First Track Day Questions

bp_SFV4 said:

Have you seen diesel prices? Oof.

I had considered trading in the SUV and getting a Ford Transit. I don't think even the medium roof would fit in my garage, which is a pretty standard 2-car. I could stand up in the back of the high roof though.

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Get the low roof

hight roofs, don’t get into a lot of places, parking lots

long Or short wheelbase is more manageable

but height, gives more trouble

Picked up a high roof sprinter, a smidge under 9'! Agree that it won't fit into an airport lot or car wash, but being able to stand upright while loading/unloading has saved me a lot of scars on my bald noodle. After fighting with pickups, bumper hitches, and trailers this thing is a quality of life changer.

Still have the Kendon and would sell that thing if anyone wanted, not a bad solution if you are short on space.

Kev242 said:

Picked up a high roof sprinter, a smidge under 9'! Agree that it won't fit into an airport lot or car wash, but being able to stand upright while loading/unloading has saved me a lot of scars on my bald noodle. After fighting with pickups, bumper hitches, and trailers this thing is a quality of life changer.

Still have the Kendon and would sell that thing if anyone wanted, not a bad solution if you are short on space.

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Sweet setup. Wish you could rent vans like this…

That was a mother ...... getting it up there. After a few failed attempts I just started the bike and rode the friction zone. Next time I will find a nice spot which gives me some downhill.

The Panigale V4's back tire is as wide as you're going to get on there unless you had something which was taller.

Probably will hook up some LED trailer lights. You can see the right one and the 3rd brake light, but the left is completely covered.



The tightening jog they give you looks needlessly complex. It has 4 bolts which apply pressure against the receiver and hitch tube to keep things snug. The bolts would dig into the finish of the receiver and hitch tube.

I bought two of the U-bolt style ones on Amazon and will see which works better.

Ya, kepp doing it like that. Turn it on and clutch it up ramps (other hand on brake) SLOWLY. That's the way to do it. Trying to go fast using gravity or whatever is asking for it.
You can walk it into a van the same way, even a low ceiling van. You just walk and duck as you step it. Practice the move without the bike a couple times, then it's easy.

WHEN YOU GO TO TAKE IT DOWN... LOOSEN THE INSIDE STRAPS(NEAR TRUCK) ONLY A LITTLE FIRST, THEN OUTSIDE STRAPS ALL THE WAY.
This way the tension on the straps doesn't launch the bike away from the truck or on top of you.

Yes. That happened to me once a Thunderhill. My very smart friend, was in retarded mode, "Let me help you..." I tried to catch the bike. Turns out 400 pounds with momentum is hard to stop in your arms. Good thing it was at the end of the track day.

bp_SFV4 said:

That was a mother ...... getting it up there. After a few failed attempts I just started the bike and rode the friction zone. Next time I will find a nice spot which gives me some downhill.

The Panigale V4's back tire is as wide as you're going to get on there unless you had something which was taller.

Probably will hook up some LED trailer lights. You can see the right one and the 3rd brake light, but the left is completely covered.



The tightening jog they give you looks needlessly complex. It has 4 bolts which apply pressure against the receiver and hitch tube to keep things snug. The bolts would dig into the finish of the receiver and hitch tube.

I bought two of the U-bolt style ones on Amazon and will see which works better.

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bp_SFV4 said:

The tightening jog they give you looks needlessly complex. It has 4 bolts which apply pressure against the receiver and hitch tube to keep things snug. The bolts would dig into the finish of the receiver and hitch tube.

I bought two of the U-bolt style ones on Amazon and will see which works better.



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Will be interested to hear your thoughts on the carrier. You have a couple hundred mile drive to the track next month correct? I want a carrier like that for when only transporting 1 bike, instead of moving 6 bikes ot get to my Kendon. They just seem scary to me.

I use the "wiggle" eliminator like in the pic I left in your quote. I never had a problem with the small amoutn of movement, but the movement makes noise and made my wife worry, so I got it just to get that out of her mindspace as she is driving.

Off topic but on topic to one of your other posts when you asked Karl about "what he'd do differently in hindsight". Body position is > then anything (except maybe suspension set up and tire pressures). Work on that as a priority, it will make it massively less risky when you ask more of the bike.

A few progression pics below over the course of about 3 years, I was doing pretty fast lap times in the white suit, but soon after that pic I low sided and broke a few things on the bike and me, that lean angle is absolutely stupid! If I carried that angle and had perfect body position it would be elbow down!

The next pic you can see my center line is off center with the bike...improvement....and still working on it. This season I am slowing down and working solely on being comfortable on the bike rather than twisting the wrist and seeing what laptimes I can get.

And yes....I am usually a moving traffic cone for @KarlKani, always photo bombing me and showing how it is really done...the last pic cracks me up, you can see his front suspension loaded as he adjusts to line up a pass up the inside on the exit.

Lol at “moving traffic cone.”

Clear progress with body position - well done.

I was looking at pic 2 wondering “is that…?”, and then read your description. Great pics!

WyldCFH said:

I use the "wiggle" eliminator like in the pic I left in your quote. I never had a problem with the small amoutn of movement, but the movement makes noise and made my wife worry, so I got it just to get that out of her mindspace as she is driving.

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I need to get one of these for my hitch. When towing a uhaul trailer there’s so much noise I was wondering how to solve that

Also what are people’s thoughts on strapping the bike down via the lowers? Bike got transported to the dealer for its fork refitting and the transporter did this. Seems legit as the bike made it safe and sound. (Next time I’d prob wrap the lowers w microfiber towels to prevent scratches but these forks aren’t mine anymore.)

SuperDomestique said:

I need to get one of these for my hitch. When towing a uhaul trailer there’s so much noise I was wondering how to solve that

Also what are people’s thoughts on strapping the bike down via the lowers? Bike got transported to the dealer for its fork refitting and the transporter did this. Seems legit as the bike made it safe and sound. (Next time I’d prob wrap the lowers w microfiber towels to prevent scratches but these forks aren’t mine anymore.)

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As long as the front wheel is in a chock you should have no worry of it tipping over. But, like you, i'd wrap something around the lower before strapping to it.

Probably better than compressing the forks or putting tension on the bars. If you're going to use the lower fork, why not just attach it to the opening by the caliper and avoid the fork tube?

I had read or watched something where it said to adjust the chock so it holds the wheel off of the ramp so the bike will remain upright while you strap it, which is how I set the carrier up. Has anyone toyed with the adjustment of the chock?

bp_SFV4 said:

That was a mother ...... getting it up there. After a few failed attempts I just started the bike and rode the friction zone. Next time I will find a nice spot which gives me some downhill.

The Panigale V4's back tire is as wide as you're going to get on there unless you had something which was taller.

Probably will hook up some LED trailer lights. You can see the right one and the 3rd brake light, but the left is completely covered.

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Not to sidetrack this thread too much, but how difficult is it to pull of the plastic covers off the top end?

The fairings?

bp_SFV4 said:

The fairings?

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The black plastic engine covers that go over the heads

Ahh. You have to take off the seat, tank and maybe loosen the subframe. The fuel fitting on the tank is a pain. It’s not that bad though. Can be done in an afternoon. In the instructions for the full Akrapovic system, they say to torque the subframe bolts to 25Nm instead of the 35 & 38Nm the service manual lists.

I did some more fiddling with the Black Widow carrier. I parked my SUV at the other end of the driveway and used the slight hill of the street and sidewalk to get the bike on it. Worked much better, but rolling it uphill sucked, it wasn't as bad as trying to get it up and into the chock.

But, I think I'm going to send it back to Amazon and just stick with the U-Haul trailer for now. Yesterday when I had the bike on the carrier I could walk away from it without straps and it stayed vertical. Today, since it was slightly out of plum the bike wanted to tip. This combined with the fact that the back tire is probably too wide. If it isn't perfectly centered and upright the tire will have a tendency to ride up on the rails. If you aren't careful and very aware when pushing it up, or maybe even easier to do clutching it up onto the carrier, I can see a disaster brewing. I saw review of 1199/1299 on carriers and it didn't seem to be an issue, but in hindsight, they were all the ones with the aluminum main track. That one may be wider.

Definitely got a little heat into the tire. What a blast. After I rest and organize my thoughts I'll write something up.

If you own one of these things and haven't been to the track you are seriously missing out.

what he said

Things to look forward to...

You want your tire to look like this:

Michele Pirro's SBK Panigale (with Dunlap) a few days after MotoGP Mugello. When they get hotter they get stickier. The grip is insane. You get adhesion and friction together making up traction. That is to say, your adhesion increases when you get them good and warm. This is the texture of sticky rubber.

To be fair here's mine (below), same track, 2 days earlier, not as pretty.
You'll start to be able to read what's going on and where to improve reading the tires after each session.
See the globs on the left side of my tire? I'm picking up MotoGP rubber laying on the track as the tire cools just slightly from letting off gas / engine braking more on the left side. Mugello is a lot of gnarly right turns so a little is to be expected.
Now look back at Pirro's.
That's a rather good suspension set up and THE MOTHER ...... ON THE ....... GASGASGASGASGASGASGASGAGASGASGASGAS

Now look at mine below
Harder acceleration (the really small texture all going the same direction in the center going down to about 3 fingers from the edge.
Now look back at Pirro's. All the way down to about 2 fingers from the edge.
See the edge how the texture changes it has less direction. That's light on the gas to almost off the gas at the very edge, where, you see I start picking up .... off the track again.
Same as Pirro, but his is hardly anything.

The Pirelli gurus at the track can look at a tire and say, "Turn 10-13, MORE GAS! You get shy there. More gas, better grip. GO!"
Also suspension guys can see if you need more / less air pressure or different suspension setting etc.

I've read/heard the desired, I suppose texture, is a sandy beach appearance.

Like this section from your pic. But, as leader of the early braking squad, I have a lot to work on.