It has been two weeks since my Loudon Track day experience. I have had time to digest the instructors, people, sights, smells, etc... It was cold and damp, with threatening rain all day. Two of the three R6's and their riders (the third guy did not show) had a great time, my friend and his mechanic were there to adjust suspension, change tires, adjust chains, tweak things here and there and in general make sure the bikes were ready for being flogged on the track. There was a Honda 350 (my first real stater bike when I was 16) and a Kawasaki V-Twin in he beginner group. All sorts of Rat bikes and one frosty but friendly, after I charmed him a bit, instructor. He had a high compression, single cylinder Husqvarna Rat Bike that had to be bump started. He had the rear passenger side of his van in a block and the driver side on a set of rollers. You guessed it, I had to start the Van, put it gear, and give it half throttle to start his beast of a bike, with it's rear wheel in the roller well. I did this twice during the day until the poor thing blew a seal, so it has to be retired. Quite a character I must say. Next to our trailer was another trailer, quite new with glass mirrors inside on all three sides, hmmm, that was a bit odd, if I do say so myself.
I saw a number of people go down, most slow speed low sides, and considering the conditions I was not surprised. I sat in the bowl by turns 5 - 7 and say the experts (A Class) negotiate it. Funny, you will like this turbo, the Ducati's seemed most at ease doing so, maybe it was just the rider's I saw but the ones on those bikes looked the most comfortable in those three turns. I don't have much comment on the class session's (didn't attend any of them), but they just didn't offer anything I hadn't already seen or heard before. My friend said out track day will be totally different from this, and in his word's, "simply better, and on a different level".
I am looking forward to June 21st, and after watching almost a dozen or so video's of track days where near the end of the session's rider's were mostly high siding, have decided that their concentration must have waned just a bit, because from the video's alone, it was hard to tell what little mistakes they made to go down. Perhaps concentration, perhaps the tire was too greasy or worn, hard to be sure. One thing track day and the video's drove home to me was to come in or slow your pace when concentration wanes, and second, do not run the last session of the day, one of the R6 rider's confessed that he crashed because he was too exhausted, and now listens to his body, if it is beat, he is done for the day, good advice, IMHO.
Here is a
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzpx4wSdOeI" (fast forward to 2:35 for the blast through the countryside), the speedo is set to kilometers per hour so it definitely was not taken in the US. One thing I am continually amazed at is how fast this bike stops, you will note from about midway through the video, the rider was getting the traction control light to control wheel spin, or perhaps the angle sensor was limiting the power output to the rear tire and the rear tire got hot and he got more confident in the road.
I would not recommend or encourage anyone to drive like that on any country on the street. However, the technical aspects of the bike, it's handling characteristics, and the riders skill were still interesting to watch. All for now...
Rhody...
