My trackday experience

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ThomVis
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My trackday experience

Post by ThomVis »

First time out
A little trackday history from my side.
In 2009 I went with 2 friends to the south of France on a 3 day trackday training. Ton had been to trackdays for years with his FZR600 and GSXR600 and entered the fast group, and Arne just got his motorcycle driving license and a dirt cheap YZF750, so him and me entered the slow group. The training consisted of the students (max 3) following an instructor and after each session he commented on what he saw in his mirrors. The 3 days were fun (even when pushing 40°C ; ), learned a lot, but didn't get me all fired up on trackdays. Here is a run filmed by Arne.
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To get to France on a running bike I had to rearrange my bike wrenching time from the streetfighter to the bundle of spare parts that were laying around the garage. Started about 4 months in advance, finished it a month before we were going. Yes, its doable, no, I do not recommend it. Here there is a little story about it as well.
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Second time out
After a year Ton suggested to go to Spa to do a training day there. These are 1 day and a lot less intensive. Which was completely true, because I learned nothing new from the instructors (not their fault), and halfway session 2 we were pretty much on our own. And then the fun started, the excitement level went up a couple of notches. Choosing your own lines, determine where to brake for yourself coming down the straight at 230km/h. Overtaking and being overtaken, and of course, make your own mistakes (spending $10 on overtaking, not on the corner ; ). We went round with GPS trackers and I clocked a 3:28, Arne about the same and Ton was already low into the 3:0x. It was a sunny day, only the last laps in the last session we were riding in light rain.
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My last run
A year of too much followed, so trackdays where not scheduled. Until Arne phoned me "Ton is going to Spa Friday then-and-then", 10 minutes later him and me were subscribed to the slower D group the same day.
Resprayed the trackday bike way in advance, Ton had a problem with fuel delivery fixed and Arne bought a GSXR600 trackbike (and again it was a steal). Discussions were going if he should bring both bikes or just the GSXR. I was full in favor of bringing both, cause if one broke, he could ride the other. Or I could ride the other if mine broke. And he has a big box of spare parts for the YZF750, meaning I didn't have to gather mine.
After some reshuffling with bike trailers the week before we went to Spa on Thursday. Arne with Ton as shotgun and his GSRX and YZF on the trailer, me with my music and my YZF and Ton's GSXR hooked up. Sunny day, no rain, one minor diversion. Arrived late in the afternoon and our neighbors on the paddock were 2 Dutch guys riding 2 days on Spa. They told us they had splendid weather that day, and expected the same for tomorrow. We were worried, because it's never 2 good days in a row on Spa, and that's the optimistic version. We set up camp and Ton fitted his rain-tires.

That night rain showers were accompanied by trucks trying to drive through our tents (or at least it felt like that) and the next morning we woke up to rainy weather, which reflected our moods perfectly. After the mandatory briefing the first session took off for Arne and me. I bought a rain jacket 2 days before we went, and that was a good €80 investment. Arne was very happy he brought his YZF750, because that was a bike he knew, and it has street-tires fitted, opposed to the full race tires on the Suzuki, so he did the sensible thing and started on the Yamaha. We promised ourselves to take it easy and concentrate on riding the right lines and riding position. That went well, we weren't the fastest of the group, but certainly not the slowest either.
Ton's first session (B group) ended after the first lap, his fuel delivery problem was not fixed. He was on the phone with the mechanic and we were trying to fix it using the options he gave us.

The second D session started dry, and the track was drying up as well. Too bad that halfway it started raining again. We anticipated this, so we didn't fit cameras or GPS. The speeds went up compared to the first session, and the speed differences between other riders with it. I was lucky, they were preparing the wave the finish flag to signal the end of the session when I rode by, so I was the last rider on the track.
At the end of the session back at the paddock I was surprised Arne wasn't there. Okay, maybe I wasn't the last rider on the track, raises shoulders.
Until Arne came back to the paddock, without a the YZF! Turns out the second to last lap he was a little behind me, and touched the white line coming out of Eau-Rouge. The bike went into what sounded like a tankslapper, crashed and slid of the track onto the fake grass. Arne wasn't hurt at all, only tore the rain jacket he borrowed from Ton and a couple of new scratches on his suit. The bike was in similar condition, crashpads did their work and the exhaust was only held on by the rear hanger. And because it had been on its side, the spark plugs were fouled by oil.
Ton was just ready with the fix for his GSXR fuel problem, and went for his 2nd session. And was back after lap 1. Two sessions down the drain.
In the break we had time to think about two problems, and came to a mutual solution. Ton's rain-tires were mounted to Arne's GSXR and they would both ride that bike through all sessions.

The third session started in the rain again, but it was a lighter rain and the times between "showers" was getting longer. After lunch, a lot of wrenching and Arne being on his new bike we were back to lines and riding position. There were less riders on the track, the weather did make some quit it seemed. I didn't see a lot of Arne until he overtook me. Back at the paddock he was smiling ear-to-ear. Although the power was less, it was more direct (injection vs. carburetors) and the rain-tires gave a tremendously confident feeling in the corners. After switching the torn rainjacket Ton went out and was positive about the "new" bike as well.

At the beginning of the fourth and last D session it seemed we could have a dry one after all, so the rainjackets stayed home and the cameras came out. Halfway through a light drizzle started, but we didn't care, it was the last session and the track had a nice dry line where we were riding. Now it was game on, the lines and riding position tactic in the last wet session gave us the confidence to go a little faster in the dry, so we were overtaking more. I had a slow start (I always have) and slowly caught up with Arne, stayed behind him a couple of laps to get him on camera. I overtook him coming out of Eau-Rouge and could ride the last two laps relatively unhindered (Arne being the one with the white boots). Both Arne and me were very happy with the last session. Tons last session went without trouble as well. He was almost tempted to make daring overtakes on the not so dry outside, thats how much confidence he was getting from the rain-tires.

Despite the rain I found it a very successful day. Arne was a little less happy he went down during the second session, but the next Sunday we patched the YZF up with some old spark plugs and replaced the worn crash pads, that bike is good to go. Getting the times from the video I did a 3:44 on the last lap. The Dutch national championship boys did their qualifying the next day on a dry track in 2:28. I have a long way to go.
For Ton the next week got a but worse. He gave his bike back to the mechanic to fix it, and kept Arne's GSXR to go riding on Assen the next Tuesday with another friend. Talking to other mechanics at Spa we figured out it was the throttle position sensor that was acting up, not a fuel delivery problem. We shall never know, because his bike was stolen Thursday in front of the mechanics shop...
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Last edited by ThomVis on Fri Aug 26, 2011 7:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Big Jon
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Post by Big Jon »

Great read, a little more exciting and expensive in the end, but somehow the good stories told never really go: we went, we had fun, we came home. If you know what I mean.

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Post by FZRDude »

Hey Thom,

I went in and edited your post only to show where the links were. They just were not showing up well for me in my color scheme.
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ThomVis
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Post by ThomVis »

FZRDude wrote:Hey Thom,

I went in and edited your post only to show where the links were. They just were not showing up well for me in my color scheme.
Ok. Thanks!
Intelligence is alcohol soluble.

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