startriding.com archives

Sunday, March 18, 2007
  Willow Springs Trackday #3
I was starting to go through crackday, I mean trackday, withdrawals lately and finally got my butt and trusty R6 out to Willow Springs (the big track) for the 3rd time and my 6th track outing overall. This was also my 3rd trackday with Cal-Sportbike, whom I strongly recommend to those who enjoy a more relaxed experience.

For those of you who've never done a trackday, they run a good trackday school at no extra cost. I highly recommend it as a first trackday for anyone who feels they're ready for the challenge of the track. Most trackday organizers will break up the riders into 3 groups (novice / intermediate / advanced), but Cal-Sportbike uses only 2 groups so everyone can get more riding time in.

Good ol' turn 4

Prepping the bike took a couple of days. I had to get new tires (Dunlop Qualifiers again) and my radiator fluid hadn't been flushed in a while. I hate flushing the radiator because taking the fairings off and putting them back on just plain sucks. The rest of the prep - taping lights, removing mirrors, disconnecting the headlights and tail lights - takes just a few minutes.

Transportation was no gimme this time either. I had to borrow a friend's car (hers is set up for towing) and rent a U-Haul trailer. I was also hauling another friend's bike, so I had to get a larger trailer with enough room. I rented the 5x9 ramp trailer from U-Haul, which is excellent for hauling bikes. It has an easy ramp for loading/unloading and tie-down loops at all 4 corners.

the bikes loaded in the trailer at 5:30 am

My day started with a brutal 3:30 am wake up call, but that was because I had to:

Shockingly we had enough time to stop at Mickey D's for breakfast and still made it there in time. Our other two friends arrived a little later and we set up camp in the parking lot. The weather was perfect. We finished taping up our bikes, got them through inspection and went to the rider's meeting.

Our pit area

Finally it was time to get on the track. This was my first time riding in the fast group so I was a little curious about the speeds. To my relief I was able to hold my own but there were definitely a few really fast riders. One of those riders was Jason Curtis, AMA Superbike racer. He was insanely fast around the track and smoked me repeatedly. He hosted a Q & A session late in the morning, which I have to say was really helpful in giving me a few things to work on. More specifically, his comments about his braking points and how far into the specific turns he was trail braking really gave me something to measure against. I worked on trail braking the rest of the afternoon and really made some good progress.

Jason Curtis, AMA Superbike racer, about to spank me

By the end of the day I felt like I had improved quite a bit on the big Willow track. I was definitely braking later, deeper and smoother, and I definitely picked up a lot of speed in a couple of areas of the track that gave me a hard time before. At the very end of the day I rode my friend's Suzuki SV1000 for a few laps to capture some onboard video (she's got a really cool little video camera hooked up to the nose of the bike). I eased up to make sure I didn't crash her bike, so those of you familiar w/ Willow Springs will notice I'm downshifting and braking a little early in places. That was really fun though. :) Enjoy the video, and some more pics are below.







Labels: , ,

 

startriding.com's archives from 2008 and earlier. Visit the www.startriding.com home page for the updated blog.

My Photo
Name: Ray
Location: Los Angeles, California, United States
ARCHIVES
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
February 2007
March 2007
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008


Powered by Blogger