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lokigoesrawr posted:Off to prep for Road Atlanta this weekend. If anyone's been there before, any tips? 
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Dec 10, 2009 15:22
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The T-Rex stuff does its job. If you're going to be doing tons of maintenance/trackdays where you'll constantly be taking the bike on/off the stand and will be generally abusing it, then I'd go the extra mile for Pitbull stuff. With my T-Rex I had a little problem getting the part of the stand that holds onto the spools to fit/align correctly. You won't see that kind of stuff from Pitbull. Overall though it does what its designed to do and that's all you can really ask. I can see it falling apart after a few years and/or if I get big into trackdays. The T-Rex won't collapse with your bike on it or anything; and poo poo you could buy two sets for the price of one Pitbull set so T-Rexes are just fine imo.
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Jan 3, 2010 07:29
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If all goes as planned the 250 should be taking a weekend trip down to tally in 3 weeks. Oh god, its gonna be so ridiculously fun. BT016's 110-17F/150-17R, haha.
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Mar 5, 2010 05:04
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The problem is finding a decently sticky tire that small. I said the same thing as you, but I was talking to a few WERA guys who run the 016 150s on their 250's and they haven't had any issues. It's going to change the feel of the bike for sure, but 150 seems to be the standard for 250 trackdays/racing so I think it will be alright. At least I hope so.
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Mar 9, 2010 04:22
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You're gonna want a standalone back protector if you're out on the track. I actually think one of the organizations down here in the south (sportbiketracktime) requires back protectors for anyone running Intermediate or higher. Something like http://www.kneedraggers.com/details/Alpinestars_Bionic_Back_Protector--615412.html. Remember to fit your suit while you're wearing the back protector.
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Apr 1, 2010 00:28
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How much are you paying for that? I haven't been out to Road Atlanta despite living less than an hour away. Last I checked through STT it was almost $400 for 2 days; so expensive.
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Apr 2, 2010 11:01
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frozenphil posted:I wish I had money to do trackdays right now. There's a 2 day track day at barber right now for loving $315. That price includes both days, lunch both days, refreshments all day long (water, soda, gatorade, light snacks), suspension setup help from Ohlins factory, and tire services from Bridgestone.
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Jun 11, 2010 00:15
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frozenphil posted:Edit: I forgot to add, be very sure about the skills of whoever is requesting those advanced class tickets before buying them. Advanced class at Barber is usually nothing but WERA racers. If you aren't turning consistent 1:3x lap times (Matt Mladin holds the record at 1:25.047) then you might want to bump down to I or you're going to get run over all day long.
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Jun 12, 2010 03:41
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I hear Nashville is a really lovely track, though. Amazing loving deal though considering Road Atlanta is usually a couple hundred by itself. I remember talking to someone a couple weeks ago who said you could do Nashville, but there was another track that would give you Road A deal as well. I can't remember what track it was though..
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Jul 28, 2010 13:41
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frozenphil posted:Little Tally for $99 a day. Jesus I need to get some track gear. Now for a question...should I run a set of takeoff Ntecs or a brand new set of Q2's? Q2's would probably have some street miles on them by then..I'm leaning towards that, but I basically don't want to have to worry about grip so I can just focus on lines and corner speed. Edit: Same price for either the Q2's or Ntec takesoffs.
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Sep 13, 2010 05:13
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Z3n, BlackMK4, needknees posted:Q2's
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Sep 13, 2010 21:56
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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.
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Oct 8, 2010 05:19
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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 
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Oct 13, 2010 07:32
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Back from my first track weekend with X-ACT at Tally! Learned a bunch of stuff and had fun. Not as much as I had hoped, but oh well. Riding with novices who go WOT on the straightaways and loving park it going into turns, brake in mid corner (le sigh) kind of got to me. Not to say that I didn't belong in novice..I'm slow as hell and definitely ran novice pace in relation to I and A, but gently caress. Started to get frustrated the second time I almost asspacked someone who put on the brakes and changed his(her?) line mid-corner. No passing in turns and Tally has extremely short straightaways so it was tough to get around people. The sessions where I could run at my own pace were fantastic though. Was with my buddy who was riding his VFR (as usual). There's something back asswards about this picture... :  Guy is insane. He was pulling 1:08's on a goddamn viffer. Had burned through the left side of his rear NTEC by the end of the second day. I'm definitely done riding on the street though. Last session of the day I was feeling a little tired and was debating if I wanted to stay in, but I was like gently caress it, I'm not going to get to go back to the track for a long time so I went ahead with it anyway. I KNEW I shouldn't have ridden (I've read it in here so,so,so many times) and lowsided in turn 4, 2 laps before the end of the weekend. Whoops. Felt like I had broken my wrist when I first got up but it feels like it's just a sprain or bruised bone or somesuch now. Snapped the left clipon clean in two, snapped the left footpeg off, broke my gopro housing AND messed up the camera/scratched the lens. Hilariously, I lost one of the Yamaha logos from the gas tank. Lucky that the tank didn't spark and set the bike on fire. Need to invest in gas tank sliders. The only thing that didn't break on the left side were the ASV levers. Unbreakable indeed!  But yeah, I was basically done with the street anyway (as per post in ye ole discussion thread) so this cinched it for me. Going to drop the insurance it has, get some clipons, rearsets, and race plastics over the next few months and make it into a track bike. Glad I crashed, actually. Otherwise I probably was going to just give up riding completely. You know you're addicted to this poo poo when you crash, think you have a broken wrist, and still want to get right the gently caress back out there and work on lines. Edit: Rereading, that post makes me sound arrogant about riding in novice...definitely wasn't. I just was not comfortable passing so it kind of put a damper on things sometimes. -Inu- fucked around with this message at 08:40 on Oct 18, 2010 |
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Oct 18, 2010 06:15
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FuzzyWuzzyBear posted:I find it interesting that you were going to stop riding and then you crash and decide that you want to continue. Z3n posted:Arggg this is why I always tell people not to push it out for the last session. Crashes in the last session are super common because people are tired and make really dumb mistakes, tense up, run wide/etc. Z3n posted:Glad you're ok though, and track riding is the best, so welcome to another far more expensive addiction! You should still get a sumo though. I think I may still buy a cheap sumo in the spring... drat this hobbyBy the way, this is somewhat random but if any of you doods doing trackdays need a really sticky tire I have access to Euro spec NTEC's. $195 per set of 120/70-17 + 190/55-17's (600 class runs 190 size in the NTEC's, literbikes will use a 200). They're takeoffs from AMA practice sessions and will only have 20-30 laps on them. I may be able to get 200's too, I can check into it. But yeah if anyone is interested just let me know! I'm located in Atlanta and I can ship them if you're willing to foot the shipping cost.
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Oct 19, 2010 01:53
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Help! I was talking to my friend who was at the track with me and he said that I probably crashed because of my body position and throttle control. I agree with the latter, I believe I was getting on the throttle too soon and too aggressively. I thought my body positioning was alright, but I guess not. What do you guys think? Here's a video too. He said that my head was in the right place but I needed to move the rest of my body over more. If my head was down low by the tank and I had a knee on the ground, how else could I really move my body to the outside? He was saying that the bike was probably leaned over too far for the speed I was going. Sorry about the music, I had edited it for something else so you'll have to excuse me on that one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkG1ZfabpRM I know I have a lot of problems but most of those I know how to fix. I was letting off the throttle before the braking markers (solution: either be pinned on the throttle or braking when in a straight line) and then overbraking going into the turn (solution: find a comfortable turn in speed -> don't overbrake). Also being too aggressive on the throttle (in turn 4/5 anyways) (solution: carry faster entry speed and be smooooooth with the throttle). Not too worried about that stuff, but I would be interested to hear what you guys think about BP and any critique is welcome. Turn 4 is where I crashed (:56 & 2:22), is there anything I'm doing wrong there? I know my turn-in is sloppy (lean-up-lean) but aside from that? -Inu- fucked around with this message at 05:30 on Oct 21, 2010 |
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Oct 21, 2010 05:28
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You guys are the best.BlackMK4 posted:By the way, no braking drills are a test of balls and teach you a lot.... FuzzyWuzzyBear posted:Do you remember what controls you were inputting when you went down? It could also have been too much front brake for your lean angle if you were trailbraking, causing the front to wash out from under you. Z3n posted:First of all, your BP is fine. You weren't leaned over too far for the speed you were going. What you were doing wrong is applying more throttle while not standing the bike up. This is the downside that occasionally shows up in aggressive riders who start on small displacement bikes...not enough respect for the throttle. You shouldn't be afraid of it, but you do need to respect it. Z3n posted:Second of all, for T4, you are turning in WAY too early. Z3n posted:Now, what leads to these mistakes? Commonly, riding over your head. You're early on the brakes, late on the gas, too hard on the gas, trying to make up time. Pinning it is good, but it's useless to pin it and go deep/hard on the brakes if it comes at the cost of consistency. Z3n posted:Being either pinned or full on the brakes is great in theory, but only if you're comfortable enough on the bike to not start blowing all of your entrances and overbraking everywhere as a result of it. Awesome advice as usual though...sounds like my line choice is screwing me in every possible way. But yeah, I was looking at the Trackmaster data from that lap, and my speeds from turn in to crash went as follows: (Updated every 1 sec) 49mph 52mph 49mph 49mph 56mph 54mph 51mph 44mph 31mph 17mph 3mph 1mph I'm guessing that the 7mph increase in 1 second while leaned over in a turn spun up the tire, which would explain why speeds dropped 5mph shortly after that (tire spinning) and then it was on its side. poo poo, it sure did not feel like 2 seconds went by. It feels like the tire only spun for a fraction of a second and then dumped me off. Didn't even have time to process or correct it. Cool deal though, it sure as hell is teaching me a lot. Now to try to get to Jennings open day Nov 8...
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Oct 22, 2010 06:42
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lokigoesrawr posted:Just picked up a Qstarz BT-818XT (10hz Bluetooth GPS receiver) to mess around with in Trackmaster. I'm really excited to try it out next weekend at Road Atlanta. Have you tried putting your data in Google Earth or anything? Have you found any way to make pretty pictures/graphs for the internets? Do you find the resolution at 1hz fine enough to see the different lines you're taking? Where did you put your phone? I kept it in my jacket pocket. There were a few sessions where it told me GPS data was inaccurate but generally it was within .10s of a $100 XT timer. And that was with the thing in a pocket and without an external receiver.  Green lines are where speed is increasing, blue lines are where speed is constant, and red lines are where speed is decreasing. You can see how incredibly early I was decelerating. When you do the split makers for Road A just set up a poo poo ton of them. Try to set them up close to the racing line for maximum accuracy. With properly set split markers and an external receiver, it will be an AMAZING tool. You'll be able to see exactly at what point you're slowing for turns, how much you are slowing, what line you are taking, throttle control in the corners, and most importantly how consistent you are with all that stuff. Gotta love technology. Edit: Oh! One thing I did do was use the trackmaster data to setup an overlay for videos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2wNdeFms64 It's not completely accurate because of the aforementioned factors and the fact that I didn't try too carefully to sync it to the video, but in this case I was just messing around with it and it gives a decent ballpark. -Inu- fucked around with this message at 05:12 on Oct 23, 2010 |
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Oct 23, 2010 05:06
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Any tips for working on line selection? I was at Jennings last weekend and my lines were definitely my biggest limiting factor. I'm completely comfortable carrying high speed and lean angle through corners...except for the fact that my lines suck. Even at Jennings, which is about as retarded simple as it gets (connect the dots) I was still screwing poo poo up. I don't know, just something about how my brain is wired seems to make it hard for me to keep reference points so my lines are never consistent and I can never determine how quickly I should turn in, how quickly to drift out after apexing, etc. Is there any other secret to choosing and holding a good line? Jennings has markers set up all over the track and if you point your bike at them you will be on the race line, but even so I was having problems. Kind of frustrated me when I was carrying a pretty drat quick pace going into turn 11 and screwed up my line. Had to lean it over so far that my peg was folded up and rear end was kicking out. Thank you DOT race tires for sliding in a predictable manner. After that everything kind of went to poo poo because I was afraid of carrying a lot of corner speed and dropping the ball on my line. Bleh.
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Nov 12, 2010 07:18
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Thanks as always...great advice. I think next time I'll work with the CR's more too. Last 2 sessions I had my buddy drop down to N and tow me around with his GSXR and it helped a lot. I just followed his turn in points/line/shift points etc and it set me up to carry a lot more speed through turns.
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Nov 16, 2010 03:13
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2011 track season has officially begun for me Went to Roebling with STT on the 27th. It was my first time riding with STT, and I was kind of surprised how lax their tech was. When I put the bike through tech the only thing they said to me was that I had a ziptie hanging loose in my fairings (it was being used to HID stuff that I took off for the track). After the first session I was checking my pressures and realized I didn't duct tape my wheel weights. Turns out one of the guys I was down there with hadn't taped his weights either. They never said anything to either of us nor did they even ask if I had water wetter in the bike. Aside from that, gently caress, Roebling is a FAST track. I was completely tapped out at 19000 RPM at brake marker 5 on the front stretch -- speedo was reading 173mph. That number is off by ~15%, but still. You can take the entire track in 3rd gear other than the one straightaway. I fixed the body positioning issues I was having at my last couple track days. I'm still rotating my hips a little, but I am actually leaning off enough so that I can use my knee as a lean angle indicator which is super nice. A'la Jennings and Tally my lines were still pretty bad. I'm hoping that will simply improve with seat time. My confidence is still a little shot from my crash at Tally and peg-scraping at Jennings, but I'm working on it.    Unfortunately with a such a fast track comes bad wrecks. We had two red flags in I and one red flag in A groups. The advanced group crash happened right at the turn where we were pitted. The bike's rear wheel was about 4 feet about the ground -- poor bike came down and flew into pieces. Rider was completely okay though. Had two ambulances take people to the hospital. One of the crashes was a 14 year old kid who went off right at the beginning turn 1...the fastest area of the track. I think he was one of the STT-sponsored riders, but he left the track in an ambulance . lovely way to end the weekend, hoping he's alright.Overall I was still disappointed with my riding; I think I'm trying too hard to ride well and not crash that I'm messing up my lines and not having much fun. Hoping to get a couple of actual 2 day weekends in this year so I can keep working at it.
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Mar 1, 2011 05:19
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2ndclasscitizen posted:Do most US trackday operators make you do that? Here they're just interested in tyres, brakes, throttle return, and that nothing is going to fall off or leak all over the track. I've never had to tape wheel weights at a trackday. What group was your roommate running Nitro?
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Mar 2, 2011 00:53
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This poor thread. Is no one doing track days or racing this year? I went back to Jennings this past Sunday. It was nice going back to a track I was already familiar with as opposed to wasting sessions learning the track. We had planned to ride Monday as well, but it was incredibly hot, humid, and there was no cloud coverage. The heat was so bad that there was literally ONE PERSON on the track for an entire expert session after mid-day hit. I spent all day taking it easy and working on different things (lines, braking, body position, et cetera). I wasn't pushing myself more than about 70% all day and was doing mid-pack intermediate pace, so I can't complain about that. Never went into a turn too hot or had any "oh poo poo" moments. During parts of the track where you should be WOT I was at maybe 70-80% throttle. Basically just rode around at my own pace for seat time, since I haven't really had the money to do many trackdays. I know where I can make up an incredible amount of time, but I figure as I ride more and my confidence builds I'll naturally push it harder. Also, holy jesus rearsets make such a tremendous difference. Just for fun: October 2010  February 2011  May 2011  
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May 31, 2011 07:40
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As long as you're comfortable on the bike, BP means very, very, very little. The fastest guy I know has some of the most crossed up BP I've ever seen: Despite that he literally wins 95% of the races he enters. Podiums 100% of the races he enters. He has an AMA license but sticks to club racing 'cause of family. Whereas I can ride like this and be slow as molasses:  I think Z3n said it best (in fact, I think it was even in this thread) when he said that BP is one of the most visible aspects of your riding, yet one of the least important. Get yourself set so you're comfortable on the bike and don't bother with BP anymore. Focus on your lines, turn-in points, braking points, apex points, et cetera.
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Sep 10, 2011 02:58
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Z3n posted:Note that he's at a much higher level of lean, despite his body position making him look less "aggressive". 
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Sep 10, 2011 06:42
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If you're comfortable riding someone else's bike on the track, go for it. Personally I can't have any fun on a bike that isn't mine. Too worried about breaking someone else's stuff to actually open the thing up and have some fun.
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Sep 15, 2011 03:31
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NitroSpazzz posted:quick overview of Barber
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Sep 16, 2011 02:56
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Nitro, no point in bothering with warmers, assuming you're running a N pace. The tires are just going to cool down once you get on the track. Z3n, I agree with you for every brand except Michelins. Their race tires are notorious for heat cycling and holy gently caress if I wasn't on a slip-n-slide last time I ran a (slightly) heat cycled power one rear.
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Sep 16, 2011 17:09
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Did an unexpected track day at Little Tally last saturday. Found out that my buddy at work had requested off Saturday to do a trackday and it just so happened that I had that day off as well. Can't beat $99 for a day of riding around a racetrack so I threw the R6 in a truck and we hauled over there. I'm continuing to love the street/track setup I have. Wound up not having time the previous night to track prep the bike. Got to the track and I had pulled the mirrors/headlight/license place/disconnected taillight in the time that it took our pit to get registered. This is the track that I went to the same weekend last year and crashed. Last year it was my first trackday, my first time on the R6 (essentially), and I was running DOT NTEC's. This year I came back on Q2's and ran a lap time 7 seconds faster. Overall it was a great day. I'm feeling a hell of a lot more comfortable on the bike and I know exactly where I'm losing time/what I can do to improve my riding. I think it's time to say goodbye to the street tires, though. They were getting a bit squirmy and uncooperative at some points where I know DOT's wouldn't have any issues. I want to have the ability to get on the gas as early as I would like and be able to push my lean angle to what I would like. Q2's would be fine if I were comfortable pushing their limits and sliding them around the track, but I'm not. I'll probably post a video up here for critique as soon as I have time to render/upload something. Complementary picture in the meantime: 
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Oct 22, 2011 07:15
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75 degrees here today at Jennings. We just hung out today -- actually riding tomorrow  
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Jan 9, 2012 00:38
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That was legitimately the best track day I've ever been to. 75 degrees and slightly cloudy. I counted 14 people at the riders meeting, so they ran 2 groups with 20 minute sessions in the morning. After lunch they went to an open track -- no groups, enter and exit the track as you please, no checkered flag until 5pm. Dropped more than 10 seconds off my previous times at this track. I'm still absolutely ecstatic about that. I jumped from slow intermediate times up to slow/midpack expert times (depending on the day.). I switched over to NTEC's from Q2's (well, I ran NTEC's my first track weekend ever but I don't count that) and wow, it is simply incredible how good those tires are. It's unreal how soon and how hard you can get on the gas coming out of a corner. The only time I was able to get them to slide was if I was fully leaned over and got on the gas. And even then, the sliding was completely controlled and predictable. Not once did I ever question the tire in the slightest bit. The amount of confidence they inspire is just, wow. AncientTV posted:As my first foray into track riding, I'm hitting up their beginners school day in March, I'm so excited You can go into turn 3 way, way, faster than you think you can. Turning the bike in scrubs a ton of speed and there is plenty of room to make the corner. 4 and 5 is not a turn. You want to make a straight line through those two corners (ie. go through 4 with the right side of your bike hugging the "4" sign, and keep going straight so your bike is hugging the "5" sign when you get to it). Don't flick the bike back and forth through these corners, it just makes your life more difficult. Watch out for 8. It's a decreasing radius turn with very torn up asphalt. A lot of people highside there. Don't worry about riding over the patches in the back section (turns 5-10). They'll stick. The back section is pretty bumpy so be careful not to tense up on the bars. The bike will make it through just fine. Overall I'd say the most important thing to know about Jennings is that you will hardly be using your brakes at all. The track flows very well and relies heavily on momentum. Ride at a pace where you are comfortable not using brakes for a session at least. When you do start using the brake, the only places you should need to use it are 1 and 13 (and truthfully you'll probably find yourself using it in 3, even though you don't need it. just a mental thing.). I'm sure the instructors will go over all of that stuff a lot, since as I understand it there is a lot of class time. But, I just figured I'd emphasize for you a few of the things that can be tricky about the track.
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Jan 10, 2012 09:05
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They do. http://superbikepix.com/ His shots are pretty good and the price is reasonable as well ($40 for 1 day, $55 for 2+ days).
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Mar 21, 2012 06:43
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Yay Jennings! My favorite track AncientTV posted:Turn 9 pictures always turn out good. I dunno why.  Where are you going next month Ancient? Side note: Looks like I'm going to Little Tally this Sunday for a private trackday! I found this out about 5 hours ago -- good thing the R6 takes seconds to track prep. About half of the people riding are going to be friends/WERA racers. My lap times are going to drop significantly and/or I'm going to wind up in the fields. Possibly both. Will report back with results. Also running one of Elena Meyer's takeoffs in the rear, that should be good for a few seconds right there
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Mar 24, 2012 07:36
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Frame sliders are evil. Number one easiest way to destroy your bike in a crash. They love to catch the pavement and send your bike cartwheeling, at which point it's usually yardsale time. If you look at almost any AMA bike, you'll notice that it doesn't have traditional sliders on it. They are almost always cut short enough so that they're behind the fairing for support, or cut so they are flush with the bodywork. No tumbling that way.
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Apr 9, 2012 19:28
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You'd be surprised at how tight pro racing budgets are nowadays. Project 1 Atlanta won the freaking Daytona 200 and they can't even afford to run at Road Atlanta, of all places, next weekend. But even ignoring budgets (admittedly, crashing a bike isn't a huge dent on a team's budget), if a rider goes down and destroys a bike, that's just more mayhem in the garage for the mechanics to try to get the thing rideable again.
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Apr 9, 2012 23:32
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All of that and it doesn't even have a TTX on it, interesting. Weird to have a bike like that built for club racing/track days...Not a bad price though. Having a DSB built 600 would run you about $20k in parts, so figure this guy is $5k cheaper and you don't have to buy a separate bike. Though I'd like to point out that it has cut down frame sliders. Just sayin'
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Apr 11, 2012 19:55
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Those are usually older B or C bikes that haven't had the engine refreshed, and they yank the acquisition stuff beforehand too.
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Apr 12, 2012 03:17
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Gullous posted:He wlowed down...wow! Do they even sell elbow sliders? edit, case in point: 
-Inu- fucked around with this message at 04:41 on May 2, 2012 |
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May 2, 2012 04:38
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Yeah but it comes down to what's comfortable to you. That was my buddy's first WERA race so he was legitimately trying to go fast . He rides elbows out 'cause that's what's comfortable.Z3n posted:Bonus if you can do it without even getting a knee down. 
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May 2, 2012 06:01
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Too bad they're Michelins, otherwise those would be perfect commuting tires.
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May 8, 2012 23:30
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