csmith12

Challenge question for everyone: How is PittsDriver's patience shown in the video? Hint: It is NOT while on the brakes or brake related.

Looked like some fun, conservative and courteous riding to me. To nitpick things.. First thing… GET OUT of novice. You can always bump down to N for a few sessions at the end of the day to focus on a drill as needed or to just loaf around. The intermediate group is not race paces...... You're running into enough traffic to affect your overall pace around the track. You're holding yourself back (closing speed concerns). I ride a 250 in the Advanced groups, closing speeds are sometimes an issue but mostly only to fresh A group riders. How do the vet A group riders handle such differences in closing speeds? Traffic is causing funky things in your riding (more on that below). Overall; Be more black and white, either on the gas or on the brakes. Try to remove as much engine braking as possible. I am gunna assume this was due to traffic for the most part. And lines.. but you know that already. Your work on visual skills… They should include your braking markers, turn in points and exit points. Your lines will tighten up all by themselves once you hone these in more. A WIDEVIEW is especially important when in the mix of traffic. Don’t visually linger on the rider in front of you when in traffic or come upon a slower rider. Look through them to your marker and hit it. Again, a WIDEVIEW will aid you in finding a way around while staying on target. Don’t let the rider in front of you leak their riding into yours. This is a product of visually focusing on them too long. It shows up in your video as a hesitation to get back to the throttle when you should or to pass and mid-corner line adjustments (lean + throttle) Plan your passes ahead of time. When you see that you are closing in on a rider ahead, plan an alternate line to get around in an upcoming corner or two. How will this help? Are most of these visual skills or other skills? I don't like to just point out areas of improvement when offering up a critique on a video. There should be a balance of positive aspects as well. I really, really liked how courteous your riding was to others. That attention to keeping everyone safe despite any skill/speed differences really goes a long way to keep everyone’s day a fun one. I also liked your level of patience. And… your riding was good too. I enjoyed the vid, thanks for posting.

Well common down, there is some beautiful fall riding weather still coming and the trees are starting to turn their colors.

Hi Cincy! I am just south of you by about 40 mins. Many cincy riders come down to my parts to ride in NKY. If you are ever up for a ride, lemme know and I can show you around some great roads.

So what is the good word?

3 Words.... Touch And Go 3yrs on a single set and still going.

I was tared and feathered at Mid-Ohio 2 years ago going through Thunder Valley at a buck 20. Rider in front of me hit a bird, I was splashed with blood, then the explosion of feathers got me. lol The rider in front of me didn't even flinch on impact, and we finished out the rest of our session, another 10 mins or so.

The cr's at JenningsGP call it "redecorating" (crash) and "additional landscaping" (run off). lol

Welcome!

On my r6, I am running 28/31 (hot) on average, lower on hotter days. Seem to be holding/wearing fairly well. On a 101 degree day, I can see Q3's getting greasy feeling at top pack A group pace.

I only got one piece of advice for you. Ask yourself, does the corner look pinched? ie, the corner look closed up without enough room to run wide during entry. On my many of my local tracks, some corners look pinched as the true width of the exit is sorta blind. I kick myself every time I go through and say... wtf, I could have went faster. Do you have a good exit reference point for these corners? Trust... it does wonders!

Here are a few pics of a mortal trying to get pic of how the bike reacts to being hard on the brakes. What is interesting are the seating positions (front, middle, back) difference in the 3 pics and how the bike reacts. Oh! I worked out these pics with the track photographer ahead of time and still only got 3 usable pics. I guess they are used to taking corner shots and this is a new type of photo for him to capture. Next time I am at this track on my r6, I will get photos of the r6 under braking.

I also see this when the rider downshifts with a bit too much speed and/or the rev match is off. Just throwing it out there.

Dang... Hand injuries suck. Best wishes man. /comedy relief ps.. No worries though... even with half a digit, flipping someone the bird will still have the same effect.

Put on your reading glasses and pull up a chair! You want good stories? Check out how my year has been so far with more to come! Read here! https://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=175879

Winner!

You are in for a treat when you break down your riding and then rebuild it. And since you seem eager to learn, it will be an awesome time to work with great coaches that are effective communicators as well as talented riders! Since you are relatively new to track riding, one of the things that will help you with your questions will be the ability to control time and space. What I mean is, as your visual skills improve... what looks and feels fast will change along with your comfort/confidence with speed and your ability to scrub that speed off when you don't want it anymore. Finding lines is a bit of a visual art form, but there is a way to validate you have found a good line any idea what it is? Hint: Your right hand will tell you. Also, along that way of thinking.... those X's are reference points. There are many of them; when the brakes go on, turn in, apex, exit, ect... ect... Picking your own reference points when the X's are not present should be done conservatively, leaving you much room for error. You can use marks on the surface, cones, flowers, trees anything that is stationary really... once you have picked out some safe points, you can start moving them in small amounts (say about a bike length) to clean them up a bit and find where they challenge you but still keep you within 75% of your riding limits.

Hans, you know me as we have chatted about your riding over a year or so... get at me if you cannot take a CSS school anytime soon. Flip this on it's head, instead of shooting for a lap time goal, shoot for a skill goal and the lap time will drop as it tags along for the skill improvement ride. Main things; Basics first, throttle control and visual skills (line selection)!!!!!! then... Work your way up slowly to knowing your limit to entry speed, slow or fast doesn't matter. then... Get real cozy with your brakes, they can do so much more only after... you're comfortable with their abilities. The visual skills will help you "get"/understand how to take the corner before you even turn and your throttle control will validate that. How do you know you have a good line? I know a ninja 250 is not really a point and shoot bike, but I have found that some riders respond to a "connect the dots" learning method. The dots are your reference points, put your front wheel on a line that connects those dots with a good throttle roll and you got something to work with. Next time, take a session or so to concentrate on little more than entry speed (no brakes if needed but not set in stone ). Find where you're comfortable, then add other skills in but be sure to stop and adjust if you get that "rushed" feeling. Being more confident in your brakes will shave off many seconds you add to your time in the brake zone but build the skill confidently. Pick a marker (earlier is better than later to start ) and move it around in small distances, again... until you get that rushed feeling. You can move it again when the rushed feeling goes away. How do you pick a good brake marker? Good luck and remember 75% of your ability is where you learn!

Simple, ride your limits and chalk the race up to experience. A DNF is no points guaranteed. Like you, maybe one day I will trust the rain tires and level of grip enough to drag a knee in the wet. Rains are not a free pass, you may still slide around a bit but they DO offer more grip. Don't forget... NO WARMERS on rains! Good luck and don't forget to have fun!

What lip you talking about? I must be missing something.

Sometimes we get one of those "know it all" officers that just looks at the tire and says... "that is a race slick and not street legal". We all just kinda roll our eyes, try to point it out... but if he insists, we take the ticket to the judge with proof and it's simply thrown out. Inconvenient yes, but cheaper than the fine.

We may get that too, it's labeled as "improper equipment". Normally, the po po doesn't care as long as DOT is on the tire somewhere and the threads are not hanging out. But yea, the fine is large and in charge.

lol! I am poor folk and a shoestring budget racer, I gotta get every lap outta possible my tires to make it work. If yours don't look like this, keep chipping away at your setup and you will get there. It took me well over a year to dial in the bike on my own. So much time reading, learning and a friendly tip or two from other riders. Not to mention my fair share of mistakes along the way.

Full disclosure; 06 R6 Stock front forks, stock rear shock A (expert) group pace - 5th track day (2 of those days were in I group coaching and riding with friends) Track: Mid-Ohio/Putnam Park Front psi: 28.5 Rear psi: 23 A compound When I come home from the track and unload the bike, they look like this when it's time for another. After some street miles, they look like this.

No, I don't run the recommended pressures but they are pretty close. Of course they change from venue to venue, weather/air temps play a role as well and my personal preferences are a factor. I have ran them pretty high and pretty low and everywhere in between. Normally, I don't run 30 in the front, I run a tad less and I prefer the feel of 23-24 in the rear. Meh... pressures are a fickle thing. As far as wear goes, if your suspension is set up pretty good, they will wear well depending on your throttle hand. I just happen to have some take offs in the garage, I will get ya a pic of mine. My bike is set up decently, and as long as I don't use and abuse the bike and tires, I have gotten 7 track day out of a set before the knocking the wear bars off but it still looks brand new in the center. lol If I flog the bike and get sloppy with the throttle, they seem to get all ate up within a few days at the track. I rotate my takeoffs onto my street set of wheels for my r6. Because cups aint cheap... I have never had them slip on the street unless it's wet, track however is a different story. What compound you running? Perhaps your slipping is due to a hard compound and temperatures. imho, if your gunna run the hard compound, then you better have the pace to keep it hot or it gets slippy. They like warmers too. The softer compounds i found to be fine enough at mid pack I group pace and faster until you get to mid/top pack A group, then ya have to go to the harder compounds to keep the rear agreeable while deep trailing, they just get too hot and greasy feeling to me. I will getcha that pic in the morning.