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Pretty long so read if you're bored. :flipa
What a fun day. I'm definitely hooked. Now I need to buy a beater truck so I can go more often!!!
My report.
Got to the track at 7 AM, set up real quick, went through tech/gear inspection and riders meeting. We were on the track around 10. (guessing)
It was divided in 3 groups, A, B and C. C being the begineer/slow group. I would say around 60-70 bikes, one control rider for every 6-10 bikes on the track. Plenty of help around the track and real friendly staff from TI2TT. The control riders from TI2TT were real professional and offered help to anyone that needed it. First sessions before lunch were going to be sighting laps (Group C only), that meant following the control rider at a safe pace so we could learn the lines. We would follow in a line and after one lap, the person behind the control rider would move aside and the next one would move up a spot, that way we all got to ride behind the control rider atleast once.
Funny side story: First session, I moved to the side after the lap and I was waiting for the last rider to pass so I can get back in line, I look and there's one more bike so I'm waiting for it to pass, I look again and it turns out he was a sweeper DOH! He signals to me to go ahead, at this point I get a lil nervous because the rest of the bikes were gone. I wasn't about to try to play catch up so I pretty much crawled around (still wasn't to familiar with the track) I guess the sweeper saw that I wasn't picking the right lines, so he got in front and tapped his tail (meaning follow my line) I followed his line and got through the first session without an incident and with a better understanding of the lines for this track. The sweeper later stopped and chatted with me, offering his help and everything. Real nice guy, hardcore rider too, he didn't have a left hand, instead he had some kind of prosthetic held on to the left clipon.
After lunch we were allowed open track time. By then we were a little more familiar with the lines and I got most of the butterflies out of the way. I kept reminding myself to be SMOOTH and wasn't really worried about being fast. (lot of riders passed me :lao ) I recently started trying to hang off the bike a lil and the track was a perfect place to try this. I didn't/wasn't trying to touch knee, but it felt pretty close on a few of the turns. That felt REALLY good, just felt like I was making some progress in a relatively safe manner. I was concentrating on picking the right lines and the right speed, trying to learn the curves, and before I knew it I got lower than I've ever been. Check out a pic of my tire, I'm not trying to use this as a meter to show how good or fast I am, I was just surprised to see that I almost got rid of all my strips. WOW...there's not substitute for the track, not even the twisties.....I'm so hooked!
I think the only concern for the track officials was the fact that a few people were lying about their experience. There were definitely some racers out there just trying to take advantage of the $50 track day. I personally didn't have a problem with this, but I heard some were complaining about slow riders. Guess they forgot it was meant to be a beginner track day.
The day before my trackday, I was told 11 people were told to go home after the first sessions. (for passing on the inside around turns and zig zagging through the noobs) When confronted they admitted to being racers....eventually they got kicked out...mostly due to their attitude and riding. Nobody got kicked out the day I went. I did see one guy from cobra racing...he was riding in the fast group...lapping people, on one of the runs, I see him coming out of a lean into the straightaway and brings it up on one wheel and proceeds to pass everyone in between. He ended up getting black flagged and one of the control riders eventually caught up to him and had a talk with him.
There were a few things here and there, but I think it was a pretty smooth trackday for the organizers.
As far as the riding went, there were A LOT of saves from people off roading. Two riders did go down, one was a minor lowside and the other a relatively minor highside. I came around the turn and the guy was already up and throwing his gloves on the ground. They ended up taking him to the hospital. (to check him out I think)
With the exception of the few accidents, I think most had a great time!
I could see why so many people become track junkies. All I can think about now is the next trackday.
CLiff notes: Track FUN! Concentrate on smooth, NOT fast.
What a fun day. I'm definitely hooked. Now I need to buy a beater truck so I can go more often!!!
My report.
Got to the track at 7 AM, set up real quick, went through tech/gear inspection and riders meeting. We were on the track around 10. (guessing)
It was divided in 3 groups, A, B and C. C being the begineer/slow group. I would say around 60-70 bikes, one control rider for every 6-10 bikes on the track. Plenty of help around the track and real friendly staff from TI2TT. The control riders from TI2TT were real professional and offered help to anyone that needed it. First sessions before lunch were going to be sighting laps (Group C only), that meant following the control rider at a safe pace so we could learn the lines. We would follow in a line and after one lap, the person behind the control rider would move aside and the next one would move up a spot, that way we all got to ride behind the control rider atleast once.
Funny side story: First session, I moved to the side after the lap and I was waiting for the last rider to pass so I can get back in line, I look and there's one more bike so I'm waiting for it to pass, I look again and it turns out he was a sweeper DOH! He signals to me to go ahead, at this point I get a lil nervous because the rest of the bikes were gone. I wasn't about to try to play catch up so I pretty much crawled around (still wasn't to familiar with the track) I guess the sweeper saw that I wasn't picking the right lines, so he got in front and tapped his tail (meaning follow my line) I followed his line and got through the first session without an incident and with a better understanding of the lines for this track. The sweeper later stopped and chatted with me, offering his help and everything. Real nice guy, hardcore rider too, he didn't have a left hand, instead he had some kind of prosthetic held on to the left clipon.
After lunch we were allowed open track time. By then we were a little more familiar with the lines and I got most of the butterflies out of the way. I kept reminding myself to be SMOOTH and wasn't really worried about being fast. (lot of riders passed me :lao ) I recently started trying to hang off the bike a lil and the track was a perfect place to try this. I didn't/wasn't trying to touch knee, but it felt pretty close on a few of the turns. That felt REALLY good, just felt like I was making some progress in a relatively safe manner. I was concentrating on picking the right lines and the right speed, trying to learn the curves, and before I knew it I got lower than I've ever been. Check out a pic of my tire, I'm not trying to use this as a meter to show how good or fast I am, I was just surprised to see that I almost got rid of all my strips. WOW...there's not substitute for the track, not even the twisties.....I'm so hooked!
I think the only concern for the track officials was the fact that a few people were lying about their experience. There were definitely some racers out there just trying to take advantage of the $50 track day. I personally didn't have a problem with this, but I heard some were complaining about slow riders. Guess they forgot it was meant to be a beginner track day.
The day before my trackday, I was told 11 people were told to go home after the first sessions. (for passing on the inside around turns and zig zagging through the noobs) When confronted they admitted to being racers....eventually they got kicked out...mostly due to their attitude and riding. Nobody got kicked out the day I went. I did see one guy from cobra racing...he was riding in the fast group...lapping people, on one of the runs, I see him coming out of a lean into the straightaway and brings it up on one wheel and proceeds to pass everyone in between. He ended up getting black flagged and one of the control riders eventually caught up to him and had a talk with him.
There were a few things here and there, but I think it was a pretty smooth trackday for the organizers.
As far as the riding went, there were A LOT of saves from people off roading. Two riders did go down, one was a minor lowside and the other a relatively minor highside. I came around the turn and the guy was already up and throwing his gloves on the ground. They ended up taking him to the hospital. (to check him out I think)
With the exception of the few accidents, I think most had a great time!
I could see why so many people become track junkies. All I can think about now is the next trackday.
CLiff notes: Track FUN! Concentrate on smooth, NOT fast.
