I was joking about not directing..... although I was not joking about it being a LOT of work. It is. You have no idea the amount of prep that goes into, say, a Barber weekend. You gotta have your crap together and your game face on when you roll through those gates. It's also a LOT of fun.... but it's a ton of work. I am actually considering doing a bit of racing next year.... as long as it does not interfere with any of my commitments for Sportbike Track Time. When I went down for vintage fest at AHRMA this year at Barber, I was quite taken with the event... and saw a lot of good friends I have not seen in a while. I could really dig going racing if I have the time and money. As far as directing for Sportbike Track Time goes: my wife and I are VERY proud to work for STT and to work for Richard & Julie Harris. I will continue to do this gig for as long as I am able and as long as Richard owns STT. I have had offers from other trackday organizations to direct events for them in the southeast - I am flatly not interested, not for any amount of money. I love STT - always have, and always will. t
cool man, I'm just starting to get to know everyone and I would hate for the southern crowd to change! STT is the only club I've ridden with, but I can't imagine it getting better anywhere else. I've definitely never felt like a walking dollar sign, and that seems rare in a lot of places these days. so cheers until next year ladies and gents...and just so Perrone knows, I'm gonna be pre-gamin all winter, so if I can't keep up on the track I'll make sure he's stugglin to keep up in the paddock!!! :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:
You (and Cindy and the SE Staff) are doing a great job Trevor and it's much noted and appreciated. As one of those 'lazy' literbike riders - i totally agree with your and Chaotic's assessment - but I'm just lazy
If I could do it all over again, in an ideal world: I'd get the fancy liter bike, one with the fancy electronic "riding mode" buttons, then reflash the ECU so that you get 4 maps: 1. SV650 MAP - 72 HPs all grunty between 7-10K but stops dead at 11.5 - ride this mode until I get to A, no matter how long it takes. No ABS, no TC, nothing. Take all the money I would have spent on tires and put them in trackdays and suspension upgrades. 2. 600 mode - 105 HPs, same torque as the SV just spread across the revs now to 14.5. Ride this mode in A until I am passing more than half the literbikes out there. Triple the tire budget. (It will only be double at first...) 3. 750 mode - 145 HPs, more torque up to 14.5, keep on it till I learn to pass the rest of the built up 600s, 75% to 95% of the literbikes out there. Go up 50% with tire budget. 4. 1000 mode - all 185+, bring your TC out, your ABS, all your toys, and try to bring as much of it into play as you can. I won't believe how much power in the bike is left over, essentially unusable, at nearly any point on the track. And that's the true fun of literbikes, trying to get it to the ground. Tire budget? "If you have to ask..." THAT would be the ultimate track bike, and I think you could actually do it with something like an S1000RR and a lot of money in software engineering.
It would be the ultimate track bike except that because of the motor/crank size, a 1000 will never handle like a 650, 600 or 750..... :sorry:
I haven't ridden one, but I held my own against one down the front straight at NOLA last weekend...expected to get stepped away from... [YOUTUBE]Win0gxB4mEQ[/YOUTUBE]
Oh, I know he had lesser drive off the corner (and so did I it was a pitiful approach I admit). I was just realllly surprised that once we both went WOT that he didn't just take off and leave me. I'm certain someone more familiar with that bike would have ate my lunch.
Perhaps "ultimate" is overstating it. Of course, you are right, and we all agree twins don't handle like I4s, and none of my Suzukis handle like my Yamahas or Hondas, and the Pirellis definitely don't handle like the Dunlops, the 160 DOT rears are nothing like the 200 slicks...etc. but any single liter bike with stepped capabilities and with the discipline to learn to maximize the important things first, could be a viable 1st track bike, and I think you could learn a lot, and pretty quickly too.:fear: On the other hand, having a bunch of different bikes over the years has been a lot of the fun of doing this too. Ultimate is having all the bikes.
:amen: As odd as it may sound, track days aren't really a good indication of a BIKE being faster or not. There are way too many variables, the biggest one being the rider.
That is actually possible now. Several 1k's have "mode switches" and you can select from different power modes. The only problem is that i don't know of many people who could have more power with the push of a button...but would have the willpower not to push it. I know i wouldnt be able to keep from pushing it.
Hahaha exactly. When I got my S1000RR, the dealership told me to keep it in Rain mode (which is around 157 hp) for the first month or two cause it was my first actual "sportbike". I then told them right before leaving that I didn't buy a S1000RR to have it be limited to the same max horsepower as the '12 Honda CBR1000RR ound:.