by "Nonster" (noahnic)
Published 05/31/2017 at 11:30
by "Nonster" (noahnic)
Published 05/31/2017 at 11:30
Tags: Two Wheels Good
; Track Day
; SV650
; Motorcycle
STARS: 4
Thought I’d share a video from my first motorcycle track day! Come stare at my butt for eleven whole minutes! I took a two class at Mid-Ohio sports car course and I can’t recommend it enough!
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Since it was my first time at the track on a motorcycle I was in the novice group. This was further confirmed to me after watching the advanced and intermediate guys ripping though turn 1 well above 100 mph. It really hammered home how much there is to learn.
Doing a two day class was in hind-sight a great decision. Day 1 really was spent learning the track and it’s lines and really working on the basics. It wasn’t until the last session that I really started to have enough spare mental capacity to start upping the pace.
Day 2 was where it all came together. I was able to really apply everything I learned from the previous day. I went from feeling a little overwhelmed toward to back of the novice group at the beginning of the first day to feeling super comfortable running with the fastest novice group by the end of day 2.
Unfortunately we got a sobering reminder that this can be dangerous. One of the Advanced sessions was red flagged due to a rider going down. All the riders trickled back to the paddock...except for the super friendly, instructor-in-training who was parked next to me. Eventually the recovery team wheeled his beautiful Ducati back to his trailer.
We got word that he was conscious, but a life flight helicopter landed on the track to take him to Columbus. I never heard the full extent of his injuries, but the other guys made it sound like his arm was messed up, but otherwise okay. I don’t know exactly what happened, but the rear tire had a huge flat spot and the other riders said he had locked up the rear coming into the turn off the long back straight and ultimately high sided. The advanced guys get well north of 160 mph on that straight so its not a good place to screw up. I wish him a speedy recovery. Eventually we got back on track and finished up the day without further incident.
At the final meeting with my instructor, he said I was right on the cusp of moving up to intermediate. He told me that at the next track day I go to, to sign up for novice but let the instructor know I’m looking to be evaluated to move up. I was super thrilled to hear that he thought I improved so much, but I’d like to see how I do at the next track day first. We always had a control rider/instructor leading us except for the 2 or 3 laps where he followed me to evaluate my riding. The rest of the time I found myself catching the other riders in my group so I didn’t get many laps to really go at my pace. It’s by no means a race, but it inhibited me from really working on my braking points and from getting a better feel for how much throttle I can roll on coming out of a turn.
Additionally, my instructor noticed that I was starting to consistently drag my pegs in some turns so he told me I should look into getting some higher rearsets. I’ve since put on some tank grip pads and some rearset riser plates to help with the hanging off, but even with stock suspension the SV did great!
Might want some sportier tires though if I keep this up. A suspension upgrade is definitely in the works too.
"nermal" (nermal)
05/31/2017 at 13:33, STARS: 1
Awesome! You need to plan a trip to Pitt Race, it’s not far from the OH border and the layout is one of the best on the East coast. Make sure you plan in advance though, since they have been selling out every time recently.
The going rate to get your existing suspension adjusted by somebody that knows what they are doing is about $40 at the track, and it is well worth it. I’m told that the shock from a ZX-10 is a big upgrade on the SVs as well.