My first track day tomorrow - any tips?
 

I'm going to my first track day ever tomorrow with my Superhawk. Through Motorcycle Xcitement, at Summit point raceway main track. I'm going down tonight and camping out.

I'm meeting my sister and her boyfriend there, who both are riding also, and she's given me a pretty good list of stuff to bring and what to expect.

What advice and tips do you guys have? Any wisdom to pass down from those who go to the track a lot?

thanks a lot. I'm super excited to get out on the track, can't wait.

Make a few passes to get used to the track before giving full gas. Learn the track, and increase your speed with each pass as you feel more and more comfortable. Do not exceed your limits!

not a track guy but...
 

watch out for deer there. A guy I know hit one at that track. I posted the vid a while back. Have fun & be safe, Tim

oh thats helpfull....like hes gonna be able to see a deer dart out of the woods and in front of him at WOT as hes concentrating on racing...you probably just psyched the guy out and now hes gonna be looking for deer instead of riding!

lol

IMO the most important part of track day readiness is getting your head prepped.

Why are you going? What do you want to learn? How are you going to avoid getting the red mist? etc.

It's so easy to get sucked into the speed thing.

Work on your sleep cycle and your nutrition and hydration for the days coming up to your track day. You want plenty of sleep, fluids, nutrition.

Review your leathers, boots, gloves, and make sure they are up to the task.

Keep notes about set-up (suspension settings, tire pressures, etc.) so that you know what your baseline is. As you get on the track you might want to adjust but you need to know what your baseline is so you know what you can adjust from...

Don't forget to learn the track lay-out, where the corner workers are, and flags. Learning the flow(youtube is your friend) of a track prior to going there always helps in my opinion.

^^ all good tips

- The first time they cut you loose after the round robin (when you pace an instructor in a group) it'll be overwhelming to try to figure out braking points and apex's. Go slow, don't get over your head (it's really easy to do, it's like learning how to ride all over again) and build speed over time. If you think you're fast on the street, you won't be shit on a track.

- Don't go all out the first lap of the session, always do a warm up lap both to warm the tires up and to get your head ready to haul ass.

- Check your tires immediately after each session, you want about 4lbs of growth. If you started the session at 30/30 and afterwards you're at 33/36, take two pounds out of the rear.

- Forget water, bring a couple gallons of gatorade and try to drink at least two 16oz water bottles of gatorade after every session. Even if you drink water you'll still feel weird at the end of the day. It's the salt and potassium in gatorade that keeps you feeling focused.

-Use the instructors. Ask them to show you a fast pace through the track. You can also ask them to follow you and give you tips on your form. They are there to help you.

-Get your bikes sag right before you ride. It doesn't take more than ten minutes to do it. You don't have to get real scientific about it, just get it close and make small adjustments to get the bike feeling right to you.

-Be prepared to drag hard parts. The superhawks pegs are really low, so unless you hang off like Rossi don't be surprised to drag parts.

Hope this helps

thanks everybody. I'm not going to try and break any records or anything, I'm just going to have a good time, and learn my bike more. I'm not going to be pushing the limits yet. I live in deer country, so they're always on my mind, not too worried about that. The worst thing is that I'm getting over a cold I had, but I've been feeling better and think I'll be ok tomorrow, not sure after camping out there but.....

All my gear is good to go. Still breaking everything in really, only gone on two long rides with the suit.

Biggest thing i'm looking forward to is getting some coaching, and some help setting up my suspension, which I've never done since I bought it from the 220lb first owner.

Bottom line: relax and have fun. Try to tag onto the back of someone who is a [little] faster than you are.

All the advice is great. I had my first track day last month. Going again next week in fact. Take your time. Learn the track. And relax. Follow someone who's a little better and just pace your progress. Don't jump out there and try to go balls out. I had a good ten sessions in me before I finally started being competitive and started to push the pace. Just take your time don't focus on more than one thing at a time while learning how to ride all over again

Dittos on working up to speed. Tape over your speedometer. Be as smooth as possible, smooth throttle inputs, smooth on and off the brakes. Get your body positioned early, so as not to upset the suspension. Relax and loosen your death grip on the bars. Get your braking done early, and power through the turns. wipe the grin off your face, and start up a track day fund.

and remember, when in doubt lean over further. i found myself getting near the edge of the track in a decreasing left hander early on that i was having a hard time with. id drift out, fixate on the edge and find my way near it. i ended up goign out there with a clear mind and just leaned her over further and after that i had no more issues with that turn. but ive found a few times that you just need to push the bike over further than you feel comfortable. either that or eat grass. lol. oh and a biggie, if you do happen to go off the track, back brake only, the front will cause you to low side :)

I have to disagree with some...do NOT follow someone faster than you. They will suck you into turns quicker than you are prepared for and that's when accidents happen. the key is to ride YOUR ride and not let testosterone take over. Hard to do, trust me, but you must check your ego at the door.

Be patient. Take time to get familiar with everything on the track. Get with a control rider to help with learning proper lines around the track. It's key to smoother riding.

Work on riding skills they review with you, not with going fast. skill with body positioning, throttle control, braking points, etc are FAR more important than how fast you go down the "back straight".

Very important, for your first time, just make sure you HAVE FUN.

Lastly, keep in mind that there was a reason Track is so close in spelling to Crack. it's incredibly fun and addictive! :)

Ditto on drinking a LOT of fluids. By the end of the day, you will be dehydrated. Near the end of my first track day, I was cramping, and lost 5-6 pds. And I was drinking as much as I could find.

Also, mental preparation is very important. You have to stay focused. If you day-dream for a few seconds, you could get in trouble. And watch out for the crazies after lunch. A lot of people try to push it at the end of the day, just when they are getting tired and dehydrated.

WOW what a day!!! Easily one of the most fun days I have ever had in my life! I learned a lot about my bike, and more importantly, myself. After my first session, I asked a control rider to show me the line, we were in front so he took me around a few laps, then let me pass to watch me. When we came in he was giving me the OK sign, and said I was plenty fast enough to move up to intermediate! I talked to another control rider and he said he'd come check me out and give the approval, so after lunch he met me in the pit, and we were able to go out before the pack, very nice having an open track. He had me lead, and being fresh after lunch I was having a little trouble with the line, and not being consistent and smooth. But once he passed me and signaled for me to follow him, I was able to get much smoother and pick up the pace...

He said I could move up, so for the rest of the day I was in intermediate with my sister and her bf. It was much better not having the "beginner" beginners getting in the way and slowing me down. I was able to push myself more and more each lap. Only got passed a few times in the 3 intermediate sessions I rode in.

Overall it was an awesome experience, I am hooked. Got my right knee down towards the end of the day :)..and yes I was dragging lots of foot peg, so the D.I.Y rearset mod is high on my list of things to do...

may be going to Thunderbolt in NJ next Wed if I can get off work. any takers?

oh and funny story, heading out some people I hadn't talked to said bye, and said I looked good out there, he asked if I had anything done to the motor, because he had a Superhawk and it didn't go like my bike :D..I said "yea I pulled past an RC-51 through the straight and I was wondering if the guy was on it or not", and one of his friends said "yea that was me" hahahahaha...i'm not sure if he was full throttle or what but I flew by him like he was standing still

Glad you had a good time.

Have you removed your feelers on the bottom of the pegs?

Nother one addicted to the track pipe. :thumbsup: Sounds like you had one hell of a first trackday. Super happy you didn't have any problems or get hurt, I hope some of our advice helped. Funny stuff about the guy with the RC. I've been able to yank faster bikes on the straights just because it's easy to get the Superhawk where you need it in order to use that torque to get a killer drive out of corners.

Post some pics when you get em.