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Well, I finally got out on the track and it was a blast. I thought I would give an informal review of my experience for those of you considering it.
Oh, and for those of you considering it, DO IT!!
The day was April 25th and the track was New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The weather was perfect, sunny, about 60, light breeze.
My wife and I had driven up the night before and stayed at the Red Roof. $60 for the night. Comfortable, clean, with prepacked danish, muffins, fruit, coffee and OJ for the continental breakfast. About 6 miles from the track. Make sure you have some snacks and LOTS of water.
Upon arrival at the track (try to get there early, b/4 7:30), we signed the track waiver, proceeded through the gates, the tunnel, past the camping, past the roofless main garage to the north garage where the Penguin bays are and parked. Try to get close to the garage as we could not hear the PA for shit and the instructions would have been helpful. I unloaded the bike and prepped it, tire pressures, chain adjustment, etc.
I had preregistered so I went to the garage to pick up my info package and check in. This wasn’t too long but the line got pretty long by the time I was done. After check-in was tech inspection. They gave me a hard time due to missing paperwork but that was a communication problem within Penguin (this happened more than I would have expected it to) I got though inspection without any further problems. Read their website and follow the directions there and you won’t have nay problems. There was a short riders meeting and then it was off to the classes.
Class was good, our instructor, Steve made it interesting and fun. He went through discussions on tires, bike prep, the track, not suing, what to do in the event of a breakdown or crash, flagging, pit in, pit out, goals, and the things we would be doing on the track during the guided sessions. After 2 hours of instruction, we were given 20 minutes to get into our gear and get out onto pit road.
On pit road we were assigned an instructor and grouped with two other students. First day of the season and a beautiful day led to A LOT of riders.
They don’t limit the number of students on this track day. Maybe they should consider it. The guided laps were at relatively low speed but still a blast. Each lap the instructor would have a different guy in his group get behind him to learn the line. This was key and repeated a couple times. We stopped on part of the unused track twice to see the lines taken by some of the advanced group and to see pit out and pit in. We then pitted in for another hour of class.
During the second class we discussed the line, what turns we found difficult ( I really suck at 3) and were reminded of some of the things we covered on the first class. We were given a test to take. We had about 45 mins to grab lunch and mysteriously, the lunch that was to be provided never materialized (WTF??) We went to the snack bar for a dry chicken sandwich and limp fries at track prices. I would have brought my own food had I known. Live and learn…
After “lunch” we were back out on the track for 4 laps guided and the open session. This is where the speed picked up quite a bit. I was nervous (read SLOOOWWW) but kept at it and started to pick it up a little. 20 mins was over quick and the checkered came out. Time to pit in. About 20 mins later it was time for our first completely open session. We went out and really cranked it up. I used this time to get used to getting passed. At first it can be a little unnerving but after it happens a few times, you get used to it. Yep, that’s right, I was still pretty slow but I was having fun, learning the line, and picking up speed as I found the line. The 20 mins was over pretty quick and it was time for more classroom.
This time it was a video walking through the proper line for each corner showing reference points and track position. Helpful.
Lunch was getting to me so I was late getting back out for the next session as nature called. When I did get out things were falling in place nicely then waving yellow flag. OK I wasn’t going to pass anyone but three people had gone off track. Stay cool, keep your line and keep going. Shit red flag, time to pit in. I guess one of those three was a little more severe than it appeared. The session was over and it was time to head back to the classroom.
Another video, some discussion and back to the track. Here is where things appeared to fall apart organizationally. The basic group was to get on the track at the top of the hour for the hours 2-5. I went to the ‘start” line at 4 and was told to return to the beginning of pit road and wait for instructions. I guess there was a delay for one of the other groups so we would go 20 mins later. No biggie. Got out on track and was getting into the groove, warming up my tires and after 2 laps the f’ing red flag is out again. I say f’ing but it really is a good thing, I was coming down the front straight preparing to enter turn one and the flag lady was waving the yellow and red like mad. I signaled (waved my arm) and dropped speed considerably. I came around the corner and two bikes were lying just off the line with the riders off in the grass. I found later that they were OK. We pitted in and waited. Once it was cleared we got two more laps in before the session was over.
After a 40 min break, it was time to go out again. I got about 4 laps in and the red came out again!! Did I say that maybe they should have limited the number of riders allowed to sign up? People were passing REALLY close, it’s not surprising some had get-offs. Once the red was cleared, the session was over. From there we had a wrap up at 6 so we got out of our gear and loaded up our bikes. The wrap session was OK, we got our PPs slapped for not pitting in/out correctly, and discussed the get-offs people had and why.
While it may sound like it was not good, it really was. I learned a lot, scared myself silly, and had a shit load of fun. The other riders that I met were very helpful with simple tips and suggestions that made my day even better. One thing to remember is Penguin is a racing prep school. If I take the advanced course and do the rookie race without crashing, I will have my racing license. There are other courses that limit passing and class size that may be a better fit for some. Personally, I am more interested in track time than racing but now that I have the Penguin Basic certificate, I can get into pre-race weekend open track time for a reasonable price and probably get twice the track time in that I got at the basic class, this is good.
The first pic my wife took (she had a blast too), the other three are from a professional photographer (owens racing photos) that was at the track. Hope this helps anyone on the fence about a track day.
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Originally Posted by Denno
