|
No power  Decent brakes!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pSLHYB4UmM Edit: More content. Here's a couple more or less traffic free laps from Sunday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6bP-0khz_A The beginning of the video was my favorite place to pass, as you can well see. Since I was in the noob group passing was only allowed in straights. Since I have no power that means passing on the brakes! Lots of good practice. needknees fucked around with this message at 05:01 on Sep 16, 2010 |
#
?
Sep 16, 2010 03:51
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 18:04 |
|
|
Tsaven Nava posted:I set sag the best I could on the front, not yet on the rear. In my completely inexperienced hands, the bike feels really good. It's not scary or unpredictable when leaned over, it deals with bumps well, and feels very planted and confidence-inspiring when accelerating out of a corner. If you don't have one already a fork brace is supposed to be a big improvement on the v-strom. http://www.vstrom.info/Smf/index.php/topic,9428.0.html
|
|
#
?
Sep 16, 2010 23:38
|
|
|
Is that . . . Tsaven on an actual sportbike? A ZX-10? I think it is! Sidenote: Literbikes. I get it now. Mother of GOD.
|
|
#
?
Sep 27, 2010 17:06
|
|
|
Tsaven Nava posted:Is that . . . Tsaven on an actual sportbike? A ZX-10? I think it is! Yeah that's pretty much how it goes. Virago, Vstrom, ZX10. Good progression, you squid.
|
|
#
?
Sep 27, 2010 17:27
|
|
|
Z3n posted:Yeah that's pretty much how it goes. Virago, Vstrom, ZX10. Good progression, you squid. More like Virago, Vstrom, VROOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM   I had a good time at Autobahn south. gently caress their camping charge though, 30 bucks for tent camping is bullshit. Never ridden the south course before, I really like the layout but there are some crazy bumps out there, even for a sumo. Also the first time riding in Intermediate group with STT and I have to say i was not very impressed. Tons of retarded poo poo going on, people were incredibly unpredictable. Hell, I had a CR halfass stuff me (although it was still a clean pass, didn't have to alter my line or anything, and didn't spook me) then two turns later some other jackass completely stuffs me on one of the fastest corners of the track. A stuff as in if I didn't alter my line there would have been serious contact. The same jackass then proceeds to loving brake hard for no reason in the T9/10 chicane when i was right on his tail. Random. Unpredictable. And of course, red flags were the story of the day. I don't think we had one clean session. Man I love riding at the track  Edit: I've got some video of people being retarded too! need to go through it and pick some stuff out. My camera was being flaky and randomly turning off so I don't have a lot of footage. Tsaven: piiiiiicssssssssssssssss needknees fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Sep 27, 2010 |
|
#
?
Sep 27, 2010 22:20
|
|
|
needknees posted:Tsaven: piiiiiicssssssssssssssss At least you have pics of you coming. I'm incredibly disappointed by a complete lack of any media proof of me on the track. Also, that combination of smilies immediately made me think "My ANUS is BLEEDING!" So. I am kind of  about my first track day, mostly because I was expecting more from my coach. So first off, they created a special extra-slow group 7 for me (on my 250) and a guy on an RS 125. The coach, though, had apparently never ridden a bike like that. He kept telling us to accelerate out of the turns, and didn't seem to understand our claims that we were. He was clearly frustrated with us, and when the checkered flag went up, would take off at his own speed around the track. After the last structured session of the day, I wanted to find him and see if my body position had improved, and ask if he thought I was ready for the unstructured sessions, or if I should hunt down someone to be my coach through those, too. Except he'd taken off at the checkered flag, and I couldn't find him. Next time I saw him, he was on the back of the crash cart. By that point, it was looking drizzly, and I decided to quit before crashing (because I have better self control than Tsaven does). I did like the track, though (North at Autobahn). It was a good combination of scary corners that everyone kept going off on and happy fun fast corners. But I don't think I'm a track person; I kept thinking that it'd be way more fun if all the people were gone... modify_evolution fucked around with this message at 05:27 on Sep 28, 2010 |
|
#
?
Sep 28, 2010 04:06
|
|
|
modify_evolution posted:At least you have pics of you coming. I'm incredibly disappointed by a complete lack of any media proof of me on the track. Also, that combination of smilies immediately made me think "My ANUS is BLEEDING!" That's too bad that you weren't getting the instruction that you needed. I don't really see why they created a slower group for your two bikes though - in the track day I've been to, bikes like those would have kept up fine with the novice group. Hell, I've had control riders passing me on tiny two-strokes and 250s and all sorts of poo poo, and I was on a 600.
|
|
#
?
Sep 28, 2010 16:21
|
|
|
FuzzyWuzzyBear posted:That's too bad that you weren't getting the instruction that you needed. I don't really see why they created a slower group for your two bikes though Yeah. I was kind of annoyed with him. I felt a little better when he crashed (it was nothing serious; I'm not that big of a bitch). I definitely wasn't pushing my bike as hard as I could the first session, and the other guy wasn't either, and I think that's what made them put us in our own group. But no one was pushing it on the first session; the tires were cold, they were getting used to the track, and one of the first corners was really tight, so you couldn't get up to speed right away. The only thing we really did different was not launching it to 530967 mph in the straights. gently caress it, I don't know. I really don't think the first session was enough to make that sort of decision. And with 7 groups out there, everyone kept passing us, so we had to move over and slow down a lot, so I didn't get to push it most of the time, anyway. Rawr.
|
|
#
?
Sep 28, 2010 18:42
|
|
|
modify_evolution posted:Yeah. I was kind of annoyed with him. I felt a little better when he crashed (it was nothing serious; I'm not that big of a bitch). You really shouldn't need to move off the racing line and slow down to let others by. If they are faster than you they should come off the line and make the pass.
|
|
#
?
Sep 28, 2010 20:39
|
|
|
yeah the first couple sessions are hugely slow if you are in the higher number groups because all you do is wait for the others to pass you. I am really not sold on how they structure the novice class. I guess it works though, but I don't think it helps less experienced riders improve at a reasonable pace. You have to bug the instructors if you really want them to work with you, and even then sometimes they'll just zip off and you have to track them down to get any feedback. Once the open sessions start just remember the coach you started with isn't the only one out there... any of them can be bugged for help
|
|
#
?
Sep 28, 2010 20:43
|
|
|
schreibs posted:You really shouldn't need to move off the racing line and slow down to let others by. If they are faster than you they should come off the line and make the pass. I agree; that's just how they do it during the structured sessions. It was one of the things that started bothering me after awhile. How am I supposed to improve at all if I'm constantly crawling around the track letting more experienced people pass me? needknees posted:You have to bug the instructors if you really want them to work with you, and even then sometimes they'll just zip off and you have to track them down to get any feedback. Once the open sessions start just remember the coach you started with isn't the only one out there... any of them can be bugged for help Yeah. I was trying to find him, but I guess he was busy crashing. By the time I decided to hunt down someone else, it was drizzly. But mostly, it was just a pain in the rear end and I was getting angry. It wasn't fun at all anymore, so I stopped.
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2010 02:33
|
|
|
modify_evolution posted:I agree; that's just how they do it during the structured sessions. It was one of the things that started bothering me after awhile. How am I supposed to improve at all if I'm constantly crawling around the track letting more experienced people pass me? Try a different track day organization. There are more than a half dozen organizations that run days on the tracks near me.
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2010 04:04
|
|
|
Sorry that your first track experience sucked. Those guys have no loving clue what they're doing, track riding isn't about follow the leader, it's about going out and having a good time at your own pace. Anyone who complains about slower riders on the track is just being stupid, and any control rider who can't tell when a rider is getting on the throttle isn't worth his weight in poo poo. I think that's one of the biggest advantages of trackday providers in Cali...they've had a long time to work out what works and what doesn't, so any follow the leader you do is the result of you being unwilling to pass. Most of the time out here it's 2 sighting laps, with a pit after a the first one (to remind people how to get on and off the track), and then you get your 20 minutes on track free and clear. The idea that you'd divide things into groups and have someone lead you around the track is pretty much the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Goddamn people. Give a less "structured" trackday a shot, I think you'll be much happier with it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2010 04:07
|
|
|
Z3n posted:The idea that you'd divide things into groups and have someone lead you around the track is pretty much the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Goddamn people. Give a less "structured" trackday a shot, I think you'll be much happier with it. I definitely appreciated having a follow the leader session, while I learned the track. I'm still kind of struggling with following the right line into a turn, so I did like being able to watch what the coach was doing. But after one or two sessions, it just started pissing me off. I'm glad I'm not the only one; everyone at the track day seemed fine with how it was set up (although I didn't talk with the other guy in my group), so I wasn't sure if I was just being weird about it or something.
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2010 05:49
|
|
|
The whole idea of having control riders is so they can help folks at the pace of the learners. People always seem to think that utter chaos is the result if you don't structure the groups heavily but the reality is the opposite is true. The vast majority of folks are not aggressive enough, so dumping everyone into groups to be lead around the track is just silly. People who don't know any better will figure that that's just how trackdays work, so they won't complain. Shrug. And the thing about "learning the line" is that there isn't a "line". Different lines have different purposes., so while you can learn stuff from someone elses line, their line isnt going to be right for you or your bike. There are hundreds of ways to go through a corner and each one has it's time and place.
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2010 06:26
|
|
|
I think STT's novice group is typically a bit restrictive in the morning with follow-the-leader and observe-and-releasing, and let loose after lunch. The faster subgroups (1 and 2?) can usually do whatever after the first session.
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2010 15:05
|
|
|
lokigoesrawr posted:I think STT's novice group is typically a bit restrictive in the morning with follow-the-leader and observe-and-releasing, and let loose after lunch. The faster subgroups (1 and 2?) can usually do whatever after the first session. Not in the days I've done with them in novice :-/. I've never gotten more than 2 (maybe 3, once) "open" sessions with them. Granted, one of those days we were running a pretty good pace but they still didn't open up passing until the last two sessions of the day. Which was lame as gently caress in my opinion.
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2010 15:32
|
|
|
needknees posted:Not in the days I've done with them in novice :-/. I've never gotten more than 2 (maybe 3, once) "open" sessions with them. Granted, one of those days we were running a pretty good pace but they still didn't open up passing until the last two sessions of the day. Which was lame as gently caress in my opinion. Southeast/southern(?) division STT has been pretty good about it in my experience. They started something dubbed "veteran novice" this year, where you can still run N group, but are not subject to the classroom and you are free to do whatever within rules after the first session or so. Either for people that went through their classroom a few times already, or if I group sold out or something. One time with a cool instructor, what was supposed to be the "school zone speed" sighting lap session (where you typically get maybe 3 laps in 20 minutes) was done at 5 seconds off my PB.  Didn't mind playing follow the leader at that pace.
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2010 19:55
|
|
|
Penguin Racing School (based at Loudon, NH) did a 7-session day for the novice class. We had one structured session which was small follow the leader groups (3-4 per CR, with alternating who got to be behind the CR each lap). The second session, we had three laps that were follow the leader, and then were let loose the rest of the day. Worked great, and I had a nice mix of close racing with similar riders and periods of wide open track where I couldn't see anybody behind or in front of me.
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2010 20:05
|
|
|
The biggest issue with an unstructured novice trackday is that people aren't aggressive enough about passing, so you end up with these big freight trains rolling around behind the slowest rider on the track. Until you hit the front straight and then everyone scatters, it's pretty entertaining to watch, really. But when I was in the novice group, I'd just pull in to the hot pit if I was getting stuck in traffic and roll through at 30mph and that'd clear the track quite nicely.
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2010 20:13
|
|
|
I had no problems passing people on the inside, outside, in turns, on straights (well not the straights so much). It was a nice change of pace from car trackdays where they only let novices pass in the straights, which loving sucks.
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2010 21:06
|
|
|
FuzzyWuzzyBear posted:I had no problems passing people on the inside, outside, in turns, on straights (well not the straights so much). It was a nice change of pace from car trackdays where they only let novices pass in the straights, which loving sucks. Yes. This. STT's passing rules in novice are pretty strict. Passing when "the bike is completely upright" only.  Honestly my most enjoyable trackdays have been those done with Trackaddix, based out of Omaha. They run at MAM and MPH, hopefully will be expanding to Iowa Speedway next year. They only have two rungroups: Novice - 20min sessions. Courteous passing allowed anywhere except for the inside ENTERING a turn, with a 6'+ buffer. You can pass on the inside on corner exits though. And Open - Intermediate and Advanced riders, 40min open sessions, come and go as you please. "Courteous" passing allowed anywhere. Don't alter someone's line and you're ok. The faster than you are than the person you're passing the more room you give them. Common sense poo poo. I freakin love their formats. I did my first ever trackday/new rider's school with them and got the basics down. They did something similar to STT but opened it up much sooner. In my experience their rider coaches were more apt to single someone out, help with lines, and pull them into the hot pits or go over things after a session. Since passing wasn't as restrictive conga lines didn't stay formed for long. I did a couple days in novice then they kicked me into open, which was an experience for sure  . I improved as a rider in open so much faster it wasn't even funny.Even with the lax passing rules I never once saw any super lovely passes in novice, no contact. I did see two bikes take one another out in open but that was the only major crash I'd seen at any trackaddix event. I've only been to four STT days and there were serious CONTACT crashes at three of them. Way more red flags in general too. needknees fucked around with this message at 21:23 on Sep 29, 2010 |
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2010 21:20
|
|
|
needknees posted:Yes. This. Which tracks did you do with STT? Do you know what division? I know that's the rule for NESBA Beginner group (org wide), but at least with Southern STT it's "outside of turns" for Novice and "anywhere with 6'+" in Intermediate. Wish I were closer to Trackaddix events. That open format sounds amazing. STT does a 2 group (Int/Adv) 30 minute format at Jennings in December that was really fun as well. Similar passing rules, lots of seat time.
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2010 22:00
|
|
|
lokigoesrawr posted:Which tracks did you do with STT? Do you know what division? I know that's the rule for NESBA Beginner group (org wide), but at least with Southern STT it's "outside of turns" for Novice and "anywhere with 6'+" in Intermediate. It was the Midwest region. I've ridden blackhawk, ACC north, and ACC south. If I remember the rules correctly they're following them for novice. pretty sure it was passing while upright only in novice, anywhere with 6' in I, and no restrictions in A? fake edit: they don't actually mention the passing restrictions in novice on their site that I can find  If it WAS on the outside with 6' in novice I wish I knew, that would have made my weekend at blackhawk a lot more enjoyable. It's kinda tough to pass bikes "upright only" on a 50hp sumo . I could get people on the brakes but towards the end of the day when other riders were getting more comfortable they were using more throttle, I couldn't close the gaps they'd pull in the two big straights to catch them. Then I'd spend half a lap stuck behind them till I got a chance to take them on the brakes "upright".
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2010 14:27
|
|
|
any fellow CMRA racers around these here parts?
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2010 19:23
|
|
|
I really want to get into budget racing but don't have a trailer or a truck. And I don't think there's an easy way to have both a race-ready bike that's also street legal, nor do I want to rely on my racebike for transportation back home in the case that I dump it. If I figure that part out, I think I could participate in a couple race weekends for maybe $300-400 in fees if I camp at the track, bring my own food, race my low-power F2 which won't eat too many tires, etc. I think I'll get a lot more out of it than throwing away $280 on a trackday for what amounts to a little more than an hour of tracktime. Plus, then I can tell everybody I race motorcycles and let them assume I make lots of money doing it and am on TV.
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2010 19:35
|
|
|
Will anyone be at Chuckwalla in SoCal for October 23/24? I'll be there at least one day on my oversized GSX-R750. I really need a smaller bike =[
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2010 19:37
|
|
|
FuzzyWuzzyBear posted:I really want to get into budget racing but don't have a trailer or a truck. And I don't think there's an easy way to have both a race-ready bike that's also street legal, nor do I want to rely on my racebike for transportation back home in the case that I dump it. If I figure that part out, I think I could participate in a couple race weekends for maybe $300-400 in fees if I camp at the track, bring my own food, race my low-power F2 which won't eat too many tires, etc. I think I'll get a lot more out of it than throwing away $280 on a trackday for what amounts to a little more than an hour of tracktime. Plus, then I can tell everybody I race motorcycles and let them assume I make lots of money doing it and am on TV. You have a car? Pretty much any car can tow a bike in a small trailer. There's little 4x8 trailers on WERA and trackday provider forums all the time for cheap. I've put thousands of miles on my Civic hatch this year towing bikes(s) around the midwest with no issues. Regarding trackdays v. racing... I'd love to race at some point but one, I don't think I'm aggressive enough. And two, it seems like there's a much better chance of crashing. Even if you aren't going 1001%, in my mind there's a WAY higher possibility of someone riding over their head taking you out in a race than at a trackday. Seems like people run harder when there's something on the line, even though it's just standing on a wood box and getting a crappy plastic trophy.
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2010 19:49
|
|
|
FuzzyWuzzyBear posted:I really want to get into budget racing but don't have a trailer or a truck. And I don't think there's an easy way to have both a race-ready bike that's also street legal, nor do I want to rely on my racebike for transportation back home in the case that I dump it. If I figure that part out, I think I could participate in a couple race weekends for maybe $300-400 in fees if I camp at the track, bring my own food, race my low-power F2 which won't eat too many tires, etc. I think I'll get a lot more out of it than throwing away $280 on a trackday for what amounts to a little more than an hour of tracktime. Plus, then I can tell everybody I race motorcycles and let them assume I make lots of money doing it and am on TV. Where are you located? I'd highly recommend doing trackdays over racing as a way to get your feet wet, you get even less time at a race weekend than you do at a trackday. A trackday should be 8, 20 minute sessions, giving you almost 3 hours on track. A race weekend gives you 3-5 15 minute practice sessions (depending on how many people stack it acting like idiots in practice), and then 2 or 3 6-8 lap races. Most people can't ride 20 minutes flat out on the track for 8 sessions. If you absolutely need more time, check out open trackdays, where the track goes live for 8 horus straight. No groups, just play nice and have fun. If you want tracktime, you should do trackdays, not go racing. Racing assumes you'll practice every other weekend at trackdays and gives you no structure and no means to improve, just go fast and crash. Not what you want if you're riding your bike to and from the track. And they don't give you tracktime, they just give you race time. Any tracktime you get at a race weekend is pretty much useless. And you'll need to pass the NRS to get your racers license for the AFM, at least. Z3n fucked around with this message at 20:22 on Oct 6, 2010 |
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2010 20:17
|
|
|
lokigoesrawr posted:Which tracks did you do with STT? Do you know what division? I know that's the rule for NESBA Beginner group (org wide), but at least with Southern STT it's "outside of turns" for Novice and "anywhere with 6'+" in Intermediate. If you're in the South you should look in to X-ACT Motorsports' track days. X-ACT runs their track days like an open day. Basically, the track is open to do what you want except for a few 20 minute sessions in the morning when the novices aren't in class. X-ACT have a weekend coming up, October 16th and 17th, at Talladega GP. It's $99/day or $198 for the weekend. quote:X-ACT Motorsports is happy to announce we are co-hosting the October 16th and 17th event at Little Tally with Ed Bargy!
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2010 21:56
|
|
|
I can't wait for AMP to start holding trackdays again... Firebird is a shithole and everything else is really far.
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2010 22:52
|
|
|
BlackMK4 posted:I can't wait for AMP to start holding trackdays again... Firebird is a shithole and everything else is really far. What is AMP? I've been to the last two AZtrackdays at Firebird, and am already beginning to hate that place. The only upside is that we've been working corners for half a day in exchange for riding the other half. I think the next closest to Phoenix is that new Willcox track, but 3 hours away blows.
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2010 17:07
|
|
|
Hibajubwa posted:What is AMP? I've been to the last two AZtrackdays at Firebird, and am already beginning to hate that place. The only upside is that we've been working corners for half a day in exchange for riding the other half. http://www.trackpedia.com/wiki/Arizona_Motorsports_Park Dude that designed Miller Motorsports Park did this one too.
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2010 22:20
|
|
|
frozenphil posted:If you're in the South you should look in to X-ACT Motorsports' track days. X-ACT runs their track days like an open day. Basically, the track is open to do what you want except for a few 20 minute sessions in the morning when the novices aren't in class.
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2010 05:19
|
|
|
I have to say, in defense of the way STT runs their trackdays, I really like the slow, newb-friendly approach that STT takes in their novice category. Maybe I'll hate it more once I have a more track-appropriate bike, or more skill, but as it stands I'm very happy with their Novice group.
|
|
#
?
Oct 12, 2010 05:35
|
|
|
-Inu- posted:Are you going phil? I'll be there the whole weekend..super pumped. Nope, I have class that weekend. You may be interested in hitting up Alabama Sportbike as there is a decent sized group of people who do track days all over the south east.
|
|
#
?
Oct 12, 2010 23:02
|
|
|
frozenphil posted:Nope, I have class that weekend. You may be interested in hitting up Alabama Sportbike as there is a decent sized group of people who do track days all over the south east. Just a couple more days!  Bike is currently sitting in my buddy's garage waiting to be taped up, have fuses pulled, and have NTEC's slapped on. Also looks like I might get to borrow a set of warmers. At least I won't have to worry about grip
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2010 07:32
|
|
|
Finally finished going through the 3956767 photos I took at Autobahn on 9/26. I was loving around with Tsaven's camera and expensive farkles, and took a retarded amount of photos. My favorites:  Click here for the full 900x651 image.  Click here for the full 900x601 image.  Click here for the full 900x601 image.  Click here for the full 900x510 image.  Click here for the full 900x507 image.  Click here for the full 900x502 image. Some weirdo on a bright orange bike.  Click here for the full 900x550 image. I do have more here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/modifyevolution/sets/72157625029398431/with/5077759264/, including more of you, needknees.
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2010 08:05
|
|
|
modify_evolution posted:Finally finished going through the 3956767 photos I took at Autobahn on 9/26. I was loving around with Tsaven's camera and expensive farkles, and took a retarded amount of photos. SUUUUUUUUUUPERMOOOOOOOOOOOOOTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSGreat pics, thanks
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2010 14:43
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 18:04 |
|
|
Since the mighty Aussie dollar is pushing parity, I've been thinking about going for a holiday in the States, and am thinking about doing a CSS day. Anyone got an opinion on which track would be good? Laguna Seca being the obvious first choice, but I don't really know anything about the others. But I've gotta wait for them to release their 2011 schedule anyway.
|
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2010 07:36
|
|
