just did my first track day!!! - Ducati.ms

bmxer4liffe · Aug 27th, 2011, 8:34 pm

soo i just had my first track day at california speedway. i gotta say i knew i would love it but i might be a lil more obsessed than i thought. i always knew my base 749 was under powered but i dont even care anymore. with the proper exit speed i was passing all types of bike even on the straight! no lie i took countless 1000 in the straight i couldnt belive it, im not trying to brag im not fast(yet) by any means but i def had a blast and cannot wait to go again.
and i love my duck just that much more. unfortunatly i had one goal which was to get my knee down but that didnt happen this time but i did learn alot anyway.

BTW if anyone lives in the huntington beach/costa mesa area and wants to ride let me know.

HarleyF16 · Aug 27th, 2011, 8:49 pm

Your excitement is obvious ...been there. Pretty cool to discover this fantastic way of enjoying your Duc! Don't obsess about the knee ...in due time.

Jeff_H · Aug 27th, 2011, 8:56 pm

Congrats! I discovered track days this summer as well, now I'm hooked. My tire vendor loves me...

Have fun!

Jeff

bmxer4liffe · Aug 27th, 2011, 9:16 pm

ya def love it i just dont know how im going to keep up with the cost

tye1138 · Aug 27th, 2011, 9:22 pm

California speed way is my favorite track in LA because its technical, it has good pavement and its super fast. Its funny to hear your reaction to passing by people on liter bikes, that was my first impression of track days when I started going as well. Its a whole lot of fun when you first start because your constantly learning, your constantly discovering new things. I really miss those innocent days of just riding for fun! If you don't go a lot and just go for fun, those feelings won't ever go away. I went to every single Fast Track California Speedway event in 2009, every single bloody one, sat and sun. I worked out a deal with them for 2 day events, I practically lived there. I got to know the group of "regulars" pretty good and only a hand-full of them were anywhere near my speed. Guys on liter bikes would blow past me on the straight and I'd catch right up under brakes on the entrance to corner 3 or even 12. It got disgusting towards the end of the 2009 season, because as you start to go quicker and spend more time with quicker guys, you realize how SLOW you really are! At the end of my track riding life, I was pulling 1:34's consistently on my worn-out, haggard 749R race bike with 2 year old, used take-off slicks. I don't even wanna know how quick I would have been on an 848 or even a 1198... The guys I was riding with were a good 4 seconds quicker then I was, in the 1:29's in most cases. Mind you, AMA superbike laptimes are in the 1:23's.

If you are bored, and I mean really bored, watch this video of how I started riding, its a hoot, lots of footage from fontana. It will be very familiar to you!

http://www.madducracing.com/movies/fromridertoracer.mov

Sounds like your having fun! Keep up the good work and give those liter bikes hell!

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmxer4liffe

ya def love it i just dont know how im going to keep up with the cost

Sadly, it only gets more expensive... Sadly, the expense usually gets to ya and you wind up doing what Chuck and many others including myself have done; found other ways of having fun outside of track riding/roadracing. I ride motocross and Chuck, I think he plays around off road with his KTM. Can't beat that with a stick, awesome fun the dirt is!

bmxer4liffe · Aug 27th, 2011, 9:45 pm

ill check out that video when im done wrighting this. I couldnt amagine going to every event there is no way i could ever afford that but i bet it made you fast as hell. There is a chicane after turn 9 now, i heard a few of the level 3 riders saying it added 3-4 sec. to there laptime. but regardles 1.34 is rediculous fast laptime.

**Chuckracer** · Aug 27th, 2011, 9:49 pm

Man...it never goes away. Not really. If I had the money, hardware and software I'd be doing track days again...as often as possible.
I can live without the racing, no problem, but to get out there and challenge my personal limits and maybe play with that "Red Mist" just a little bit...oh yeah!

It's the same thing with music...I can live without the live gigging - that's just a pain in the ass with very little payback, but those moments in the rehearsal room when you're inventing in real time with talanted folks on the same page...magic. There are a lot of parallels.

ANYHOO...congrats! You're not a BMXer any longer...you've graduated!

tye1138 · Aug 27th, 2011, 11:18 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmxer4liffe

ill check out that video when im done wrighting this. I couldnt amagine going to every event there is no way i could ever afford that but i bet it made you fast as hell. There is a chicane after turn 9 now, i heard a few of the level 3 riders saying it added 3-4 sec. to there laptime. but regardles 1.34 is rediculous fast laptime.

We had the chicane in 2007/2008, but they pulled it out because they fixed the pavement in that section. People with messed up front ends (IE not enough rebound) were getting caught off-guard in that section and since there is no run-off, they kept crashing. When my friend Joey died their at the beginning of 2009, they didn't do anything about it, I blamed his suspension guy, but that was just me. But evidently someone recently went off big-time and died recently so they put back in the chicane. I haven't seen the 2011 chicane, but it if it was like the one back in 07/08, then it would for sure add at least a second on your laptimes because you can't just jet out of 9 and down the mid straight.

Ohh and my point in showing you my laptimes is the sheer fact of how out of control one can get in the addiction... I spent $13,000 on trackday expenses in 2009 alone and what did I get? A measly 1:34 laptime, nowhere near fast enough. Yea from the outside, you can say, WOW thats fast, but when you are that guy and you are doing those times, all your looking at is the guy who is 2 seconds a lap quicker and trying to find out where he is making up that time. It never ends, when your "quick" (I was not fast) you wanna be quicker. When your fast (wish I was) all you wanna be is faster.

tye1138 · Aug 27th, 2011, 11:24 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckracer

Man...it never goes away. Not really. If I had the money, hardware and software I'd be doing track days again...as often as possible. I can live without the racing, no problem, but to get out there and challenge my personal limits and maybe play with that "Red Mist" just a little bit...oh yeah!

Nope, it sure doesn't. I hadn't ridden a street bike for almost 2 years until today where I got to borrow a friends 748R for the weekend for shits and giggles since I just re-built it. Put my leathers on, went out for a quick jaunt to a friends house, it brought back so many memories. One of my other racing friends and I were sitting around watching GP qualifying today and reminiscing about the good ol' days of 08/09 when we raced together. Man, good times, I miss'em but I've found an outlet for my "red mist" in a dirty, yet very fun sport of motocross. I'm amazed at how much I've fallen in love with MX, but its not roadracing and I'm still a roadracing guy in the long run.

:sigh: maybe some day I'll go back on the track, with a 1199R and see if I can break my WSIR track record! LOL

I'm dreamin' yes...

strat10 · Aug 29th, 2011, 4:31 pm

Quote:

If you are bored, and I mean really bored, watch this video of how I started riding, its a hoot, lots of footage from fontana. It will be very familiar to you! http://www.madducracing.com/movies/fromridertoracer.mov

Awesome video! Well done sir! I too feel the bug to go racing, but for now, I will enjoy the few track days I have, and keep it that way.