nightmare trackday

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well I spent weekend on the track and it was a huge difference than was my first one. got caught up in the speed thing and just had a real hard weekend. which included: a trip off the track, 3 front end tucks, one tank slapper, and one near high-side. How I got out of there without going down is anybody's guess. Unlike my first trackday where I started out slow and gradually built up speed, this time I tried to go fast by going fast.

anyway someone snapped this pic

-- TP (tpoole@xnet.com), October 22, 2002

Answers

I'm having problems linking pics too. Maybe you can give us the full link to it?

I've learned that being calm and building up speed slowly is definitely the way to go. That and do every practice session you can and go out there with a plan. Decide where you need to pick up speed, and also decide where it would be dangerous to try to push any harder until you learn more. It works well for me.

Did you figure out why you got the tucks? Did you make any suspension or tire pressure changes? If so, how did it affect your riding and the bike?

-- Andy Ruhl (quadreverb@yahoo.com), October 22, 2002.


I think I was having problems for a number of reasons, one of which we mentioned before.

For starters I think fatigue played a huge role as I only had an hour of sleep the night before. Also again I got caught up with the speed thing cause it only took me a couple of laps to learn the layout unlike the almost half day at the first track I was at.

Now I can only blame myself for this but the stupid thing I did was right after my first track day when I put the bike in the shop for the 15K service I had them track prep it. when asked if I wanted the suspension setup for the track also, I said sure why not. I've been riding that bike for almost 18 months now and never once changed the suspension. When I picked it up I didn't get a chance to ride it either so the first ride was when I hit the track. On top of that the track was still drying. Anyway all the confidence I had in the front was gone. It was mainly 3 right had corners. It would tuck on two of them and slide on the other. But to be honest with the exception of one huge slide that got me out the seat and the near high-side it might not have been as bad as I thought.

what I mean is that it could have been I just wasn't use to all the feedback I was getting from stiffer setup and didn't understand what it was saying. I've been thinking about this for the past two days. Maybe this is normal stuff for experience riders but it was new to me. that's why I said before that I wanted to work on my riding and learn what I'm doing and the bike is doing before I started messing around with the bike. should have taken my own advice.

especially since I was pushing harder then I'd ever had before. For me I was just going after it. I was trying keep pace with a couple of 996s and a R1 and was riding real ragged and stiff. trying to stay with them was HARD!!! when I was following people I was kinda ok cause I was so focused on not being dropped off, I wasn't really paying attention to what the bike was doing. but when I got in front and was trying to figure out my lines and stuff then I was more aware of what was going on and how much it was moving around. I tryed to get use to it but by the afternoon I had one of the instructers help me out. He soften up the front a little and it helped out a bit.

As bad as I felt about the whole weekend, Monday I realized that hey despite all the problems I "thought" the bike was having it didn't go down. Even when I was riding like a maniac trying to keep the R1 and 996s close. So if nothing else I got over a big hump mentally. That with in reason these thing can take a lot more then I can dish out at the moment. And while I thought I was on the edge, it was only the edge of my abilities and not the bike's

-- TP (tpoole@xnet.com), October 22, 2002.


Couple of things that stick out here:

1. Tires 2. "Set up for the track"

1. What tires were you using? Were they different than what you had before since you said your bike was set up differently? I am firmly a Pirelli Supercorsa guy now. I won't say that they are the ONLY way to go, but I appreciate their qualities. Dunlops have a very stiff sidewall and are very, very accurate. You could ride around the track on a strip of masking tape with them. However, they are not as compliant on the side, so they tend to wash or slide before the Pirellis. Conversely, the Pirellis are like baloons. The sides are soft. They are not all that accurate. You have to hold them down to keep the bike on line. However, bumps disappear. Bumps that upset the Dunlops aren't even noticed by the Pirellis. So while I don't have the same feedback as the Dunlops, I do have sensational grip and compliance. They also tend to slide very predictably, so the slight lack of feedback isn't really a problem. Can you tell I love them yet?

Now, the stock Pirellis seem much less compliant on the side, so they are sort of in between. Not as accurate as the Dunlops. But they do inspire confidence.

2. "Set up for the track". Please explain. Set up for you for the track or set up for someone else for the track? Everyone has been telling me I need Ohlins this and that, and that I need to crank up my preload etc. Well, why? There actually are fast people out there that ride on extremely plush bikes. It's all a matter of feel. I'm trying to learn what I am. I've had numerous people tell me I need heavier springs on the front of my R1 (I'm a slightly heavy dude too), yet I don't run the preload at full. I cranked it up a turn and the front end became skittish. I have no doubts that the quality of damping I will get from top shelf suspension components will be noticeable, but I want to find the limits with what I have first. I found out that my money would be much better spent on rearsets than anything else because I keep grounding out the pegs, hard.

Anyway, keep at it. I'm fairly new to track days myself but it's amazing how much you learn each time. I just want to punch those guys that are more naturally gifted than I am because I want to be them!

-- Andy Ruhl (quadreverb@yahoo.com), October 22, 2002.


Well when I said setup they I guess they stiffened everything up a bit a to make it better suited for the track (according to my weight). Why I did that is beyond me cause I didn't have any complaints what so ever before. As stated before I wanted to learn more about myself and then try to understand the bike before I started changing things hardware and setting wise. I got help at the track after the 3rd session cause it just wasn't working for me. But I'm not going to change anything else for a while until after I get more seat time. For better or worse (and I'm like this with just about everything) I notice just about every little change so if I start messing with settings heavily now I'll be lost for quite a while. When I get a better grip on what my riding "style" is favoring then I'll start looking into setting my bike up to suit it.

As for the tires, they were the same ones from my previous track day. Evo Corsa. I like those a lot. A lot better then the Dunlops that I had on my R1 (I've since put them on my R1 also). But I will be going to the Super Corsa when I get my next set.

I wrote down a lot of notes from last weekend and after going of them for a few days and thinking back corner by corner, I'm really thinking that I just had a serious case of newbie track addict information overload. I mean considering the track conditions (wet one day & cold the next)and that I was riding harder then I ever had, the fact that I didn't go down is a real positive to me. Maybe I just wasn't use to all the feedback I was getting from the stiffer setup. This is something that I'm going to be looking at very closely when I get back on the track.

-- tp (tpoole@xnet.com), October 23, 2002.


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