Track Day Report

[Kajota]

I finished my first track day yesterday and I had a blast. It was on the main track at Summit Point in WV.

Since it was my first track day I was in the Beginner Group. It was a NESBA track day so there were 3 groups. Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced.

The first two session were a bit slow for me but they were worthwhile. The control riders pointed out a few things I was doing wrong. One of my problems was with my feet placement. I wasn't keeping the balls of my feet on the pegs and I had my heels sticking out.

There were 2 lines at the start of a session. One line was a faster line and the other line was a slower line. Starting with the 3rd session of the day I got into the faster line. That was much better. The fast line of the beginner group was just about the right speed for me.

During the first two sessions the liter bikes were killing me. It was the classic problem of catching them in the curves and not being able to pass them in the straights. I would be right behind a liter bike coming out of a turn into a straight (coming out of turn 9 or 10 for instance), I would get just a bit in front and then their power would take over and they would pass me. Of course it doesn't help that I probably weigh 100 lbs more than most of the riders out there.

By the end of the day I was completly worn out. I was just beat. This morning when I got up, the muscles in my thighs were screamin'.
I think I'm going to have to lose a little weight and work out a bit before my next track day in July. I'm doing 2 days over a weekend in Aug at Barber. That's going to be rough.

I did the 'push the caliper pistons in' brake trick at the begining of the day. By the end of the day the brakes were back to very mushy and by the last session were starting the get a little bit scary. Especially on the long straight before turn 1. I would get up to about 138 mph (according to the speedometer) and the brakes just felt very blah. Total mileage for the day was about 140 miles or so. For my next track day I'll probably perform the stupid brake trick after each session. (if I haven't figured a real fix by then).

Here are some pics that my friend took: Track Day Pics

[ This message was edited by: Kajota on 2006-06-17 16:08 ]

[gstar]

I had a fairly similar experience with the liter/litre bikes when I did my track day last week... I have heard a couple of people mention this trick about pushing the caliper piston back in... as a complete technical novice is there someway someone could take a photo to help me? I have no real clue what a caliper piston looks like.. ?? cheers !!

[realizations]

Hit your lever quickly, but briefly, two times before the brake marker for turn one. The master cylinder will be refilled, and the pistons closer to the discs, and the lever will be firmed up.
You could even do that on the front straight while the GSXRs are passing you. The lever stab lasts for at least fifteen seconds.
(I got a license there in '96, what a blast.)

[Kajota]

That double pump idea sounds good. I'll have to give that a try on my next track day.

I'm thinking that I had a combination of standard S3 brake mushiness + brake fade. It wasn't a problem except in turn 1.

Next month I'm doing the Jefferson track at Summit. That one should be interesting since it doesn't have that long straight section.

You got your license? Racing license?

On 2006-06-17 19:48, realizations wrote:
Hit your lever quickly, but briefly, two times before the brake marker for turn one. The master cylinder will be refilled, and the pistons closer to the discs, and the lever will be firmed up.
You could even do that on the front straight while the GSXRs are passing you. The lever stab lasts for at least fifteen seconds.
(I got a license there in '96, what a blast.)

[realizations]

Yeah, track days weren't really happening ten years ago, so if you wanted to be a part of the action, it was $140 for the school, and maybe $125 for the license if you passed. I saw two weeks ago that the schoolie T-shirt over the leathers is still de-rigeur.
I still spectate several times a year, love the scene, but the new Shenendoah Circuit is no good for racers or spectators. Stick to the main. (I thought Jefferson was for cars)

[Kajota]

Yea, from what I've been told, unless you like concrete walls, the Shenadoah circuit is awful. No run-off, very tight.

They have more motorcycle track days on the Jefferson track than main. I actually took a day off work so I could get in a track day on the main track.

My track day was so much fun that I'm toying with the idea of going to VIR begining of July for another track day. Hmmmmm.....

[RedNeck-Rat]

gstar,

Fairly simple fix/tune-up for the brakes is to remove the caliper and clean them and then push the pistons back in. I'll give you the quickie directions here. The caliper pistons they are talking about are what push your brake pads onto the disc. You have a caliper on each side of the front wheel on your brake disc. When you remove your brake caliper you will see them behind the brake pads. Two on each side or you could say two for each pad. Hence the name nissan 4 piston brake calipers. Heres the quick instructions:

Tools: 14mm socket, medium blade flathead screwdriver, brakeclean and towels.

1. Remove the caliper from the front disk (2 bolts) 14mm

2. Squeeze the front brake lever to push the piston out a bit.

3. Clean the brake caliper and pistons with brakeclean

4. Take the flat head screwdriver and compress the 4 pistons back into the caliper.

5. Put the caliper back on the disc and bolt up.

Do the same for the other side and once you have them both back on, pump the brake lever until you feel the brakes working again. You should notice a good impovement in lever travel and I recommend doing this about every 100-1500 miles. Takes about 15 minutes. Sorry no picture but hopefully I explained it well enough. Goodluck,,,,,,,,,