Cranky Pete
Well-known member
Theirs, thankfully. But I paid for it in bruises.
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FAST course advice/tips
- Thread starter drawmatic
- Start date
Metastable
Well-known member
Don't try to go as fast as possible. Practice what they tell you to do and you will start to pick up speed at the end of the day. I thought the last session was a complete riot.
GRAYZ
Well-known member
+1 on the hydration feedback. Also, try to bring your own lunch as the fast food from the snack bar is not conducive to keeping energy levels up.
Apart from that, be honest about your riding category (you will be asked if you are beginner, intermediate or advanced based previous on street/track experience.) AND your choice of bike. No sense trying to accommodate to an unusual bike for you when you should be thinking about developing skills.
Enjoy the lecture part of the class, the first hour-and-a-half or so. There is loads of great information and Michel is a fantastic speaker. I most often hear complaints about not getting enough track time. Don't worry, you'll get enough track time. You'll feel it the next day.
Apart from that, be honest about your riding category (you will be asked if you are beginner, intermediate or advanced based previous on street/track experience.) AND your choice of bike. No sense trying to accommodate to an unusual bike for you when you should be thinking about developing skills.
Enjoy the lecture part of the class, the first hour-and-a-half or so. There is loads of great information and Michel is a fantastic speaker. I most often hear complaints about not getting enough track time. Don't worry, you'll get enough track time. You'll feel it the next day.
Repeated for emphasis - stay hydrated. It might not even feel like you're sweating once you're on the track, but you will notice it in between sessions. And yeah, you might want to bring a lunch, the food stand selection is not the best.
Also agree with the ask questions, I wish I had asked more when I'd gone.
Also agree with the ask questions, I wish I had asked more when I'd gone.
having spoken to Michel in person (at the bike show) he seems like an excellent teacher and is very articulate so I'm sure he will convey all the information very well.
Now choosing a riding category might be somewhat confusing. If anyone has any input on this, that would be great. This is my second year riding. Last year i had a 250 and I logged in 6000KMs. This year i have been riding an R6 and I have put on 2000KMs so far. I'm fairly comfortable with the bike on the streets and on the highway. I know it is all subjective, but generally, what would that sort of experience be qualified as?
what sort of questions do you wish you had asked more?
Metastable
Well-known member
As far as the level.... dunno, that is a hard one to do.
I can't even remember if when I went, we had to pick levels. They would take times and slot you into different groups within the overall group. So like, the fastest guys of your group, would be slotted together when exiting the pits. If you have never been to the track before, I wouldn't put you in expert or advanced or whatever they call it.
Keep this in mind, most regular trackday riders would be the fastest guy at FAST phase1.... a guy who races would be even faster. Just because you have X miles... it doesn't mean much. If you are unsure, go into beginner. It isn't like you will learn less. You will be able to go as fast as you want to, even when following an instructor. The instructors go at your pace.
If it makes you feel any better..... most of the guys that go to FAST are fairly slow in the grand scheme of things. They maybe fast street riders, but that doesn't mean squat at the track. You get the odd truly quick rider (ie race pace), but usually that isn't the case. Just keep an open mind and practice what they tell you.
You will get questions in your head as the day progresses.
I can't even remember if when I went, we had to pick levels. They would take times and slot you into different groups within the overall group. So like, the fastest guys of your group, would be slotted together when exiting the pits. If you have never been to the track before, I wouldn't put you in expert or advanced or whatever they call it.
Keep this in mind, most regular trackday riders would be the fastest guy at FAST phase1.... a guy who races would be even faster. Just because you have X miles... it doesn't mean much. If you are unsure, go into beginner. It isn't like you will learn less. You will be able to go as fast as you want to, even when following an instructor. The instructors go at your pace.
If it makes you feel any better..... most of the guys that go to FAST are fairly slow in the grand scheme of things. They maybe fast street riders, but that doesn't mean squat at the track. You get the odd truly quick rider (ie race pace), but usually that isn't the case. Just keep an open mind and practice what they tell you.
You will get questions in your head as the day progresses.
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At the end, I wasn't getting much feedback from them. Just general questions, like, how do I go faster?
I dunno. I did Phase I & II back to back, but it probably would have been better to do Phase I, do a track day, and THEN do Phase II.Ask yourself, OP, how fast do you think you can go? If you were riding around the track unsupervised, how hard would you push the bike? If you're not sure, pick beginner. If you think you'd try really hard but not go too fast, pick medium. If you think you'd go really fast, pick beginner.
That said I don't think there's a HUGE difference between the first two, because there's probably people in both that belong in the other. I picked 'medium' and while most people were okay, there was this guy on a shiny Ducati that was a rolling roadblock. I am absolutely aware that you're not racing in FAST, but when you're cornering at speeds that are roughly equivalent to using an on-ramp like my mother, you don't feel like you're learning much either.thank you for your reply.
I agree with you that street riding skills do not necessairly translate into being fast on the racetrack and I'm sure once I pick a category, I can move to a different one if necessary.
Ask yourself, OP, how fast do you think you can go? If you were riding around the track unsupervised, how hard would you push the bike? If you're not sure, pick beginner. If you think you'd try really hard but not go too fast, pick medium. If you think you'd go really fast, pick beginner.
like you mentioned, the first two categories will be similar in my opinion as well. I agree with Metastable that just because you are in the beginners category does not mean that you will learn any less, but I think if I'm surrounded by riders with skill sets that would encourage me to go a bit faster than I would like (obviosuly not stepping completely out of my comfort zone and having the advantage of being in a controlled environment) that would allow me to enhance my abilites.
Tornique
Well-known member
One comment I would make is to definitely rent the FAST bike. This has nothing to do with crashing and having to pay for it, but instead how much you will take out of the course.
I did phase 1 on my own bike and passed people very easily on the straights. Too easily. I found out later that all FAST bikes were restricted to 75% throttle.
Day 2 (phase 2) I used the FAST bike instead thinking i would push harder this day. Instead what I realized right away is that I couldn't pass anyone on the straight despite being faster than them in the turns (where i could not pass). When your on someones back wheel in a corner and once in the straight, you both hit the same gas and poof. Your not gaining on him at all.
Very frustrating at first untill you started peicing together how it all works. Exit speeds on a corner, getting a run on your opponent in a corner ect...
I did phase 1 on my own bike and passed people very easily on the straights. Too easily. I found out later that all FAST bikes were restricted to 75% throttle.
Day 2 (phase 2) I used the FAST bike instead thinking i would push harder this day. Instead what I realized right away is that I couldn't pass anyone on the straight despite being faster than them in the turns (where i could not pass). When your on someones back wheel in a corner and once in the straight, you both hit the same gas and poof. Your not gaining on him at all.
Very frustrating at first untill you started peicing together how it all works. Exit speeds on a corner, getting a run on your opponent in a corner ect...
My 2cents:
-Hydration: Michel Mercier has a great guideline: if your pee is yellow, you are dehydrated, drink apple juice!
-Take notes!!!!
-Believe the feedback and try hard to apply it.
-Work on being smooth, and the speed will come with almost no effort.
Michel Mercier is the best instructor I have ever seen. When he is explaining something, he has a lot of passion in his voice and body language. This is almost impossible to do when you have been deliverig the same content for 20+ years.
-Hydration: Michel Mercier has a great guideline: if your pee is yellow, you are dehydrated, drink apple juice!
-Take notes!!!!
-Believe the feedback and try hard to apply it.
-Work on being smooth, and the speed will come with almost no effort.
Michel Mercier is the best instructor I have ever seen. When he is explaining something, he has a lot of passion in his voice and body language. This is almost impossible to do when you have been deliverig the same content for 20+ years.
once again thank you all for your help and advice.
the track day was amazing and dragging knees is just too much fun lol. Keeping hydrated really helped. Everyone was friendly and the instructors were amazing in terms of their knowledge and teaching skills and just all around cool dudes to hang around with. Michel is really passionate about his teachings and he is one funny guy. As the perfect icing on the cake, I received one of the three "top rider" awards at the end of the day which made the drive back home tolerable lol. I'm looking forward to many more track days and this winter i will be looking for a track bike.
Ride safe everyone
the track day was amazing and dragging knees is just too much fun lol. Keeping hydrated really helped. Everyone was friendly and the instructors were amazing in terms of their knowledge and teaching skills and just all around cool dudes to hang around with. Michel is really passionate about his teachings and he is one funny guy. As the perfect icing on the cake, I received one of the three "top rider" awards at the end of the day which made the drive back home tolerable lol. I'm looking forward to many more track days and this winter i will be looking for a track bike.
Ride safe everyone
Congrats on the top rider award. Back when I got mine, there was only 1 per class....when did they start giving out 3 of them? I remember being ecstatic, as I had no inkling that I would get anything. We also had no idea our laps thoughout the day were being times ( I assume they didn't mention it so none of us tried to be a hero)....but it sure was cool to look at the lap times and see a progression as the day went on. I think I picked up 23 seconds/lap from the beginning of the day to the end of it.
I dont know when they changed the format but the class was devided into 3 groups ..so there was an award for one person in each group.
they did not tell us our lap times though.
They usually don't tell you your lap times, during the day, but they give you a sheet at the end so that you can see how you progressed. The split into 3 groups is normal. Good going. It took me 6 trips to Phase 1, before they gave me top rider out of pity :lol:
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