Summit Point - Main
06.05.06: SportBike Track Time
Somehow i got in my head that i needed a new track bike. after a few days of searching, i found an 04 GSXR 600 in NY for a good price. About a week later, i was driving home with a new bike in my truck.

so today was the first time on my new bike. first of all the bike was raced with WERA so it was fully prepped and wired, had Dunlop slicks on it, but he took the steering damper with him. since today was at Summit Point with its bumps and transitions, i wanted to get a damper. i wouldnt be able to get one by the track day, so luckily i had one laying around that fit.

its a good thing i put the damper on as the bike was a bit twitchy, but more on that later.

so i get to the track and Mary has saved me a spot and was kind enough to let me mooch off of her generator for my tire warmers i was picking up that day. i unloaded my bike and found David to see how i could help him with all of the ins and outs of the track day. off i went to help at tech inspection (there was a sidecar rig i teched only to find out later that it should not have been allowed on the track. it is a motorcycle after all, so i didnt think it would be bad).

after the riders meeting, i managed to get the "floater" position coaching the novice group. hanging out with the novices was a perfect way to get a feel for the bike. and feel the bike i did.

nothing out of the ordinary for the first couple of sessions as i acclimated myself to the bike. the bike felt good. i think that it fits me better. more comfortable reach to the bars (i adjusted them a little to even them out), a little more leg room, but the most important part was i am able to hang off the bike easier than my R6. all in all, i am very happy with the ergonomics.

after the first couple of sessions, i started to open the bike up. the tires on the bike are racing slicks and the rear is a HUGE 195/70. I think that this made the bike too ass high because the bike was twitching everywhere. little bumps, coming out of corners, down the front stright, etc. luckily i had the damper on it, so iwas able to "cure" most of it but it was never a major issue. as i continued to get used to the bike, i found that i was causing most of the wobbles, but the bike was still uber sensitive.

i also found that it felt a little low on power. coming out of corners, other bikes were easily walking away from me. After thinking about this for a little while, i noticed that i really need to twist the trhottle far to make up the time, so it stands to reason that i wasnt twisting far enough to begin with. ive ordered a 1/6 turn throttle tube so the trhow wont be as long.

as for the actualy track day, it was good. being a floater in the beginner group, i just rode around slowly, picked up stragglers who either got to hte hot pit late or lost their groups. Later on in the day, Mary asked me to check out one of her students and this guy was fast. He had no reason to be in the beginner group (he was smooth, quick, and had good technique). In fact, i bet the beginner group was holding him back. So i bumped him into the intermediate group. hopefully, with some fast guys to play with hell have more fun and learn more.

i also rode around with James and Mary's brother Bruce and Bruce's friend Clint. James was riding rather well, but i saw a couple areas of improvement and we spoke about it. Bruce and Clint on the other hand, were moving pretty quick, but seemed to be on the edge of their comfort level. I was going to tell them about it, but then Brude ended up running into Clint going into turn 10 and going down. The impact broke off Clints passenger foot peg, bent the rider foot peg and covered the bike in antifreeze. Unfortunately, Bruce broke his collar bone and was off to the hospital.

as for my riding, its been a while since i rode in anger and i need to get my head wrapped around it again. i am having trouble setting my entracne speed, flicking the bike into the corner and getting on the gas quickly. i think it is due to my recent novice coaching and not having as much track time as i used to. but the new bike fits me well so hopefully i can jsut concentrate on riding and not fitting onto the bike. i didnt realize how difficult my R6 was for me to hang off of until this GSXR.

Next stop is Cornerspeed school and maybe my CCS race license.