Roadracing World – April 2019

By Michael Gougis

S

o you've made it this far. You've gotten

through the fi rst few days of your track

riding experience. You know how to reg-

ister, can make the riders' meeting, enter and

exit the track safely. You're having a ball tap-

ping the rev limiter in sixth gear, the bike isn't

leaking anything and you remember to check

tire pressures during the day. Excellent!

But there comes that morning when you

unload the bike and start thinking. Thoughts

like, "I wonder why I keep going wide in that

one turn?" start percolating in your head. You

wonder why the rider in front of you last time

out seemed to be able to carry more lean angle,

even though you were both on the same make

and model of bike. Or why, even if you could

stay close mid-corner, other riders seemed to

pull away at corner exit. “I'm on a literbike,”

you start thinking. “How is this guy on a 600

pulling away from me?”

Time to level up.

Fortunately, at most popular track days,

there are resources on site and immediately

available that can help both machine and rider

get better in a track day environment. Taking

advantage of them can help you bypass some

of the lengthy, expensive, and potentially pain-

ful curriculum of trial-and-error. Setting up

your bike properly, upgrading your equipment,

and learning how to ride better helps you go

quicker and ride safer.

`Equipment

Depending on the track day, there usually

will be a vendor on hand with wares for sale.

If you are lucky, you'll have someone selling

a small range of gear and equipment, and it's

nice to be able to grab a new set of gloves, a

helmet visor or even a set of tire warmers if you

start unpacking and fi nd that one (or more) of

these has mysteriously gone non-functional

(or missing) during storage or transport. Nice

to fi nd oil or spare levers (especially if you've

had an "unloading incident" and your machine

needs some immediate TLC).

But the biggest and most important ven-

dor is the tire supplier. Most new riders hit the

track with the tires that came on their sport-

bike, or the tires that they've been using on the

street. While today's street tires are better than

the street tires of just a few years ago, better,

fresher track-oriented rubber is a godsend. I

once overheard someone say at a track that the

fi rst 10 laps on a new set of slicks is like magic.

Not too much of an exaggeration!

Talk to your tire vendor. They'll usually

make a recommendation that is far superior to

the tires that are on your machine, and can

recommend something that doesn't require the

care and feeding of full-race tires, or require

tire warmers. They can also tell you the best

pressure to run.

And many of the better tire vendors will

have stands and tools on hand. All you have to

do is ride the machine over to the vendor, park

it on its sidestand, hand over your debit or

credit card and head over to the riders’ meet-

ing. By the time the meeting is over, your bike

can often be ready, tire pressures set. After a

few laps to scrub the new tires in, you'll expe-

rience more feel, more grip, and more lean an-

gle with less effort than you had before, which

builds confi dence, and improves your riding.

Look, street tires are amazing. But take

a look at the new motorcycle model reviews in

Roadracing World and note how many times

test riders, especially experienced racers like

former Superbike pro Chris Ulrich, fi nd that

the stock street tires are the limiting factor in

exploring the capabilities of a new machine.

Or, on the other hand, note how many cut-

ting-edge sportbikes are introduced at the

track, with the manufacturer slipping on rac-

ing or near-racing tires for the journalists. Not

an accident. Track-oriented tires are defi nite-

ly a level up, and it's something you can have

done before the fi rst session of the day.

(Above) A coach follows a student during a Sportbike Track Time event at Grattan Raceway. Photo

by 129photos.com. (Below) Some race tire vendors will remove wheels, install new tires, and re-

install the wheels for customers, like this Pirelli vendor for Fastrack Riders at Auto Club Speedway.

Continued on Page 81

32—Roadracing World, Trackday Directory 2019

LEVELING UP

TRACKSIDE IMPROVEMENTS: