ride57

I did a track day saturday with NESBA (at Pacific raceway in Kent, WA) what a blast. Learned alot. There was 1 control rider for 4/5 riders. Very well done.
This was my 5th track day. I did 4 last year, 2 on my sportster, 2 on my F2 (which I sold for the VTR) And this being my 5th track day and first track day with the VTR.

I got alot of work done on weight transitions. I feel alot smoother and dont feel like Im upsetting the suspension as I used to when I would shift weight for a right or left corner. I also got rid of alot of tenseness I have in the upper body/arms/death grip on grips. Someone suggested that I keep my fingers out (not wrapped around the grip, but sort of resting on brake/clutch) that seemed to work for me.

Wow, love the bike Dont have to wring it out like the F2. beautiful torque in corners. I found I like braking with just 1 finger, I used 4 once and thought I was going to stoppy. Shifting from 1rst into 2nd is like my Harley, clunk, but the rest are smooth as silk. I am thinking abut getting that shift kit.

I need new front springs though. I had the suspension guy (GP suspension) checked the bike out. I need .95kg springs to match my weight. The rear is ok. I ordered some racetech springs and gold valve.

As I was really concerned with working on my corners, I never really wound it out on the straight. I did get 130, but most of the time I kept it at 110 ~ 120 as I was more concerned with trying to get a consistant brake point for that first corner, and getting set up for the corner.

On the VTR I have to learn to feather the clutch on downshifts hehehe

I talked with the tire guy, who said that power pilots need 36 F and 35R due to the carcass construction. Any lower pressures and the sidewalls would flex to much and get to much heat. Also if you have low pressures in the rain, the sipes (grooves) close up and there is no place for the water to go.

All in all a great day.

kevink2

Congrats, sounds like you had a blast.

trinc

don't feather the clutch. at your brake marker you should apply brake, roll off the gas a little bit ( don't close the throttle ) downshift as required all at the same time. with the throttle still open you should have very little engine braking.

track day are very fun !

tim

kevink2

I think I beg to differ somewhat on that one. Sometimes I blip the throttle and dump the clutch simultaneously, and sometimes I just down shift and feather the clutch out smoothly.

trinc

well i beg to differ on your beg to differ.

everybody will find their own technique. i was thinking more about his track riding were i couldn't imagine taking the time to slip the clutch. i think of it as a lazy way to downshift and adds wear/heat to the plates. on the track i'd rather see him use the brake.

(on a side note: i though i was good at panic breaking - but there is nothing like a track day to find out how good brakes are today !!! )

at street pace it's probably no big deal though.



tim

kevink2

I learned to feather the clutch at Jason Pridmore's STAR school.

trinc

can you explain ?

tim

kevink2

It just depends on style and technique. Colin Edwards was recently talking about the differences between himself and Rossi and that is one place where they differ in technique. Edwards basically said he prefers to dump the clutch entering turns while Rossi slowly releases the clutch all the way to the apex.

Jason Pridmore seemed to preach feathering the clutch as well as keeping the RPM's up when entering corners. Now when I watch Mat Mladin race, I see a lot of blipping while he's banging down on the gears, so I assume he's releasing the clutch lever very fast at these times (if at all?).

If I need to do an emergency stop on my VTR, I'd probably blip and drop the clutch in quick succession two or three gears and stop. On the track where I'm trying to be smooth and carry corner speed I may feather that last shift into the corner... I don't know, I just do what feels right at that moment.

trinc

thats really interesting. it's still a bit of a mystery why you wouldn't just bang down a gear. & rossi doing it ?? with a slipper clutch ?

since i know a few people that race i'll ask them the benefit ( there must be ).
but often being smooth is was YOU feel comfortable doing.

the great thing about riding, you can always learn something new.

thx
tim

PJay

I cannot claim to be expert on the VTR's track characteristics, since I have owned mine only 6 months and rode it in only one session at a trackday when we were testing one of my race bikes. But I have been an international racer in my region of the world, and still race Historics here and away.

My impression is that you need to use the VTR's clutch at the track only when: 1. Moving off from stopped - it does excellent upward clutchless gear changes; 2. Changing down in the lower 3-4 gears; 3. Changing down a bunch of gears at once when very hard on the brakes into a say 1st or 2nd gear hairpin.

But there are differences between individual machines, and differences in rider styles. You need to do what is comfortable for you. I learned to exist almost without a clutch whilst riding TZ750 Yamahas, which are notoriously tough on their puny little clutches (with our tuned big TZ, I could destroy a clutch with just one imperfect start off the line.)

trinc

i ask the question in another forum, this response is from a guy i know here in portland, Brad ( who now works for AMA - how cool is that ! )

"While I was looking over Mladin and Spies superbikes in post race tech inspection this last weekend I noticed that they had a sticker on the dash that said "NO BLIP!" I'm thinking it has something to do with the way the electronics handles the traction control side of things. Maybe blipping sets it to another mode or messes with the way the computer tells the motor how to delivers power.

If I can, I'll try to ask one of the mechanics or riders about it when I see them at Miller Motorsports Park in a few weeks."

tim

ride57

Thanks for the replys.

Today is put in the speed bleeders day.

Doug

falcondrvr

I saw an article, I think it was in Sport Rider, that said that the way Suzuki's traction control works (on the GP and superbike) is by measuring crankshaft acceleration. I wonder if that has anything to do with it?

Erion_squid

seems that everyone has their own method of racing, and riding...as usual. Everyone has their opinion and we can learn from everyone's experience and solutions. Me ,however, i go ***** to the wall till i see GOD, then feather the clutch and come back down to earth. LOL

pigwings