[eternal05]

Local dealerships and the like might sponsor you, but a lot of the big companies just pay contingency money for wins. Contingency is what you’d think of as sponsorship, except the relationship is sort of reversed. Instead of “hey Michelin, pay me lots of $$$ give me tires and I’ll slather Michelin stickers all over,” contingency goes something like “hey racer, slather michelin decals all over your bike, put patches on your leathers, and on your transport vehicle, then win races and we might give you some pocketchange. Also we might give you a bit of a break on tires, but not much.”

Especially at the club level, from what I’ve heard from racer friends, sponsors don’t really care about wins. They care that a) you’re at the track a lot, b) you have lots of exposure to people, and that when you make a good impression and promote the brand. But what would I know.

I dunno ‘Spaz…I really like racing in theory. I love the competition. The safety record of club racing really scares me though. Especially at Pacific Raceways, helicopter visits are not at all uncommon. Maybe once I’m out of grad school (i.e. next season) WMRRA will have a true superstock class. I’d consider that. Maybe.

Either way I’ll be jealous of you. When do the track days stop in Cali? They’re already through up here.

[eternal05]

Don’t forget infineon…right?

[eternal05]

I think one thing that will help, especially as I start going to new tracks next year (I plan to hit up Oregon Raceway Park and Portland International Raceway, maybe some in Cali if I can get an excuse to road trip down for a week or so), is maybe adding one more forward-facing cam. I might try behind the windscreen as I’m switching back to a clear screen, but otherwise maybe under the front cowl or on the front fender.

But yeah, hopefully I can get a buddy out with me. They’ve all been super reluctant about track days.

[eternal05]

I don’t know where you’re getting gear ratios but every page I’ve seen as them in logical order:

http://www.seastarsuperbikes.co.uk/Ninja250.html

[eternal05]

“Any time you have to brake hard to avoid hitting another rider, means
that you’re not watching far enough ahead… If you have to depend on
ABS to save you from impact on the track, perhalps you shouldn’t ride
on the track.”

You realize that at track days there are people who don’t act predictably right? The reason that riders on the track can ride up each others asses is because they are predictable, and everybody assumes that certain conventions will be followed. I’ve almost been taken out by noobs several times, and the best you can do is just to be as ready as possible for sudden and unpredictable things like that.

On the street though, this stuff happens all the time. Pedestrians, cyclists, other cars, dogs, will all do really sudden and unpredictable things, and you can’t always predict having to stop. If it’s raining and you’re going around a corner with no adjacent sidewalk at a good 25 mph clip and 2/3 of the way through the turn you run into a ped, tell me you wouldn’t rather have ABS there…just in case?

Before this turns into any more of a flame war, here’s the deal as far as I can see it:

1) 7 Pounds of sprung weight isn’t going to be a dealbreaker to most people on this forum. I’m guessing by the MASSIVE windshield on your gladius that it shouldn’t matter to you either, or you’d be riding a faired bike whose aerodynamics didn’t cost it 20+ mph in top speed and substantial loss of acceleration, not to mention acting like a sail to interfere with handling. But you didn’t because you ride for fun in comfort, like everybody else here. Either that or that’s what you use your..interceptor is it?…for. The point is, most people here would rather have a safety feature than avoid suffering a near-imperceptible decrease in turn-in rate and slightly lower speed. I mean, SafetyFirst talked about carrying a backpack before, so what the hell does he care about 7 pounds?

2) As far as ABS goes, you shouldn’t ever have to use it. But that’s the point, you _shouldn’t_ have to use it, but in a real panic situation, if you get on the brakes a bit too hard, or even if you don’t but you happen to hit a bump and upset your suspension, or you hit a patch of sand or gravel, or it’s rainy, or any of a host of other things occur, you might lock a wheel, and in that not-too-unimaginable case, you don’t die with ABS. I don’t know what reviews you’ve been reading, but most of those I’ve seen have said good things about ABS: namely that it stays out of your way (doesn’t disrupt feel) until it saves your ass. Some have had problems with the BIKEs they were on, but not usually the ABS itself. Check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6kO6ltk3a0

Whether or not a racer wants ABS on a racebike is a totally different question, but the point is, to me the issue of “do I have the extra $500-$1K” and “does ABS complicate maintenance” are the only real valid concerns for a guy like SafetyFirst. Start climbing the ranks of club racers before you start whining about the weight difference.

[eternal05]

So you wouldn’t recommend Power One 2CTs then? Or just not in colder weather? I was thinking about making them my next set of tires.

I’ll watch the videos when I get home…I’m in a meeting that’s about to start.

[eternal05]

They’re always the last to release new product info. It’s too bad, since like you, I really only care about what’s happening on the ’10 GSX-R600. It’s well overdue for some pretty serious changes.

[eternal05]

Are you talking about the guy in the pictures?

[eternal05]

I’m not some lame safety nut. I love track riding on my GSX-R600, but it’s NOT a city or commuter bike (after a while you’ll hate riding it around town), and it’s not a beginner bike. You don’t have to get a balls-less bike right off the bat. There are plenty of friendly 500-650cc bikes that are fast as hell, fun to ride, and great to look at. Sportbikes, on the other hand, are hard to handle, hard to ride smoothly, and extremely unforgiving to mistakes.

Seriously mate. Don’t become a statistic. Do yourself a favor and start with a used SV650 or Ninja 650R. Get good. THEN upgrade if you still want to. You’ll save a lot of money in bodywork, and maybe your life.

[eternal05]

Pacific raceways is here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=pacific+raceways,+kent,+wa&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=41.632176,93.076172&ie=UTF8&hq=pacific+raceways,&hnear=Kent,+WA&ll=47.320847,-122.145481&spn=0.008728,0.030899&t=h&z=16

[eternal05]

Like you said, Elwood, there’s not a lot of room for error at PR. The road surface is pretty crummy as far as courses go. There are bumps, cracks, seams, holes, etc. all over the place. The only substantial runoff is on the two sweepers (#2 and #9), and even then it’s not much. In other places, you have concrete walls in front of you, trees, hillsides, and other really scary things to “break” your fall. Like you say, this is not the track to really push it all the time.

That first turn at 157mph…that still blows my mind. I keep the throttle at 100% up to that corner, but about 200ft before I ease off and maintain neutral throttle throughout the turn, before braking for turn #2. Racers take that on literbikes (I’m on a 600) with the throttle pinned in 6th gear. F@#$%!!!!!

As far as my pace, Mega, I don’t really know. I used to use a lap timer, but I’d always get into the game of recklessly trying to lower my best lap. I was riding sloppily and beyond my limits, and after a few near run-offs, I took my timer off and started focusing on form, line, and smoothness. My lowest recorded times were in the low 1:40s, but I think I’ve been substantially slower lately, albeit less frantic. I’d guess I was running somewhere in the 1:50-1:55 range in the vid. For reference, the track record is 1:23.something, and being a boonies-ville track, that record is set by club racers, so it’s not completely unattainable like Laguna Seca’s track record.

[eternal05]

Your body position has the potential to move the total center of gravity of combined bike+rider. That means that the bike can right itself if the rider compensates by moving weight into the turn (not upwards, as we already established).

[eternal05]

I’m not gonna pay for this photo album (or not yet anyway), but here’s another watermarked shot as bait. This time, however, I promise video is on its way:

[eternal05]

But remember, to a racer, more traction == more speed. You’re absolutely correct, however. Body position (hanging off, etc.) is much more important in the rain than it is in the dry for the very reason that you are at lower risk of a lowside (or for that matter a rear-spin-induced highside) if the bike is more upright.

Also, I would hope you don’t ride in snow…that’s just a disaster waiting to happen.

[eternal05]

As everybody’s said, they’re better than regular jeans, but not much. They don’t have the abrasion resistance of even your basic textile gear. They also generally have no armor, meaning that while you might not get road rash, you still may shatter your knee. But to be honest, my BIGGEST problem with motorcycle jeans is that they just don’t fit right because they’re made by motorcycle gear manufacturers rather than clothing designers. The Shift Torque jeans I started out wearing, for instance, make me look like some combination of trying to hide a pregnancy and hobo. They were too baggy here, too tight there, had a terrible cut, and when I was actually riding (thanks to my sportbike’s very-bent-knee position), climbed up so high on my leg that I was almost showing bare skin even over full-length motorcycle boots. What a rip for $100 jeans.

If you’re going to wear jeans, I’d recommend just wearing your favorite jeans complemented by good leg armor and good boots. When you get to work/school/destination, you can take the armor off (or leave it on). Otherwise, I’d definitely go for an overpant (for convenience) or a more traditional leather/textile pant.

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