My first track day

This past Friday, I did my first track day at the 2.5 mile road course at Willow Springs in CA, and I wanted to share my experience with those who may be interested in what it's like to ride an FZ6 at the track.

- Getting there
My friend (riding his SV650s) and I were going to rent a uHaul truck to get there from south of LA, but there were no trucks available by the the time we wanted to get one. We ended up riding there the night before and spending the night at the Edwards AFB - him being active duty allowed this. I'm sure ya'll are well familiar with the FZ on the freeway; my only comment here is that I have the V35 Givi hard side cases, and they held everything I thought I needed to bring. I actually didn't bring any tools with me and had to borrow from others.

- Safety gear
Track days require full leathers - one or 2-piece, the latter zipped together. I purchased a 2-piece suit from Cycle Gear made by Bilt, their house brand. The suit was cheap - $300 for both jacket and pants. You can get the one-piece suit for the same price. This is budget gear, but good enough to get on the track for my first time. It certainly didn't impact my lap times, and I was fortunate enough to avoid testing its crash protection benefits

- Prepping the bike
The things I had to do in order to pass tech inspection:
- remove my bar end mirrors - trivial
- tape up the head and tail lights, turn signals, license plate, and wheel weights - trivial, but nice to have someone along who can show you how it's done
- unplug headlight - otherwise, its heat will bake the tape onto the light, and you don't want this (I'm told). I'm running the FZ1n headlight mod, so I had to actually take off the light to do this. This took a few minutes and is likely a lot easier if you're using the stock fairing
- things to have with you: tape, knife to trim the tape, tools to remove mirrors and such (allen wrenches, mostly)


The things I probably should have done:
- take off the peg feelers - once I got fairly comfortable, I was touching both pegs in the tighter sections of the track before my knee. Actually, because of this, I never did get my knee down, no matter how much I stretched
- take off the stands - this was not an issue for me due to the pegs touching first. Maybe if I replace my pegs with the GP adjustable ones, this will be the next part to scrape?

- Actual track time notes
- I was getting blown away by every other bike on the straights. Accept this, for it is your fate on this bike. It just couldn't seem to get revs fast enough, likely due to me being at a svelte 215 these days and running naked - having a fairing to hide behind would make a huge difference
- The suspension seemed OK - my preload is set to 5 for everyday riding, and I didn't change it for the track
- I shredded up my tires (Dunlop Qualifiers) pretty good. Grip seemed to be good enough and was not a limiting factor
- It's a damn workout for sure, especially once you're keeping your weight on the pegs, instead of the seat, like you're supposed to, and really throwing yourself around in the turns to try to hang off. I was sore the next day
- the stock handlebars are great for the street; on the track, they're just not that practical. Definitely thinking about putting some clip-ons on the thing

Questions for those who have more experience than I:
- can anything be done to get more acceleration other than me losing some weight? This might be the best thing I can do for both me and the bike
- will removing peg feelers allow me to get my knee down? Or at least, will it make my knee more likely to touch before peg, assuming my body position is approximately correct, as per the instructor?
- suspension - should I bother doing anything?
- pegs - can anyone recommend a different set of pegs I could be using with more clearance?

Thanks for reading. This was a blast, and I can't wait to do it again. I am thinking of doing my next one on the Streets of Willow course, where cornering will be more important than power.

Yuri

Good for you BUT

:needpics:

Thanks for the write up, I'm glad you had a blast.
If your getting your pegs down you don't need to lean any further to get your knee down. It's probably down to your body position on the bike.

Nelly:thumbup:

Thanks for sharing your exp. I am planning to do my first track day this season.

Thanks for sharing......great little write up too...

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

good info, i'm doing a track day with instruction in May, trying to get my bike prepped and ready

trying to figure out whether I should change my tyres beforehand, but I still seem to have about 4mm of tread on them

also thinking about putting on some braided front brake lines, as they feel quite soft

I've been writing down a list of all the stuff I want to service/replace beforehand, it's getting a little expensive

Here you are!

Your tires are likely fine, mine were on their last breath coming into this. Very worn down the middle from highway riding, but not much wear on the sides, which is where you spend most of your time on the track. My suggestion is to do the first track day with what you got and make decisions from there. If braking feels soft, then invest in lines and pads after you try hard braking on the track.

I also did my 1st track day at Willow with Track Dayz last June. They provided great instruction on the track and in the classroom.:thumbup:

I should have taken my peg feelers off as well, major distraction when the scrape the track. By my 3rd session I was able to get my knee on the ground in turn 3 and 4 going up the hill. Mostly because I adjusted my body postion and had a better line.

I was the only FZ6 on the track that day and I too was getting passed on the straight by almost everyone....There is just know way the FZ can compete with the other 600's and liter bikes that rule the track. However I can say by the end of the day I was a lot faster then some of those bikes, simply because I had a better line.



Overall the FZ preformed great!!

Nice write up!

I never did get my knee down on the FZ6 - personally I feel like the bike is too tall ... that said, I have definitely seen pictures of (I think) defyinertia going knee down on the '6.

I ended up just buying a dedicated track bike. It is sooooooooo much easier to ride on the track than the FZ6. It just really isn't a track bike.

Yeah, 3 and 4 really do give you the best chance to touch the knee. I was the only FZ that day; when I lined up for the inspection, they told me they had 2 FZs there the last time out, and they both crashed. Gave me some motivation to ride carefully

An FZ6 does fine a Willow, ask DefyIntertia. To get more speed you need to work on your drive out of the corner. Turns 8A, 8B and 9 are all about getting through them fast, and then getting on the gas for the front straight. Turn 2 is the same way, you need to keep your corner speed up to get through it quickly.

Guys on little TZ250s have some of the fastest times at Willow; don't blame the bike.

No argument, it's all about the rider in terms of overall lap times, and this was my very first track day. I'm sure I wouldn't have carried much more corner speed on any other bike, but having more power on the straight would definitely help.... or just allow me to get myself killed.

+1 on the corner speed. I got to nail an R1 round the outside out of turn 2 at Mallala down the short pit straight on a stock as a rock FZ6:cheer:.

By the final session when nearly everyone had crashed or left (cold track), there were only 7 bikes on the track out of 41 and I got to go hard. What I learned was, the suspension needs to be stiffened up for us lardy folks...lol...., and some rearset offset plates are required to get some more clearance to get even better corner speed. You will then scrape the stand, and then the stand mount, so you need to remove them and take a race stand with you, and it helps to have a buddy on hand to help you when you come off the track in between sessions. You will have a hard time catching a litre bike down a long straight, so you need to do all you can in the corners:thumbup:.

Can you recommend some specific rearsets or offset plates I could use?

check on sportbikes.net. oso2k had three of his rearsets left a few days ago. $95 shipped.

That and the Rizoma rearsets ($485+shipping at PJsparts.com) are all I can find for our bike.

You should read the sticky at the top of this forum

http://www.600riders.com/forum/trac...neral-track-day-info-getting-started-etc.html

Like Hellgate said, your speed in the straight is dictated by your corner speed and drive off the corner (how early you get on the throttle, how much, and what your line is). The FZ6 has plenty of power to keep up, it just does not have enough power to mask slow corner speed. Focus on your corners and the straights will take care of themselves.

Changing out your front sprocket for a 15T would give you a lot more thrust for $30.

0:40 second mark

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxilibyVZ1Q]YouTube - Willow Springs[/ame]

Track days are so freaking fun!

Couple tips and pointers with the questions in this thread (disclaimer: I'm a track noob.. only attended 3 days last year):

Re peg feelers: The long one (clutch side) can be unscrewed from the peg with a pair of pliers, no need to grind it. After removing it, take off your centerstand though or it *will* touch way before the peg does. Removing the sidestand is not a bad idea either, especially if you have some off camber left handers on your track. Even with the stock footpegs, you can bring it pretty close to the ground:


Re: rearsets: another option that wasn't mentioned in this thread are the ottimoto's. Cheaper (~$250 incl. shipping), very decent quality although not as sexy as the rizoma. Mounting instructions are pretty much non existent, but it's not too hard to figure out. Also, the seller is not the most reliable when it comes to shipping time, so don't order these if you're in a hurry. Link: Yamaha Fazer 600 FZ6 FZ6S 04-09 Adjustable Rearsets
I have them on my bike and really like them.

Re: suspension: I put the r6s forks on my bike and felt that it handled much, much better at speed.. the bike feels much more planted in the corners and my front tire was way less shredded at the end of the day, which I assume means the tire has less to do since the suspension is more compliant.

First trackday of the season on May 1st! Yay spring!

Thanks for all the valuable information here.

Of course, ideally you'd do the track day on a dedicated track bike, that way you reduce a lot all the track-required modifications, also it requires having an additional bike and the means of transporting it.


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AngelFZ said:

Thanks for all the valuable information here.

Of course, ideally you'd do the track day on a dedicated track bike, that way you reduce a lot all the track-required modifications, also it requires having an additional bike and the means of transporting it.


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Click to expand...

Track bikes are very resonable to buy second hand. I paid $3,500 for my 2005 R6. If I was to build the bike it would cost about $17,000+ or so. I've spent another $1,200 or so freshening it up; oil change, valve adjustment, coolant change, tires, air filter, dyno tune, fasteners, grips, etc.

It all depends on how hooked you are.