Track day discussion

[jrandom]

At least I won't be sleeping alone tonight

Neither will I.

It will be interesting if we ever meet in person one day

Are you hot?

[MsKABC]

Neither will I.

OK, I can't resist.... I thought you said you were off the market and not likely to be any time soon? So who are you sleeping with then pray tell?

Or did I mis-interpret the post below?

Yes, I'm legally single now.

(Still your beating hearts, good ladies of the interweb; I am nonetheless unlikely to appear on the market any time soon. Or ever.)

Are you hot?

Well beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Perhaps you should ask my husband, but he's probably too busy being under the thumb to answer!

Promise I won't reply so that you can have the last word

[puddytat]

If anyone thinks that they'd like to do a trackday, then they should.
If it seems all mindboggollingly scary, then I recommend a 1/2 of a HTFU pill & see how ya get on....
If it all STILL seems a tad dodgey, ...take the other 1/2.
Anymore than that then you shouldnt be riding a freakin bike.

[Okey Dokey]

At the other end of the scale are Kiwi Track Days, run by Steve et al, and the Brian Bernard 'training' days.

The convenors of these groups are diametrically opposed to Motott and AMCC. Niether check gear, bikes, or chin-straps. Their attitude being, essentially, "We set up the track-days, but we ain't ya mother and, further, we don't want to attract any liability associated with 'your' participation in 'our' track-day. Ergo, if we check your bike and say it's fit to ride, and you splat due to a mechanical, then we might get to own the liability. No thanks. This is an adult environment."

Have you done a Brian Bernard track day? Do they provide any training/coaching? Do they run separate groups?

I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who has attended one; I spoke to a guy at Burt Munro who raved about it-but you have made me wonder, dpex...

Any comments would be appreciated, thanks.

[chanceyy]

I did my first track day 2 yrs ago on the RZ350 which was roughly my 6th ride on a bike. I was extremely nervous until I was on the track & also had great support from several friends, one experienced rider who rode with me for the 1st few laps before he went off & had his fun

I it, this yr I will be doing several on the bandit, being a nana out in the slow group & thats all fine I have no desire to be Rossi, but to simply enjoy the experience of being out on the track having fun, and to improve some lines around the hairpin etc

I have absolutely no desire to push the envelope as I want to end the day in one piece along with BB

but I would recommend for ppl to give it a go just remember to ride within your own ability (the slow & medium group has a lead rider for central districts from memory slow max speed is 120ks & med is 140ks but someone else can correct me if I am wrong)

I also really enjoy the social aspect of catching up with ppl I have not seen for a while

[dpex]

Have you done a Brian Barnard track day? Do they provide any training/coaching? Do they run separate groups?

I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who has attended one; I spoke to a guy at Burt Munro who raved about it-but you have made me wonder, dpex...

Any comments would be appreciated, thanks.

Yup, did one atManfield on 16/12. Bloody good day. Run my Lloyd and Jo Morgan (morgl@xtra.co.nz....top folk, those two). They're in the process of arranging another day, sometime soon.

The day 'started' with clearly defined groups. :--))

Apart from many, many tech items I picked up from listening then attempting, the main lesson was, I reckon I could just about foot it with Gareth Jones with him on a 50cc moped and me on Team Zimmerframe. :--((( Bugger me, that lad can ride! And he's an Ozzie, no less!

I reckon global warming has a lot to answer for.

[dpex]

I it, this yr I will be doing several on the bandit, being a nana out in the slow group & thats all fine......

Jesus H Leprechaun! How many times does it need repeating. The 'slow' group is not a 'Nana' group. It is for riders who have yet to discover they can ride faster. How does one make that discovery? Easy! Start at some bloody level which is safe then progress from there!

No other riders at track days...at least the many I have met.... consider the slow group (G4) to be other than damned fine folk out there doing their thing. Thus there is NO INHERENT or SUGGESTED insult to being in that group.

Look at it from the other end. In the fast group, often attended by Shirrifs, Stroud, et al; those lads frequently lap some of the riders in that group. Does anyone assert the lapped riders are nanas? NO!

Does anyone in G2 look down on anyone for being in G3? NO!

This egocentric shit about riding like a nana is, in my opinion, one of the prime causes of accidents where those who can't ride fast seem to feel the need to attempt killing themselves so they can prove to someone else that they have a lion's heart and a sparrow's brain.

G4 is a damned fine place to start a day. You can always upgrade if it is obviosu to YOU and only YOU, that you could go a bit faster.

[dpex]

Dunno; just seems to be something that happens when women turn up here and post in a proprietary tone about their husbands' motorcycling activities.

The man has the wisdom of Plato and the perspicacity Rand!

Beautifully stated, Master Random. :-))

[mattt]

That's great - thanks guys and gals...

I don't know about other track day "providers", but here is the link to Kiwi Track Days events list:

http://www.kiwitrackdays.co.nz/index...d=23&Itemid=43

Next Puke one is Auckland anniversary day, end of Jan.

[cowboyz]

The clear missive here, being, get to the grid on time.

you were in the wrong group.

I think (some) (havent been to a motoTT day) trackdays are oversold. If the groups are not defined on signin then sure you can have 4 groups of 30 riders making 120 entries but what if 80 of those entries want to be in G3?

I have observed a few in G4 who just want to be in G4 to be the fastest on the track at the time when they would be running midfield in G3 and the same for G3 to G2 taking up spots that others who really should be in a certain group get dropped back or miss out.

I cant remember who run it now but I did one trackday last year and a sticker was put on your bike at signin to assign a group and once the group was full then you were told at signin and had the option to pick another group or go home. During the day you could shuffle round different groups but only if there was a spot free. This meant that as long as you made the dummy grid before the session went out you were guarenteed to get what you paid for.
On the other hand - a free for all and choose your own group on the fly resulted in G3 lining up behind G2 on the dummy grid while G1 was on the track. Very easy to miss out.

My observations anyhow.

[kiwifruit]

havent been to a motoTT day

thats where you are going wrong

[Chrislost]

i like trackdays.
yes i dooo...
i must go to another soon and get my "fix" least i start to speed on the real road again

[sugilite:Me]

I feel skills learned at track days are directly transferable across to road riding - not the going fast part, more knowing what you as a rider and your bike are capable of doing, especially in an emergency situation. Be that having to brake or change direction suddenly - the point being, track day knowledge comes into it's own in these and other situations.

Comparing road riding with track days from a purely experiential view is akin to comparing apples with oranges.

I'm not convinced tyres disappear at a much faster rate from group 2 to group 4, and I doubt riders in group one and race would give a toss. If ya stay at home, your tyres and gas will live forever wahooo

[Shaun]

I feel skills learned at track days are directly transferable across to road riding - not the going fast part, more knowing what you as a rider and your bike are capable of doing, especially in an emergency situation. Be that having to brake or change direction suddenly - the point being, track day knowledge comes into it's own in these and other situations.

Comparing road riding with track days from a purely experiential view is akin to comparing apples with oranges.

I'm not convinced tyres disappear at a much faster rate from group 2 to group 4, and I doubt riders in group one and race would give a toss. If ya stay at home, your tyres and gas will live forever wahooo

Agree with that

RE ww.motott.co.nz company, the way they go through the procedure of running there track days is VERY professional and focused on SAFETY for one and all.

All riders can pre book ( So you get to choose the grade you want to be in)

All bikes and riders safety clothing is physically inspected ( ie Like a WOF inspection) before being allowed out onto the track) PS, I have seen bikes turned away due to being in unsafe condition! which is revinue lost to them, but safety gauranteed for one and all

They have chosen riders wearing reconisable upper vests to help guide people around the track for an idea of lines to follow

Safety flag marshalls, these are people that are located around the race track at different points to advise guide riders on the track of any incidents, kind of like intersection lights- telling you to get ready to stop or to STOP etc, very streight forwad and practicall

Any rider attending at least ONE Track day run like this, will leave the track at the end of the day a BETTER SAFER road rider than before they attended!!!!

PS Dpex, Very Good Thread on this topic mate

[slowpoke]

Dunno; just seems to be something that happens when women turn up here and post in a proprietary tone about their husbands' motorcycling activities.

But if you keep up the control-freak stuff?

Well, talk to Jrandom about the potential fall-out.

Blardy hell, you guys should get a room together, what a luvverly couple you make.

Give the girl a break, it's pretty much par for the course for people to be a bit reticent about track days, especially if they've never attended one. I can't think of a track day I've done where someone hasn't come a gutser, even a Ulysses/Brian Bernard day which was attended by a mostly very conservative bunch (Gold Wing's on track are phunny as phuck). Yes, one of the crashers was a newbie, during a simple braking drill.

Big ups to Mike for acknowledging his partners misgivings and not charging off and doing it anyway. I'm sure he will get on the track at some stage but by taking his time and working through his partners misgivings he'll do it with her all for it (and hopefully participating as well) rather than dead set against it.