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So I did the Track Experience this weekend and thought I would post up my experiences. Plus I'm bored at my in-laws' house, so you can enjoy my verbal diarrhea. This was the 2nd track day I've ever done, the first was more than 10 years ago (!) on my old Aprilia RS125.
Getting to the track
I don't have a truck, or a trailer, so I rode the VFR up. Left at about 5:30am, and got to the track a little after 7am. I was fucking soaked by the time I got there. Next time I am going to beg, borrow or steal a way to trailer this thing up. It also means I couldn't bring any tools other than the bike's toolkit.
Bike prep
Given I was on a street bike, I didn't do anything ahead of time. I was going to take the center stand off, but the mounting bolts are behind the headers and those bolts were rusted in place pretty good. When I got to the track, the Penguin guys said that I needed to tape over or disable the brake lights, and tape over or disable the headlights. I ended up disabling the rear brake ilghts (unclipped the electrical connectors) and taped over the headlights. They also said I had to tuck in or remove the mirrors, so I tucked them in. And, of course, took off the tank bag
After that I was good to go. The track had gas for sale -- Sunoco street gas ($3.89/gal) and Sunoco race gas ($9/gal). They had tires and stuff for sale too, but I didn't need any of that.
Instructors
The class instructors were Scotty Greenwood and Steve Fink. Scotty was a great instructor in the class room, and Steve was just as good on the track. There were several other on-track-only instructors as well. There were maybe 15 other people in the class, so the ratio was very good. Most of the in-class time was spent on safety, riding lines & markers, and body positioning.
Track time
The class was setup in roughly 15 minute class sessions, followed by 15 minute track sessions. The first session was a guided ride (3 laps) with instructors at low speed; the second session was a guided ride (3 laps) at regular speed followed by a couple of unguided laps. After that all the sessions were regular speed, but with instructors each time.
Although there was lots of time on the track, the weather was abysmal. It rained most of the day, and at times there was significant standing water on the track. It made a couple of the corners pretty interesting, but apart from the lessening available grip (especially on painted surfaces) it wasn't much of a hindrance.
Good bits
The two best pieces of advice I got from the instructors were, "you can learn a lot about riding in the rain by riding in the dry" and, "ride (the VFR) in 3rd gear only, and don't use the brakes". I cheated a little with the brakes, particularly entering turns 3, 11 and 12. Although the VFR is on the heavy side, it has more than enough torque to pull it around the track in only 3rd gear. I did a handful of laps using more gears and brakes, but to be honest it was more trouble (because of my inexperience) than it was worth.
For whatever reason, I found it relatively easy to take turns 3-4 and 6-7, probably because I was in a good place to see the instructors' lines during the guided laps. For the start of the day, I also found 11, 12 & 12A easy, but that didn't last...
Bad bits
For the first half of the day, I really struggled with turns 1 & 1A, as I never felt like I could see when to decelerate and when to start leaning the bike over. Steve took me out on a few guided laps and showed me very clearly where some good markers were -- notably the pink NASCAR timing box on the track -- and that really helped me there. By the end of the day I thought I had a pretty good handle on that part of the track.
The faster I went, though, the worse I did 11 through 12A. I would end up running way wide through 11, which would ruin my entry into 12 (and then 12A). Sometimes it was so bad that I had to drop a gear to turn in. Steve helped me out again and I got a better handle on this as well.
I also had a couple of excursions on to the grass. Early in the day I overran the entry to turn 1A, and early in the afternoon I overran the entry into 12A. Fortunately I realized my mistake early enough both times that I just slowed down, went straight, and didn't fall off. Two other guys had minor crashes (both low-sides I think) and were back on the track a few minutes after their mishaps.
Fortunately I didn't have any mishaps of my own, though I came close a few times. A couple of times when going up the hill into turn 4, it felt like the rear of the bike would slide out to the left ever so slightly. It was pretty easy to control though. The bigger problems were exiting turn 2, as I had a couple of issues there. If I was out of position, I would cross some of the painted lines on the track when I probably didn't have an appropriate lean angle. The rear tire broke loose a few times, including a bar-shaking fishtail when I was about 25 feet in front of an instructor. My sphincter clenched rather severely but I backed off the throttle enough and managed to stay on. As a newbie it certainly felt like a bigger moment than it really was
The biggest single problem I had was body positioning. Because the track was so wet, I was a little afraid of moving around on the bike too much lest I make the chassis upset and end up crashing. I'm sure I was over-thinking it, but Steve and Scotty said it was the single biggest thing I could do better. While I feel relatively comfortable sliding across the seat before corners, I had a tendency to twist my upper body to the point where I couldn't drop my knee towards the apex of the corner because my inner thigh on my outside leg was around the back of the tank. Once I started being cognizant of the twisting, I was able to point my knee towards the apex but I felt like I was getting off the bike less than when I was twisting. Again, I think this is a misperception on my part.
Bike reliability
The VFR performed very well, except for.. one thing. In the final session before lunch, the dash cluster went dead. The only thing that worked was the clock -- no speedometer, no tachometer, no multi-function display. I didn't realize it at the time, but the fuel pump went as well. The bike kept running (presumably it had enough vacuum), but when I went to start it after lunch it was dead as a dodo. It turns out that I blew a fuse that controls the dash (and, the fuel pump); with help from Scotty and Steve we diagnosed it pretty quickly and got it replaced.
The tires seemed to hold up pretty well too. I ran 30psi front and rear, and didn't have any complaints with handling.
Bike performance
I was really happy with the way the VFR ran. There was more than enough power to pull me around the track, particularly given I was in 3rd gear for almost all of the track. Once I had my tire pressures sorted I felt ample feedback for my skill level. During the drier parts of the day, during acceleration up the hill as I entered turn 4 I could feel the rear of the bike squat and the front end start to get a lot lighter. And during the wetter parts of the day, there was enough feedback to tell me when I was being ham-fisted on the throttle, even if I thought I was being particularly gentle.
Despite my lack of experience I felt like I was in control of the chassis (most of the time...) but the bike still had a lot in reserve. It was even pretty good on gas!
Ride home
As soon as I left to ride back to Mass., it started pissing down again. By the time I got home I was cold, wet and tired.
Next time
Did I mention I'm going to try and find a trailer? Because riding 1h45m home after 8+ hours at the track sucked monkey balls. I'd probably prep the bike ahead of time -- remove mirrors, disable lights, tape stuff up -- and hopefully remove the side-stand. Although I didn't come anywhere close to scraping it on the track, I could feel it wobbling back and forth underneath the bike at times. I should probably contemplate draining the coolant and going to something more track-friendly, too.
Of course, I could just buy a track-only bike...
BTW, big shout-out to NESR guy Mike with the CBR600F4i, who I met at the track. Didn't see any other NESR guys though!
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Originally Posted by kumpy
99 + 02 SV650 ex-race - 91 FJ1200 street - 03 KDX220R woods - 12 WR450F motard/ice
), it was a lot easier!
