Mind Games - trackday report
06-07-2010, 10:51 AM
#1
Senior Member
SuperBike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: South Lake Tahoe, CA, USA
Posts: 1,689
Mind Games - trackday report
Well, I finally exorcised the demon!
Saturday was crap. Not much more to say about it. I was seriously considering selling everything and taking up gardening. Maybe I just missed my window and it was time to quit. But I told myself I just needed to process it, sleep on it and get back out on Sunday. There has just been this lingering fear that I have been trying to beat back, with not much success. But I was determined not to let it get the best of me.
So I got back on Sunday and really didn't know if things would be different. I went to sign up for the day. There was lots of room on Saturday, so I didn't worry about pre-registration. Sunday was packed. The girl at the reg table asked me if I was willing to ride in the A group. I said I would, but I was very concerned about being a "pylon", so I better step up my game. I knew that it would be good to gauge my riding by other skilled riders, if I could keep them close enough to learn anything. I ended up with the best all-around track day of my life! I can now say that I am riding better than I was in 2006. In part because I have studied some riding technique and knew what I had been doing wrong in the past.
But the main thing was that I was pitted next to another RC51 guy - but he was running his bone-stock CBR954RR street bike and turning 2:05's. He was outriding his rear shock and just shredding a brand new tire, despite the efforts of the local suspension guy. We talked a bunch and I got a couple sessions under my belt. I was doing my best to run clean lines and increase my corner speed and getting passed a lot. There was a lot of close passing - some of the racers are running mid 1:50s. It was amazing to watch. For the third session, he followed me for a couple laps and then came in and gave me some great pointers and told me where the turn-in points were and where to get on the gas and use the whole track on corner exits to get maximum drive off the corners. He did that for a couple of sessions and I really connected with what he was telling me.
I started using the turn in markers. I could just give a quick twist on the bars and focus on the apex and progressively roll the throttle as I stood the bike up. The bike is amazingly light and quick on turn-in. I finally felt connected with it. The only suspension change I made was to add 2 clicks of rebound damping, because the front was a bit nervous coming off the brakes and entering some corners. I was finally using all of the available power and carrying much higher speeds into turns 1 and 9 than I ever had. The nice thing about running race slicks is I know I have more traction than I can use. the thing was on rails. The more I rode, the more comfortable I got. I kept trying to shift into 7th on the front straight because I getting to redline in 6th.
By the mid afternoon I was doing some passing. I closed up on a guy on a 1098S, going in to turn 14, stayed with him through 15 and kept him close enough on the front straght, that I could reel him in a bit in turn 1 at ~110-120 MPH, I was right on him through turn 2, watching his line. I showed him my nose going in to turn 3 and went around him on the outside. Gave it a quick squirt and hit the turn mark on turn 4, hit the apex and shot up the hill to 5 to make it stick.
I never had a moment of panic, or nerves all day. Ran all 7 sessions and went home redeemed! Now I can just go ride the bike. I can see taking a few more seconds off pretty quickly, just base on how much of the track I still have coming off the corners. I never got below 2:12 before. I'm sure I was faster, yesterday. I wasn't concerned about lap times until now.
Saturday was crap. Not much more to say about it. I was seriously considering selling everything and taking up gardening. Maybe I just missed my window and it was time to quit. But I told myself I just needed to process it, sleep on it and get back out on Sunday. There has just been this lingering fear that I have been trying to beat back, with not much success. But I was determined not to let it get the best of me.
So I got back on Sunday and really didn't know if things would be different. I went to sign up for the day. There was lots of room on Saturday, so I didn't worry about pre-registration. Sunday was packed. The girl at the reg table asked me if I was willing to ride in the A group. I said I would, but I was very concerned about being a "pylon", so I better step up my game. I knew that it would be good to gauge my riding by other skilled riders, if I could keep them close enough to learn anything. I ended up with the best all-around track day of my life! I can now say that I am riding better than I was in 2006. In part because I have studied some riding technique and knew what I had been doing wrong in the past.
But the main thing was that I was pitted next to another RC51 guy - but he was running his bone-stock CBR954RR street bike and turning 2:05's. He was outriding his rear shock and just shredding a brand new tire, despite the efforts of the local suspension guy. We talked a bunch and I got a couple sessions under my belt. I was doing my best to run clean lines and increase my corner speed and getting passed a lot. There was a lot of close passing - some of the racers are running mid 1:50s. It was amazing to watch. For the third session, he followed me for a couple laps and then came in and gave me some great pointers and told me where the turn-in points were and where to get on the gas and use the whole track on corner exits to get maximum drive off the corners. He did that for a couple of sessions and I really connected with what he was telling me.
I started using the turn in markers. I could just give a quick twist on the bars and focus on the apex and progressively roll the throttle as I stood the bike up. The bike is amazingly light and quick on turn-in. I finally felt connected with it. The only suspension change I made was to add 2 clicks of rebound damping, because the front was a bit nervous coming off the brakes and entering some corners. I was finally using all of the available power and carrying much higher speeds into turns 1 and 9 than I ever had. The nice thing about running race slicks is I know I have more traction than I can use. the thing was on rails. The more I rode, the more comfortable I got. I kept trying to shift into 7th on the front straight because I getting to redline in 6th.
By the mid afternoon I was doing some passing. I closed up on a guy on a 1098S, going in to turn 14, stayed with him through 15 and kept him close enough on the front straght, that I could reel him in a bit in turn 1 at ~110-120 MPH, I was right on him through turn 2, watching his line. I showed him my nose going in to turn 3 and went around him on the outside. Gave it a quick squirt and hit the turn mark on turn 4, hit the apex and shot up the hill to 5 to make it stick.
I never had a moment of panic, or nerves all day. Ran all 7 sessions and went home redeemed! Now I can just go ride the bike. I can see taking a few more seconds off pretty quickly, just base on how much of the track I still have coming off the corners. I never got below 2:12 before. I'm sure I was faster, yesterday. I wasn't concerned about lap times until now.
Last edited by RCVTR; 06-07-2010 at 10:54 AM.
06-07-2010, 01:25 PM
#4
Senior Member
SuperBike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: South Lake Tahoe, CA, USA
Posts: 1,689
I knew the photographer caught this.
Stalking the 1098 in turn 2:
http://gotbluemilk.com/web100606/h/i...s/image80.html
A bunch more photos are there. I love my RC51.
Stalking the 1098 in turn 2:
http://gotbluemilk.com/web100606/h/i...s/image80.html
A bunch more photos are there. I love my RC51.
06-07-2010, 02:13 PM
#6
Senior Member
Superstock
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Florida panhandle
Posts: 360
Glad to see your mentaly in it and felt connected with your bike. Those are two very important aspects you have there. I have found myself many times at the track not having my head in the right spot and I will make big mistakes and i have never done all 7 sessions in intermediate, so to do them all in A group you must have been in a really good groove. Congradulations and Glad to see your not on the gardening forum instead
06-07-2010, 04:12 PM
#7
Senior Member
SuperBike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: South Lake Tahoe, CA, USA
Posts: 1,689
I was at Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, CA. It is a fantastic track.
The thing that helped the most was having my turn points set, just lke Keith Code says. I was just concentrating on getting comfortable on the bike and making small mistakes on Saturday. Once I had my turn points, I could just tip it in, look for the apex and drive out. No more floating around.
It's amazing how much that helped me. I was no longer a street rider, doing a fast street ride in a controlled enviroment. My corner speeds were higher than ever and it was no big deal. I knew I was riding with a good safety margin, becuase I had more room to the outside of the corners and because I could see how the fast guys were doing it, which was simply amazing.
The thing that helped the most was having my turn points set, just lke Keith Code says. I was just concentrating on getting comfortable on the bike and making small mistakes on Saturday. Once I had my turn points, I could just tip it in, look for the apex and drive out. No more floating around.
It's amazing how much that helped me. I was no longer a street rider, doing a fast street ride in a controlled enviroment. My corner speeds were higher than ever and it was no big deal. I knew I was riding with a good safety margin, becuase I had more room to the outside of the corners and because I could see how the fast guys were doing it, which was simply amazing.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
