your track day experience?

[QUOTE=26667;798032]



and I just thought of this one. i'm gonna take a few laps with my bags, which will be kinda loaded for the over-night, [B]ON[/B]. Tank bag, side bags, top case. I don't want my fun-osity to [I][U][U][B]de[/B][/U][/U][/I]crease just because I'm out on the road. Au contraire!I want to beat the kids on sportbikes.

Fromage on, bra![/QUOTE]

One of my bikes is an R1150R equipped with Jesse luggage - side cases and top case. Just for grins, at the first on-track session at one of Jason Pridmore's STAR school I left the luggage on the bike. I got some very strange looks from other folks as I headed out and rode several laps around the track. I took the luggage off for later sessions, though.

26667, I appreciate the kind response, but the blame falls squarely on me.

I tend to spend way too much time over at the WERA roadracing forum. Over there, we dispense unsolicited opinions on matters that are none of our business like so much candy given away on Halloween. It's almost an art form. I forget that the BMW crowd is a bit kinder and gentler.

I think that it is great that you want to push the bike that you ride everyday to it's limit. If more people did this I believe accident rates would plummet. I get caught up on total speed and lap times when actually competent riding ability with your primary bike is key.

Seriously, I hope you have the time of your life. And if you do find it addicting, pick up an old track bike and come hang out with us Vintage guys .

I'll bring the beer:beer

deal!

and PS my wife, who hasn't ridden since she got preggers 13 years ago, wants the Monster 620/96

seriously.

I took my 2005 RT to Reg Pridmore's CLASS. Had a GREAT time & learned a lot about riding it. scraped pegs in a few corners at Infineon. Learned that the limits were way further away than I thought, learned that nearing those limits was progressive, I could feel it moving around a bit as I got faster, it was a very positive experience. Got passed a bunch in "B", but passed a few people myself. The RT is a very capable bike.

[QUOTE=26667;798106]deal!

and PS my wife, who hasn't ridden since she got preggers 13 years ago, wants the Monster 620/96[/QUOTE]


The Duc would be a great bike; I know I love mine.

One thing I don't have to worry about is my wife and bikes. I dropped her in a low speed turn when we lived in the Florida Keys in 1982 and that's the last time she rode on a bike.

But I did get my son involved in the sport and that is a whole different kind of anxiety. He was doing his first race weekend ever at Nashville Speedway last year. We were in the same race. I'm on my FZR400 and he is on an MZ Skorpion. I guess he was doing OK, but I was ahead of him at the end so I wasn't sure. Race is over and I'm waiting for him at pit in and he doesn't show up. I start to freak and ask another racer if he saw him. He said yeah, I saw him off track. Well, I'm thinking he lost it, trashed himself and the bike...or worse.

10 minutes go by and here he comes in the crash truck. Bike looks fine, he looks fine. I ask him what the hell happened. He looks at me with a disgusted face and says, dad, the bike ran out of gas! Since then we make sure to top off before every race!

This is a pic of him and I during practice. He hadn't quite figured out the proper line but he is getting a lot better.


[IMG]http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk18/rd400racer/nash.jpg[/IMG]


And the good times we have together thanks to bikes. Our pit at Nashville.

[IMG]http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk18/rd400racer/nashfire.jpg[/IMG]



I even get my daughter involved. She was my pit crew at Talladega and did a great job.

[IMG]http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk18/rd400racer/photo-2.jpg[/IMG]

So I see a difference like so many of you between track days and a school at a track. The purposes are different as well as the general equipment. I love doing schools and often there are track bikes at the school as well as regular street bikes. It isn't so much a focus to pass everyone but to be better in 3 laps yourself than you were. Hopefully session to session you are able to refine things to be a more competent rider. It still is a lot of fun to be riding with folks that you can pass as well as be passed. It wouldn't be a waste of time if you didn't use the coaches as it is so much fun, BUT, why are you paying the extra money for their presence. CLASS and CSS are both good but very different in format. Be willing to participate fully in whatever school you attend and try things their way without comparing it with..."well at ******* they do it this way". Learning if often being open to doing something different than you have done before. Sometimes you have to work to learn something new and then unlearn something old. I know I had to do that on several turn, braking and gear changing points this year. For sure I was better at the end of the 300 miles than at the beginning.

As for equipment, it is my only bike and getting lots of mileage on it. I rode it there and home and I commute on it, ride the mountains with it and it gets to come here. A track bike would be nice and perhaps I can one day have a better focused bike for that venue. Still this is the bike that gets ridden and to become better on it in this place allows me to be better on it lots of other places. Whether you are ridding a dedicated S1000rr or a F650GS, getting better is still getting better!!!!! It is pretty amazing what a really good rider can do on most any bike! Maybe one day I can be a reflection of that.

Nice to see some of yall at CLASS at VIR again this year. I hope I didn't hold yall up on the track too much!

Thanks to those that made this happen again year at VIR: MORTONS and CLASS staff and coaches! GREAT TIME!

NCS

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