Monday I got to try out Tank’s new suspension on MSR’s old track (1.7miles). The new stuff is incredible compared to the stock stuff on the ZX6e. The feedback the bike doesn’t feel so damn vague and mushy. You actually feel the ripples in the track. I could also feel when I was starting to tuck the front. The best part though was that I had the confidence on Ricochet to not brake and just hold the throttle the whole way through. That was a blast.
The upside was that I stayed consistently under 110 seconds around the track (103 was my best). The down side is that the track record is a bit less than 74 seconds. CMRA races usually have a 90 second pace. So I have 10 seconds to scrape off.
Another bummer for the day was that I never managed to actually touch my knee down. That doesn’t mean I’m leaning the bike enough, I scraped my exhaust pipe on 3 different occasions and I rubbed my left foot peg twice. My coach said my overall body position is good, but that I need to move my butt further over.
The biggest thing I started working on, and will continue next year, is being consistent. I have good lines, but lap to lap I change them. I need to work I picking a set of reference points along the track and nailing them the same way every lap. Interestingly my times are staying fairly consistent. When I started earlier this year I’d usually see a 2 – 3 second average lap time drop per session. That usually meant that by the end of the day I was doing my laps about 10 seconds faster than when I started. Now….I might have dropped my times 2 or 3 seconds for the entire day. Even with all the different lines.
There are a few more track days left in the year, but they are all down in Houston or College station. I’m too lazy to drive that far. Plus I have a business to get started so that it can pay for all this glorious go fast. I estimate I have 4 months (start of November to the end of February) to get things rolling. Not particularly long.
However, the motivator is this: we get a new track next year (Eagles Canyon) and another track day organization is ramping up. Also the family is all primed to go to Barber to watch the AMA and let me do 2 more days of Superbike school. So in all likely hood next year, starting in February, will see 2 track days a month and another 2 days of top notch schooling.
I also want to make a few comments about RideSmart the organizer of yesterday’s fun. First to be clear – a track day absent an ambulance ride is a good day. The main organizations I have to compare against each other are CSS, Loan Star Track Days and Ride Smart. In terms of schooling CSS kicks the other two’s asses. But that is all CSS does, it is in the name. Loan Star runs a great track day. Show up, setup, tech and run your sessions. No pretensions about it, they are what they say they are, its in the name.
My first experience with RS was good. They were disorganized getting things started so the first group didn’t get out until after 9:00am. The classroom material was disorganized and in my opinion a waste of time. I don’t mean to come off too arrogant, but having been to a dedicated school this was a waste of time. The on track coaching was excellent though. That is where RS shined during my first experience.
Jump forward to yesterday. Not the same thing. I’d say my experience was excellent. I ran with the intermediate group this time around. The day got started on time (first riders were out around 8:30) and things ran smoothly. The classroom material this time wasn’t taken as seriously. The lead coach made it more of a coaching session, he asked questions and he and the other coaches talked it out. They also did an exercise on body positioning. They should have done that second instead of waiting until mid-day. The body positioning did help me (point the toe in to the turn). The other thing that helped was Ty’s braking discussion. During my CSS sessions we only did light braking and Keith’s philosophy is to not trail brake. Ty likes to use some brake even after turn in. I found that dragging the brake a bit helped me keep the suspension settled as I transitioned on to the throttle and started my drive out. But the big thing was that I went ahead and started braking a lot harder meaning that I had to move my end braking markers further in to the turn right on top of my turn in points. That of course blew up the rest of my plan. But I’m off track now. My point is that the intermediate classroom was better than the beginners classroom. As for the on track coaching – it was excellent. Zak Chapman (check it out – go ahead click it!) did a stellar job. His feedback with regard to being consistent with my lines (stay out longer) and body position will pay dividends next year.
BTW – Zak is seriously fast. Even doing my fastest he blew by me like I had it in park. Coolest thing I’ve seen.
So overall for track days here in Texas we are freaking lucky. First off – there isn’t really any lock in. I’ll ride with either RS or LSTD and usually I don’t have to make a choice. With a new track here in North Texas and a new track organization though things could be tough. I doubt anyone will be losing business, LSTD and RS usually sellout anyway. But it might be tough having to make a choice. For instance a nightmare scenario would be having to chose between Cresson and Oakhill. Oakhill would probably win, but Cresson (MSR) is so convenient.
Oh, I also got most improved rider yesterday. Blew me away. I really wasn’t expecting that sort of feedback. Feels good.