1st Track Day Experiences

quote:

ORIGINAL: woodyracing

couple things...

first, no you shouldn't have signed up for the intermediate group, now from the way you described this trackday on the other board, I would say that it sounds like a crappy group with a slow as hell Novice group, but most orgs aren't like that.  For example, if you jumped into the Intermediate group at a NESBA trackday you'd get eaten alive in a hurry (they won't let you do that anyway, but its just an example...)
If you didn't do it, you should have asked to be bumped to the next group if you didn't think you belonged in the slower group, most orgs will accomidate you if for no other reason than safety (riding fast in a slow group isn't safe, especially when said faster rider has the "I'm gonna start at the back and lap all of you" attitude...      hint hint)

passing everybody might have made your day more exciting but most likely if the other riders were really "noobs" you probably spooked some of them, and if they were working on techniques discussed in the school it was probably pretty distracting for them as well.  Chances are you weren't the only person that paid to ride that day...

if your faster than the other people in your group, you start at the front, its basic trackday ettiquite.  Now like I said, it appears the group you rode with didn't do a great job of covering this kind of stuff with you, I'd find another group to ride with if I were you

the whole point of telling you, you wouldn't be the fastest out there was so you'd check your attitude at the door, but you obviously didn't do that...

no offense to you personally, thats just the completely wrong attitude for doing trackdays, if you want to race do a race school and go racing (a real race school, not a track noob "school")

one question, why did you run off track?

quote:

ORIGINAL: woodyracing

I'm just trying to help you out man, not bashing just offering some free advice.  Don't want it?  I don't care I'm a stubborn mofo lol
you need to do a real school of some sort, your body positioning in your pics is pretty far off, especially with a bike like an F3 you need to carry corner speed to go fast and you can't do that sitting flat on the bike with your head straight up in the air 

now thats normal for a first time track rider, my first trackday pics looked exactly like that.  I just takes a lot of practice and most importantly an open mind to learn how to do it right

quote:

ORIGINAL: woodyracing
1.
on the track you hang off the bike any time your in a corner, the whole point is to move your center of gravity so you can carry more speed per lean angle of the bike
there are very very few times on a race track you don't need to lean off while turning the bike, a kink in the middle of a straight or a slight bend before a hard turn, in those cases your usually fully tucked in or setting up for the next real corner
2for example the back straight at Road Atlanta bends to the right as you reach top speed (kinda nerve racking the first time you do it lol), now its not an actual corner but the bike does lean.  If you tried to lean off the bike then, you'd be destroying the aerodynamics to gain nothing so you'd lose a lot of time.
3.
as far as technique, most of the time new track riders think they're leaning way off when they're not.  I'd say more often than not at least, so really exagerate your body positioning for the first few trackdays while you figure out your own style.  4.The basics are balls of feet on pegs, butt and upper body off to the inside, with your outside arm resting on the gas tank (not "resting" exactly but the inside of your elbow should be close to the center of the gas tank).  I like to "kiss the mirrors", meaning keeping your head low to the inside, leading with your inside shoulder.  Some like to keep their head a little higher for a sense of balance but that never really seemed an issue to me

your shouldn't need to stick your knee out, if your leaning off the bike and riding with the balls of your feet on the pegs, it will scrape the ground with any real lean angle.  Most use it to judge how far they can lean, thats about all its good for (Rossi might can save a front end slide using his knee on the ground but us mere mortals usually aren't nearly that good).
If your doing everything else right, the knee will just be there. 5. Remember dragging a knee is an effect, NOT a cause and definitely shouldn't be a primary goal.

here is a comparo pic of my first trackday and when I learned how to do it right, same corner, same bike (note: both pics were in NESBA's beginner group)
so just keep with it, do a school if you can and get some practice



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