Well, the weather men ended up being correct, and Sunday ended up being pretty wet, but I hung out all day and actually had a good time. It was wet & cold, but still fun. I got in 7 full sessions and we were still done by 3:30pm. The rain does suck in that your aren't going to be breaking any of your track records, but I had the all the right gear with me to keep me warm and dry including my Frogg Toggs and I had a blast. I pretty much had it in my mind that it was going to be a wet day, so I just planned for it the best I could. I learned more about riding in the rain this track day and being on the edge of traction then I ever have. The morning started of chilly and damp and had been sprinkling all morning, but the track wasn't that wet. Barber staff was out there drying out the track before our first run. They did delay us about 30 minutes which sucked because I figured the rain was just a short ways a way and we were going to have the driest track we could 1st thing that morning. They did a great job getting the track pretty dry for our 1st sessions. They finally got the track opened at 9:30 for the Intermediate group running 15 min sessions to get everyone 2 sessions by 11:00 am AL quiet time. I went out my first session in Advanced at about 9:45 on the Gixxer and traction was good. The track was actually drying out in T7 & T14 and a few other places. There were only a handful of small puddles here and there that were easy to avoid and most were on the straights. My 2nd Session out, I was getting more comfortable and passing a few folks out there. On the 2nd or 3rd lap coming into T1, a faster guy comes up on my left and has the inside line for T1. I'm still taking it easy, so I'm backing off letting him have the line, but then he waves at me and tells me to go ahead. In the mean time, we have both probably slowed down more then what was necessary. I'm moving over to the right setting up for T1 with barely a foot or two of track left on my right hand side when a guy comes squeezing by. It scarred the crap out of me for a second, but he waved as he went by to let me know he didn?t mean to cut it so close, so all was good. (we actually chated later and all was good). I tuck in behind this guy going into T2 and he?s got some pretty good speed going, but he?s on full rain tires so I?m keeping my speed in check. He passes 2 more riders coming out of T3-T4 going into T5. I pass one of the riders but hold back on the other one. He?s hauling into T5 and I?m thinking to myself, man he?s really got some traction out there on those rain tires. Then BAM, he?s on the ground on T5 tumbling along. Okay, I guess his traction just ran out. He?s on his feet fairly quickly and we just had a waving yellow for the next lap. He had his bike out there very quickly. We continue the rest of that session with the rain starting to come back by the end of the session. The novice group goes out for their last session before lunch and sure enough by 11:00am the rain had set in. Probably half of the place packed up at lunch and left. I had already decided I was sticking around, so I just put on my rain gear and waited for my next session. On my 3rd session out the rain had set in good and the track was soaked with standing water in many places. A few more guys had put on rain tires, but I wanted to see how the Metzler RaceTechs that I had on the Gixxer would hold up. Our Advanced group is probably down to about 20 or so guys now. I go out there about 10th in line and just follow along. We all are pretty much just running the same pace. Even the guys on the rains aren?t running away from us on the DOT?s. So, after a few laps around in the pouring rain, you learn where the puddles are. Coming out of T1 and going into T2, there is one big puddle right in the change between these turns that was awesome to get a good slide going through it. T2 drains well and doesn?t collect water. It also has a surprising amount of traction through there. Coming over the top of the hill on T3-T4 you get some more standing water. T5 is just down right slippery and I crawled through it all day. Crossing over the 3 different lanes of pavement in T5, you can feel your tires slide and at the very end of T5 was a lot of standing water that made it fun to push the back end out when you were getting on the gas. Going down the straight into T6 was like a kid splashing through the water holes. It was an absolute blast. T7-T8 looked really slick, but it also drained pretty well. A few puddles coming out of T8. T9-T10 was fast if you could hold your line well and kept it really smooth. You are carrying a lot of speed there, so sliding out of T10 got interesting and led to a few pucker moments. T12 (Right hand up hander that you pull a lot of g?s through) got pretty scary. I had a few times where the back end got really light through there. Finishing off the track through T13-T15 wasn?t bad. Then back down the front straight splashing through all the puddles like a little kid. On the Gixxer, if you held it wide open going down the straights, you would spin your back tire through the puddles bouncing off the rev limiter. It was quite a bit of fun and was interesting to get used to. The Race Techs did quite well in the rain until I got leaned over past where I had tread! Then it got a little scary. I could actually get the middle of the tire heated up fairly well. I ended taking the Gixxer out the first 4 sessions and then decided to jump on the SV and see what it was like. The SV was running Pirelli Super Corsas. Right away, I could see I was going to have a blast on the SV. With the smaller bike and less power, it was just more fun to rip on the throttle, break the bike loose, and then ride it out with out worrying about being on my butt. You could really tell that the SV was a much more forgiving bike which made it more fun in the rain. I think the Race Techs did better then the Super Corsas traction wise, but I was having a blast either way. I did pretty well in the rain, even on Race DOT tires. A couple more guys went down in Advanced throughout the day, but it was interesting that everyone that I saw went down in Advanced was on rain tires. I?m not sure if they were just pushing it harder or what. The only red flag in Advanced was another rider that lost it in T9-10. I think he ended up being okay. I was only passed twice all day long. That rider I talked about earlier that went down in T5 and the guy on rains that went down in T10. I managed to pass a few people myself too. Most everyone was just running a consistent pace. My 2nd to last session out, it was only myself and one other rider on the track and we were on opposite ends. I had 20 minutes to ride Barber all by myself and never see another bike. I was laughing in my helmet the entire time. When do you get to ride Barber all by yourself! (In the rain! LOL) The very last session of the day, they combined the Advanced and Intermediate group and there was a whole 5 or 6 of us. I started off behind a few of the intermediate riders, passed them and then once again enjoyed the track to myself. It was quite fun. I would have loved a dry day like the Saturday guys got to enjoy, but I made the best of it and had a blast. My Frogg Toggs kept me dry all day and were awesome. They held up great and my leather were totally dry underneath them. My Scorpion helmet never fogged up and I could see all day long. THeir no fog shield is just awesome to have on that helmet. I had on some winter gloves that had a water proof cover. They kept my hands dry and warm all day also. The only bad thing was my boots that were just collecting water by the bucket fulls. I was so glad to finally put dry shoes on at the end of the day. If you are going to be at a track like Tally, Jennings, or Barber where there is just blacktop, bring the right gear and plan for a fun day to ride in the rain. Don't just write it off as a wash. I'm glad I had a chance to experience it. RA or other tracks with the concrete patches might be something else, but you can have fun on the blacktop tracks. Thanks to STT for a great event.
Just out of curiosity is this Dan? I was hating you and my buddy Dave for having that Advanced session all to yourselves on Sunday afternoon. I gave serious thought to looking for a dremel tool and removing my cast. :twisted: I had a great time this weekend too, even if it was just spectating for the second week in a row.
The whole freaking weekend rocked... even if Sunday was a bit wet. This was my first STT event, I will be back for more for sure. I've done a few trackdays and the level of organization at STT was awesome. On Sunday it started to rain fairly hard as we went out for Novice run #2... I was still on my Power Races and as the track got wetter I could feel the tires starting to slide around under me... pushed a bit too much and got a pretty ferocious (at least for me!) tank slapper coming out of the kink... feet off the pegs and the whole bit... but I was able to settle it back down and continue on. Slapped the rains on for the afternoon and had a blast... it was pretty soggy, but a good learning experience (at least for a beginner like me) feeling the bike moving around underneath. I didn't mind the wet so much, but the wet combined with the cold was a bit of a drag. Still... an excellent day. Both the in-class instruction and on-track observation, feedback from the instructors was AWESOME !!! Best ever! best, t
Yep, this is Dan. I saw your buddy go out ahead of me as I was driving down pit lane and I never saw him again. I wondered at one point if he had gotten off the track, but then when I pitted out, I saw him coming around. Like I said, I was laughing thinking here I am riding around Barber all by myself.
We had a good view of that session from the top of the paddock building. You two were running the exact same pace and would pass each other at the same point every time. He would be on the straight entering 5 and you would be right around the start/finish line. I kept thinking how great it must have been to ride on a track that empty.
You mention that you started passing some people out there in your second session. What does that mean exactly? If those that you were passing were not measuring themselves against you in a prearranged agreement, how do you know that they were riding as hard as you were? I lost $200.00 Sunday. Until enough people complain about or suggest policy change, it will stay the same. I believe NESBA would have issued at least a half day credit, maybe more.
I rode the first two sessions on Sunday very slowly. I have no interest in riding in the rain. I understand that you can learn a lot about your tire limits in the rain but I have no interest in that. If I was a racer and had to race in the rain then I could see risking a crash to learn how to better handle slippery conditions but I am not a racer. It was a waste of $200 for me as well. I'm hesitant to sign up for another event this spring due to the weather. Late summer is probably a better bet. Craig
The "lose $200" comment's subjective. Some riders don't mind riding in the rain (though I'm sure they'd prefer a dry track). Rain riding can teach you throttle smoothness and good form (more motivation to hang off the bike and keep the bike upright). And if there's a chance the track will dry out later then going out in the wet morning sessions can let you learn a new track while not pushing yourself hard, so that once it dries you can start pushing and already know the layout and lines. Unfortunately STT can't control the weather (yet). And I don't think many tracks offer the organization a refund if it rains, so it's hard for STT to offer you a refund. I guess Monte could hike STT's rates really high to cover rained out events, but then people would complain about rates. You just can't please everyone.
Just playing Devil's Advocate here Craig, but the lessons learned in the rain apply to all of us, not just racers. Here's an example, you ride to work one day like you normally do, when suddenly you're hit with the wonderful weather we're blessed with here in the South. Now you're riding home in a thunderstorm because you really have no other choice, unless you have someone who can come get you. Let's say you're on the way home and encounter a left turning cager/dog running out in the street/junebug farts 3 miles away and blows a tsunami towards you. All situations named here, with the exception of the junebug, can be dealt with using the lessons learned on the track in the rain. Braking, turning, and the limits of your motorcycle in the wet can all be explored and exploited safely on a racetrack. Some of the best instruction I ever received was during a wet session at Cornerspeed a few years ago. That's just my $.02 on the rain. Not arguing your preference on riding in the rain, just trying to show that the lessons apply to more than just racers.
yeah yeah yeah.......I see your point I rode more agressively on the wet track then I ever would on the street in the rain. When it rains on the street, I usually just avoid turning all together When I look at the possible lessons learned on a wet track, (to me) they are more like how to handle loss of traction and would mainly be in a turn. I just don't want to go there. That's too close to disaster for me. I can also say that I never felt my tires slip on the wet track. New pilot powers and when I straightened up out of turn 5, I hit the gas hard enough to bring the front end off the ground. I was taking the turns pretty slow though. Slower than anyone else in the "A" group I'm pretty sure. That being said, I have absolutely no idea how far you can push it in the rain. I was being as smooth as I could be but how far can you lean the bike over? I dunno. I didn't want to find out because there is a good chance that I would crash if I lost traction. That wasn't something I was willing to do. On a dry track, losing traction isn't something I spend too much time worring about. I pay my money to go to the track and ride fast. I'm pretty slow in the straights but I like to take the turns as fast as I can so the rain wasn't fun for me. Like I said, I rode the first two sessions because I was there and ready to go but once it started raining in the second session, I came in and was finished. Suppossed to be sunny and mid 60's at Tally this weekend Craig
It's just my ride report, are you really taking it that seriously that I posted about passing a few people at a track day. I'm not trying to say I was doing anything special. I could have been passed by everyone out there, it wasn't a race, and didn't matter. Maybe those that I passed weren't that comfortable in the current conditions, maybe they were riding at 50%. I sure wasn't riding any where near 100% myself, but I got pretty comfortable out there. I've never rode with Nesba, so I don't know. Can they really afford to offer a rain credit for any track day that gets rained out? The only track that I ride that I seriously think needs a rain policy is Road Atlanta and that's just because of how slick the concrete patches get on that track in the wet. There was plenty of traction at Barber in the rain. Thats just my .02.
I rode with Nesba in the rain before . First time I ever spun up a rear tire was chasing a CR . Just him and me I'm not sure even they offer a credit just because you don't want to ride , I think it's only when they deem it safer to never run a session at all . Hell I don't like the rain but I had fun and learned a lot . I would never expect anyone to give a refund from the weather though . They would not be around long
We certainly "could" offer a rain policy similar to NESBA. However it would entail raising Membership Fees by $40-$50 (just like NESBA) to fund this policy. It's either an all or none policy as far as participation. $75...that's pretty steep for the guy or gal who rides one or maybe two events a season in my opinion. We could offer something similar to TPM where you can elect to purchase event protection in dollar increments of say $50. If we went this route the protection would be availabe only to those registering 10 or more days in advance. NESBA collects by my estimate about $150,000 per year in membership fees and that can pay for a lot of rain-outs. There is a disclaimer in this benefit that states it may be discontiued at any time (if the money runs out...) There is no such thing as "free". Unless you are the US Governmet and can print cash, the money must come from somewhere. Feedback on this is greatly appriciated and encouraged.
I enjoy STT because of the low membership fee. With only riding 1-2 events a year (so far) a large membership fee is ahrd to fork over. I may consider TPM because of no fee and a few dates that fit my schedule and local. I rode in the rain at Beave Run last year. It was mostly a dry line but I am so slow it did not matter. Last few sessions were basically washed out but I was cold and tired anyway. If anything, I would opt for the TPM style with a choice to buy the coverage.
Your kidding me right? I learned Barber in the rain at a WERA race in 03. That place has more grip than probably any other track in the rain, or damp. I assume other people were riding that day in the damp? Pre-arranged agreement for passing? It is a TRACK DAY not a race. I'm sure STT could get a rain policy in place but that would drive other costs WAY up. I'm sure the track does not give them their money back when it is a damp track. You learn a ton about throttle control and brake modulation in the rain. Too bad you didn;t go out, it is actaully really fun on a wet track, especially all the linear grip that is at Barber.
Offering event protection might be a good idea. It would be optional so anyone not interested wouldn't have to even worry about it but anyone concerned about having to cancel for one reason or another could purchase it. It would probably mean more work for you guys if you kept up with a waiting list and tried to sign up the next person on the waiting list if someone cancelled. Craig