Port4mance
Well-known member
First of all I must say I :love BARF. I woke up on Monday, March 5 dreading my day at work. After lunch I was doing my usual BARF surfing when I saw a post from NoGall offering up a free track day (with certain conditions). After 2 minutes of figuring out I met the conditions I knew the track day was mine. I threw my name in the bucket, with no idea what Sears Point would bring to me and my husky, but I was ready to find out. Before 3:00 pm NoGall pulled my number and it was on!
On the Friday before the track day I picked up the Novice School Certificate from NoGall in SF, and thanked him immensely, before stopping by SuperMote Engineering for some track day safety - rear axle block sliders, front sliders and bar end sliders. I was amazed by the quality of the SME products and was happy to suck off the Fresno yak before I left. :teeth
I spent the Sunday before the track day installing all my SME bits, pullin my lights and changing my cooling sytem to Water Wetter. Piece of cake on a motard! I then headed to a friends house in Fremont getting a little closer to the track, knowing I wouldn't be able to sleep the night before my first track day.
I headed out for Sears Point at about 6:00 am psyching myself up for what was to come. I got the track right about 7:00 am. By 8:30 I had my bike teched and was chillen with my Moto Shoes homies anxiously waiting my to get on the track.During the rider meeting they gave an overview of how the day would flow. The first session was going to be a sighting lap, going very slow following an instructor. After that there would be three school session after each riding session and there would be instructors available during the entire day to answers any questions you might have.
During the sighting lap it was 2 riders per instructor, Zoom Zoom had an amazing student to instructor ration, and we took a gingerly pace around the track following the racing lines. At this point my excitement to take to the track at speed was over whelming. The elevation changes and technicality of the turns had me grinning from ear to ear in my helmet. After a few laps around the track, switching positions with the rider behind me halfway through, it was off to the first school session.
The first class session was about braking and throttle. I can’t remember any of the instructor’s names but he was really focusing on the smoothness of throttle and breaking. Emphasizing that you should always be either on the brakes or the throttle (not necessarily accelerating) to maximize your bikes suspension. The class lasted about 30 minutes and had great info on how to link your breaking and throttle through turns, if you want more detail you’ll have to take the school.
With the first class session done, Braking and Throttle fresh in my head, I hit the track. From the hot pit I head up the hill into turn 2. Ooops, feel like I’m going to fast, let off the throttle. Didn’t I just learn not to do that? Turn 3 same thing, turn 4 same thing. That is basically how my first session went. Towards the end I was braking and accelerating more but there were still a lot of “Ooops feels to fast, let of the throttle” moments. I wasn’t too thrilled with my first session, but it was the first session and I knew I would get a better feel as the day went on.
The next class session was about reference points. The instructor started off by asking if we had seen the cones on the track. There were cones on the track???? Could have fooled me because I didn’t see any! The instructor talked a lot about how to pick reference points and how to adjust your breaking, turn in and acceleration. This was a great session and I had a feeling it was going to really help with my “Ooops feels to fast, let of the throttle” problem I has having the previous track session.
Heading out on the next track session I was amazed to see cones all over the track. Where the hell did those come from??? At least three cones on every turn, first cone for a breaking reference point and the last cone to turn. This made a huge difference in my riding and I was really starting to feel the smoothness coming. Turns were starting link up and it felt great to always be on either the brake or the gas. At this point I was feeling great, starting to pass people and really having a good time. After this session I stopped by to check out some of com3’s pictures. Man did I look slow in the pics, it felt like I was leaning over a lot more than that. :laughing. Joe (com3) commented on how I was off the racing line and I should hook up with an instructor to tow me around the track.
I took his advice and saw a fellow Barfer and Instructor Big Oz and asked if he could tow me around, he was already going to be towing around Ratters but he set me up with another fellow Barfer and Instructor Maxx Lean. Right away following Pete around I noticed he was turning in a lot later that I had been, which in turn lead to a lot more drive out of the turn. Following Pete dramatically increased my smoothness and I ever started to feel my stomach drop going through a few turns (love the elevation change at sears point). After a few laps of following Pete he had me take the lead. Without following Pete I kept trying to late apex but I ended up turning in earlier. After the Session, Pete followed me back to the pit and spent some time talking about how late apexing is the fastest path around Sears. I think following Pete and the after session one on one instruction was the most help of the day.
There was only one more class session and it was on body positioning. I listened to this but since it was about Sport Bikes it was not a lot of help on my Motard. I think my biggest problem of the day was my body positioning. I am used to riding leg out but I didn’t feel comfortable doing that at high speeds (I still put my leg out through 10 & 11 and those turns felt great). I never hung off a bike so I wasn’t really sure how to on my motard. I’m going to have to try and find some motard vids at sears to see others riding styles there. Another problem I was having was dragging my feet. I though I had my toes on the peg but after seeing pictures from com3, I was just about resting the peg against my heel. I think this must have been from riding last weekend at Holister. Body position will be a goal for my next trackday.
I spend the rest of the day trying to late apex and smoothing out my lines. I had a real hard time with late apexing, I always wanted to turn in early. I had to force my self to stay up longer and eventually started to grasp the concept. I was feeling really smooth around the track in my later sessions. The only problem (besides body position) I was having towards the end of the day was that you can’t pass on the inside in the C group. This was especially problematic with late apexing. I would dive late and have to let off as I was driving out of the turn on the inside of another rider. It also did help that sport bikes could walk away from my thumper on the straights with no problem.
This has to be one of the high points in my motorcycling years. Sears point was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to go back there and also try out all the tracks in the area. I have a feeling this is going to be end up being a very expensive FREE track day. :cry
Thanks again to NoGall and Zoom Zoom for an awesome experience.
On the Friday before the track day I picked up the Novice School Certificate from NoGall in SF, and thanked him immensely, before stopping by SuperMote Engineering for some track day safety - rear axle block sliders, front sliders and bar end sliders. I was amazed by the quality of the SME products and was happy to suck off the Fresno yak before I left. :teeth
I spent the Sunday before the track day installing all my SME bits, pullin my lights and changing my cooling sytem to Water Wetter. Piece of cake on a motard! I then headed to a friends house in Fremont getting a little closer to the track, knowing I wouldn't be able to sleep the night before my first track day.
I headed out for Sears Point at about 6:00 am psyching myself up for what was to come. I got the track right about 7:00 am. By 8:30 I had my bike teched and was chillen with my Moto Shoes homies anxiously waiting my to get on the track.During the rider meeting they gave an overview of how the day would flow. The first session was going to be a sighting lap, going very slow following an instructor. After that there would be three school session after each riding session and there would be instructors available during the entire day to answers any questions you might have.
During the sighting lap it was 2 riders per instructor, Zoom Zoom had an amazing student to instructor ration, and we took a gingerly pace around the track following the racing lines. At this point my excitement to take to the track at speed was over whelming. The elevation changes and technicality of the turns had me grinning from ear to ear in my helmet. After a few laps around the track, switching positions with the rider behind me halfway through, it was off to the first school session.
The first class session was about braking and throttle. I can’t remember any of the instructor’s names but he was really focusing on the smoothness of throttle and breaking. Emphasizing that you should always be either on the brakes or the throttle (not necessarily accelerating) to maximize your bikes suspension. The class lasted about 30 minutes and had great info on how to link your breaking and throttle through turns, if you want more detail you’ll have to take the school.
With the first class session done, Braking and Throttle fresh in my head, I hit the track. From the hot pit I head up the hill into turn 2. Ooops, feel like I’m going to fast, let off the throttle. Didn’t I just learn not to do that? Turn 3 same thing, turn 4 same thing. That is basically how my first session went. Towards the end I was braking and accelerating more but there were still a lot of “Ooops feels to fast, let of the throttle” moments. I wasn’t too thrilled with my first session, but it was the first session and I knew I would get a better feel as the day went on.
The next class session was about reference points. The instructor started off by asking if we had seen the cones on the track. There were cones on the track???? Could have fooled me because I didn’t see any! The instructor talked a lot about how to pick reference points and how to adjust your breaking, turn in and acceleration. This was a great session and I had a feeling it was going to really help with my “Ooops feels to fast, let of the throttle” problem I has having the previous track session.
Heading out on the next track session I was amazed to see cones all over the track. Where the hell did those come from??? At least three cones on every turn, first cone for a breaking reference point and the last cone to turn. This made a huge difference in my riding and I was really starting to feel the smoothness coming. Turns were starting link up and it felt great to always be on either the brake or the gas. At this point I was feeling great, starting to pass people and really having a good time. After this session I stopped by to check out some of com3’s pictures. Man did I look slow in the pics, it felt like I was leaning over a lot more than that. :laughing. Joe (com3) commented on how I was off the racing line and I should hook up with an instructor to tow me around the track.
I took his advice and saw a fellow Barfer and Instructor Big Oz and asked if he could tow me around, he was already going to be towing around Ratters but he set me up with another fellow Barfer and Instructor Maxx Lean. Right away following Pete around I noticed he was turning in a lot later that I had been, which in turn lead to a lot more drive out of the turn. Following Pete dramatically increased my smoothness and I ever started to feel my stomach drop going through a few turns (love the elevation change at sears point). After a few laps of following Pete he had me take the lead. Without following Pete I kept trying to late apex but I ended up turning in earlier. After the Session, Pete followed me back to the pit and spent some time talking about how late apexing is the fastest path around Sears. I think following Pete and the after session one on one instruction was the most help of the day.
There was only one more class session and it was on body positioning. I listened to this but since it was about Sport Bikes it was not a lot of help on my Motard. I think my biggest problem of the day was my body positioning. I am used to riding leg out but I didn’t feel comfortable doing that at high speeds (I still put my leg out through 10 & 11 and those turns felt great). I never hung off a bike so I wasn’t really sure how to on my motard. I’m going to have to try and find some motard vids at sears to see others riding styles there. Another problem I was having was dragging my feet. I though I had my toes on the peg but after seeing pictures from com3, I was just about resting the peg against my heel. I think this must have been from riding last weekend at Holister. Body position will be a goal for my next trackday.
I spend the rest of the day trying to late apex and smoothing out my lines. I had a real hard time with late apexing, I always wanted to turn in early. I had to force my self to stay up longer and eventually started to grasp the concept. I was feeling really smooth around the track in my later sessions. The only problem (besides body position) I was having towards the end of the day was that you can’t pass on the inside in the C group. This was especially problematic with late apexing. I would dive late and have to let off as I was driving out of the turn on the inside of another rider. It also did help that sport bikes could walk away from my thumper on the straights with no problem.
This has to be one of the high points in my motorcycling years. Sears point was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to go back there and also try out all the tracks in the area. I have a feeling this is going to be end up being a very expensive FREE track day. :cry
Thanks again to NoGall and Zoom Zoom for an awesome experience.
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