What you did right ...and what you did wrong? Easy for me ...trying to go too fast & not working on technique. When I had a coach follow me the next day it all began to come together.
Wow, gotta go back to 2005 at Putnam (I lived in the St. Louis, MO area at the time) and it was with...............yep, STT. I even remember who my coach was back then, the guy in charge of our group of 6 in the Novice group. No other than the world famous.......K3.....Chris Onwiler. I think the 6 of us gave him a few grey hairs that day. All of us were very experienced riders on the street and thought we were Rossi in the making.....just waiting for our phone calls from the factories. He kept his cool and we actually had a lot of fun that day (I don't know if he did or not), but all 6 of us didn't really have a clue about track riding........but we sure thought we did, at least for a little while.
2009 at Barber Motorsports Park on my Harley-Davidson XR1200, had no clue what I was doing on the track, but when I passed a Ducati on the straight I was totally pumped!! That was the first and last time I had the XR on the track, bought a Buell XB12r AKA "the Tractor" and the rest is history. Best bike to learn on, enough power to have fun, but not enough to get in trouble with.
2009 Putnam park with STT. my wife and I had the one and only @mastermindtrev I believe we started in group 4ish? the next day we had a now good buddy of our Jeff Chen in group 1... what I feel like we did right. No ego and absorbed everything. What we did wrong. little to know before hand preparations... and no idea how the track ran. just show up and ride... if I could do it again. prep prep prep!
My first track day was the last event of 2011 at Motorsports Park Hastings with Trackaddix. Started off pretty bad because my phone died over night (still don't know how as it was almost full charge when I went to bed), so my alarm never went off. Woke up about an hour late or so and made it to the track just 10-15 minutes before I was supposed to report to the classroom (I was doing the school since it was my first time). Borrowed U-haul trailer, had to unload the bike, still hadn't taken off the mirrors or taped the lights because I was planning on doing it all that morning instead of the night before (I knew nothing then lol). Also I was renting a suit from Ducati Omaha since I wasn't sure if I was going to do this more and didn't want to waste hundreds of dollars on one. So I had to do all of that plus registration in barely any time. I was freaking out like I always do when I'm late to something. I also didn't know a single person there aside from the guy running the event whom I bought my bike from and told me about track days. It was a mess....but then once class started and things calmed down a bit, I started getting more excited about it and once I went out on track it was awesome! I was probably about the 3rd or 4th slowest person out there that day out of everyone but I didn't care. I had a blast! Learned a lot and had more fun than I ever had on a bike before. And the good news is, unlike other activities or sports that are more fun at first and then the fun gradually dissipates as you get used to it, this was not like that....I continued to have more and more fun the more times I went to the track, and still do now 4 years later. Only thing I regretted about that first track day was doing my first at the very end of the season and having to wait 7 months until my 2nd track day!
August 2014 @ Gateway (St. Louis) was my first track day on a 2012 CBR 250. My first 3 sessions were in pouring rain and I have to admit that I was scared but I paid my money and didn't want to waste it. It cleared up in the afternoon and then Sunday was damp but not raining, I had such a good time! What I did right was to quell my fear and ride in the rain. I did no wrong other than to get totally hooked on track day riding and immediately traded in my 250 for a new 2013 zx6r rather than exploring my options for a track only bike. I thought I'd ride both street and track so at that time the purchase was justified but the more track days I did, the less desire to ride street set in and now I have a loan which requires full coverage insurance which eats into my budget for track days. Since that first weekend in August 2014, I've ridden over 40 individual track days at 17 different tracks and have had the time of my life doing so. I love track days!!!
I crashed in turn one at BMP my first trackday. Kept seeing everyone go into the turn really fast and said to myself, "I can do this"! Long story short, I went in faster, for a split second thought "Ooooooo Crap" then I had target fixation on the gravel and that is where I ended up. So, my main problem was not learning at my own pace and trying to keep up with everyone else. Thinking that going fast was about "balls" and not about seat time and technique.
2001 Putnam.... Fouled both plugs on the TL before tech inspection...asked around the pits for a extra set to no avail.. My buddy Adam yanked his out of his SV and we fired mine up to get the engine hot and clean.. Gave mine a gas burn and threw them back in just in time before the riders meeting.... Oh and Montes riders meeting was a hoot..... If anyone has Fur or chrome on your bike go ahead and leave now...... I even have a Pic.... My Coach was Eric I think?? Had a Aprillia.
It was so long ago it wasn't even call STT or sportbike tracktime back them. Sylvania sportbike or superbike I think it was called way back in 2000. First trackday was 1 week before I started racing. Bought a crashed 99 SV 650 on Friday and fixed it enough to ride on Sunday and then went to get my race licence the following Saturday and raced that Sunday.
Mine was so long ago it was at mid Ohio when stt still went there...and my coach that first day owns stt now! I was rocking out a 15 year old black ninja 250 with bias ply tires and got around that track pretty good...so I don't want to hear anybody make excuses that their bike isn't good enough.
doing track days! oh the money I would have right now...... But in all seriousness. My on track was fine as I have raced everything from bicycles to sail boats but... My pit/preparation to on track was bad. Felt really rushed every time and I checked my oil the morning of day 2 and somehow got side tracked and didn't tighten nor re-wire the fill plug and lap #2 of day #2 I dumped oil all over. luckily not on track but in my exhaust, all the body work, boots, suit.... so much so that I wasn't risking going back on track. It leaked oil for 3 weeks and I ended up replacing exhaust heat shield and rear tire.
Grattan, July 2004 with STT.......it had been a great day until the last N session, I was feeling great on my SV650 until I went into T6 hot.....overconfident and no plan to recover. I chopped the throttle, loaded the front tire and low sided.
First track experience was STAR School at Heartland Park Topeka in 2002 on my '96 CBR900RR. Had been riding on the street for about 8 years at that point. Went into the street group and thought I was big stuff when they asked if I wanted to move up the the more advanced group but I declined. Richie Alexander took me to the side and told me I was getting a lot of lean angle; it wasn't the compliment I thought it was. It was very intimidating to be "out on a real racetrack" at first, but once I was out there I settled down pretty quickly. Traded the 900 for an RC51 the next year and went racing.