Trackday at TWS

[El Matador]

Today was my first real trackday at TWS (Texas World Speedway) on my new 996.

I pretty much got NO SLEEP last night, between obsessing about every single detail on the bike and my general predisposition towards not sleeping, I think I got about a full hour of sleep. Maybe less.

I rolled outta bed at 4 and left to pick up the bike at Lu's  and load it into my friends trailer. I was pretty nervous as I was riding a new bike on a strange track with actual traffic, not like my previous experiences.

I took Chill's advice and cornerworked in the morning so I could have the evening sessions to ride in. The weather could not have been more perfect for it, clear, sunny, low of 60 (first session) and high of 85.

Cornerworking was pretty tedious but I got to see some nice bikes going by. I started riding around 1. My friend gave me a lap timer for shits and giggles. Okay on to the good stuff.

Session 1:


I very nervous and took it pretty gingerly, at first I was going so slow that pretty much everyone was passing me, that got me really frustrated. Everyone had had the morning sessions to get to know the track and sort out their bikes, I had not.
 For some reason, my bike felt really squirrelly and I just didn't have any confidence in it, or myself. I decided to make the best of it and try to learn the track as best as I could and try to figure out what lines were the best to take at a each corner. I came out of the session pretty bummed out and questioning my riding abilities.

The best time I could manage was a 2:59.3 Which is pretty bad, specially for the 996.

I discussed my woes to my friend, and he suggested to lower the tyre pressure a bit,  I went down from 34r 32f to 30.5r 28.5f



Session 2:



THIS BIKE IS ON RAILS! The change in tyre pressures was amazing, I felt so much more planted on the bike and confident, it was a night and day difference. I started to get a lot more confident on the bike, hanging out a lot more and leaning the bike like never before. I concentrated on my body positioning and avoiding getting crossed up, and finally by the end of the session, I was up to pace. I even made a couple of passes (on the outside of turn 7) and I felt great by the time it ended. I analyzed my riding and the biggest problem I had was not trusting the brakes enough, meaning that I would roll off the power before the corner until I was down to a speed I felt comfortable at. Also, I was not rolling on the throttle as much as I should have, as evidenced by the couple of people who passed me by throttling out of the corners a lot faster than me.

 best lap time: 2:44.3


Session 3:


I forgot to turn the timer on this session  bang head bang head bang head

Again the bike felt like it was on rails, and I started carrying a lot more speed through the corners, Specially on turn 1. I was braking a lot for this turn and coming down from the main straight. I got a lot more comfortable with just trusting the front and hanging off until I was not braking at all for that turn but just downshifting into 3 and and picking the right line. I glanced at the clocks and was surprised that I was taking it at 80-90 mph. (not all that fast really but fast for me). I got a bit of a shock a couple of laps into this session when on the carroussel I scraped my knee and boot. I was very happy  Grin Grin Grin Towards the end of the session, I dragged my left knee (intentionally) on turn 7, right after the back strait. I made a couple of passes and only got passed by 4 (non instructors) riders. same problem with me not trusting the brakes enough to get up to a speed to use them properly.


Session 4:


This session was a mini session, only 10 mins, so I was only able to do 4 laps.

I really tried to focus on not crossing up in this session and my body positioning. I felt amazingly well on the bike, very confident and dialed things up a notch, there was some traffic but I was able to clear most of it by the  second lap, and after that I just concentrated on being smooth and being properly positioned. Scraped both knees again  Grin Grin Grin No boot this time  Smiley

I was very surprised by when the session ended that my best lap time was a 2:31.2 I did not expect to shave a half minute of my time, even tough it is still pretty bad Wink

I wished that I could've kept on going because I felt that I had a lot more to improve upon, but sadly, we had to leave.

 Next trackday is in october. I'm already signed up  Smiley Smiley Smiley Smiley Smiley
 

[El Matador]

For those that are not familiar with the layout:

[El Matador]

any advice from the more track going folk on how to get over the problems?

[derby]

any advice from the more track going folk on how to get over the problems?

what're your problems, again?

[gm2]

..besides not sleeping?

[Spidey]

Sounds like fun.  Congrats. 

Put away the timer for at least the first half of the day.  You need to work on basics (lines and body position) and on making things feel like they're slowing down.  Focusing on your times is not a good way to do that. 

You're probably going to have a laundry list of things you want to accomplish or work on the next time you go to the track.  Pare it down to one or two things and focuz on them.  Otherwise, you'll be trying to do too much at once and end up trying to go too fast too early.  That's a recipe for a crash.

[derby]

..besides not sleeping?

i never slept when i raced there, either. 

[El Matador]

what're your problems, again?

I'm coasting too much. Ideally I should be either on the throttle or on the brakes right?

[gm2]

I'm coasting too much. Ideally I should be either on the throttle or on the brakes right?

so then... do that.   

it comes with time and practice.  'canyon riding' around a track isn't a bad thing.  you aren't in a race.  get a bunch of seat time and it'll happen.

[Spidey]

I'm coasting too much. Ideally I should be either on the throttle or on the brakes right?

I think for your first coupla track days, coasting is just fine.  Take your time to practice setting up for the corner, focusing on your body position, choosing your line, sticking to your line (get right to the apex, not three feet away from it) and getting a smooth roll-on early in the turn leading to WFO when you've got the bike stood up.  When your lines and body position are good, you'll start carrying more corner speed without realizing it and will coast less.  Reference points are going to be key.  Try writing down reference points (brake maker, turn in point, apex, exit reference point) for each turn.  What are you looking at as you go through each turn and what marks are you trying to hit?

That hard charging style of going WFO then hard braking at the last minute just makes you feel like you're trying to go fast without actually doing it.  You'll work a lot, be riding right on the edge, and won't be going any faster than if you work on the basics.  Once you get your body position and lines down, then you can move your brake markers closer and closer and closer to the turn.

[El Matador]

Thanks for the advice guys!

[gm2]

Thanks for the advice guys!

the single most important thing you can do on the track is relax.  seriously, relax and have fun and you'll start to pick up lots of time.

the 3-step thing that spidey just described is also pretty important. 

[El Matador]

i never slept when i raced there, either. 

Do you still come here?

[derby]

Do you still come here?

not since i moved to cali.

[El Matador]

not since i moved to cali.

Gotcha. How did you like it?