I finally lined everything up and attended my first real track day on July 6th! (Not counting FAST... that I did 12(!!) years ago)
Group: KSR
I signed up with KSR not really knowing much about them, though I got a good vibe from them from here and their website. It is run by a small number of people that clearly put a lot of work into running it on their own time. There was a minor technical hiccup with the registration process, but they knew about it and sorted it out by contacting people. Once there, staff was friendly and kept things running smoothly - the track was kept occupied pretty much the whole time, outside of a crash or two that were resolved pretty quickly. I felt like they had enough marshals, the fee was reasonable - really I have absolutely nothing to complain about!
Track: Grand Bend Motorplex
I had never been to Grand Bend before - I have been to Shannonville as a rider and Mosport as a passenger / spectator. I had seen some video of Grand Bend before but it didn't really sell me on it. In person though, I enjoyed it. Track surface & curbing is generally excellent, there were no mid corner cracks or dips that I was worrying about. Only fault I could find there is maybe the beginning of the back straight - the edge of the corner exit is not very well defined, it just stretches out into a rough/broken up surface. I don't think it causes any real issues. Layout (we were riding the Technical layout) was fun enough for me, I found it to be pretty forgiving (i.e. I made a lot of mistakes but never got bit for it) and when I wandered off the track a couple of times, the ground under the grass was smooth enough that maintaining control was not an issue. I could see people not liking the length (only 2.2km) or the geography (it is flat), but those may be just long term problems with getting bored of it. Pits are fine (lots of room), bathrooms were good enough but now I get the point of pit bikes - definitely will bring a bicycle next time.
Bike: 2006 Honda 919
This is not the sportiest bike I have ever owned, and I feel like I was probably the only person there on a bike with a centre stand that day. (Side note - centre stand passed tech but sidestand did not. I was surprised at first, but inspector was absolutely right, it would stay partially extended without retracting. Some things you just get used to I guess, I am definitely fixing it soon but it was ziptied up for the day). That said, I was very pleasantly surprised with how well it handled the day. Zero complaints about brakes (had flushed with normal DOT4 shortly before hand) or tires (**Pirelli Diablo Rosso IIIs @ 32/32). I have never cleaned/rebuilt the forks on this bike, and I was a bit worried about that, but it still did pretty well! I did not end up changing preload or rebound from what I have it set for the street, and that's all I have on this bike. It maybe could have benefited from increasing preload a smidge but I didn't feel like it was worth messing with, and maybe could have been a bit firmer but there is no compression adjustment. If I had to pick out a complaint or two, first would be ground clearance - I left the peg feelers on, and that was a choice due to the bike having a centre stand (removing the stand is a hassle, it is trapped by the exhaust, which is trapped by the shock - etc). Every time I touched down a peg feeler it scared the crap out of me and I immediately would back off a bit. I was not getting edge-to-edge use of the front tire as a result. Second would be nice to have a sportier suspension, but really this is a more of matter of bringing what I have - you could absolutely upgrade the forks and shock, buuutt it's a 919 and that is somewhat hammering a hexagonal peg into an octagonal hole. Other people may have bigger problems with the suspension (I am a very light person) but they would have similar problems on the street I think. All in all - I was happy with it, I felt I had good control in the corners, and I would bring it again.
Overall: ?
Glad I did it, it was a lot of logistics for me to worry about personally doing it for the first time (I UHaul trailered it up and I hate strapping down bikes) but very much worth it. I tried to be prepared, the only things I ending up wanting to have that I didn't were shade, a bicycle or something, and a working tire inflator (left the one I brought behind in the garbage). It was pretty hot but that was expected and I brought plenty to drink. Big thanks to track regular London for inviting me to share his canopy with him and to shoot the breeze between sessions. Also thanks to the guy who brought the Ducati 916 who lent me his bicycle pump. I had oodles of fun, would definitely do another day with KSR when I can line it up, and would bring back the 919 with me. Next time out I would focus on improving my body positioning I think as I could be doing a lot better. And fix the sidestand so I don't have to heave it up on the centre stand every time the session ends.
I'll just borrow the pic that KSR posted in their own thread:
**I thought I had Rosso Corsa IIs. I bought these tires brand new with the intention of using them on the track... and yet somehow I selected Diablo Rosso IIIs?! I didn't even realize this until today.... whoops
Group: KSR
I signed up with KSR not really knowing much about them, though I got a good vibe from them from here and their website. It is run by a small number of people that clearly put a lot of work into running it on their own time. There was a minor technical hiccup with the registration process, but they knew about it and sorted it out by contacting people. Once there, staff was friendly and kept things running smoothly - the track was kept occupied pretty much the whole time, outside of a crash or two that were resolved pretty quickly. I felt like they had enough marshals, the fee was reasonable - really I have absolutely nothing to complain about!
Track: Grand Bend Motorplex
I had never been to Grand Bend before - I have been to Shannonville as a rider and Mosport as a passenger / spectator. I had seen some video of Grand Bend before but it didn't really sell me on it. In person though, I enjoyed it. Track surface & curbing is generally excellent, there were no mid corner cracks or dips that I was worrying about. Only fault I could find there is maybe the beginning of the back straight - the edge of the corner exit is not very well defined, it just stretches out into a rough/broken up surface. I don't think it causes any real issues. Layout (we were riding the Technical layout) was fun enough for me, I found it to be pretty forgiving (i.e. I made a lot of mistakes but never got bit for it) and when I wandered off the track a couple of times, the ground under the grass was smooth enough that maintaining control was not an issue. I could see people not liking the length (only 2.2km) or the geography (it is flat), but those may be just long term problems with getting bored of it. Pits are fine (lots of room), bathrooms were good enough but now I get the point of pit bikes - definitely will bring a bicycle next time.
Bike: 2006 Honda 919
This is not the sportiest bike I have ever owned, and I feel like I was probably the only person there on a bike with a centre stand that day. (Side note - centre stand passed tech but sidestand did not. I was surprised at first, but inspector was absolutely right, it would stay partially extended without retracting. Some things you just get used to I guess, I am definitely fixing it soon but it was ziptied up for the day). That said, I was very pleasantly surprised with how well it handled the day. Zero complaints about brakes (had flushed with normal DOT4 shortly before hand) or tires (**Pirelli Diablo Rosso IIIs @ 32/32). I have never cleaned/rebuilt the forks on this bike, and I was a bit worried about that, but it still did pretty well! I did not end up changing preload or rebound from what I have it set for the street, and that's all I have on this bike. It maybe could have benefited from increasing preload a smidge but I didn't feel like it was worth messing with, and maybe could have been a bit firmer but there is no compression adjustment. If I had to pick out a complaint or two, first would be ground clearance - I left the peg feelers on, and that was a choice due to the bike having a centre stand (removing the stand is a hassle, it is trapped by the exhaust, which is trapped by the shock - etc). Every time I touched down a peg feeler it scared the crap out of me and I immediately would back off a bit. I was not getting edge-to-edge use of the front tire as a result. Second would be nice to have a sportier suspension, but really this is a more of matter of bringing what I have - you could absolutely upgrade the forks and shock, buuutt it's a 919 and that is somewhat hammering a hexagonal peg into an octagonal hole. Other people may have bigger problems with the suspension (I am a very light person) but they would have similar problems on the street I think. All in all - I was happy with it, I felt I had good control in the corners, and I would bring it again.
Overall: ?
Glad I did it, it was a lot of logistics for me to worry about personally doing it for the first time (I UHaul trailered it up and I hate strapping down bikes) but very much worth it. I tried to be prepared, the only things I ending up wanting to have that I didn't were shade, a bicycle or something, and a working tire inflator (left the one I brought behind in the garbage). It was pretty hot but that was expected and I brought plenty to drink. Big thanks to track regular London for inviting me to share his canopy with him and to shoot the breeze between sessions. Also thanks to the guy who brought the Ducati 916 who lent me his bicycle pump. I had oodles of fun, would definitely do another day with KSR when I can line it up, and would bring back the 919 with me. Next time out I would focus on improving my body positioning I think as I could be doing a lot better. And fix the sidestand so I don't have to heave it up on the centre stand every time the session ends.
I'll just borrow the pic that KSR posted in their own thread:
**I thought I had Rosso Corsa IIs. I bought these tires brand new with the intention of using them on the track... and yet somehow I selected Diablo Rosso IIIs?! I didn't even realize this until today.... whoops
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