Dragged a Knee today - - First Time!

M

Manic aka Miss Murder

New member
A great trackday! That's an understatement. That was the most fun I have had outside the bedroom.

I was nervous as hell going in but after a few sessions things were starting to feel really good.

I got a few action shots. Its a shame, but the photographer was only out shooting during the morning sessions.

I really learned a lot throughout the day. You'll see in these first pics, i'm a little tense.









By the end of the day I was much more relaxed on the grips and I was able to get my body and head more to the inside of center.

Some goals for next time: Work on diving into the corners harder. I'm a lazy turner. Instead of snapping the bike into the corner I was dropping in more gradually (not very efficient)

By the end of the day I was able take some of the sharper corners at a speed that put my knee on the track. (WOW) I thought the parking lot was exciting.

Overall, it was an incredible day. I felt I pushed myself a little and I brought my bike home in perfect condition.
(Not including tires)





I am "Hooked" to say the least.
 
Great Shots, What tires are those? And also are your headlights not taped up? The track allowed that? I can't wait to get to the track... I am going to loudon NH next year once I aquire a bit more familiarity with my bike and also the correct gear to ride the track. I have never done a track day myself... I'm just nervous because I've heard horror stories about people going to the track for a nice safe trackday and then getting taken down by somebody trying to ride WAY over their abilities... I've heard alot of that happens at loudon, but its the only track thats even reasonably close to me here in NY
 
i've done 15-18 trackdays at loudon in the last 5 years and can't think of a time when anyone got taken out by another rider while i was there. there are a few organizations that run days at loudon including fishtail, bcm ducati, tony's trackdays, boston moto and penguin school. look for one that limits the amount of riders on track, provides dedicated instruction to newbies and is made up of a more mature crowd on nicer bikes. in my experience 50 year old riders on ducatis tend to be more careful of their bikes and bodies than 20 year old racer wannabes.
 
Nice job Five1.
Any trackday you come home from is a good one. Keep up the good work. You will soon need DOT race rubber.

BTW, one screw to take your mirror off could save you some $$. Thought you would like to know. Hahaha....
 
The head and taillights just needed to be disconnected. Since they have a plastic lens they did not require taping.
Next time, I'll probably just remove the mirrors. Someone else at the track also let me know how easy they were to remove.

The rear tire is a Michelin Pilot POWER 2CT. 190/55
 
Not bad.

For the most part, other than the extra steering input to get into a corner, P1 and PP2CT are roughly the same; that's to say for a layman like me, I was having a hard time telling the difference.

The major delta is that with P1, the front end is a lot more stable under hard-braking. And when accelerating hard coming out of a corner (about 1/2 to 3/4 of the throttle range), especially on a hot day, P1 has a lot more traction than PP2CT (I've had quite a few encounters with PP2CT rear sliding, in kind of a "backing it in" way. Not with P1. Solid grip, no sliding). But then again, this is only observed when I ride 1198. On my G1K6, PP2CT grips just fine, probably because of the 100+ vs 80 ft-lb of torque difference between the two bikes.

A set of PP2CT usually lasts me about 1000 miles, split between 3 trackdays (~85 miles on track per track day) and hard canyon running. P1 has about 1/2 to 60% of the life expectancy of PP2CT. YMMV.

So there you have it. Keep in mind I have the "street" version of P1.

BTW, Five1. Good job on first trackday and getting your cherries popped.
 
This is damn good advice. Forget times, just work on one or two things each time out.

And yes, as much fun as my Duc was on the track, I elected to buy a pure track bike. And yup, I stuffed it into a wall after the fifth race!

2008 S4Rs Tricolore "Isabella"
2004 600 GSX-R "Track Puppy"
 
I recently did my first TD with the Ducati and appreciate the advice given in this tread Never had my knee down though have managed a reasonable lean angle so my question is - do you need to get your knee down? Will it make any real difference to your lap times at an average level of competence?
 
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