Heading Out on the Road Again

Two days away from an 11 day motorcycle road trip out to California and back. I've created a separate page for that trip here -> http://lonemuser-wsbk2013.blogspot.com/.

Feel free to follow my progress.

Riding on a "Real" Race Track - Circuit of the Americas Trackday

The Track

If you like to ride on the track you can appreciate the difference between a good track and a not so good track - there are no "bad" tracks :-) Well The Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is at the top of the good list. In fact, it's at the top of the best of the best list. You can read all about the track at their web site but the short version is that this is a $700M facility and for that kind of money you can build a world class racing venue!

If you read my post about seeing my first MotoGP race then you recognize that this is the same track. So I got to ride on the same track following the same lines as the best racers in the world.  I was nowhere near as fast of course - in fact I was comically slower - but who cares, I was there.

The Event

This was the track day that almost wasn't. A day after RideSmart started selling the slots for the event COTA decided to cancel ALL of the track days they had sold. A minor rebellion in the micro-society of racing enthusiasts erupted and COTA's Facebook page was flooded with lot's a "how dare you" posts. A few days later our event was back on - but only our event. COTA made it clear that we were a test case and if there was every going to be another track day it would be because we showed that we could basically act grown up while we were there - despite feeling like a bunch of kids. There were rules about everything including which direction the cars had to be parked in the parking lot! None of the rules really took away from the actual event though so I don't think anyone really felt put out.

RideSmart secured the weekend of June 1-2, 2013 and I bought both days. If this was going to be my only chance to ride a track like this I was getting all I could. The price was steep, nearly $500/day but the event was sold out in 3 days! It seems a lot of other riders had the same thoughts as me and got in while the getting was good. There was a lot of 'horse trading' going on right up to Sunday morning as guys who waited too long tried to find someone selling their slot.

One thing a price like that does is weed out the casual track day riders and guys who just can't afford to toss almost a grand into a single weekend of playing. I can say that the ratio of Ducati's to everything else was the highest I've ever seen at a track day :-) Guys that can afford to run a Ducati around the track can afford this kind of event and they were there. I showed up with my trusty 7 year old Honda CBR 600RR. It wasn't a match for the big bikes, and I wasn't a match for the fast riders, but I can guarantee I had just as much fun.

I rented garage space to make things simpler (and add to the illusion of being a real racer). I had a little bitty space to call my own but it was really all I needed.

Preparing for battle in my garage

Riding on the track

Saturday was perfect riding weather and the track was even more perfect. Warm sun got the track up to temperature before Noon. I don't think I found a single bump on the entire track and trust me when I say I used most of the track. This track is very technical, lot's of blind corners, tricky transitions and some very high speed sections that end with amazingly tight Formula 1 style hairpin turns. The first day is spent just figuring out how to get around the track and even after 2 full days I still struggled with a few corners.

The track has great elevation changes which is rare around here. The track showing the elevation and top speeds of the F1 cars.

The view from Pit Out up the hill to Turn 1

Sunday morning started off with rain but that ended by around 9:00 and the track was dry by 11:00.

The rain kept the temperatures down but the track was still just as 'sticky' for the speeds I was riding. I rode super conservative the whole weekend because I didn't want to ruin things by falling off the bike. The RideSmart rule that if you crash you are done for the day also helped keep me from pushing more than about 60-70%. The thought of tossing a $500 day out the window just wasn't appealing at all :-)

A few shots of me cruising the track...

A couple of videos

A single lap as recorded by my GoPro...

The view of the bikes screaming "literally" down the front straight just outside my garage on Pit Lane...

Pam took a few panorama's of the event as well. They won't embed here but you can see them on these pages...

The Front Straight

Tent City on the other side of the garages

A "walk" through my garage: Entry -> My Pit -> The Middle -> Exit to Pit Lane

I have to say this weekend was as much fun as I've ever had riding the track. The combination of great conditions, a perfect track and the smoothness with the way the event was run created a perfect storm of ingredients to create an awesome event.

Seeing My First MotoGP in Person

In the world of motorcycle road racing there is one undisputed top class - MotoGP. These guys are the best of the best riding one of a kind prototype motorcycles. When The Circuit of the Americas race track was built in Austin it wasn't long before MotoGP signed on to make it the 3rd stop for this class in the United States.

Last weekend I hopped on the bike and made the trek to Austin to see the show live. I figured that if I was going to be in Austin for 3 days I might as well get right in the middle of the action so we rented a condo right in the heart of the famous 6th Street strip. The condo comes complete with earplugs to drown out the live music coming from the many bars just below.

First let's talk about 6th Street...

The concept of "normal" doesn't really apply here. The variety of characters you see wandering the street rivals anywhere I've been. You get the packs of frat boys on the hunt, middle-aged couples hitting the restaurants, street performers, panhandlers, crazies yelling at cars, and the ever present girls trying to stand out in the crowd. I can't count the number of tattoos I saw in 3 days. The action starts to build up around nightfall but things don't really rev up until around midnight.

But what makes this place special is the music scene. This is where guys like Stevie Ray Vaughn and Eric Johnson got their start. At any given time there are at least 2 live acts playing in the clubs - all of which are open to the street - so it's impossible to not listen and sometimes hard to do anything else. I heard a few who were very good and some who are probably never going to get past the small bar scene.

The view from my balcony...

From the street...

The races...

MotoGP events are 3 day affairs. Friday and Saturday are practice and qualifying sessions. Sunday is all business with three races taking place; MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3.

Moto3 are the new guys, mostly in their teens riding 250cc bikes. These guys are very fast and ride like they are immortal.

Moto2 are the riders on the brink of making it to the big show. The bikes are race chassis fitted with a spec Honda 600cc motor build specifically for this class. These bikes are 150 HP and are fast. Winning in this class means you will have a shot at moving up to MotoGP so it's usually no hold barred racing.

MotoGP is the premiere class. The best of the best. The bikes are all one of kind and run 1000cc motors (this year). With 250 HP being the norm these things can nearly fly. Top speeds at this track were around 212 MPH!

We had reserved seats at Turn 15. I chose this area because it was a twisty section where I knew there would be a lot of overtaking and the skill of the riders would be on display. We could also see the longest straight where those bikes were hitting top speed and a motorcycle going 0ver 200 MPH looks like a bullet!

A few pic's of our view...

The racetrack and facilities are amazing with the track being described as both fast and very technical. I'm lucky enough to be scheduled to ride on this track in about a month and after seeing how awesome the place is I can't wait!

The sound of these bikes is mind boggling and ear plugs are a must. We managed to get some pretty nice shots of the riders in action including several of the winner Marc Marquez (#93), a rookie in only his 2nd MotoGP race. It's rare for a newcomer to do that well because the bikes are so specialized that it takes time to learn how to get the most out of them. Either this guy is a really fast learner or he's a mutant. I'm voting for the mutant party because anyone who routinely drags his elbow at 150 MPH just can't be human.

I was pulling for Valentino Rossi but his Yamaha was no match for the Honda's at this track. If it had to be a Honda I'm glad it was Marquez.

Some pic's of the stars in action...

You can see all of the pic's here.

I had an great time at this event. Seeing the top riders in the world is a treat and even with my epic sunburn (should have started with the SPF 50) it was something I can't wait to do again.