r/Trackdays

Slower Intermediate Group (B-) track day opener at Sonoma Raceway. Going into T3 for reference.

5’7” and 145lbs. Ordered the 40/50 size online. I understand the suit isn’t cut for standing straight up and I should be on the bike, but looking for a second opinion before I cut the tags off. In the tucked position it feels fine, however my other concerns:

- the torso length feels tight standing up, might be made this way for being on the bike?

- thighs feel a little tight.

- I have an airbag vest on order, and I’m hoping there is enough room in the shoulder, arm, chest for it to go off. It does have stretch panels, so perhaps that’s where those come in?

Got some photos back. I would like to be able to hang off the bike more, but I feel like my arm span is about at capacity trying to go over the tank. Going to look at getting some tank pads to see if that helps out a bit. Still having fun out there either way 🤙🏽

This is the first half of a video podcast I did with fellow coach Johnny. If you want to see the whole 22min video, it's here: https://youtu.be/6AuVeGoCvPo?si=k0yLyOlYn8A1D1j6

What an awesome weekend. My only goal was to have fun and not crash, since I went off in T10 in my last weekend of the season last year. With the bike repaired and shiny new Woodcraft rear sets I quickly shook off the rust and started ripping some super clean and fun laps.

No videos or laptimes this time (once I start recording I start chasing times, and that was a no-go for my strict no crashing weekend), but hopefully I'll have get some footage when I return later in the year, or at NCBike next month. My Summit goal for this year is to spin consistent 19s without any power or aero mods. Last year I was doing 21s on stock rear sets so I know it's doable. I may have even done it this weekend because I felt super confident with my riding, but without a timer going I will have to wait for a future trackday to be sure.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of my tires, but rest assured they are black and round.

Shoutout to Vae at Noiseless Productions for the pictures.

Overall I had a blast.

I've been riding for 11 years and always wanted to do a trackday, but I never had anyone that was interested in going to the track with me.

Last winter my Uncle was looking to sell his cbr 600 pc37 and offered it to me quite cheap, and I thought "fuck it, I'll get an old piss missile and ride it will be my track bike, no excuses"

It was a 2 day event in Oschersleben, I had 4 goals for the event

1. Get familiar with the track

2. Get familiar with the cbr

3. Have fun

4. Bring myself and the bikes home in one piece

Day 1 - all rain open pitlane - well shit, saw it in the forecast the day before and decided to also bring my daily street triple to just have the familiarity of the bike.

Got 13 Laps under my belt and then I decided it was no fun anymore with 7°C and wet. On the upside the organizer did a bit of a theorie course for everyone.

Day 2 - damp track in the morning, dry around noon, 15°C - rode the street triple in the morning again to get a feel for the drying track.

For the 3rd session I went out quite nervous with the ol' piss missile but at the end of the turn I was already lapping a second faster than on my daily and I felt quite confident on the bike.

In session 4 is when I really got into a rythm and i was able to focus solely on riding. After session 4 I got bumped into group 3 (we had groups 1-4) and immediately thought "fuck, I just wanted to slowly get comfy on the bike and track, and now I'll be in the way of the faster guys"

My paddock neighbour reassured me that I'll be having more fun since I won't have the trouble to overtake the slower guys and can focus on myself, and he was absolutely right with that.

Session 5 and 6 I got way less traffic, could focus more on myself and kept shaving seconds off my time and to my surprise I ended up one of the faster guys in group 3 and ended the day on a high note for myself.

At the end of the day I know my lines were not great, my braking and downshifting wasn't the best and many more things - but I had a real blast sending it on the track with an older screaming 4 cylinder piss missile.

Also many thanks to you, the one reading this, and everyone here that is active and gives good advice in the comments or posts, I did learn a lot by just lurking in this sub.

Got some pics back from my track day last month these were my top 3, prob the most expensive addiction so far lol. I’m pretty sure my body positioning sucks as I look at my instructor behind me. Any tips on body positioning? And braking. How tf do you brake and rev match at the same time? I don’t have a qs or auto blip so when coming to a hard turn from a straight I think I have some trouble doing it quickly and effectively. Usually I coast downshift then brake. Is that the right order or is there even an order? Any riding tips are appreciated

Hello all,

I’m looking at my first track day in the coming month and want to replace my tyres due to them being old and mismatched sport touring tyres.

So far I’m looking at the Diablo Rosso IV’s but I’ve had the batlax s21 suggested to me as well. Has anyone had experience riding these on or off the track and if so are they a good choice for someone looking for the occasional track day?

Thank you everyone for your time, hope to be posting photos from the track next 🤞

I’m looking to get a track bike bc not many places to ride here in DFW that’s not highway, coming from CA. I ride a buddy’s CFMOTO 675ss mostly and like it, but there’s a few others I’m looking to possibly get. Rode a 04 GSXR600 until I wrecked it in the canyons.
There’s a few I’m looking at:
Aprillia RS660
Daytona 660
KTM RC390
KTM 390 Duke
KTM 990 Duke R
KTM 990RC R
And was also mentioned to me there’s also the RC990 R Track.
Just looking to see what yall like, gripes/complaints about each. PFA

Loaded up and ready for HPR! Local race track in my area, amidst crashing last friday we got her going again. Riding with an injury to my foot but that the name of the game, got myself some tire warmers and brand new Q5's. Hoping to find confidence in the tires again. (17) is me.

Series: So You Want To Race Or Do Trackdays? Part 1: Cost

Briefly: I’ve been riding over 40 years, raced for 11 (with varying degrees of success), just hit the track again recently. While lots of people post some of this information, I’m trying to put it in a way that anybody can follow. Some of it may be obvious, some of the info is new, some parts may be short, some long. Here goes (this one is long!):

So You Want To Race Or Do Trackdays? Awesome!

But first things first: can you afford it?

tl;dr: five weekends of racing or five double-trackdays will run you a bare minimum of $3,000, and likely more than that.

You need to know upfront what it’s going to cost you so let’s take a look.

Note that I’m not going to talk about what it will cost to take some 10 year-old kid and give them a shot at getting to the Moto3 World Championship. Former racer Taylor Mackenzie has a really good podcast on this. tl;dr: it’s incredibly expensive and you’ll really need to live in Europe and it will be a long-shot regardless of how much money your spend.

So, obviously, you need a motorcycle:

For trackdays, and even racing, you can ride just about anything. Riding bikes like Groms on kart tracks is not going to be covered here. I’ve seen all kinds of bikes on track, from purpose-built Kramers to top level Ducatis, all the Yamaha R-bikes (3/6/7/9/1), Ninjas (250cc on up), to dual-sports, supermotos, and even some touring-oriented bikes. As long as you meet the racing rules or trackday requirements, and have good pavement tires, you can ride it at trackdays or race it as long as your bike fits a racing class.

That means that the bike you currently own will be enough to get started. You don’t need to go out and buy a new motorcycle and spend thousands of dollars making it track-ready. Speaking of track-ready: if you are interested in racing? You don’t need to do years of trackdays in advance. You don’t need to start out racing already being a fast-guy (or fast-woman). That’s ridiculous—if you want to race, start racing.

But let’s say you ride a BMW GS1250. Sure, you could take that on track but you’ll probably be happier on something sportier. And, in that vein, a perfect trackbike for starting is the Suzuki SV650 and the Kawasaki Ninja 400 (or now: 500). You can find lots of these on the used market and even a lot of them already built for the track. At my most recent trackday, there was a guy with a very cool bike painted like the Martini & Rossi livery—it was a track-built SV650 with Ducati 749 race bodywork. And the guy only had about $1,500 into the whole thing! So you do NOT need to spend a ton of money to put together a track-worthy bike.

So, that’s expense #1 and it is highly variable what you’ll spend on that. Essentially, $0 if it’s the bike you already own. I’ll talk more about bikes another time.

Expense #2 is how you get your bike and gear to the track. If you already have a truck, cargo van or trailer, you’re good to go. Or perhaps you can pull a trailer with your car, so the best option there is to rent a U-Haul motorcycle trailer—only $19/day (not including insurance if you choose it). Don’t overlook that option. Or, you might have a buddy who can haul you, your bike and gear to and from the track. Again, you don’t need to buy a Ford F-250 and a $75,000 toy hauler trailer to get to the track. But you do need a way to get there.

Why can’t you ride there on your own bike? First, you’ll have no way to bring any gear with you—tools, food, extra fuel for the bike, etc. Second, and even bigger: if your bike breaks or your crash it and/or get hurt, you won’t be able to get home. Do not count on the kindness of strangers to help you!

So, that’s expense #2 and is also highly variable. If you already have the transportation, then it’s almost zero. Why almost? Because you have to pay for gas. And right now, gas is very expensive. Last week, I drove 748 miles round-trip and gas for my van ran me $331! Obviously, if you live closer to the track you want to go to, it will be less but there’s no getting around paying for gas.

Expense #3 is your riding gear. Again, that’s highly variable and you may already have everything you need: helmet (I recommend either SNELL 2020 or 2025, ECE 22.05 or 22.06, or even FIM-1 or the new FIM-2 standard.), gauntlet (long) gloves, full boots (not riding shoes), a two-piece or one-piece (better) riding suit, a back protector or airbag (either built-in or added-in to the suit), and a chest protector (thoracic injuries are common to motorcyclists, so wear one of these even with an airbag). You don’t need to spend the maximum amount of money. You don’t need the most expensive helmet with MotoGP racer-replica graphics. You don’t need the most expensive, custom made, kangaroo-hide leathers. I’ll talk more about riding gear another time.

Expense #4: unless the track is nearby, you’ll need some place to stay. Most tracks allow camping at the track and many even have available showers (and you’re going to want one at the end of the day!). Some tracks are not near to any motels so camping is the only option. Some tracks do have nearby motels. So, camping costs you nothing if you already have a sleeping bag, sleeping pad and tarp (at a minimum). Add a tent while you’re at it. Motels, will run you at least $100/night, maybe you’ll be able to split the cost with a friend.

Expense #5: food and drink. This is the least of your expenses but make sure you bring enough for the the whole weekend. At my recent trackdays, it was 80F on day one and 66F on day two and I still drank about three gallons of water and hydration fluid. If it’s hotter than that, bring three gallons per day to make sure you don’t run out. If you don’t have a large cooler, buy one, fill it with ice (get block ice if possible) and you’re set. You also want meals and I recommend keeping it simple. I used some old freeze dried camping meals and made sandwiches ahead of time for all three days.

Expense #6: trackdays and racing aren’t free. Again, prices vary from trackday provider to provider and with different club racing organizations. Plus, if you’re going to race, you’ll need to take their race school to get your novice racing license (some have teamed up with trackday providers so you can get your license that way—it’s still going to cost you money). And you’ll need to join the club itself. And then you’re going to have to pay for each racing class you enter. So check with the club you want to race with to see what that’s going to run you for the season.

For example, my former club, the American Federation of Motorcyclists (in California), currently charges $195 for the full season racing license (not including getting your novice license). Then each event has a $100 registration fee, and $80 for each race you enter (and it’s $200 if you compete in the top Formula Pacific class). So multiply that by their five events for the year.

Expense #7: tires, maintenance and repairs. You’re going to need some good tires. Depending on how powerful your bike is, you might get a dozen days or more with a set of tires, or they might only last for the weekend (or even just race day!). That makes a bike like a Ninja 400 very attractive to ride instead of jumping on a Yamaha R-1. You’ll change the oil and filter more often. You may need to change brake pads more often. And, if you do crash, maybe you get lucky and it’s a low-speed slide and the bike just gets a little rash, or maybe it tumbles and destroys the bodywork and forks (or worse: the frame). So you’ll want to have some money set aside for all of that.

Expense #8: track gear. I recommend a 10’x10’ pop-up awning, at least one folding chair, and get yourself a cheap (or free) piece of carpet for your pits—it’s a lot nicer to kneel on when you’re working on your bike or stretching before a track session or race than on the hot asphalt.

Expense #9: tools! You will need some tools for adjusting suspension and possibly removing brakes and wheels. So you’re going to also want a front lift stand and a rear lift stand. If you don’t have those things, you’ll need to buy those.

So, how much?

Maybe you have all of the gear, bike, transportation, tools, etc., so you’re expenses are gas for transportation, gas for your bike (I went through nearly 8 gallons of fuel, about 21 mpg on a ZX-4RR), food, probably tires, and trackday costs / racing fees. For two days, you’re looking at an absolute bare minimum of about $600 (I’m amortizing in $500 for a set of tires for 8 days for a small bike, so $125 per two days).

Per two days of track time or a two-day race event, all times the number that you do for the year.

So for five race events or five two-day trackdays, that’s at least $3,000 for the year.

However, I guarantee you that it’s going to cost more than that. Many trackdays cost $300+ per day. Drive farther, pay more for gas. Ride a bigger bike, more gas, more tires. Crash—repairs for the bike...and probably for your riding gear, too.

Consider yourself lucky if you can do it at only $3,000 per year.

My recent trackday cost me $3,850.70 (not including pet sitting for my dog), but that includes race bodywork, a new set of tires (good for at least for events), new helmet, and used set of Spidi leathers (only $323!). But the "per event" cost was still $1,051.69.

Next: Part 2: Your Body (it’ll be much shorter!).

EDIT!!!!! I did forget one thing: many trackday providers and racing orgs require riders/racers to have medical insurance. So, this can vary widely from being lucky and having an employer-paid plan to private plans and finding medical insurance through the Affordable Care Act. This is for the US. In civilized countries (the EU and UK and some others), they have single-payer healthcare and you don't even have to think about this at all. Thanks to u/Magmadragoon24 for bringing this up in a comment.

So long story short I crashed and most likely when the bike slid the brake was depressed and air got sucked in, and now no matter how many times I bled it the lever still bottoms out on the grip.
What should I do? I have checked the pistons all moves freely, bike has abs but there’s not an easy way for me to bleed it.