Track Day Pictures

[montessa172]

Attended a local track day, got 90 minutes of track time, a bike with a now hurtin clutch, an ear to ear grin, a ton of pictures, and some awesome tire to tire riding with some of the vintage guys that I know. If you ever have the opportunity to participate in one of these events do it, its a blast.. Pictures inclued a jawa engined manx thing?, triumph trident slippery sam replica, a rigid rudge [ there were actually 3 of them and they all went out full speed] and various others, i only got pictures of the different stuff but there was about 60 bikes there in total..

Regards

 

[pjed]

Them are some cool bikes...what track is that at?

 

[Hoofhearted]

Some very tasty machines!!! Particularly the Nortons and the Rudge Ulster. Looks like you had a hell of a time. Color me jealous.

 

[Dirty Dan]

Are track days usually competitive events? Well, I guess a better question is how competitive are they. I've been interested but I'm not all that competitive, I'd just like to go out and see what my bike can do...

 

[Redbird]

Dan, trackdays are not set up as races. That's not to say some guys aren't "chasing" each other. But largely you ride at your own pace and just have fun. You shouldn't have to worry about anyone banging bars or someone cutting you off in the corners. That type of behavior is generally frowned upon. And they'll group riders according to skill level/experience.
I've been to one on my DS7, and several on my Hayabusa. It is absolutely the most fun you can have on two wheels with your clothes on

Montessa, nice pics! Thanks for sharing

 

[montessa172]

PJ, it's a local track, Toronto Motorsports Park, in Cayuga Ontario. The track runs bike events on the road course but this one was run specifically through the vintage group and gears towards machines 1989 and older.
Dan, as Redbird said it's typically a ride at your own pace event. Ours was broken down into 4 classes ranging from slow to fast. I rode in the medium slow group as I don't have leathers yet and the fast groups require them. One of the basic rules at this event is no passing in the corners at all for the slower groups and no passing in the apex of a corner for the fast groups. I guess the best way to say it is that everyone is respectful of your space. The only negative part i find is that it kind of spoils riding on the street… Redbird and Hoof' I'll post up the rest of the pics when I get a free moment… oh and there was some chasing going on, yammie srx super singles in particular, they were running the same pace as me and we kept swapping leads

 

[2Big4Bike]

If anyone is truly interested in doing track days in the U.S., I would suggest going to "Sportbike Track Time" and see what they offer in your area. I've been riding with them for 3-4 years. They run three groups Novice, Intermediate, Advanced. They offer really good instruction and coaching for Novices and Intermediate upon request. I ran with two other track day organizations but I've feel STT runs the events better than the others i.e. rider safety, tech inspection, atmosphere etc.

Although they are welcome, there aren't many vintage bikes that show up. Out of the 12 trackdays I've done this year there were only a handfull of bikes that I would have considered to be vintage. All of them were in the slower groups but that is okay because track days are about fun and improving your skills.

The biggest starting commitment is safety gear, don't buy cheap! The track can be unforgiving...ask me how I know! :-[