Track day, here I come.

[DachshundUberAlles]

SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! fast approaches. While I'm happy to be getting in a fifth event of the year, it seems that this will be the last one I'll be able to manage for 2016. The bike has been prepped and I just need to move some things to my house in town. I'll be able to leave a bit later in the morning and drop over 30 minutes from my travel time, though the driveway isn't as "friendly" for trailer loading. Hopefully the Yamaha demo ride guys there so I can get another go with the R3, the front running choice for the track only bike I'm looking to get for 2017.

[SpeedyR]

lightweight bikes are awesome for track days. cheap tires, tank of gas lasts all day, built to be a bit more durable than an ultralight 600 or liter bike.

the biggest thing is to find a few other folks that have the same type of bike so you can play together. It's not much fun to be on a 300 when your friends are all on liter bikes. :) But if you can find a couple of people with similar skills and bikes, it's a ton of fun. A buddy just got back from CA and did the "racer for a day" thing at Laguna Seca. They rented 300's for the day and the four people (he didn't know any of them prior to the track day, they were from all over the world) had a blast with each other all day..

have a good time on sunday and stay hydrated. looks to be good weather this weekend!

also if you haven't read it, look on Road Racing World for the article on staying hydrated and focused on hot weekend. great info there..

[DachshundUberAlles]

Another track day "WIN!". As defined by the STT boss, you "win" track day if you go home with a shiny bike, so that gives me a perfect five for five record. Though the temp was around 90, a good bit of cloud cover, good breezes, and lots of time in the media center AC make for an easily tolerable day for me. Topping it off was the Yamaha demo ride crew having a bigger selection of bikes on hand this event. In addition to the R3 and R1 that they had at the previous events I'd attended, they had an R6, an FZ07, and an FZ09. I took the R3 out in the third session and was able to hook up with a young guy on a Ninja 300 for several laps. The R3 showed well, actually able to (slowly) close in on the straights despite the weight difference it was having to overcome. Because my familiarity with the track and skill level has improved since the first time I tried it, the "weaknesses" of its price point based suspension were far more evident to me this time. It would definitely have to have money in that area to be a realistic track day bike for me. I took the FZ09 out in session six, but only got two laps on it before a red flag halted the session completely. While I can see it would be a darn good street bike, it just doesn't cut it for me in a track only environment. The main gripe I had was that it kept me too far forward, not by my own choice. The decision process will be a tough one over the next few months, that's for sure, but the R3 still remains a strong contender.
The VFR was its usual wonderful self in the four sessions I took it out.
At the riders meeting the STT boss (Trevor) announced that there had been a fatality during the Saturday event. A young man named Justin McCloud. They said he had run a few track days with other organizations and this was his first time running with STT. There was a memorial parade lap at 12:00 and there were 117 bikes out on the track in remembrance of the fallen rider. I'm pretty sure Huey of Marietta Motorsports said he was going to post video of the procession on his facebook page.
My apologies for ending this post on such a somber note.

[SpeedyR]

I read about Justins accident. He was from GA but no one I know seems to have known him. I don't know much in the way of details but sounded like it was a solo bike accident and just bad luck (low side, didn't sound like he hit anything or anyone hit him).

the smaller bikes are fun if you have other smaller bikes to run with but yes any price point built bike (R3, RC390, etc) will usually need some help to get up to snuff.