lokigoesrawr posted:

Absolutely. I think you'll feel much more comfortable the second day, being more familiar with the track, procedures, pace, etc.

STT (and most trackday providers) do require a full-face helmet and will not allow flip-ups, though. The nylon suit should be fine as long as it has a full-circumference zipper (if it does not, and you bring it up to them, they will probably not allow it on track, but I've seen a few people ninja just back zippers at trackdays).

STT's novice instruction is quite involved and comprehensive for just a trackday. Lots of hand-holding and structure should you want it.

Z3n posted:

I'd try and find a used set of race plastics. Or honestly, I'd leave it stock for your first couple of trackdays, and then find a trackbike...it's really easy to go mod crazy and end up spending a lot of money when you should have just bought a pre-prepped bike, unless you're an obsessive hunter like me who spends hours looking for deals.

Frame sliders are a sort of mixed bag at track speeds, sometimes they can save you a lot of damage, sometimes they're gonna help the bike flip itself into oblivion/destroy frame and motor mounts. In general, I've seen them save more bikes than I have seen them total, but that's just my experience.

TheUltimateCool posted:

I also ran the track this weekend! Nashville Superspeedway infield, which was a blast. Worked on my body positioning throughout the day:



Got bumped up to advanced novice and had a great time. We had a 'Busa and a ZX14 tooling around in novice class, too. It was fun watching those guys blast off down the nascar banking.

Tsaven Nava posted:

I treated my cruiser like a dual-sport, I'm treating my dual-sport like a sportbike . . . the logical progression here is that I'm going to get a sportbike, and bumble up and down the street from bar to bar on it.

Tsaven Nava posted:

So, end result of the day.

NeedKnee's friend broke his clavicle in two places after he high-sided coming out of turn 5 after giving it too much throttle. Our neighbor broke his collarbone after going on the same corner I went off on, but he wasn't able to keep it up and lost it on the wet grass.

The track dried out pretty well in the last few sessions, especially my last session I was able to get my toe/footpeg to scrape the ground fairly consistently and smoothly through the whole corner. I was doing better at entry speeds, and started to figure out the turn-in for corner 2, which I was having problems with all day.

I also realized that I don't know JACK poo poo about riding a motorcycle.

Pictures and videos aplenty will be coming in the next couple days (including me running off the track!)

needknees posted:

Need to get to an actual computer but here are a few observations. My buddy is doing ok. Sore, but more or less fine (other than the broke collarbone... ) . I honestly could mot belive the amount of crashes today. There were not many sessions, in any group,that were clean with no wrecks. It was nuts. Still had enough fun though.

More id am update tomorrow.

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).

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.

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?

giundy posted:

Gullous posted:

It's gonna be glorious! Spiffness and I ran the Sunday session at ORP end of last month. This was my first track day ever and Spiff's first of the season/on the bike.


_MG_0547 by scene but not herd, on Flickr


_MG_0408 by scene but not herd, on Flickr

My coworker was there, he filmed me from his 1098 for a lap or so. This was early in the session, I was still figuring out the lines.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUj5u9s-jEc
Action at 0:45, too much throttle slides the rear, and 1:30, I try to pass and blow my line :/

And Spiffness's Bum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYIX4lUY42I


Spiffness had me talk to a track instructor; watching his lines and focusing on smoothness really helped. From the pics/videos I know I need to fix my feet and maybe hang off more, something to work on at the end of August!

AncientTV posted:

All the talk of the dangers speed differentials in regards to tracking a 250 has made me a bit wary, but through talking to a couple people who have raced at Jennings and said that the instructors are good about breaking up novice groups, I've decided that I'm going to register for their novice school early next year. I'll probably need new tires by then, what with all of my commuting, and I'm wondering if the BT45s I run on the street would be hurting for traction in a track situation?
I guess the better question is if I would be close to pushing their limits? I've never had any hiccups on the street, and I do tend to push the lean angles when the road is clear.

I'm not opposed to getting a set of Sport Demons, GT501s, MT75s, etc. that I commonly see suggested for a more grippy tire, but if my BT45s wouldn't be expressly hazardous, then I'll just run those.

Mr. Eric Praline posted:

Yay I can post here! All signed up for my first track day in May. Entirely psyched about this, though slightly wary because it means I have to travel into New Jersey. Apparently there is a track in NJ.

Mr. Eric Praline posted:

Thunderbolt. It's a private event for triumph675 forum members and friends, so there'll be a max of like 60 bikes all day, pro coaches, etc. Figure it'll be a good way to learn the ropes of track riding.

Z3n posted:

I know my SV is slow ok!

Mr. Eric Praline posted:

Just found the pics from my second trackday a couple weeks ago. Why is it that when I'm on the bike, I feel like I'm leaned over and hanging off like a superhero, but in the pics, I just look kinda "meh"?

-Inu- posted:

Body positioning certainly matters. If you're new to the track it's not a bad idea to take a session or two to figure out what position feels comfortable to you. Beyond that, it shouldn't be of much concern until you've properly developed your other skills such as braking, corner exit/entry, throttle usage, etc etc.

It's hard to generalize stuff like this because everyone is going to be different. Some people will feel more comfortable and thus have a much easier time learning if they're hanging off like a monkey. For others it will be the complete opposite. As long as you're comfortable on the bike, don't worry about how the pictures look.

Here's two pictures from 2 local racers around here. Both have AMA experience (the former is retired; the latter will be racing DSB next year), both are WERA expert class, and both run near-identical lap times - ~0:57's at TGPR. I believe they've swapped the lap record back and forth a few times.





As you can see, two extremely different body positions but at the end of the day they achieve more-or-less the same result.