Palanon, at the track.

[Tab B.]

Well, Paul survived his first of two days up at NHIS for a "Tony's Trackdays".
Great weather, good turnout. He kept saying "This is just TOO much fun".
Right about now he is probably shaking off some cold with the rest of the nutcase/enthusiasts. You folks know the drill. People standing around shivering, excited, and pulling every ounce of heat out of that cup of coffee.
Wish I was there!!

[jgreth]

Originally Posted by Tab B.

Well, Paul survived his first of two days up at NHIS for a "Tony's Trackdays".
Great weather, good turnout. He kept saying "This is just TOO much fun".
Right about now he is probably shaking off some cold with the rest of the nutcase/enthusiasts. You folks know the drill. People standing around shivering, excited, and pulling every ounce of heat out of that cup of coffee.
Wish I was there!!

Heh but I'm sure he's having a great time.

[Blade]

I really do not think there is anything that can prepare you metally for the excitement of your first track day and the second time is even better.

[tnichols]

[JmalB]

Pics or ban!

[Tab B.]

Boy, what an impatient bunch. I have some pictures on my camera. Paul, I hope coughs up the dough for the ones from the pro at the track. Don't worry, we'll get some up soon.

[Louis]

Originally Posted by JmalB

Pics or ban!

Couldn't have said it better...

[palanon]

OK, I've made it back in one piece. Boy, that was the most fun you can have wearing a giant leather condom !!

Tony's gives you a heck of a lot more than just time on the track. When not riding, we were in class, complete with video and Power Point presentations. Plenty of one on one training on the track as well. Nothing like following and being followed by expert racers to help learn the line and proper body position. We rotated in 3 groups of 20 min. sessions all day. They don't even stop for lunch. This was our schedule.

20 min. on track
Pit in and 5 min. to get a drink
20 min. class
10 min. suit up and line up in hot pit
on track again.

They were nice enough to let us eat lunch instead of going to class after the 11:40 session.

16 sessions and over 300 miles on the track. I'm so sore it's hard to walk. It's a great kinda sore though.

I was so busy, I only have a couple of pics. The photographer will have the pics on his site this Saturday and I'll post some up if there not to embarrassing.


Proof that I didn't wad her up. Home safe, Tech inp. stickers and all.


A packed pit garage with plenty of eye candy

[palanon]

Tony in the flesh. Serving up our dinner. Pizza, lasagna, salad and some vegetarian stuff. Pizza and beer, all a guy needs after a day of riding and a grueling track walk.


Nice melty tires. This is the fun way to destroy a set of 208's


Lot's of yummie little tire bits on the rims.



I'll post more as I get them. HEY !! Who stole my Ben-Gay !!

[Clint]

Nice tire!

Now what do they call those little smooth ribbons again?

[palanon]

Hmmm... I forget.

[ChicsterMG]

Sweet. Sounds like a great time!

[themeatmanlandry]

Awesome!

[kay]

Glad you had lots of fun, Paul!!
Seems like you also had lots of pizza!
(Did each one of you eat a whole box each??? )

My next track school will be Oct.
But I have an oval track school on the 7th coming up first.
Here, we do a lot more "basic" stuff like turning and maneuvering, getting the optimum line etc., using the oval course that is very wide.

But at the end, they let us have a mini race using the track and this is so fun!!

[Xerses]

That looks like a ton of fun. I am jealous! Glad you had a good time!

[Tab B.]

Ya, but now the poor soul has to start to feed the track day addiction MONSTER!!

{rubbing hands and evil laugh, in a Landry sort of way!}


Hey, I can do that too!

[themeatmanlandry]

Originally Posted by Tab B.

Ya, but now the poor soul has to start to feed the track day addiction MONSTER!!

At least he has a Bandit (even if it is green ), which I think is an excellent track bike. I've personally never been to the track, but I read. No radiator, nice handling (with a new shock if you're a big guy), excellent power, (relatively) cheap parts and it's easy to stand up and fart at the guys behind you. Perfect.

What's a track school cost, approximately . . . a hundred and a half for a day or so?

[Tab B.]

Up here, it is typically about 250$ for the day. Not bad, but cheaper sure would be nice.

[themeatmanlandry]

For a day or a weekend? What about just a track day with no instruction (can you do that)?

[kay]

Here it's usually about $250 for a day also. But the one I go to is run by this school which you can pay about $30 to become a member and it's very reasonable. About $140 for the day.

For a simple track run, here it depends on which track. Tsukuba which is a smaller track is 2000 yen (approx. $17-1 per hour, whereas Fuji, which is a much bigger track with great facilities is about $30/hr. But starting this year, the F1 races will be held here so you can see how great the facilities are.
These are slots you book with the track.

There are also track days organized by 3rd parties, like bike shops. In this case, they rent out the track for the whole day and then gather people who will sign up with them, rather than book slots directly with the track. These will cost about $250/day too.

I want to save as much as possible, so I usually go to the $140 track schools and book slot directly with the track to just ride.
The reason why most people go to 3rd party track days is because with these, since bike shops are organizing them, you're not required to have a track license. To book directly, you need a license issued by individual tracks.