Had a great ride last weekend at wakefield. Man, can't believe it was over a year between rides at the track. missed it so much. Anyway, back now. The next one's May 5th - so anyone from canberra / sydney that's keen - come along. I'm 90% sure i'll be there - Gf's bike was having problems and she couldn't get it out onto the track, so had to take a credit (yay for me, cause it guarantees we'll be back soon <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s --> ) There wasn't that many people at this one either, which meant plenty of track for everyone. Hopefully the next one's the same.
I'd be keen on a track day... but I'm still inexperienced and don't want to drop my bike yet. <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: -->
I am the same i would love to do it.I am guna wait till i get some leather's then i will do it no problems.
My gf was allowed on with a leather jacket, draggins, and dirt boots, so if you've got similar to that, you should be alright. Just ring up before hand and ask - I saw a dri-rider out there last time as well. Track day itself is $140 a day on sat / sun ($110 for one of the weekday ones), + $50 for your "licence" (effectively just anual membership fee). So first one is a bit exxy at $190, but it gets more affordable after that. Day starts at about 9am, and runs through to 4:30 or so, during which time you'll get about five or six 20 minute runs on the track. Doesn't seem like much, but by the end of the day you'll be buggered. Wakefield's relaxed as well, being a smaller track - you don't have to do any race prep for your bike (no need to safety wire, or anything like that). If it runs on the road you can ride it on the track. personally I don't take to the "I don't want to do a track day cause I'm afraid I'll crash." If you were afraid of crashing then you wouldn't ride at all - it's not like just because you're at the track you have to ride faster or take more risks. Some people chose to do that, but personally I think it's for getting out there and practicing - a clean road, with no cages or on comming traffic, no trees or road signs to hit, no blind corners, and plenty of kitty litter if things go wrong.
Oh.. for me it's not a matter of crashing, as I believe I'll eventually go down, especially on track. It's that I'm still on my L's and would like to keep my bike ridable until I get my P's. After that, I'll be more than happy to thrash it around and try ot kill my self! <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: -->
That's my point, though. There's actually less risk of you crashing on the track than there is on the road. It's more predicatble and there aren't as many random, unexpected dangers. The only thing that would make you more likely to crash at the track is if you changed the way you ride. And you have total control over how you ride.
Haha, that's my exactly point. Because it is a controlled environment, I'm more than likely to ride beyond my limits and a crash would mean less damage to me (providing I'm wearing correct gear). <!-- s:rofl: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_razz.gif" alt=":rofl:" title="Rofl" /><!-- s:rofl: -->
Except that people tend to push the envelope a little further than they usually would on the street/public roads, which is fine as it is the place to do it... but it also means that you get to the edge of traction a lot quicker than you would on the road. From road riding i always ended up with ~3mm chicken strips on my tyres, yet on the track (Phillip Island) i got off and over the edge of the tyre after the first session. As for what gear you should wear on the track; i wouldn't go on with anything less than full leathers. Personally i use a one-piece suit (power ranger style <!-- s:wink: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt=":wink:" title="Wink" /><!-- s:wink: --> ) and wouldn't even think of doing it in Draggins.
Fact is you don't ride at 100% on the road because you acknowledge that it's dangerous. Just because you're at the track, which is less dangerous, doesn't mean it's safe to ride at 100% Just like riding on the road you've got to acknowledge that there's danger and there's risk, and ride accordingly. *shrugs* It all depends on what you go there to achieve. Not everyone's out to break lap records <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s -->
i'd like to know which roads you ride to only have a 3mm chicken strip left @ speed <!-- s:alcoholic: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_all_coholic.gif" alt=":alcoholic:" title="Alcoholic" /><!-- s:alcoholic: --> <!-- s:angel: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_angel.gif" alt=":angel:" title="Angel" /><!-- s:angel: --> ? i'll post my chicken strips tomorrow when its daylight enough to take a pic
I'm always in the Spurs, GOR, or heading out the less travelled roads around Eastern Victoria. It's not necessarily how fast you go as how much lean angle you feel you can give it. The difference in lean angle between 3mm of unused and off the edge of the tyre was quite a bit more than i had expected!
Koma, drop the air pressure in the rear by 2 psi and see if that doesn't compensate a little for the amount of angle required.
yeah, noticed the same thing... Forgot to check my tyre pressure on the weekend and tore the hell out of the front tyre cause it was running flat - no chicken strips left on that baby... Also halved it's life span, too, I reckon ><
here are my chicken strips back <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-6/1193779/IMG_5000.jpg">http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-6/1 ... G_5000.jpg</a><!-- m --> front <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-6/1193779/IMG_5002.jpg">http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-6/1 ... G_5002.jpg</a><!-- m -->
