psych0hans

Hi guys, October is finally here and I'm off for my track days tomorrow and day after. Went through all your suggestions once again and will definitely be going through them again at the track. Wish me luck!!!

There is a whole fast bikes article about this... I'll post it here if I can

They did, yes... I live in Bombay, so I flew to delhi as well. My only advantage is, I have a factory about 6hrs driving distance from the track, so I keep my bike and gear there and just cart it down whenever I need to. India desperately needs more tracks.

@YellowDuck - Yeah, the main straight is like 2kms long. I know a guy who did 297kph on his S1000RR... It's crazy... Also the best lap times were by this guy called Bharat reddy who was clocking 2:07:xxx, also on an S1000RR

@stroker - Yeah, BIC is way more expensive that the Madras circuit, but it is also a much better track and much better managed. The whole crew including Bharat Reddy actually cart all their bikes to BIC to ride. They were there for the track weekend when I last rode... I promise, there were at least $300-500k worth of bike on that truck. Including a brilliant rider on a multistrada.

Hi guys, thanks for your replies. I'm attaching a map of the track for your reference. This is the F1 version of the track and there is a very slight variation for the motorbike version. Basically they skip the chicane, that is T6 and go straight to T7. The rest is the same. @Rchase - I definitely have issues regarding reference points, but I seem to make progress each time I go. I'm trying to set up reliable reference points and I think I've managed this pretty well for a few turns, but my biggest issues arise in T3, T4 T10 and T15. I used to have major issues with running wide at T16 because I used to turn in too early, but I managed to rectify that by setting up a reference point and turning in later. At 2:22 I'm in, what they call, the "parabola". It's basically a deeply chambered double apex turn which tightens up at T11. I generally ease off the throttle about here, go a bit wide, stand the bike up a bit, counter steer and get back in on the throttle to tighten up the turn(no brakes). I used to be very nervous here regarding my speed, but I slowly learned how to get over that and I manage exit speeds in excess of 115kph. @Hotfoot - Q - How would you rate your accuracy to the apex, are you able to consistently get the bike to the apex you want in every corner? A - Consistency is definitely an issue for me. As said before, I really have trouble with reference points on most turns, something I need to work on. My turn in points, throttle position, braking markers, all vary from lap to lap. This is more pronounced in some turns than others. I'll add another video from the same track day for you to compare. Q - Do you ever have to lean the bike over more in the middle or the end of the corner, instead of getting to your desired lean angle right away and staying there? A - I'm not entirely sure about lean angle, but I definitely have to make steering corrections in a lot of turns. Tho I probably do make lean angle corrections in at least a few turns like T10-11 Q - About how far away from your turn point are you when you look in to the apex of the corner? A - I guess this depends on which turn I am in. Varies a lot. I do look in early at T1, T2, T3 is a blind turn and one I always mess up, T4 is a sharp hairpin after a long straight, so I'm generally so busy with my braking and reference markets I forget to look too far out into the turn, T5-7 I take as one straight turn, T8-T9 I'm just about looking for the T9 apex when I'm already taking T8... if that makes any sense. T10 I try looking as far out as possible, but my turn entry definitely suffers here as I'm not sure where my turn in point should be. T11 also I look far enough out (I think), T13-14 is also not really a problem, as long as I get my turn entry correct at T13. T15 is an issue because it's also a blind turn. T16 used to be an issue for me too, but I think I manage pretty alright now. @Stroker - Yeah, they hold both private and public track days. I know a person who organizes private days and it generally runs up to 300$ for 4 sessions of 45mins each. Open sessions are about 67$ a session or 200$ for 3. @FieryRobot - Very true, something I can only fix with the correct reference points... @Csmith12 - Hi Chris, Glad to see you're on this forum as well. It's my dream to do CSS, but unfortunately It's totally eluding me. My next track sessions are going to be in October, so I'm planning for that from now. I definitely have very little confidence in my brakes. They always seem very spongy and I don't know how to get them to be just right. Gonna upgrade my caliper and master cylinder soon. I'm sincerely sure that if I get that initial bite I'm looking for I could shave a few seconds off this time without much effort. Comparison videos.

Hi guys, I did my last track day a few months ago and managed my best lap time of 3:18 at BIC(buddh international circuit) in india. Can you please check out my lap video and see where I'm going wrong, I'm targeting sub 3:00 times. I ride a ninja 250r with a gsxr shock spring to my weight and Michelin street radials. Best lap

Hi guys, after waiting for ages, I finally managed to do a track day at Buddh International Circuit. Unfortunately I didn't manage CSS, but I guess something's better than nothing. What an amazing experience though, and want an amazing track... It was absolutely fantastic! I had booked 2 sessions for myself of approximately 50mins each. The first session, I pretty much ruined for everyone. After doing about 3 laps without incident, in the fourth lap, I got distracted by a bike at turn three, didn't pay enough attention to the upcoming corner, panicked, grabbed a handful of brakes and landed up in the gravel. Luckily neither me nor my bike incurred any damage, but the session was red flagged and called off, as the rescue vehicle coming to pick me up was taking too long. Back in the pits, I made some quick adjustments to the bike, namely lowered my rear-set pegs by a notch, as they were set too high, causing my legs to be bent very uncomfortably, causing my knees to start paining. This was one very big distraction for me in the first session. The second session went by pretty smoothly and ran for about 45mins, before another fellow rider followed my tracks and landed up in the gravel too. Here's a link to the videos of the track day. I've uploaded them by lap.

Soooo.... My dream of going to the track got rained on.... Quiet literally. Today, a day before leaving, I get a call from the organizers saying that the track even has been canceled due to excessive rainfall, thanks to a cyclone off the coast of Tamil Nadu/Andhra Pradesh. Pretty disappointing considering this has cost me almost 200$ and I have nothing to take away from it... Looking forward to CSS in Jan now...

Hi WrapSpeed, no this is not CSS. The CSS event for this year already happened in Jan and for next year it's in feb. I will be attending that as well, but since this is first, I figured doing two track school sessions can't hurt. Thanks Kai, my tires have enough fresh rubber, having only 4000 odd miles on them. My concern was that the stock IRC tires aren't supposed to be great. Can't do nothing about that now anyways, but will change them before CSS in feb. Thanks for your reply Carey, I'll definitely keep what you said in mind. I have both the DVD and Book versions of TWOT II, but I haven't really gone through the book yet. The dvd I have watched multiple times and continue to watch bits of it every now and then. It definitely opened my eyes to countersteering and the various SRs I go through while riding. While I haven't eliminated them yet, at least knowing what I'm doing wrong helps me try and improve in that regard in the future. Thanks for the valuable feedback

Welcome aboard Rishi, sucks about your accident. Hope you manage to get back into your groove soon. Good luck!!!

That was a very interesting read... Really sucks that you couldn't use your bike in the race, but at least you managed to race... Props for that!!!

I'm actually planning on raising the rear of my 250r to sharpen the cornering a bit. I'll first be switching over to a GSXR 600 rear shock and then making custom linkages to increase the height by an inch or so...

Hi guys, I'm finally getting the chance to attend a track school this year in November. It's going to be held on the 3rd and 4th of the month. Could you guys please give me any pointers on what I might expect over there? The school is run by Apex Racing. They have their own racing team and also hold riding classes every other month. From what I've been told, most trainers are ex racers, so they should know what they are doing. I'm going to be transporting my bike there for the event. It's a 2011 Ninja 250r. The suspension and tires are stock, will that be a problem? Thanks guys