Track days and races, chatting and photos

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needknees: Apr 4, 2006; Oh. My.

Zool posted:

A couple laps from arenacross practice. http://vimeo.com/8143793

I could only do 3 or 4 laps at a time because it was so tiring, but oh what fun.

I couldn't quite tell but are you running sumo tires? How does that perform on an all dirt track?

# ¿ Dec 13, 2009 02:16

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 11:15

needknees: Apr 4, 2006; Oh. My.

I can't offer much in the way of advice (track newb...) but... looking pretty good man

. How was it running that fast in those temps, comfortwise? Perfed leathers? Also, what are you using to edit your videos and how did you get the timer in there? I recently picked up a GoProHD and am looking for some editing software.

# ¿ Dec 22, 2009 23:33

needknees: Apr 4, 2006; Oh. My.

So I'm getting ready to order some stands... At this point it's just to keep the tires off the EXTREMELY COLD ground (fuckin -17F this morning) and for maintenance on the bike, no plans for tire warmers or anything yet. PitBull stuff is highly regarded but jesus gently caress it's more than double the price of, say, the T-Rex stands.

Anyone have the T-Rex stuff or have experience with it? From what I've been reading it seems they're just fine. I have a hard time thinking PitBull stands are really worth twice the dough.The forward pull rear stand they make seems to be a smart design though, of course it's even *more* expensive! You can get a full T-Rex setup, including spools and shipping, for less than 10 bucks over what that forward pull rear stand costs ALONE. ...is it worth it?

Help me spend money, CA!

# ¿ Jan 3, 2010 06:00

needknees: Apr 4, 2006; Oh. My.

If anyone is in the Mid Central region you better loving consider this trackday :colbert:

http://www.sportbiketracktime.biz/TrackDetails.aspx?id=14

Two days at Autobahn north (Joliet, IL) AND a set of Pilot Powers for $409? Sign me the gently caress up! (actually I'm calling later today to GET signed up... this will probably fill up soon so you should too!)

Chicago area goon meet?

# ¿ Jan 19, 2010 19:19

needknees: Apr 4, 2006; Oh. My.

Well, I'm in. Signed up for both days and went with the tire package deal :parrot:

Is it April yet?

Edit: I'll be riding in Novice and will have video, so we'll see Tsaven wringing his Wee out in a neon yellow suit :v:

needknees fucked around with this message at 21:18 on Jan 19, 2010

# ¿ Jan 19, 2010 21:15

needknees: Apr 4, 2006; Oh. My.

Well, I'm now pretty much ready to go for the season. That... hurt :smithicide:

Ordered a back and chest protector, Woodcraft frame sliders, Pitbull front and rear stands and spools. Pretty much all I have left is a hitch for the car, and picking up the small trailer I already have lined up. Anything else I really need? I'm thinking about getting a little awning to put up for shade but fortunately those are pretty cheap.

Oh. And paying for more track time. And more tires.

Jesus gently caress this hobby is expensive

but oh so fun

Is it April yet?

# ¿ Feb 15, 2010 21:06

needknees: Apr 4, 2006; Oh. My.

Tsaven Nava posted:

You know, I think I have a few things like this, possibly something big enough that we could comfortably get a few bikes + stuff under. You just wanna pit together and pool resources? I'll probably be tent camping it there overnight if it's allowed.

Any other goons coming to the STT even Apr 24-25 in Joliet, IL? Looks like they've still got slots in all categories, only $110 per day!

Sounds good to me. I know I have at least one person headed over with me and a decent chance of another. Pretty sure Autobahn allows camping, although we might wuss out and get a room somewhere. I'm not sure on that front.

lokiegoesrawr posted:

I got a cheap $35 canopy for one of my track days, and after struggling with it constantly, ended up trashing it out of frustration in the evening. It was a rainy and slightly windy day, and after every run session we came back to a completely collapsed camp.

Spent the ~90 for the EZ-Up/Firstup canopy with the folding frame that everyone seems to use. Been happy with that one.

Bringing random spares like levers seems to be helpful. Make sure to include a hammer, Gorilla tape (so much better than regular duct tape), and zip-ties in your tool box.

I can't think of much else than my upcoming trackdays in 2 and 4 weeks. After obsessively watching youtube videos, I just bought a month subscription to iRacing to learn Barber Motorsports Park. It seems like half the turns are completely blind.

Thanks for the tips

What track other than Barber are you hitting? If I get a REALLY wild hair up my rear end I might consider a weekend at Barber sometime this year. I'd love to ride that track as well as the museum. It's *only* a tad over 900 miles. That's not too bad, right?

In other related news I called up Ducati of Omaha, who runs the vast majority of trackdays at Mid America Motorplex just south of Council Bluffs, IA to get a little info. Turns out they have a neat little deal that I will very likely be taking advantage of... "MotoMondays"

. Track opens up at noon, riding starts at 2:15 and runs till 7pm in an open format all for 125 bucks. I definitely want to get a few (and more is better...) days under my belt before doing something like this, but drat. That track is less than 2hrs from my office. Prep and load everything up on the weekend, get to work a bit early and take a half day to go flog a bike on track? YES PLEASE.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2010 16:16

needknees: Apr 4, 2006; Oh. My.

Oakey posted:

Ok, needknees posting about me going to a trackday in the goon rides thread pushed me to actually post this. I've been thinking about doing track days this year, but I have a couple of things that hopefully someone can help me out with.

Haha, yessssssssss. Bad influence! :smug:

If you're interested in that trackday (and you should be, because it's a loving great price for track time) you better see if there's spots available. It wouldn't surprise me at all if it fills up, if it's not filled up already.

http://www.sportbiketracktime.biz//TrackDetails.aspx?id=14

They've got a special going on tires too -- One day at the track and a set of Pilot Powers for 300 bucks, or the full weekend for 409... or skip the tires, and the days are 110/ea.

# ¿ Mar 24, 2010 22:11

needknees: Apr 4, 2006; Oh. My.

Someone talk me out of paying too much to go to a trackday at MidAmerica next weekend. Please. My resistance is waning :smithicide:

# ¿ Apr 5, 2010 00:30

needknees: Apr 4, 2006; Oh. My.

Gnaghi posted:

Don't pay too much to go a trackday at MidAmerica. Sure, it will be awesome fun, but there are more important things in this world than fun. For example, saving for retirement and filling out your census form.

It's not terrible but it's not a great deal. Instead of having a novice division that includes a fair amount of instruction for newer track riders they make you take their "school" that's an additional 50 bucks over the cost of the trackday. I don't know how much more instruction you get over say, a STT or NESBA day but if it's really more of a school instead of an informative novice trackday it's probably worth it. Don't personally know of anyone who has gone through it, though

# ¿ Apr 5, 2010 01:18

needknees: Apr 4, 2006; Oh. My.

lancemantis posted:

It is really more of a school. They have both classroom instruction and some laps where you are followed/led by instructors.

At that's what it looked like when I saw it, haven't been through it yet myself

TrackAddix novice school (which I'd be going to if I went to MAM) or are you talking STT and NESBA? I think NESBA does some days at MidAmerica Motorplex but I don't think they have anything scheduled there this year yet

.

I did just find out NESBA is at Blackhawk the same day. Little bit longer of a drive but still not bad, and even with NESBA's memership fee it'd come in about the same price as MidAmerica...

Choices choices.

# ¿ Apr 5, 2010 03:47

needknees: Apr 4, 2006; Oh. My.

lancemantis posted:

I'm speaking of the TrackAddix school

Cool. I signed up with them today, going to do their school this weekend :woop:

Also, picked up a trailer. CHECK OUT MY TRACKDAY RIG

I couldn't get less torque in that photo if I tried. And guess which vehicle makes more power...

:smug:

# ¿ Apr 8, 2010 02:17

needknees: Apr 4, 2006; Oh. My.

frozenphil posted:

It's not the pulling it that is the concern; most anything can pull a trailer. The part of the equation you need to factor in is the braking capability of the tow vehicle.

I'm not too worried about towing with my car. I drag a (significantly bigger, heavier, hauling WAY more weight) trailer around with my ancient truck constantly and fully realize that whatever I'm towing with isn't going to react the same way as it does unloaded. And realistically, the difference between a standard Civic and my Si is drat near a "tow package" in my eyes... Manual transmission with closer gear ratios and a shorter final gear, much stiffer suspension, beefier tires, WAY better brakes... Honestly I was shocked how little the back end of the car squatted when I loaded the bike on there. It's only down .5-.75". I need to play around with the positioning of the chock to get weight distribution right, it's too far forward right now.

That little trailer is built like a brick shithouse too. Longer neck so it reduces tongue weight, WAY wider track and tires than most small trailers. I'm very impressed with it so far.

lancemantis if you're looking at MAM you're somewhere in the area... still time to get signed up for this weekend! You've got until midnight tonight at the pre-register price, and if you call you might be able to get it tomorrow too.

Edit: frozenphil I've got pretty decent disc brakes all around, and all four corners have pretty fresh pads. The Si has significantly better brakes than a standard Civic.

Honestly it seems people think they need WAY more tow vehicle than they actually do around here. I see people pulling fairly lightweight single axle trailers behind freakin one ton trucks all the time and it blows my mind.

needknees fucked around with this message at 03:46 on Apr 8, 2010

# ¿ Apr 8, 2010 03:42

needknees: Apr 4, 2006; Oh. My.

Since this is my first trackday ever this saturday someone tell me what poo poo I'm forgetting:

Bike (duh)
bike key
leathers
helmet
gloves
boots
back protector
ear plugs
common tools
stands
extra gas
lots of water
food

Any advise other than "don't wad your poo poo"?

# ¿ Apr 8, 2010 17:18

needknees: Apr 4, 2006; Oh. My.

2ndclasscitizen posted:

A chair, some electrolyte powder or tablets, gaff and electrical tape, zip ties, a spare pair or two of socks, a towel and sunscreen. With the food, take lots of small things and snack during the day, rather than just having something big for lunch. Apples, bananas and museli bars are best.

lokigoesrawr posted:

I wish I had Under Armor or at least a dozen clean t-shirts and socks this past weekend. So retardedly sweaty.

If they have electric hookups, fans and/or heaters have been useful. Chairs and a canopy if you have one.

If you're running video, make sure you have something to dump the video on or extra memory cards. If they don't have electricity, a usb car charger works well. My gopro hd usually does just shy of a day on a full charge.

See I'm glad I asked

.

I've got chairs but probably wouldn't have remembered them. Don't have a canopy yet, I'm going to have to look into one of those. Shade is good. I pretty much always wear underarmor stuff under leathers so that's always with them. Extra socks are a great idea.

I'm not sure if the place has electric or not (they probably do) but I'll be bringing my laptop with to unload my gopro's card. Luckily my phone, still camera, and gopro all use the same plug and will charge off of my phone's car charger :toot:

. The laptop should have enough juice to last what little I'll be using it during the day, or I'm sure I can plug it in somewhere for a little bit if not.

Thanks for the help, everyone! ...is it saturday yet???

# ¿ Apr 8, 2010 20:16

needknees: Apr 4, 2006; Oh. My.

lokigoesrawr posted:

oh oh and know which fuses to pull for headlight and tail/brake lights so you don't have to deal with melted tape residue later

Planning to do that the night before. This track (like most) requires you to remove the license plate and tape/remove any mirrors and lights. My rear turn signals and plate are all on one easy to remove bracket so that's no biggie. I'm going to have to unplug the headlight bulbs instead of pulling the fuse though, since the fuse ties the headlights to the ignition. Front turn signals are integrated into the mirrors and they're coming off as well.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2010 22:06

needknees: Apr 4, 2006; Oh. My.

At the track now, just ate some lunch. HOLY loving poo poo this is fun! Had a cr behind me for a good chunk of our last session, got some good feedback from him. Apparentlyu form is halfway decent but my line choice sucks, heh.

This.

poo poo.

Rocks.

:hellyeah:

# ¿ Apr 10, 2010 20:11

needknees: Apr 4, 2006; Oh. My.

lokigoesrawr posted:

I'm so jealous! Happy for ya. Keep hydrated and have fun out there. Try to use the whole track and establish some reference points for turn-ins (and braking, etc. when you find a little more consistency).

You're on for both days, right? The subsequent days are even better since you have a much better bearing of the track. Are you camping in the paddock?

Luckily(?!?) the track's surface is filled with reference points due to it being kinda lovely. There's patches and spots all over, plus a lot of poo poo to reference on the side of the track. They also put out cones at some turn in, apex, and exit points in the trickier sections of track.

I only did yesterday -- This whole thing was kind of a spur of the moment type deal. I registered on tuesday for track time on Saturday :downs:

. I've got another weekend coming up at the end of the month at Autobahn south though... I just couldn't wait. Additionally, the school I took enables me to do TrackAddix's MotoMondays, which is some pretty goddamn cheap track time. I'm actually glad I didn't do both days, I woke up this morning and my legs were like "what the gently caress did you do to yourself"

lancemantis posted:

This could of been you

Except it wasn't haha

It could have been me too, if I had the necessary equipment

Was that you who rolled up on the red CBR600? What equipment are you lacking? You don't need to go all fancy and have a track bike, stands, tire warmers, trailer, etc... your bike will be fine with very minimal prep you can do at the track, and you can probably get pants that attach to your jacket that would be legal. Hell, there was a dude who rolled in on a ZX14 complete with hardbags. He took those off, taped his poo poo, and was ready to go. He rode with us in the novice group (and passed me once

) and did pretty drat well. If that's not a testament to being able to track a bike without some elaborate setup I don't know what is.

Anyway, story time!

I decided to get the bike ready and pack everything up the night before, then wake up and drive over to MAM in the morning rather than camping out. I'm glad I did that because it took me a lot longer to wrangle everything up than I expected -- I wouldn't have gotten there until after midnight.

When I got everything taped up I noticed something... The CBR's headlights are shaped like bat wings.

Quick, run away! There's some strange creature in my rearview mirror! :spooky:

"N" is for NEWB.

The little Civic that could:

I was very impressed with how my car hauled the bike. Interstate speeds were no issue at all, no strange handling, no issues braking, no excessive squatting of the suspension... Very pleased. I got a lot of strange looks as I went down the road though, apparently people aren't used to seeing a little hatchback towing a trailer :v:

.

Arrived at MAM with plenty of time to register and set up my pit. Since I was doing the school we met in the classroom for about an hour in the morning while other groups were attending the normal rider's meeting and out for their first (forty minute!) session. We covered basic stuff about the track like entering and exiting, what all the flags mean, etc. We then went out for our first session to learn the track layout. Here's the track map:

There were only 6 people in the school and three others in the novice class and we had three CRs... lots of watchful eyes. Our first session we split into groups behind the CRs and did laps with the students alternating being behind the CR to get an idea of a decent line around the track. Even though we were just putzing around it was exciting to actually be on a racetrack!

Second session was similar, except we took turns IN FRONT of our CR so they could watch our lines. This was pretty fun, and we got a lot more feedback after this session.

Third session was pretty much free game. I've got video of this session uploading (very slowly) now. TrackAddix has different regulations than the other groups that operate in the area. Even in Novice they're pretty loose on passing -- basically, they prefer passing to be done in the straights but if you can very safely pass in a corner they don't really care. Since there were so few people on the track this wasn't an issue, I generally passed one or two people a session, and the CRs were kinda floating around and would whip around me every once in awhile. Other than the CRs I was passed by the ZX14 dude once and one other person, so hopefully I wasn't holding people up :ohdear:

Of course, my memory card ended up getting full on the 5th session, and that's the one I really wanted to go back and watch. One of the CRs worked with me for a huge chunk of the session and it really helped out. He stopped me at the hot pits and talked with me for awhile after we were done -- He'd been behind me for a few laps and noticed I was really botching corner entrance on 5-6, and was way overbraking on 1 (which doesn't surprise me because a fairly tight turn after a bigass straight is scary

). My issue with 5-6 was a late turn in -- I think a lot of this came from the lovely seam throughout the entire track that's very noticeable in these turns. It knocks you around quite a bit (even though it really doesn't mess with your line) but I got it in my head I needed to square that corner off more so I didn't spend as much time on the seam, which put me in a bad position to take advantage of 6's increasing radius. Something to work on next time for sure. In this conversation the CR said I looked to be "in control, with good form". He also asked a couple times "is this seriously your first trackday?" which made me pretty :smug:

Throughout the entire day I only had two pucker moments, which given my fairly sedate pace doesn't surprise me much. One was after my overly early braking coming into turn 1, where I apexed too early and got on the paint/rumble strip, which was pretty freakin slick and my rear end end skipped out to the track. The other was when I came into the turn 9 chicane too hot, got on the brakes a little hard and picked the rear up a bit, stared at the dirt for a little bit then thought to myself "self, what the gently caress are you doing you can make this poo poo" and managed to tear my eyes away from the runoff and very crappily made my way through the corner. Of course, and I was unaware at the time, the organizer of the event / CR had been behind me for a lap or two and saw this go down. He found me after the session was over and talked what happened, and complimented me on the save :v:

. Target fixation is a bitch. It seemed like an eternity when I was looking at the dirt, in reality it was only a fraction of a second, but that fraction of a second (and my lack of skill) nearly hosed me over. The guy gave me a ton of good info about entering/exiting the chicane though, and I kicked its rear end the next session out. One trip through there literally had me yelling "gently caress yeah!" in my helmet, which I thought was pretty funny.

Of course, I forgot my cable to dump my GoPro's video onto my laptop throughout the day so it got full and I missed the last couple sessions. I was happy that was the only thing I did forget though, I usually end up leaving something important behind every time I go somewhere.

Here's my tires at the end of the day. I finally got rid of the horrible flat spot down the center that comes from street riding in Iowa!

Left side of rear:

Right side of rear:

Right side front:

...Can you tell MAM is a counterclockwise oriented track? This brings me to another couple questions. Those are the OEM Dunlop Qualifiers. They seemed to grip just fine to me but I wasn't running a very quick pace. I ended up running ~30psi in the front and was going to run 31psi in the rear, but a CR dropped it down to 28 or so. What kind of pressures should I be running? Does that tire wear look normal?

One other thing I did notice was how much the lever travel of my front brake changed throughout each session. On the street I normally run the adjuster around the middle of the range at number 3. I had to bump it out to the furthest setting away to keep it from smashing my knuckles at the end of the session. I asked one of the CRs (who was riding his new CBR1000...

) and he said one of the first thing he does to any bike is throw a set of braided steel brake lines on the front. After feeling what the stock rubber lines did on a fairly mild day, I think that would be a worthwhile upgrade.

Sorry for the huge :words:

post, but that trackday was honestly one of the most exhilarating things I've done in my life. I CANNOT wait for the end of the month when I'm going out again!

edit: Here's the turn 9 fuckup I was talking about. Watching the video it doesn't look that bad at all, but it was a moderately ~~pants~~leathers-making GBS threads experience for me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wLQA_oLnRc

needknees fucked around with this message at 03:11 on Apr 12, 2010

# ¿ Apr 11, 2010 20:02

needknees: Apr 4, 2006; Oh. My.

lancemantis posted:

It was the orange one parked near the Duke/spotty CBR1000RR later in the day.

I had just put on the sliders/engine covers finally that morning actually I kind of want a trailer still just so I can get my bike home should something bad happen, or if I'm just tired I should have such facilities available later this year (too late for this season, but ready for next). Plus then I could go to Hastings and such.

The only thing I really need is a different getup since I don't have a 360* zipper. I've been needing new pants/jacket anyway since my current stuff doesn't really fit properly anymore so I've been thinking of getting a 2 piece so I could use it for that and my regular street riding. I guess I could try having them order something in and guestimate my sizing.

A trailer is nice for sure. I know I wouldn't have wanted to ride 2.5hrs after being at the track all day, but if I was less than a half hour away I might consider it. I definitely was beat at the end of the day though.

And now... Video of me being slow!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4xKb5ZcsA0

edit - any critiques (other than go faster, because I already know I need to do that

) would be appreciated.

needknees fucked around with this message at 17:03 on Apr 12, 2010

# ¿ Apr 12, 2010 15:18

needknees: Apr 4, 2006; Oh. My.

It looks like it might rain next weekend for my second time on the track ever

. I still plan on riding regardless of weather, but I'm wondering what people do about the rain, gear-wise. Is it worth getting something like this:

http://stores.sportbiketrackgear.com/Detail.bok?no=5545

to hopefully keep yourself slightly dry? Just ride in your leathers and get soaked? Other alternatives?

We're still 10 days away and in the midwest, so it very likely could change but who knows

# ¿ Apr 15, 2010 20:49

needknees: Apr 4, 2006; Oh. My.

My suit is perforated

. I've ridden in the rain in my Dainese two piece suit a number of times and it wasn't terrible, but like Z3n mentioned they get awfully heavy. That suit is solid leather too, so I more or less stayed dry.

I agree, that suit is insanely expensive for what basically amounts to a giant condom :v:

. I need to look around some more but in a quick search I haven't found much that looks like it would actually hold up to decent speeds without flapping all over the place, potentially destroying itself in the process. I guess I could duct tape a lesser suit down or something.

# ¿ Apr 15, 2010 21:50

needknees: Apr 4, 2006; Oh. My.