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Track
Riders Day
Pahrump,
Nevada - September 2001
tracks. This urge had been building in Chris
and Dennis, two of our testers, since attending this years World Superbike
event at Laguna Seca. Both ex-road racers, they finally decided to quench
their thirst so to speak, by attending a track riders day at the increasingly
popular Pahrump, Nevada track.
Chris has been buying and selling street bikes like an auctioneer this year (GSXR 750, VFR800, ST4, Hayabusa, R6) and finally settled on his modified Hayabusa for two-up riding and a just purchased R6 for track duty. Dennis brought along his newly purchased VFR800, purchased during a Motorsports ride after the ST2 broke down, as well as the wife's beloved Suzuki SV650.
Preparation consisted of new tires all around,
removing mirrors and such, taping all lenses, drilling and wiring oil drain
plugs, replacing coolant with water and locating the proper riding gear. A
suitable trailer for hauling four bikes had to be found, new straps, gas cans,
and ramp had to be purchased. I tagged along to
take some photos and large doses of verbal abuse for being the wimp who wasn't
riding. (I had just spent 4 days and 2,200 miles on our Kawasaki
KLR650 test
bike). All was ready so off we went.
We had to be at the track at 7:30am, so this meant leaving the night before and staying in a Pahrump hotel. Chris chose the Nugget Casino, which turned out to have nice clean rooms and a great late night cafe for our late arrival. After a good nights sleep and another good, and cheap, meal at the cafe, we headed down the road a mile or two to the practice-only 2.2 mile Pahrump track.
After unloading and setting up shade against the desert sun, it was time for the mandatory riders meeting. Del Brown (801-392-4019 / delbrown@uswest.net) hosts the motorcycle track days at this facility and he's a nice kick-back kind of guy who laid down the rules in a very caring and common sense manner. One of the great things about the track days here, is there is a limit of just 20 riders. This means no sessions, just an open track for all the riding you or your bike can stand. It's up to the rider to use common sense and pull off the track for needed rest.
And that's just how this beautiful warm day went. Calm and casual as riders did their thing. All riders had the sense to start out slow and work their speeds up as the day progressed. It was great to see such a diverse group on the track. Surprisingly there were numerous Hayabusas (go figure), an SV650, RC51s, Ducati 996, GSXR 750s, R6s, R1s, TL1000s, and more. All riding safely together.
As for the performance of the various bikes we brought along, the SV was the best bike of all to learn and get comfortable with the track, the stock VFR which we all love was a disappointment, the modified Bus as we call it was as always fast but heavy in the corners demanding great respect from the right wrist. The R6 was fun and did everything right. As we expected, a friend who jumped off his R1 to the R6 rode it more smoothly. Less power and weight can be a really good thing, though I would have given almost anything to ride an R1 on the track.
If you want to improve your riding skills and wring out your sportbike, a track day like this is a great way to do it. If you're riding too fast on the street, then there are even more reasons for you to get off the streets and on a track - which incidentally is how I hear Chris and Dennis first ended up at the track many years ago. There's a web site listing motorcycle track days to help get you started. (ugofast.com) Remember, you just can't show up. Your equipment needs to be prepped, and you need to meet all of the guidelines established by the track or promoter - which may require proof of previous track riding experience or training.
Chris and Dennis surprised me this fine day. Oh, not by how fast they road or by their tremendous riding or wheelie skills, but by how often they seemed to pull off the track for rest. It would seem they learned just how demanding track riding is or was it that they weren't in the same physical condition they used to be - I'm not sure which it was. They also learned another more valuable lesson, don't mess with the guy who's going to write the story.
Enjoy
Bill Wolf