Amatuer, I've seen someone on a full dresser smoking a pipe at RuapunaOriginally Posted by Flip
In the riders seat
Amatuer, I've seen someone on a full dresser smoking a pipe at Ruapuna
"If you can make black marks on a straight from the time you turn out of a corner until the braking point of the next turn, then you have enough power."
mad thou rider
the first trackday I went to had everything. cbr mc22s, vfr 400s, r1s/gixxer thous
Also several harleys, one an 883, a 1200, and a couple later bigger ones. there was an old xr600 with road/trail tyres, the list goes on.
no such thing as 'wrong bike' for a trackday.
Forum whore
I don't smoke sorry.
Just another leather clad Tinkerbell.
The Wanker on the Fucking Harley is going for a ride!
Forum whore
Yes there is.........
Because most of Rupuna is a left hand track.
Just another leather clad Tinkerbell.
The Wanker on the Fucking Harley is going for a ride!
Bored Room
Did my first trackday a few weeks back....number 3 tomorrow and another on Dec 11...only waited 50 years.....and using a 50 hp Triumph Thruxton.... like a lot of things you are hesitant until you do it and then its all good. I'd recommend the California Superbike School whether you have a sports bike or a cruiser.
If you become a member of the AMCC you can do trackdays for around $120.00 at Puke, good fun and great people.
I felt a lot safer redlining the Triumph down the back straight of Pukekohe than on my daily commute to Highbrook.
In the group I started off in at the ART day, there was all sorts from learners on 150's to me who has been riding for 20 years plus to superbikes.
Come warm yourself by the fire
There is that isn't there.
Race tracks seem to attract the biggest wankers/egos out there.
I even stopped watching a lot of the track racing due to some of the wankers you meet there. Its almost the complete opposite of the cold kiwi. Thank god Paeroa still pulls a diverse crowd.
Reactor Online. Sensors Online. Weapons Online. All Systems Nominal.
Come warm yourself by the fire
Yeah it does look pretty sweet. But right now priorities are....
a) house
b) baby
c) furniture
d) leathers
So looks like I will be waiting a while. Even the bike has fucked tyres right now. Hopefully I get new ones for xmas.
Reactor Online. Sensors Online. Weapons Online. All Systems Nominal.
"channellling the Pleideans"
thats your problem. If you want to, as you put it, take someone on, then you need to go racing.
If you want to have a fun day out with or without a bunch of friends, and ride quicker than you normally would in an environment that it is safe to do so. then a trackday is the place for you. All the ones Ive been to have a bunch of different groups to cater for different riders and levels of experience.
and if you behave like a twat and go mental, you will be kicked out because you're unsafe: you are a danger to others.
I havent seen that many bikes wadded like a used tissue on a trackday. I can think of the guy who highsided an R1 (ouch) and a motard that dropped its guts. and my own lowside when I ran out of talent at Levels, but honestly, its miniscule especially compared to the speeds involved and number of laps completed.
Heres a list of some reasons why I think trackdays rule:
- No one makes you walk home if you go faster than 140 kph.
- Somedays you can go FASTER than 140kph with a knee down. usually without following it with the rest of your body.
- My bike can do THAT?
- I can do THAT?
- Non competitive (by definition)
- usually (or at least often) there is free food.
- you can ogle some really nice bikes
- you can talk shit with like minded individuals who are generally very friendly
- usually there are gear displays and stuff you can go "Ooooh. Ahhhhh" over.
- you can see up close and personal how fast some people actually are (this is why I fell off at a trackday).
- if it all turns horribly pearshaped there is an ambulance nearby, and you are unlikely to hit anything large and stationary. or be hit by someone coming the other way.
Seriously, I can see why some people dont get it, and its not like I will be giving up road riding. but trackdays are bloody good fun. Plus I am now all set up for it which makes it easier. I have a checklist....
I thought elections were decided by angry posts on social media. - F5 Dave
"channellling the Pleideans"
thats fantastic!
there was a guy on a VMAX at the one I went to earlier this month, fuck it was cool: sounded like a Spitfire!
I thought elections were decided by angry posts on social media. - F5 Dave
Jam and tarts....
I want to get out there.
My leathers aren't 3/4 zip together.
My boots are poo.
My bike's a pile of garage dust.
When these minor issues are sorted, I'll be out there having a giggle and possibly going very slow.
I just want to give something new a try and I have a potentially great little bike.
Alloy, stainless and Ti polishing.
Bling your bike out!
PM me
Senior Grumpy Old Bastard
Quote Originally Posted by saltydog View Post
It just seems the mates that have never been to one just will never get there. "na fuck that", or "na its just not my scene" but yet will do insane speeds and corners on the road. If anything I'm sure a track day makes us more aware of all the added dangers while on the road....but "na fuck that" is always the answer. Do they need more ball or are they afraid of being 'owned'?
Oh well, more spaces for me.
There are so many reasons to argue for and against... and as for being 'owned'? Who gives a shit if you want to push the envelope?
Track days may teach certain skills.. HOWEVER lets also look at some realities...
The track..
'road surface' is completely different to the highways, cambers, construction, and not forgetting the abscence of cow/sheep shit, ditches, wire fences
AND oncoming vehicles. You are all travelling the same direction, the 'racing line' IS NOT the safe line through corners on the road. If you bin on the track? the surfaces, sand pits, and lack of curbs etc result in a lower likelyhood of severe injury. Sports bikes are set up for the track far better than the road in reality. They are often twitchy and can be readily 'upset' by uneven road surfaces. On the other side of the coin, bikes like my ZZR although still quite 'quick' are not light or set up in suspension to flick rapidly through corners.. So I will use a different 'style' to a sprot bike rider.
I will not disagree track days teach skills, but racing skills are NOT road skills... and even Valantino Rossi as the latest racer admits that.
The road
requires a completely different skill set.. you have to accomodate for oncoming traffic through bends, to the extent of anticipating intrusion on your lane of the road. Your lines through corners will be different, your approach has to accomodate, road surface, camber and the amount of vision through each corner. Again, completely different to the line of vision on a track. Do I ride fast on the road? Yes sometimes, but the only reason I would want to learn racing skills would be to push my riding ability past the 80% limit I may set myself, towards 90% plus of total ability of bike and rider. I have no ego issue with another rider being 'faster' than I am... or on the times I am a faster rider than others in a group.
As someone else pointed out,,, the attitude that I am scared of being 'owned' on a track day? Is precisely a valid reason to not do them....
If you are serious about really improving your riding ability on the road? Do the IAM course and test... That will benifit you far more highly than any racing skills on the highways.
If the road to hell is paved with good intentions; and a man is judged by his deeds and his actions, why say it's the thought that counts? -GrayWolf
In the riders seat
You just need a heavier dog
I can remember a Rocket three at one, although it was ridden by a guy who races
Normally the latter
"If you can make black marks on a straight from the time you turn out of a corner until the braking point of the next turn, then you have enough power."
gee wizzz
One suggestion for you is that in the slower groups (not the "fast" groups) I have seen a real desire amongst the riders to learn improved rider skills in a safe enviroment.
These people like you have no desire to race or to set the land speed record.
But they all want to practice aspects of their riding and improve their riding skills in a safe enviroment.
For these people its not about getting their jollies by dragging their knee round every corner,Hauling up to a hairpin from mega speed or dragging their footpegs on the ground
What it does do is allow them to learn those skills in an "low cost" enviroment.(ie the cost of getting it wrong is relatively small)
One lady told me she had no idea she could brake so hard and she avoided an accident because she had learned how.
One chap made a mistake entering a corner and was able to lean the bike a lot further than he normally would
THAT IMO would be your reason for doing a training type track day.
To see a life newly created.To watch it grow and prosper. Isn't that the greatest gift a human being can be given?
OK, so who's next?
In the 5 or so years she's been doing trackdays, this was only her second ever off. She walked away from the other unharmed.
Prior to doing trackdays she had a road crash that busted her pelvis badly also...
Drew for Prime Minister!
www.oldskoolperformance.com
www.prospeedmc.com for parts ex U.S.A ( He's a Kiwi! )
Hardcore Biker
I took my little Ninja to the track so I could find out what the bike would do without all the risks associated with riding on the road.
I got to play with cornering techniques and practice entering turns faster and faster, work on my throttle control, sight lines, braking.... all that stuff until I started to really feel comfortable on the bike and felt like I had a reasonable grasp of the performance envelope of my machine. Which made it much easier to concentrate on all the other techniques needed for the road without having to worry about whether the front of the bike was going to stick... or whatever. Going round and round the same corners again and again was the key. Mucked up my site line on that turn and ran wide? No problem... look further through the turn next lap.... hey that worked a treat... tighter line with better exit speed and no temptation to chop the throttle. Cool. I'm learning.
It's the very absence of certain risk factors that make the track a great place to learn. Then when you take your skills to the road there a bunch of good habits that are now second nature, which means dealing with the others is that much easier.
NOW
Now I take my gixxer to the track because it's the only place I can legally get the bike into its performance envelope, or to hear that chill inducing induction howl up near the redline. Even redlining it in 1st gear would put me into fines and demerits territory. And personally I like to see the speedo reading up over 200, I like to feel the thunk and scrape of my knee touching down, and I like to see that gooey melted rubber balling up on the edges of the tires, but with a healthy respect for the law, and a wife and two young kids at home, I'm not about to try achieving any of those things on the road.
b.
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