2nd Track at Pacific Raceways (Seattle Area)

[M-Coupe99]

Completed my second track day with the S1KRR and felt that I made a fair amount of improvement in my riding skills, especially in the braking and cornering zones. Actually did at least half my passes in these areas running in the intermediate group.

Also played around with the front compression settings as the front end felt too soft when initiating braking. Ended up turning the compression up from 5 to 7 and could really feel a difference, much better feel at the start of braking. Wondering though, if I am still bottoming out the front forks during braking. The following picture shows how far down my zip ties were moved after I increased the compression to 7. Anyone know how far down the fork tubes move? Total front sag set at 29mm with total rear sag at about 21mm (rear preload reduced as much as possible, with gear I'm about 150 to 155 lbs). If I'm bottoming out the front forks, I'm wondering if I increase the compression or increase the front spring preload?



Over all I was pretty happy with the tire wear (Metzeler K3s). Air temps were about 75 to 82 degrees F during the day, starting cold tire pressures were front = 31 psi and rear = 30 psi. The track surface is pretty old and rough in spots as well.
Front

Rear

[Nomad]

You're not bottoming the front by the looks of the zip tie. Would be all the way down.

[JBuchanan]

I used to race that track all of the time. It is a very technical track and should be a lot better since the repave of turn 2. be carefully coming up the hill in turn 8 as your speed will carry you to the outside and I have seen many a guy end up under the air fence. Do you know what kind of lap times you were turning? I never rode a liter bike there but was pretty competitive on my 06 GSXR 600.

Have fun and be safe.

[rotty749r]

I'd say your just about right for where that zip tie is. Your tires look to be wearing very nicely as well. I'm no suspension expert, but I'd say from the pictures, it looks like you have it dialed in well for your riding style.

[M-Coupe99]

Originally Posted by Nomad

You're not bottoming the front by the looks of the zip tie. Would be all the way down.

Thanks for the info. The only other way I could think of checking the total fork travel was to put the bike of the front up on my steering stem stand to lift the front tire off the ground and measure out the spec'd front suspension travel distance to estimate where it would bottom out at.

[M-Coupe99]

Originally Posted by JBuchanan

I used to race that track all of the time. It is a very technical track and should be a lot better since the repave of turn 2. be carefully coming up the hill in turn 8 as your speed will carry you to the outside and I have seen many a guy end up under the air fence. Do you know what kind of lap times you were turning? I never rode a liter bike there but was pretty competitive on my 06 GSXR 600.

Have fun and be safe.

Haven't got any times yet, might play with the lap timer next time for a session or two out of curiousity. Right now I'm probably in the top 10% of the regular intermediate run group. To move up to the "expert group" the the track day organization that I've been riding with, the rider must have regular lap times under 1 minute 44 seconds.

Yeah, turn 8 can be a little hairy as if you go off, you go off at a pretty fast clip. Riding a liter bike there definitely makes proper throttle control a must. Turn 2 is much better now after the repaving, drove my car there before it was repaved and thought guys must be a little crazy to ride a bike there with the large cracks / grooves in the pavement.

[1000RR]

As mentioned, your fork can travel all the way down to the bottom, so you still have room. The theory in racing is that for any one lap, the fork can/should come close to bottoming out... or possibly bottom one time... that would be at your biggest brake point, likely after the front straight. I was concerned that I was right at the bottom of the stroke on my race bike, but after talking with Thermosman about it (he set it up for me), he confirmed the above theory... and said it was "right on"... bottoming once or coming real close means it was set up properly and you are using the full stroke of the forks.

[JBuchanan]

Originally Posted by M-Coupe99

Haven't got any times yet, might play with the lap timer next time for a session or two out of curiousity. Right now I'm probably in the top 10% of the regular intermediate run group. To move up to the "expert group" the the track day organization that I've been riding with, the rider must have regular lap times under 1 minute 44 seconds.

Yeah, turn 8 can be a little hairy as if you go off, you go off at a pretty fast clip. Riding a liter bike there definitely makes proper throttle control a must. Turn 2 is much better now after the repaving, drove my car there before it was repaved and thought guys must be a little crazy to ride a bike there with the large cracks / grooves in the pavement.

What track day company are you riding with? 2 Fast has an excellent WMRRA NRC course and their instructors are very good. Adrenaline Freaks is also a good company. I used to be a rider coach for Mario (owner of AF) and he is a great guy.

Your tires look pretty good for Pacific, especially with all of the power the S1000rr puts out. 1:44 laptimes should be a good goal if your new to the track. Running on a 600 I was consistent with high 1:29s to 1:30s. Track record (on a liter bike) was like 1:24.5 or something...not sure what it is now as Eli Edwards and Mike M. are smoking dast there.

Take care and have fun!

[M-Coupe99]

Originally Posted by JBuchanan

What track day company are you riding with? 2 Fast has an excellent WMRRA NRC course and their instructors are very good. Adrenaline Freaks is also a good company. I used to be a rider coach for Mario (owner of AF) and he is a great guy.

Your tires look pretty good for Pacific, especially with all of the power the S1000rr puts out. 1:44 laptimes should be a good goal if your new to the track. Running on a 600 I was consistent with high 1:29s to 1:30s. Track record (on a liter bike) was like 1:24.5 or something...not sure what it is now as Eli Edwards and Mike M. are smoking dast there.

Take care and have fun!

Been riding with 2-Fast so far this summer, learned a great deal attending their instructional school in June during my 1st track day. May also try to get in a track day at PIR in Portland before the summer is over. Driven this once before in my car, interested in seeing how it is with my bike.

Also heard good reviews about Adrenaline Freaks, but they stopped hosting track day as I heard that Mario is now spending more time helping out his son with his racing career.

[motoyogaguy]

Out of the blue: now that we have what seems to be a great new track in Shelton, will you be there in 2012? Should just say "no ****, Sherlock"?