Sport-Touring.Net - 2010 Region 4 Annual Track day

OK...so THAT's what a Track Day is all about....

Absolutely spectacular weather...bright and sunny...a nice breeze to keep folks cool....even the lunch provided was tasty and filling.

Great company. and Miles brought his whole entourage! What a trooper!

As if I needed more proof that it is "...the Rider, not the ride..." I got schooled by everybody on the track...even when I had them out-engined by 3X. Special thanks to Johnny B for the triple dose of "yo mama" Lol

and to Nate, Maggie, Kris, Matt, Bill, Dave, and all the rest for the support and encouragement....and to Ben for the loan of a pair of track-worthy gloves. I'm sure I wrung all of the "slow" out of them!

Lesson Learned #1: I really should have made more of the access to the Control Riders...both when on-track and especially during the down-time. I did not take full advantage of this opportunity for tutoring.

Lesson Learned #1B: Focus on Technique! Technique! Technique! Smooth is good...the photos show it very clearly...my body posture shows as if I am riding on the street...where everybody else is in a more aggressive posture, leaning into the corners and shifting body weight / position appropriately.

Lesson Learned #2: The ST is far more capable than I am...but, having said that, it can be a bit ponderous. It would have been "fun" to run a lighter, more "flickable" 'cycle. But this is/could be an excuse...see LL#1B, above. It is all about the technique, dummy!

Lesson Learned #3: It's hard to "turn off" the habits that save your skin on the street (head on a swivel, look 2X before changing lanes, looking through the guy in front of you to react to what's in front of him, etc...) when on the track....I twice lost concentration / fell off the pace when somebody blew the turn immediately in front of me...couldn't bring myself to ignore them locking up the rear tire and cutting across their rear-end and into the corner on the line I had chosen.

Lesson Learned #3B: ....and failing to turn these back on when you hit the street could be catastrophic. Riding home immediately after the Track Day, I was hyper-conscious of cross streets, merging/diverging traffic, etc, etc, etc...

Lesson Learned #4: Track Days are hard on tires! Bet I took 2,000 miles off the expected remaining life of my PR2's. But there's no doubt that the chicken strips are much thinner now...

All in all, a very successful day! The only tip-over experienced was from a dead stop. Who knew the ST was so light that a slight gust of wind could topple it? Integral Tip over wings up front + aftermarket Tip-over bars = no harm, no foul! Lol

Home before 8:00 PM...a 13 hour day. Out and back, with a days' worth of track sessions...all on less than a single tank of gas! Lol

Topic: 2010 Region 4 Annual Track day - June 9th, Wed, Blackhawk Farms (Read 24865 times)