The Third Annual BOL Track Day

[Jack Michaud]

Here's pics from our track day at New Hampshire International Speedway yesterday. The past two years have just involved Bob and myself, but this year Bob roped in some more of the alpine faithful.

Riders included Bob Jenney (silver/black Suzuki GSXR1000), Shaggy (red Buell Firebolt), AlexJ (black/white Suzuki GS500), and PaulK (stripped silver Kawasaki ZZR1400). Cheering section included Steph, Cheri, and myself. Photos by me. I was not riding because my bike needs lots of new stuff in order to be track-worthy, and it just wasn't in the budget this year.

Hope to see more BOL moto riders there next year!

http://picasaweb.google.com/michaud.jack/NHIS_20060809

[tex1230]

Jack - give me a little warning next time and I'll try to come up to watch. My bike isn't exactly track worthy but I'd love an excuse for a long ride.

[Jack Michaud]

Jack - give me a little warning next time and I'll try to come up to watch. My bike isn't exactly track worthy but I'd love an excuse for a long ride.

Will do. You can also rent a track bike for the day there.

[Tommy D]

Nice! I love that track; It's a lot of fun in a car. Must be more fun on a bike!

[Gecko]

Jack - give me a little warning next time and I'll try to come up to watch. My bike isn't exactly track worthy but I'd love an excuse for a long ride.

well it doesn't take much effort to make either my or my wife's bike trackworthy and we both would have enjoyed a day up in cool (compared to south RI) New Hampshire. Trailering the bikes up would have been easy

[Justin A.]

Ditto on the warning next time. I just got an R6 this spring and I would LOVE to get it out onto its intended medium

Edit: any chance of a car track day?
________
WEBSITE HOST

[Gleb]

Damn, missed it. I wouldve come up for sure.

[mirror70]

Edit: any chance of a car track day?

Those are mostly booked @ NHIS for the rest of the season. I think ACNA-NAAC has one scheduled in Sept and one more in Oct though, so those might be a possibility.

[AlexJ]

I have been racing cars at NHIS for about 15 years, but this was my first time on a bike. What a blast the feeling was much more intense then in a car.
I am ready to sell the race car and take up motorcycle racing.
We are going back on September 25th for another day. As of now Shaggy, Bob, and I are confirmed. I believe Paul if also confirmed but not 100% sure.
If anyone else is interested this trackday is sponsored by motomarket. Here are the specifics if you want to sign up.
Date- September 25th Gates open at 7:30AM
Cost- $200
To sign up- call 888-MOTOMKT
Do it fast if you want to go as space is limited and i was told last week there are not many spaces left.
I highly recommand this activity, we all left that day with perma-grin on our faces.
Alex

[tex1230]

If I can get the day off work I'll ride up to watch - looking for an excuse for a long distance ride. don't think the track bike rental is in the budget though...something like $600 for the day...and I have a new Coiler to pay for!

[Paulk]

Called today to sign up. Still some spots available for the 25th. Maybe this time I'll keep the tires on the ground....and pack a spare set of levers in case I don't
This is starting to hurt the snowboard budget. sorry Fin.

[fin]

Don't mean to hijack, but the 1st annual BOL Scooter rally is coming up!

Only requirements are:

Must be under 200cc and must burn oil.

FYI: that is Paul Kobe on the yellow Piaggio #90

See you there.

[Jack Michaud]

Racing scooters is almost as cool as racing lawnmowers.

[Tommy D]

Racing scooters!


My neighbors modified their lawn mowers, and raced them around the school a couple years back! Looked like a hoot. So does racing scooters!

[Shaggy]

Here's my lawnmower...........lets race!

[patmoore]

Don't mean to hijack, but the 1st annual BOL Scooter rally is coming up!

Only requirements are:

Must be under 200cc and must burn oil.

Fin, that's hysterical! Kind of makes me wish I still had the two scooters I owned in 1960: a 1946 Cushman Husky with a centrifugal clutch and a 1952 Vespa with bicycle handlebars.

[willywhit]

Damn, missed it. I wouldve come up for sure.

Got this email today, next time I'm in.
We'd like to welcome you to a new series of messages that the Penguin Racing School will be publishing for our newsletter subscribers: The Penguin Racing School Performance Riding Series. This will be a multi-part series of riding tips that will help make your track experiences even better! Our instructors will be offering some insight on such subjects as body position, bike setup, line selection and more.......giving new track riders a little glimpse into the Penguin Racing School classroom, and providing key reminders for those of you who have already been on the track with us. The theme for this lesson is reflected in the title "Ride like you are part of the suspension, not part of the frame".

Getting Started
One of the major problems we see when street riders first hit the racetrack is that their butt is planted firmly in the seat the entire way around the track. This usually comes from habits formed during years of street riding, where the relatively low speeds to not require getting off the seat in order to comfortably make it through a corner. However, as corner speed increases in a racetrack setting riders need to do all they can to keep the bike stable, predictable and glued to the racetrack. When sitting in the center of the seat, your body is basically connected to the chassis. Your rear end, regardless of how much "suspension" you think your body has built in, does very little to absorb the bumps on the track. It also does nothing to help you soak up the braking, cornering and acceleration loads your motorcycle generates as it runs laps around your favorite ribbon of asphalt. All these loads are instead transferred directly into the suspension, creating excessive motion and instability.

Getting Off the Seat is the Start
Your legs are perhaps your most important tool to allow you to ride both smoother and faster. In order to use them to your maximum advantage, it is required for you to first get off the seat. Try this: sit in a kitchen chair at home with both butt cheeks firmly planted in the seat. Straighten both of your legs, and note that all of you weight is transferred to the chair through the seat of your pants (we hope you are wearing pants at this point). Next, slide off the chair far enough that one cheek is just on the chair, with the other side hanging off in open air. Now try to straighten your legs......impossible, right? When you slide off the seat you are forced to carry a significant portion of your weight on your legs or else you will fall off the inside of the bike. If you can force yourself to get at least halfway off the seat before entering every corner you'll be forced to do begin to do the right thing with your legs.

Supporting Your Body Weight
With your body off the seat on the way into a corner, your body weight should be supported in two places; your inside foot pushing down on the peg and your outer leg holding against the fuel tank. Both parts of this support are critical. You can support up to nearly 100% of your body weight in this fashion. Getting off the seat and support yourself in this fashion has a number of distinct advantages, but we will focus in the segment on the ability of your legs to now become part of the suspension. As you enter the corner the balls of your feet should be on the pegs, and again you should be supporting your weight with a combination of your outside leg firmly placed against the tank and your inside foot on the footpeg. With a majority of your weight now carried in your legs (remember the chair) your legs will soak up a large portion of the bumps on the track rather than to transmit them through the suspension. This dramatically reduces the amplitude of the reaction of your suspension to both pavement irregularities and throttle input as you exit the corner. If there is a significant bump anywhere in the corner - try to further unweight the seat as much as possible and you will be amazed at how much smoother your bike will flow over the bump. An added benefit of this technique is that you are now carrying much of your weight lower on the motorcycle - dramatically adding to your bike's stability throughout the corner.

Corner Exit
As you exit the corner and pick up the throttle your weight should shift. You will push down on the outside peg and use your inside leg to exert pressure against the tank, giving you added traction and helping the bike to stand up without excessive use of handlebar input. Your weight should be forward on the motorcycle in order to help the bike finish the corner while you accelerate. Remember to again unweight the seat if there are any exit bumps on the corner. If you can learn to put these basic principles into use your bike will make a smoother, more predictable trip through exit of the corner - leading to more confidence and lower lap times. Coming in Part 2: Coupling more leg input with less bar input for maximum front grip.

IMPORTANT: The Penguin Racing School's riding tips are intended for use on the race track. We do not endorse or promote riding with excessive speed on the street and encourage all motorcycle riders to follow state and federal traffic laws when riding on public roads. The techniques described in this communication should only be attempted under the supervision of a professional instructor by riders who posses the skill and experience to execute these maneuvers.

[fin]

Pat,

You would be a wealthy man if you still had those classics today

[AlexJ]

The next track day is coming up on September 25th. Per Motomarket there were still a few spaces available sign up at:

Date- September 25th Gates open at 7:30AM
Cost- $200
To sign up- call 888-MOTOMKT speak to Paul.


Alex