastardo with the oil streak was horrible

it's even worse when its the person you look at when in front of the mirror...lol

I was grateful at the clean up crew not harrasing me too much about it when they realized how stupid the cause of the leak had been. And made me laugh when he joked at least my chain is thoroughly oiled now. ahhhh I'm a marked man now.

Great track day...depsite my bad luck. I didn't miss a session after cleaning everything up ~including helping sweep the track~

Tony - For feedback on what could be done better or differently ? It's hard to pick out anything...especially since this was my first time. But I guess I have an advantage at being a newbie at this. My constructive critiquing would be....

have the "follow the leader" session a bit longer and/or get to a higher speed towards the end. I believe my top speed was near 45-50 mph in red group and honestly...that was not near enough to really show a first timer what its all about. Like I said...this is critiquing and not criticism. I think it would benefit the riders to get a faster speed during that first time out.

again..the biggest apology for my oil ignorance - it was as tight as I have done on any of my current 3 bikes for the past near 15 years - figures it came loose on a day that affected other racers - ahhh it was regrettable...

ahh one last suggestion....get more brooms for voluneteers to help clean up messes like mine ! there were people with hands in their pockets! that wanted to help

oh and your crew...yeah they were all very approachable and friendly - good picks on getting them

[joberly]

Jim that's me right behind you on the off road excursion, didn't see what happened, just looked up and there you were dirt bikin it!

[Rice-rocket1]

Little bit of target fixation going on.

[OreoGaborio]

Originally posted by Rice-rocket1
Little bit of target fixation going on.

s-aight bro, i did it back in October & almost did the same yesterday... i went into 3 about as hot as i had all day, went way wide but had the presence of mind to just LAY the thing down on it's side... she came around but i still caught the curb & got a few inches of air... Jay did pretty much the same thing yesterday as well.

[Rice-rocket1]

I was already too far in. But I did keep from hitting the tires. Leaned it over hard then stood it up for the gravel. Went in about a foot and a half from the tires. Almost got real ugly, just kept a cool head and looked for the out....

Just pissed myself off for the fixation. Made sure the track was clear from two on, then got out and the hell out of the way. Stayed well out of the line, pitted in, re-gathered my head going through the hot pit and went back out. Guess I can look at it this way. I caught myself doing something wrong. and corrected it before it went bad and learned from the mistake. Thats what we were there for. Just a little scary going from a scraping a knee and seeing that your WAY off the line. Then go best choice, stand it up and go through the gravel. If I stayed with full lean I think I would have dug the front into the gravel. For me it was the right choice at the time.