boogeyman
04-26-2004, 11:21 AM
I've been watching the board for a bit, but this is the first time I've posted... and figured, what the heck, start it big. I went to Mid-Ohio this weekend with my girlfriend and our roommate. We didn't have enough hauling space, so we trucked my bike up, I rode Steph's bike and Amy rode her 954RR.
well... enough intro, here's the story:
http://www.localriders.com/photopost/data//500/812r1truck.jpg
Getting to the track to run the bikes was interesting in itself... This, being my first time, was something unique. I haven't done anything of this nature, so I was overwhelmed, even though everything is so simple and quick. Got tech inspected and stickered up and got it ready to run.
In case I haven't mentioned it before, what I have as a track bike is an 02 R1 we picked up from CSI with a salvage title and only 2700 miles on the odometer. Right after we picked it up, we were looking for bodywork to track it out and ran across a real sweet deal that Bob (formerly of Extreme Cycle and Salvage) offered us... Several components from his R1 racebike which he had sold for a GSXR 1000. This included an Ohlins rear shock, Ohlins internals in the front forks, a Scott's Rotary steering dampener and Sharkskinz bodywork. There was an offer for some SWEET brembo brakes, but I just couldn't fork out that much at the level I am at right now... Maybe when I get REALLY good I'll find a way to justify that expenditure ;)
Alright, down to business. As this was my first track day, I started off in the novice group. The novice group was split into several sections. the first 2 groups had previous track experience. The 3rd was riders who figured they were quick, and the 4th and 5th were for riders who felt they were not as quick. Of course, me being as cocky as I am figured I was pretty quick, so I jumped into the 3rd group.
The first few sessions out were pretty boring for me. I was still having fun because I was on the bike and on the track, but it was not as exciting as I'd hoped. After lunch and one more session out, I talked to my instructor (troy... real nice guy) and asked if I could move up... he agreed I was fast enough to move up, so for the last 2 sessions, I got to ride with the faster of the the novice groups. Group 1. That got a bit more exciting.
We picked up the pace quite a bit and I actually got to start using my brakes some heading for the corners... Then I was able to really get on the gas coming out... WHAT A RUSH!! I had been waiting for that for most of the day... I REALLY needed that fix. The final session, we actually got to run a bit more free... passing as long as it was safe, and still some restrictions, but while I didn't get to go 100%, I did at least get to take it to a good 85-90. Next time out, I go in the Intermediate group. I am VERY much looking forward to that.
I did have a great time, getting to meet some new folks and talking about/dealing with bikes all day. It is a great atmosphere. I fully intend to do more of it. MUCH more.
Now, on the bike. First, I'll tell ya... the FI system on this thing ROCKS! It is VERY smooth from off to on throttle. Never even a bump. With the Ohlins internals on the forks, the braking dive that is so bad with some bikes is VERY controllable with this one. Even coming up on someone too fast mid-corner, light braking was not an issue... Much of this very likely has to do with the excellent progressive feel of the stock brakes. I'll be upgrading the brakes soon, but for now, these really do work well... I just don't trust the stock lines to be able to hold the pressures of full on track days without fading. I have some fine tuning to do on the suspension. It works like it is, and pretty well, but I think I can do some minor adjusting and make it even better. I am open to suggestions from experienced track riders on this! The rear could feel a bit more planted on midcorner gas and hard corner exits (maybe just a bit softer in rear?) and just a bit more stable in the front end in mid corners (lower the fork tubes back down a bit closer to stock?). The front is great on turn-in, but mid corner stability is a tad unsteady when I'm REALLY hot... not bad, and certainly something I can ride around, but if I can set the suspension right, no reason to do so, right? I will likely fiddle with the supension a bit more before the next track day, but I won't get too involved with it before I get to run a course with at least consistent pavement... Mid-O had some NASTY grooves in the concrete that had the bike dancing a lot. The keyhole, especially, seemed to get worse as the day went on. Most of the other corners were not all that bad, and grip was fine, although you could feel some movement, but the keyhole was definitely getting slicker as the day went on... not real bad, and easy enough to ride through, you just had to trust your tires and roll on that throttle... it did always catch... eventually.
I was trying to go over a map of the track and cull out my favorite corners, but I found it very difficult to do. I love them all! Turn 1 just ROCKS! You come off the front straight going balls to the wall (when there isn't traffic in front of you) and start braking right after you feel it's too late... that sets you up real well to hit the turn. I still need to carry more speed through there so I don't cut it so short on exit, but I didn't have enough time in WOT to get it down quite right. Coming up to the chicane would be easy to get too fast on heading into the keyhole, but it was never an issue as there was traffic in front of me for all but 2 laps. I got to come in hotter on those 2 than I had any other time, but still wasn't fast enough to make it scary. The wet grooved concrete was a bit disconcerting, but like I stated earlier, trust, twist and lean makes it through with only minor wiggling and sliding. The keyhole drops you out into the back straight which is one place you can certainly open it up a LOT. The kink in the back straight seemed like nothing with the morning sessions, but being able to open up on it in the afternoon, you realize you can get a pretty good lean angle through there even taking a "racing" line. Hard on the gas until you come up to the "esses", I'd hit hard on the brakes. Talking to Amy and Steph, we used different braking markers... I never saw the white signs as my eyes were drawn to the cones that were set out... Kind of like an extended pyramid. The 4 cone set was my HARD braking point (so no, I'm not all that fast.. YET) and the single cone was my turn point (I think). I pull that one a bit short and move toward outer center leading into turn 7. Pull turn 7 in, focused at an imaginary spot over the hill (made at full lean on the gas... WHAT A RUSH) and come down, just a bit on the brakes, into turn 8, shoot the slight bend of 9 heading into 10. Turn 10 was always taken IN traffic and slower than I felt was possible... MUCH slower. I think going into 10 a bit hotter, and getting on the gas just as you make the turn into 11 would be a much nicer setup than I was able to achieve in the group. Coming through turn 11 (over a hill into thunder valley) is an AWESOME experience... You know there is nothing waiting for you over the hill, so you aren't afraid to give it gas, be in full lean and feel the front end lose it's contact with the pavement for just a moment... I'm not a racer, so I'm not coming off of that hill toward that wall with the front end sky high... save that for when I have more experience Turn 12, at the speeds I was going is not much to be concerned about. Just leaned the bike a bit and got on the gas only to be hitting the brakes a bit for turn 13 heading into the carousel... it would be easy to be intimidated by the look of the carousel, but it is a REALLY nice, grippy corner with a slight decreasing radius, so you can be pretty hard on the gas all the way though, never let up and go wide open as you head through turn 15 to the front straight. If you time it right, you can hit redline and shift just as you exit 15 and hard accelerate until the brake markers to turn 1 again.
I was in Novice class, so I didn't get to really open things up and test the limits, but I did get to ride just hard enough to see how much fun that track could be with fewer restrictions. It is very technical, but I loved that. So many different things and different aspects of cornering... Ohio has some great roads, but this is a different animal altogether. A little bit of everything you can imagine with the exception of the animals and gravel... didn't see even a BIT of that
As you can tell, I had a great time while I was there. I was a bit frustrated early on with the pace of things, but that was alleviated when I got to go up with a slightly faster group. I believe it was well worth the money and time spent, and as I have already mentioned, I FULLY intend to do MANY more of these... in fact.. as many as my checkbook will allow...
Ken
well... enough intro, here's the story:
http://www.localriders.com/photopost/data//500/812r1truck.jpg
Getting to the track to run the bikes was interesting in itself... This, being my first time, was something unique. I haven't done anything of this nature, so I was overwhelmed, even though everything is so simple and quick. Got tech inspected and stickered up and got it ready to run.
In case I haven't mentioned it before, what I have as a track bike is an 02 R1 we picked up from CSI with a salvage title and only 2700 miles on the odometer. Right after we picked it up, we were looking for bodywork to track it out and ran across a real sweet deal that Bob (formerly of Extreme Cycle and Salvage) offered us... Several components from his R1 racebike which he had sold for a GSXR 1000. This included an Ohlins rear shock, Ohlins internals in the front forks, a Scott's Rotary steering dampener and Sharkskinz bodywork. There was an offer for some SWEET brembo brakes, but I just couldn't fork out that much at the level I am at right now... Maybe when I get REALLY good I'll find a way to justify that expenditure ;)
Alright, down to business. As this was my first track day, I started off in the novice group. The novice group was split into several sections. the first 2 groups had previous track experience. The 3rd was riders who figured they were quick, and the 4th and 5th were for riders who felt they were not as quick. Of course, me being as cocky as I am figured I was pretty quick, so I jumped into the 3rd group.
The first few sessions out were pretty boring for me. I was still having fun because I was on the bike and on the track, but it was not as exciting as I'd hoped. After lunch and one more session out, I talked to my instructor (troy... real nice guy) and asked if I could move up... he agreed I was fast enough to move up, so for the last 2 sessions, I got to ride with the faster of the the novice groups. Group 1. That got a bit more exciting.
We picked up the pace quite a bit and I actually got to start using my brakes some heading for the corners... Then I was able to really get on the gas coming out... WHAT A RUSH!! I had been waiting for that for most of the day... I REALLY needed that fix. The final session, we actually got to run a bit more free... passing as long as it was safe, and still some restrictions, but while I didn't get to go 100%, I did at least get to take it to a good 85-90. Next time out, I go in the Intermediate group. I am VERY much looking forward to that.
I did have a great time, getting to meet some new folks and talking about/dealing with bikes all day. It is a great atmosphere. I fully intend to do more of it. MUCH more.
Now, on the bike. First, I'll tell ya... the FI system on this thing ROCKS! It is VERY smooth from off to on throttle. Never even a bump. With the Ohlins internals on the forks, the braking dive that is so bad with some bikes is VERY controllable with this one. Even coming up on someone too fast mid-corner, light braking was not an issue... Much of this very likely has to do with the excellent progressive feel of the stock brakes. I'll be upgrading the brakes soon, but for now, these really do work well... I just don't trust the stock lines to be able to hold the pressures of full on track days without fading. I have some fine tuning to do on the suspension. It works like it is, and pretty well, but I think I can do some minor adjusting and make it even better. I am open to suggestions from experienced track riders on this! The rear could feel a bit more planted on midcorner gas and hard corner exits (maybe just a bit softer in rear?) and just a bit more stable in the front end in mid corners (lower the fork tubes back down a bit closer to stock?). The front is great on turn-in, but mid corner stability is a tad unsteady when I'm REALLY hot... not bad, and certainly something I can ride around, but if I can set the suspension right, no reason to do so, right? I will likely fiddle with the supension a bit more before the next track day, but I won't get too involved with it before I get to run a course with at least consistent pavement... Mid-O had some NASTY grooves in the concrete that had the bike dancing a lot. The keyhole, especially, seemed to get worse as the day went on. Most of the other corners were not all that bad, and grip was fine, although you could feel some movement, but the keyhole was definitely getting slicker as the day went on... not real bad, and easy enough to ride through, you just had to trust your tires and roll on that throttle... it did always catch... eventually.
I was trying to go over a map of the track and cull out my favorite corners, but I found it very difficult to do. I love them all! Turn 1 just ROCKS! You come off the front straight going balls to the wall (when there isn't traffic in front of you) and start braking right after you feel it's too late... that sets you up real well to hit the turn. I still need to carry more speed through there so I don't cut it so short on exit, but I didn't have enough time in WOT to get it down quite right. Coming up to the chicane would be easy to get too fast on heading into the keyhole, but it was never an issue as there was traffic in front of me for all but 2 laps. I got to come in hotter on those 2 than I had any other time, but still wasn't fast enough to make it scary. The wet grooved concrete was a bit disconcerting, but like I stated earlier, trust, twist and lean makes it through with only minor wiggling and sliding. The keyhole drops you out into the back straight which is one place you can certainly open it up a LOT. The kink in the back straight seemed like nothing with the morning sessions, but being able to open up on it in the afternoon, you realize you can get a pretty good lean angle through there even taking a "racing" line. Hard on the gas until you come up to the "esses", I'd hit hard on the brakes. Talking to Amy and Steph, we used different braking markers... I never saw the white signs as my eyes were drawn to the cones that were set out... Kind of like an extended pyramid. The 4 cone set was my HARD braking point (so no, I'm not all that fast.. YET) and the single cone was my turn point (I think). I pull that one a bit short and move toward outer center leading into turn 7. Pull turn 7 in, focused at an imaginary spot over the hill (made at full lean on the gas... WHAT A RUSH) and come down, just a bit on the brakes, into turn 8, shoot the slight bend of 9 heading into 10. Turn 10 was always taken IN traffic and slower than I felt was possible... MUCH slower. I think going into 10 a bit hotter, and getting on the gas just as you make the turn into 11 would be a much nicer setup than I was able to achieve in the group. Coming through turn 11 (over a hill into thunder valley) is an AWESOME experience... You know there is nothing waiting for you over the hill, so you aren't afraid to give it gas, be in full lean and feel the front end lose it's contact with the pavement for just a moment... I'm not a racer, so I'm not coming off of that hill toward that wall with the front end sky high... save that for when I have more experience Turn 12, at the speeds I was going is not much to be concerned about. Just leaned the bike a bit and got on the gas only to be hitting the brakes a bit for turn 13 heading into the carousel... it would be easy to be intimidated by the look of the carousel, but it is a REALLY nice, grippy corner with a slight decreasing radius, so you can be pretty hard on the gas all the way though, never let up and go wide open as you head through turn 15 to the front straight. If you time it right, you can hit redline and shift just as you exit 15 and hard accelerate until the brake markers to turn 1 again.
I was in Novice class, so I didn't get to really open things up and test the limits, but I did get to ride just hard enough to see how much fun that track could be with fewer restrictions. It is very technical, but I loved that. So many different things and different aspects of cornering... Ohio has some great roads, but this is a different animal altogether. A little bit of everything you can imagine with the exception of the animals and gravel... didn't see even a BIT of that
As you can tell, I had a great time while I was there. I was a bit frustrated early on with the pace of things, but that was alleviated when I got to go up with a slightly faster group. I believe it was well worth the money and time spent, and as I have already mentioned, I FULLY intend to do MANY more of these... in fact.. as many as my checkbook will allow...
Ken