Ohio Mile - Standing mile top speed bike

[redkow97]

On 11/3/2017 at 12:52 PM, Jester_ said:

You would be surprised what some of the straight lengths are at a road course. 

Road Atlanta is about a mile long, vir isnt super long but you are already going at a good clip when you enter it. Even summit point and mid ohio are pretty fast. 

I think of Road America as having the longest and fastest straights, but it's impossible to speculate the entry speeds.  Plus Road America's longest straight is partially up hill. (4400 ft).  The 3800 ft straight is (obviously) shorter, but it's down hill.  Could be faster.

[TimTheAzn]

On 11/2/2017 at 11:02 AM, dorset said:

seriously, though, tim has a point. it really is all straight-line stuff, completely. the attraction of that is that it's an entire mile, or better, of straight line-- at bonneville you have three miles. it seems to last forever. you aim at a horizon you can barely see, open it up all the way, and then hold it wide open, all the way. if you back off, you lose. if you miss a shift, you lose. if you raise your head or stick your elbows out, you lose. the focus on perfection is intense.

how often do you get to take your track bike out, open it up, and keep it there? no turns, no braking, just top end all the way? the motorcycle record at loring is 311 mph.  i'm interested in road racing, which is why i'm here listening to you guys, but i'm hooked on that straight line.

Road Atlanta and Summit Point have some pretty long straights, Mid Ohio also has a decently long straight.

I know a guy that runs the 1/4 almost every week and does Mid Ohio track days all the time, hes actually on here and he is @Trackbikez.

To address the frequency of how often do I get to take my track bike out and open it up? Whenever I get to a track day. How often do you get your standing mile bike out (so long as it isnt also your street bike)? Probably every time you go to a straight line event lol. To address the rest of your question, I already did the whole open it up, and keep it there thing back in high school. I was young and dumb with a liter bike and I did those wide open throttle highway runs occasionally.....

If you are hooked on a straight line, a lot of the other stuff is relatable to track days. I'm sure you've met a bunch of awesome people at those 1/4, 1/2, full mile events. Same thing with track days, I've met some of the most genuine awesome people in my life period because of track days. I'm sure you have a lot of fun in the pits while off-bike. I'm sure we have more! . Main difference here being (obviously) what we are doing on the bike, and I'll tell you what, you roll out of hot pit for that first time and run through your first session, you'll be hooked!

Edited November 7, 2017 by TimTheAzn

[Jester_]

On 11/6/2017 at 2:17 PM, redkow97 said:

I think of Road America as having the longest and fastest straights, but it's impossible to speculate the entry speeds.  Plus Road America's longest straight is partially up hill. (4400 ft).  The 3800 ft straight is (obviously) shorter, but it's down hill.  Could be faster.

I would agree with you, I have just never been to Road America. 

 

It is my bucket list track however.

[Rich B]

On 11/2/2017 at 11:02 AM, dorset said:

 i'm interested in road racing, which is why i'm here listening to you guys, but i'm hooked on that straight line.

If you get interested in dirt track.......got a couple of Bultaco Astro's that are begging for attention. And I likely could get a 750 Triumph out of retirement from someone local. 

[dorset]

On 11/6/2017 at 2:57 PM, TimTheAzn said:

Road Atlanta and Summit Point have some pretty long straights, Mid Ohio also has a decently long straight.

I know a guy that runs the 1/4 almost every week and does Mid Ohio track days all the time, hes actually on here and he is @Trackbikez.

To address the frequency of how often do I get to take my track bike out and open it up? Whenever I get to a track day. How often do you get your standing mile bike out (so long as it isnt also your street bike)? Probably every time you go to a straight line event lol. To address the rest of your question, I already did the whole open it up, and keep it there thing back in high school. I was young and dumb with a liter bike and I did those wide open throttle highway runs occasionally.....

If you are hooked on a straight line, a lot of the other stuff is relatable to track days. I'm sure you've met a bunch of awesome people at those 1/4, 1/2, full mile events. Same thing with track days, I've met some of the most genuine awesome people in my life period because of track days. I'm sure you have a lot of fun in the pits while off-bike. I'm sure we have more! . Main difference here being (obviously) what we are doing on the bike, and I'll tell you what, you roll out of hot pit for that first time and run through your first session, you'll be hooked!

nah, the mile bike isn't even barely streetable without a steel jock strap.

. i have a 2500-foot airport runway to tune it on, though, and it can be doing close to 100 there before i have to shut off. but that's just tuning. competitive LSR is spread pretty thin. there are only about three to six times a year i can take it out, and it's expensive to get there. loring is 1100 miles. arkansas is 663. both are investments of about a week. that's a major reason i'm listening to you road race people.

what are the classes at the ohio tracks? all my stuff is slow, by modern standards, and shifts on the right.

[dorset]

On 11/11/2017 at 12:22 PM, Rich B said:

If you get interested in dirt track.......got a couple of Bultaco Astro's that are begging for attention. And I likely could get a 750 Triumph out of retirement from someone local. 

boy, that's a temptation. never thought about that one

[Jester_]

Depends on of you want to get into racing or track days. Track days you would start in a novice class and can run about any bike you want. Most of our track day trips are really a weekend of drinking and grilling with some motorcycle riding thrown in btween. 

Racing there are a few vintage classes and then of course the vintage motorcycle days at mid ohio.

[redkow97]

21 hours ago, dorset said:

what are the classes at the ohio tracks? all my stuff is slow, by modern standards, and shifts on the right.

It sounds like you want to check out Vintage days at Mid-Ohio.

WERA also has a lot of vintage classes.  Check out the vintage section on their forum.  My guess is you'll find a lot of riders who appreciate your bikes, even if they're "old and slow."

A vintage bike has occurred to me a few times, but I always get hung up on the costs relative to the speed...  When it comes to cheap racing, you can legitimately find a $1,000 EX250 or even a beat up "vintage 7" era 600.  The EX's cannot be killed (and if you do manage, there are a million of them to pull parts from) and the V7 bikes are bar-non the cheapest way to go 130 mph (and then some).  It would honestly be really interesting to me for a competent rider to lap a modern 650 twin and see how his times compare to a 1993 Honda F2 or a 1995 ZX6 or something else that is older, but produces 20 more hp. 

That said, vintage is cool.  If I made a bunch of noise on a modern 600, my neighbors would probably shake a fist at me.  If I made more noise on a 1970 CB360 with spoke wheels and tasteful cosmetic mods, they'd probably give me a thumbs-up

[dorset]

i'm looking more into track days than vintage racing. vintage racing seems to be for people that are into serious history, and so there are various requirements for period authenticity in terms of what changes you can make. plus there will be serious ex-professional machinery there. i'm not really interested in authenticity as much as function, or in competition as much as just learning to ride better. that sounds much more like the track day system.

i do have a 97 buell that is way faster than any of the old stuff i ride, but it shifts on the wrong side and handles poorly. it would be lots better if i made a project about dialing in the suspension, but it would be more interesting for me to just gather up some stuff lying around my shop and build something simpler.

if there's room for a machine that tops out around 115 or 120 on the same track as the newer stuff, then that's what i'm looking for.

 

[redkow97]

You've just hit upon my least favorite part of track days.  Closing speeds.

The thought of a 2017 R1 and a 2012 EX250 on the same track, in the same (beginner) group, makes me mildly terrified.   That's a legitimate 40-50 mph speed difference on virtually any straightaway of reasonable length. 

That is why I sincerely believe that racing is safer in the most significant respects.  1) everyone on the track is on comparable equipment.  2) everyone starts the race at the same time, so there is no 20-minute free-for-all of entering and exiting the track 3) the fast riders take off ahead of the slow riders, and won't catch them for 4-5 laps.  When they do, the pack is strung out, and they ought to be able to easily and safely pass anyone they're quick enough to lap...

I don't know enough about the vintage rules to tell you how serious they are about being period-correct.  I do know that most of them would probably tell you to come out and race, and unless you're winning, they're not going to protest you.  And if your bike is blatantly illegal for the class, you can pull off a lap early.

[dorset]

well, yes, but if safety was what it was all about we wouldn't be riding a motorcycle in the first place.

gotta start somewhere.

[Jester_]

Most orgs wont alow the smaller bikes into advanced due to the closing rates but intermediate can be a bit of a cluster. N2 has wave by rules for passing a CR so they can still keep an eye on those things in intermediate/novice.

Edited November 16, 2017 by Jester_

[TimTheAzn]

On 11/14/2017 at 9:23 AM, redkow97 said:

You've just hit upon my least favorite part of track days.  Closing speeds.

 

So long as people are holding lines and are predictable, it makes things much less stressful. Summit was the last time I remember having a bunch of small bikes on a track with a long straight, but those ktm's all kept on the race line down the front straight so everyone knew to pass them mid-track or to the far right. No issues that day, I was on my daytona but towards the end of the straight, I was closing on the smaller bikes pretty fast.

Being that I am in the cluster of I right now, I tend to give it a few sessions to feel the group out for the day. Going back to the Summit story, once I realized all the guys and gals on the little bikes that were in the group for the day were smooth and predictable, no second thoughts on getting around them or second guessing what they were gonna do. It's not always like that however. (And yes, I do realize someone could miss the first few sessions when I am getting that feel and come out after lunch and be an ass.) Just gotta be smart about shit. It's a track day, not a race, theres always the next lap, session, day.

[Tonik]

15 hours ago, Jester_ said:

Most orgs wont alow the smaller bikes into advanced due to the closing rates

 

1 hour ago, TimTheAzn said:

Summit was the last time I remember having a bunch of small bikes on a track with a long straight

Define smaller bikes for me please.

[Jester_]

Id say 390 or smaller. 

[Tonik]

Thanks!!

[Jester_]

They will move a 390 into A but normally make everyone aware that there will be a slower bike on track. 

[Jester_]

There was a girl on a 250 that was hit by a s1krr last year at pirc. 

[dorset]

speaking of slow stuff and how to avoid it, a friend of mine worked bonneville as the two-mile-mark spotter this year. he told me they had to shut down the event because a bunch of tourists had wandered out into tbe race track midway and had to shooed away.

the course is so long he never saw any of it and followed the comedy over the radio.

[TimTheAzn]

3 hours ago, Tonik said:

 

Define smaller bikes for me please.

Whoops sorry didnt get to it in time, but Dan is correct, these were ktm 390's.

41 minutes ago, Jester_ said:

They will move a 390 into A but normally make everyone aware that there will be a slower bike on track. 

They do that in every group for sure! We got warned at summit last year.

[redkow97]

I really think they just need to make everyone hyper aware of the potential to encounter a low hp bike at a high speed section of track, and additionally have the riders on low HP bikes wear a reflective vest or something. 

The closest i ever came to hitting someone was when the 2 riders in front of me split a guy on a 675 who was new and got on the brakes waaaaaay early (even for beginner group).

i was looking at the riders ahead of me, but not beyond them. I lifted the rear wheel trying to stop, put the rear back down, and then went straight off track after i passed the guy i nearly asspacked. 

All my fault, but if i can eff up that badly, anyone can.