COTA Track Days March 19/20

jarelj · Mar 21, 2016

Was anyone else from the forum at COTA this past weekend? It was my first time riding there, man that is one cool track to ride! I think about 70% of the bikes were Ducatis, we were there plus a bunch of riders associated with Ducati Austin and AMS Ducati Dallas. The event was put on by RideSmart. Not the easiest track to learn with many blind entries and a ton of decreasing-radius turns. I lost my afternoon sessions on Saturday chasing down an oil leak, which turned out to be a breather hose inside the airbox that popped off and sprayed oil into the airbox, which subsequently drained down the vent tube and out the bottom, making it appear that the oil was coming from the engine. Luckily got that figured out and back to full-force on Sunday, which was the better of the weather for the 2 days anyway. Only got down into the 2:3x's so still a LONG way to go as far as picking up the pace, but it was a ton of fun. I should have geared up for that fast track, I still had my 14/41 gearing from my home tracks on and it was WAY too short for that long back straight at COTA. I was topped out in 6th gear way before the end of the straight.

BTrain5489 · Mar 21, 2016

I knew I saw a bike that looked like yours yesterday.

I dropped by the Ducati Austin garage to see some friends in the afternoon.

MMC · Mar 21, 2016

Same thing happened to me at a recent trackday-breather tube popped off...same leak. Thankful we found it b4 going down! Would love to ride COTA someday!

NotR1GSXZXR · Mar 21, 2016

i was there, its a nice track , i think its a little over-hyped, for my liking , you need at least two tree days to get it right

slickwill · Mar 21, 2016

I really want to ride COTA someday but it's a LONG drive from Idaho.

reganc · Mar 21, 2016

it's an awesome track i have been to two events there and loved it both times.

Track is tricky to learn, i was running the same times as you my first time and managed to drop down to 2.25 on my second outing there is a hige amount of time to be lost on turn one as you can brake so so late into it and there is runoff for when you get it wrong.

not a fan of ridesmart as people choose there own groups the result being you get some slow guys in the advanced group and some fast guys in intermediate which makes it interesting especially when the guy is on a SL and you nearly crash into the back of him.

bigdzx6r · Mar 21, 2016

it was awesome day (Sunday) and first time on the track for almost 4yrs or so. Almost went down (turn 1) on first lab on my zx6 (cold front tire). Took my 1299S out after lunch and it was a blast and learning curve for me with new bike and new track (L2). there was SL that I know (crashed) on Sat. Will need new set of tire tho

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jarelj · Mar 21, 2016

MMC said:
Same thing happened to me at a recent trackday-breather tube popped off...same leak. Thankful we found it b4 going down! Would love to ride COTA someday!

Apparently it's been fairly common on race bikes, if the oil gets a little overfilled the case pressure is a little higher and it blows the hose off because it's held on by one of those crappy clip-type hose clamps. One of the techs from Ducati Austin fixed it for me, switched it over to a worm-drive clamp so that sucker should never come off again.

boxerboy2 · Mar 21, 2016

Jarel - I wish I knew you were going to be there as i would have looked you up!

I can only encourage everyone to visit COTA at least once (I think this was my 5th or 6th weekend there) as it is a super fast fun track. Unfortunately I need to head back home to New England and will not be able to visit as often as before unless I leave my ride here and just fly in/out leaving everything up to my friends to prep me out...

Does anyone have any insight into track options/opportunities in New England - New York or???

Thanks

jarelj · Mar 21, 2016

reganc said:
it's an awesome track i have been to two events there and loved it both times.

Track is tricky to learn, i was running the same times as you my first time and managed to drop down to 2.25 on my second outing there is a hige amount of time to be lost on turn one as you can brake so so late into it and there is runoff for when you get it wrong.

not a fan of ridesmart as people choose there own groups the result being you get some slow guys in the advanced group and some fast guys in intermediate which makes it interesting especially when the guy is on a SL and you nearly crash into the back of him.

For sure there are several braking zones where more seat time would allow a more precise braking point to be established and several seconds could be shaved pretty easily. I doubt if I'll be there again until next year, so I'll have plenty of time to run the track in my head to be ready!

NotR1GSXZXR · Mar 21, 2016

boxerboy2 said:
Jarel - I wish I knew you were going to be there as i would have looked you up!

I can only encourage everyone to visit COTA at least once (I think this was my 5th or 6th weekend there) as it is a super fast fun track. Unfortunately I need to head back home to New England and will not be able to visit as often as before unless I leave my ride here and just fly in/out leaving everything up to my friends to prep me out...

Does anyone have any insight into track options/opportunities in New England - New York or???

Thanks

your best option would be Calabogie Canada, if you looking for a premium track in the North east i would say its as good as COTA if not better

reganc · Mar 21, 2016

NotR1GSXZXR said:
your best option would be Calabogie Canada, if you looking for a premium track in the North east i would say its as good as COTA if not better

very true, i should be there in June for a few days.

NotR1GSXZXR · Mar 21, 2016

reganc said:
very true, i should be there in June for a few days.

same here planing to go there this season, maybe June July

double0 · Mar 21, 2016

Just race the track on motogp15 video game and learn all the lines n breaking points. Get your times wayyyy down in the 2:10-2:15 range. It's a legit way of cheating

You'll be a pro on all the GP tracks around the world.

kismetcapitan · Mar 21, 2016

the breather hose venting into the airbox; well, when I built car engines, I *never* vented anything from the crankcase back into the intake - that all went straight to atmosphere.

There was also an incident when a friend took delivery of a new 2010 BMW S1000RR, then dropped it in a panic stop when a kid ran out into the street. I forget why the engine tipover killswitch didn't engage (and why don't Ducatis have that btw??) but he ended up hydrolocking the motor as the airbox flooded with engine oil whilst on its side. BMW ended up redesigning the breather hose and recalling all S1000RRs to have that installed - they added a kink in the hose to prevent this kind of situation.

I gave a bit of thought to the subject a month or two ago, but decided against making any modifications. It's illegal to modify the crankcase breather in all racing classes all the way up to WSBK. Swapping the clamp for a worm gear clamp is a good preventative step however, thanks for that!

wfoduck · Mar 21, 2016

boxerboy2 said:
Jarel - I wish I knew you were going to be there as i would have looked you up!

I can only encourage everyone to visit COTA at least once (I think this was my 5th or 6th weekend there) as it is a super fast fun track. Unfortunately I need to head back home to New England and will not be able to visit as often as before unless I leave my ride here and just fly in/out leaving everything up to my friends to prep me out...

Does anyone have any insight into track options/opportunities in New England - New York or???

Thanks

Check out Nyst! It's in upstate ny, super fun track with some elevation changes.

Drewcati · Mar 22, 2016

That SL that crashed - Did that happen to be the fellow who always wears a red bandanna under his Rossi helmet? Black/red Dainese suit?

bigdzx6r said:
it was awesome day (Sunday) and first time on the track for almost 4yrs or so. Almost went down (turn 1) on first lab on my zx6 (cold front tire). Took my 1299S out after lunch and it was a blast and learning curve for me with new bike and new track (L2). there was SL that I know (crashed) on Sat. Will need new set of tire tho

reganc · Mar 22, 2016

bigdzx6r said:
it was awesome day (Sunday) and first time on the track for almost 4yrs or so. Almost went down (turn 1) on first lab on my zx6 (cold front tire). Took my 1299S out after lunch and it was a blast and learning curve for me with new bike and new track (L2). there was SL that I know (crashed) on Sat. Will need new set of tire tho

[/IMG]

interesting on the tires i find the track is not abrasive at all, i got a full weekend out of a set of slicks.

jarelj · Mar 22, 2016

Drewcati said:
That SL that crashed - Did that happen to be the fellow who always wears a red bandanna under his Rossi helmet? Black/red Dainese suit?

No, it was an older guy, broke his collar bone. The guy you're referring to was there, he was in the garage next to us, he was moving pretty good out there, I clocked him at a 2:21 one lap.

bigdzx6r · Mar 22, 2016

reganc said:
interesting on the tires i find the track is not abrasive at all, i got a full weekend out of a set of slicks.

It had about 3k on it before Sunday and was running with 28psi cold.
TC was set @ 4 and it came on every time i pinned it on last session (#5)

COTA Track Days March 19/20

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