rchase Posted August 23, 2016 Report Share Posted August 23, 2016 Double R Fest this year is at COTA. Oct 29th and 30th. I'm going. Anybody else? BMW Demo truck is going to be there as well as a BMW WSBK engineer to work with riders on their data. https://www.facebook.com/kerntrackdays/?fref=ts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wishy thinky Posted August 23, 2016 Report Share Posted August 23, 2016 Drool. This is a BYOB event? The BMW's there are for display only? Dang. My bike doesn't even have single R much less double R... wipe, drrooool, wipe. I'm mad because somebody decided to share Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rchase Posted August 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2016 Yeah. Just a standard track day where you provide your own bike. The BMW demo truck will be there but I doubt you could borrow one for more than a few laps. All bikes are welcome not just BMW's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotfoot Posted August 24, 2016 Report Share Posted August 24, 2016 We just did four days of school at COTA. Great facility, and if you are looking for a place to let loose the reins on the S1000RR, it is definitely a good place for that, there are two REALLY long straights and you can let it rip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rchase Posted August 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2016 Yeah. REALLY looking forward to those two straights. As well as all of the corners. As I mentioned before BMW's going to have their world superbike engineers there for data analysis. I'm going to take advantage of this with my data but my focus is not going to be as much the data itself as it is going to be learning how the engineer approaches the analysis. I'm going to take lots and lots of notes. What I'm not looking forward to is the drive. I'll be driving at about 9-10mpg across country to get there and then back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaybird180 Posted August 24, 2016 Report Share Posted August 24, 2016 Yeah. REALLY looking forward to those two straights. As well as all of the corners. As I mentioned before BMW's going to have their world superbike engineers there for data analysis. I'm going to take advantage of this with my data but my focus is not going to be as much the data itself as it is going to be learning how the engineer approaches the analysis. I'm going to take lots and lots of notes. What I'm not looking forward to is the drive. I'll be driving at about 9-10mpg across country to get there and then back. The longest straight is 0.62miles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_of_the_Americas#Configuration Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rchase Posted August 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2016 Very nice. Hermann Tilke is the architect of this track. I regularly ride at AMP which is another one of his designs and each time I ride it I love it more and more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmckeen Posted August 25, 2016 Report Share Posted August 25, 2016 What I'm not looking forward to is the drive. I'll be driving at about 9-10mpg across country to get there and then back. That's better than the 7-8 MPG I got getting there from LA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaybird180 Posted August 25, 2016 Report Share Posted August 25, 2016 Why such poor gas mileage? I haven't yet had a trailer hitch put on our Odyssey Touring Elite, but it's on the To Do list (yes, the vehicle was chosen with trackday towing in mind - he he he he). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rchase Posted August 25, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2016 Ouch. I don't feel so bad now about my fuel economy. I could care less about the cost of course. It's the constant stopping for fuel that annoys me so much. I just invested in some vortex generators for my tow vehicle and for the trailer so hopefully that will help with the fuel consumption a bit and and give me a bit more time between stops. Most of the fuel economy issues that you see towing is not due to weight and is due mostly to aerodynamics. Nothing wrong with the Odyssey. A friend of mine tows with one of those. Something to consider is some airbags for the rear suspension to level it out a bit and take some of the strain off the rear suspension. He did this with his and it tows really well. I tow with a Range Rover myself. It's probably not on any "best of" tow vehicle lists but it has a #7500 tow capacity and is super comfy to soak up the miles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rchase Posted August 25, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2016 Figured I would share this. http://www.airtab.com/ Those are the vortex generators I bought. They are very commonly used on semi's to reduce the "suction" effect due to the flat rear section of the trailer. Even if I get just 1-2 mpg improvement they are worth it for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaybird180 Posted August 25, 2016 Report Share Posted August 25, 2016 Airbags? Tell me more. My original plan was to be mindful about F-R weight distribution and balance or to do a 4 wheel trailer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaybird180 Posted August 25, 2016 Report Share Posted August 25, 2016 I'm looking into the airbags. I see that it doesn't cost much (~$105) and is about 2-4hrs installation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rchase Posted August 25, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2016 Yeah. The airbags go inside the rear springs and just help to beef up the rear suspension and give the van a bit more ability to support the tongue weight of the trailer. You still need to be a bit mindful of the fact that you may be close to the towing limits depending on the weight of your trailer. My friend was towing a relatively light trailer however they did not care for how much the rear of the van was sinking when he attached the trailer. It's a cheap upgrade that helps the van out a lot. Air tabs also help out a lot with large enclosed trailers. They help a bit with fuel economy but they also help reduce a lot of the swaying and wind turbulence and make everything a bit more stable. I did a semi tractor trailer kit for my trailer and was able to do both sides and the roof of my trailer as well as the roof of my tow vehicle and still have some left over as spares or to do the roof of a 2nd tow vehicle. They help out a lot more than I expected and make the trailer tow a lot more easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaybird180 Posted August 25, 2016 Report Share Posted August 25, 2016 Yeah. The airbags go inside the rear springs and just help to beef up the rear suspension and give the van a bit more ability to support the tongue weight of the trailer. You still need to be a bit mindful of the fact that you may be close to the towing limits depending on the weight of your trailer. My friend was towing a relatively light trailer however they did not care for how much the rear of the van was sinking when he attached the trailer. It's a cheap upgrade that helps the van out a lot. Air tabs also help out a lot with large enclosed trailers. They help a bit with fuel economy but they also help reduce a lot of the swaying and wind turbulence and make everything a bit more stable. I did a semi tractor trailer kit for my trailer and was able to do both sides and the roof of my trailer as well as the roof of my tow vehicle and still have some left over as spares or to do the roof of a 2nd tow vehicle. They help out a lot more than I expected and make the trailer tow a lot more easily. I'll definitely look into it, but towing is one of the reasons we got the Touring Elite over the other models. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YellowDuck Posted September 14, 2016 Report Share Posted September 14, 2016 OMG...CSS + COTA = YEEESSSS!!!! I so need to do this in 2017. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.