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My first track day

Discussion in 'Motorcycle Racing and Track Days' started by kiffsta, Apr 10, 2014.

  1. kiffsta

    kiffsta Senior Member

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    My track day aspirations started after going to see Mark Boddy race at the Barry Sheene festival of speed in Sydney in 2013, so when I bought a Honda CBR250RR from Yong it was game on. It was a semi complete bike that had some front end damage which I purchased for $800
    I used Simon Dickson’s build guide on the Team Tiger website and slowly started getting the old girl track ready which included race glass, quick action throttle, new track tyres and a full carby rebuild thanks to Blair from LiteTek. Fast forward to Xmas 2013, I opened my gifts and among them was a card from my wife which had a voucher from Red Balloon for a track day, talk about stoked… that gave the impetus to get the bike track ready.

    I booked my track day on-line and it stated I had to be at the track by 8am, Phil came down and help me get the trailer loaded the night before. As I hadn’t ridden the CBR in anger, I also loaded up my Aprilia RS250 as a backup, we also took a shedload of tools and a few spare parts.

    When I arrived at Queensland Raceway, I went a checked in, filled out the necessary paperwork which included signing lots of indemnity forms. I was then directed to take my bike and helmet to scrutineering where they performed a check of the bike. Much to my dismay, my back failed this check as one of my footpegs was a tad loose, back to the pits and I nipped up the offending bolt and headed back to have it rechecked. At 9am there was a riders briefing where we told about the flags etc. We were all graded into groups, I was in the red group which was for beginners, we were told no undertaking and no passing in corners, we were sent back to our pits and awaiting our turn on the track, By this time I was absolutely shitting bricks, and I don’t mean maybe. Here I was at a racetrack dressed in my shiny new leathers, I have never ridden on a track, I’m on a bike that I hadn’t ridden and I have brand new tyres that weren’t ridden in. Apart from a Triumph Daytona 675, all the other bikes in the red group were 1000cc. We were waved off for a 2 lap warm up and I took it rather easy, after the first lap, the rest of the group were half a lap in front of me, I though bugger it, let’s have some fun and I opened her up. After 7 laps my temp gauge was almost red so I pulled of the track and went back to the pits, she cooled down pretty quickly and I did some quick wiring to force my thermo fan to stay on all the time. I then went out for my 2nd run, I started finding my lines and really started enjoying myself, at one point during this session I was pushing hard though a right hander and I felt the back end slide… somehow I caught it and avoided a high side.. yay for me.

    We did one more session before the lunch break and I felt my tyres were really working for me, I was really getting into the corners….. and to be honest I couldn’t stop smiling. I said to Phil in the pits I felt like the guys on Top Gear which do a the star in a cheap priced car as I was talking to myself like brake.. brake… BRAKE….., the bike was still getting hot and I suspect I might have a dodgy thermostat, I will look at that later. Simon was texting me and suggested acid dipping my radiator to clean out the crud.

    So it was now lunch time and we saw a helicopter arrive at the track with Troy Bayliss and Chris Vermulin who were doing 2 up hot laps. We headed up to the café and grabbed some lunch then went out to watch Troy, one guy had flown up from Adelaide for this and Troy came out of the last turn on the back wheel and mono’ed the entire straight with a pillion…. It was insane. Troy took about 8 guys out for hot laps on his Ducati and on the last one his bike died coming into the last corner. It’s quite a sight seeing his push his bike down pit lane with his pillion walking back. The team from Champion ride days went up and grabbed the bike so Troy walked down pit lane, he stopped by our pit and said gday and shook our hands… that was pretty cool !!!

    We had 4 more sessions in the afternoon, they were fairly uneventful except for one corner where I turned in early and was heading for the concrete curbing, I straightened up and then found myself heading off the track, I did manage to save it, but I honestly thought I was a goner. Towards the end I was managing to keep her between 14000 and 16000 rpms around the track.. awesome !!! I felt I getting faster and faster throughout the day... this is soo much fun !!!

    I finished my last session with a big smile of my face, this was without a doubt an amazing experience for me, the little Honda which I now called my little taxi performed incredibly well. I wanted to thank Phil for being my crew chief as well as a few other who helped me get out there.

    My wife Karyn – for buying me a track day voucher, and being so supportive.
    Litetek – Thanks Blair, carbs seals were awesome
    Simon from Team Tiger – your build page helped me out, plug thanks for the race glass, H bar and Quick action throttle and the advice you shared.
    Yong – thanks for selling me your Cibby
    Mark – for painting my bike
    Rob from Cycleright – for doing my valves and tuning my bike
    Xcitebikes – for supplying me a heap of parts at great prices.

    Will I do it again, hell yeah…. It’s the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

    A few more pics can be found in the Showcase - http://2fiftycc.com/index.php?showcase/my-first-track-day-honda-cbr250rr.73/

    Cheers
    Kiffsta

    track day 052.JPG
     
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    Last edited: Apr 10, 2014
  2. Tim_

    Tim_ resident nutcase Contributing Member Dirty Wheel Club

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    Awesome to hear you had such an amazing time. Just wish I could have gotten out there. Should get more guys on here with race bikes and have a 2fifty.com race day.
     
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  3. Frankster

    Frankster Grey Pride...Adventure before Dementia Staff Member Premium Member Ride and Events Crew

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    Well done Chris. Sounds like you'll need plastic surgery to get the smile off your face!
     
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  4. kiffsta

    kiffsta Senior Member

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    Yes sir... that was without a doubt one of the most awesome experiences ever.. the best part was I arrived home and my wife said she was happy I enjoyed it and that I should book another :thumb_ups:

    If you have an inkling to do one of these days, then I say go do it. You wont be disappointed
     
  5. Frankster

    Frankster Grey Pride...Adventure before Dementia Staff Member Premium Member Ride and Events Crew

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    We're a little spoiled down here. Our track days are at Broadford, Winton and (drum role) Phillip Island. Broadford's a great little track (I love it); Winton's flat and boring, but PI is in a different league altogether. The whole track is one "ooh ah" moment after another. I'll send you a link to the PI ride days. I've never ridden around Eastern Greek, but I expect turn one is a lot like turn one at PI (except in the opposite direction); the big difference is after turn 1 at PI you instantly go into the fast, never ending turn 2 sweeper and the roller coaster ride just keeps on going from there!
     
  6. maelstrom

    maelstrom LiteTek Staff Member Premium Member 250cc Vendor Contributing Member

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    Glad to hear you had a lot of fun and stayed on track Chris. Whatever Simon says, do that.
    Got any photos going around the track? I could make a postcard and you could be the first Aussie on the postcards page.
    cheers
    Blair
     
  7. Brizfox

    Brizfox Well-Known Member Premium Member Contributing Member

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    Kiff sta its an amazing fealing, I can vouch for that after my 4 laps on Sunday at the Super bikes.
    Im now very seriously looking at track days with a view to racing.
    It would be good for all us Briz blokes to catch up and see if we cant do a track day amongst ourseleves.
    The Shark leathers arent bad value are they, tried a set on last week, just got to raise some cash.

    Briz.
     
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  8. kiffsta

    kiffsta Senior Member

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    Hey Briz,

    I'm very happy with my leathers, I also use a spine protector underneath which I picked up on ebay. When I went down to see the guys at Shark and met John Kuhne, I didn't realise he was the owner. ( google him, very interesting story) He did me a great deal on leathers, boots, gloves and skins.

    Chris
     
  9. XCite Bikes

    XCite Bikes Parts and Accessories Staff Member 250cc Vendor Contributing Member

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    Looks awesome! How I wish I could give it go.
     
  10. paint-your-ride

    paint-your-ride Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    great to read that chris glad you enjoyed it mate you will want more and more track action now i bet maybe i should get my leathers out again if they still fit hahah
     
  11. Th3_Huntsman

    Th3_Huntsman Senior Member Contributing Member

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    That's tops boss!
     
  12. kiffsta

    kiffsta Senior Member

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    Cheers Bob, I see the z1000 is on ebay, what will you ride ?
     
  13. Zeal4Life

    Zeal4Life What bike would the Joker ride... Premium Member Contributing Member

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    :neo: top job, good share... great to see some of the action you lot get up to :)
     
  14. Mick

    Mick Member

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    Sounds like a great day mate!
     
  15. Phil

    Phil Senior Member Contributing Member

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    The drive out to Queensland raceway was a very quiet one, someone was a little apprehensive of the unknown!
    It wasn't difficult to detect, however the mood changed dramatically once the first session was completed,
    Chris had a smile on his dial that lasted the entire day.
    The bike performed really well, hey it is a Honda!! Being the only 250 on the track was not a hindrance but alas
    gave little to compare with. All the riders eased up in the corners to allow Chris a clear path and sped off once through the corner.
    Choice of colour was brilliant, very easy to spot the orange bike on the track.
    Each session we checked the temp as she was getting a little warm, put it down to thermostat which proved to be correct. Also checking the tyres, and YES, they were wearing nicely and one could conclude the rider was starting
    to push a little harder through the bends, session 1 to session 4 and lap times kept getting better, someone was having too much fun.
    The lunch break was all about Troy Bayliss and what a show it was, he was doing stuff I hadn't even thought of.
    We grabbed a quick snack and drink and headed back to pit lane when the roar of the mighty Ducati ceased???
    Troy had run out of gas and had to push the bike home. This turned out to be a bonus for those of us in pit lane as he stopped, shock hands and chatted briefly before moving onto the next, top bloke, kinda was the icing on the cake.

    With nothing going wrong with the bike, I had just to keep the tank full, didn't want to emulate Bayliss!!!!
    My sole role for the day was to help Chris get out of his leathers, not an easy task.

    To conclude, thought it was a great day. The bike on it's first outing performed really well, Haven't seen Chris smile that much in a long time, and he came away unscathed, much to my delight.
    Think it would make for a grand event to get some forum riders together for a day at the track.:thumb_ups:
     
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  16. Mclaren

    Mclaren Well-Known Member Contributing Member

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    Sounds great hopefully be out there soon
     

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