My First Track Day

[Tgriff1222]

I just completed my first ever track day last saturday. I was at Autobahn Country Club in Joliet and, of course, it rained. My first two sessions were completely dry and I was just learning the track and working on a few basics. But then the rain showed up and it changed everything. A few riders went down, one required the ambulance so I decided to concentrate on body position and throttle control the rest of the day. There was one corner that gave me fits all day; Turn 2 was the slowest turn on the track. I worked with one of the coaches on RP and turn in point and entry speed, etc, but always felt that I had to make adjustments after the apex, which I really, really wanted to avoid with the wet track. In the afternoon the rain stopped and the track started to dry up and my pace (and comfort level) picked up quite a bit, but T2 was still a trouble spot. I decided that the next session I wasn't going to focus as much on the RP or turn in points or the curbing or the patch in the pavement and focus more on what I was doing. Lap 2 of that session I realized that once I shifted my eyes to the Apex, I never looked through the turn to the exit. Next time around I made sure that I visually found the exit instead of locking on the apex. Tada! I felt like an idiot for struggling all morning with this turn and feeling like the exit was sneaking up on me. The reason I had trouble finding the exit was because I wasn't looking at it. So simple and so obvious. I went from hating that turn to it being one of my favorites because everytime I went through it well, it was a mini-celebration for my small breakthrough.

 

Now I can't wait to get back out there. I understand the addiction a little better.

[acebobby]

Good stuff tgriff

 

I have recently learned that using the eyes properly is the key to going faster for me!

 

Track riding sure does become very addictive, the more you do, the more you want to do!

[Adam06]

Great win!