Track day at Gingerman-Michigan

[Buffalo Bill]

Thanks!
The whole bike worked great, I rubbed off any chicken stripe. Any street tire would have worked in 93º heat, mine were covered with gummy balls. Only danger would be going with too soft a racing tire.
The people are real friendly.

[Griffin]

That's nice to hear. The people at the local track here (Putnam Park Road Course) are dicks.

[Buffalo Bill]

Sorry to hear that Brett. I never been there, probably because they don't allow camping. Maybe the only track I know that don't.
However, we're told that if we leave any debris behind at any track, the owners will charge our group STT per item.
BTW: At our riders meeting the Director had all the vets stand behind him and gave a short ab-lib speech about military service.

[Griffin]

They don't like motorcycles at Putnam, and only have about four track days a year for them. Back in '09, I went out there with a coworker who was doing a track day on his '07 GSXR750. That bike was crazy fast, and he was too. He was built for riding fast, at 5'7" and about 140 lbs. soaking wet. Anyway, I was there to help with trailering and setup, and also was to be a spare mechanic for him if he had any technical difficulties during the day.

I got to talking to a few of the staff people there while he was riding, they were all of the opinion that motorcycles shouldn't be allowed on the track due to too many "incidents", and one told me to not be surprised if bikes were banned from the track pretty soon.

Looking at their schedule for this year, it appears there are only half a dozen motorcycle days this year.

Not bike friendly, not my kind of folks.

[Buffalo Bill]

Just did a track day July 3, at Grattan Raceway, Michigan

Not my video, but gives a good idee how intense this track is, with blind corners, up and down hills, and turn 3, freaky blind reverse camber left.
BTW: I had me olde Kat up to 130MPH on the straight, but was chicken wimp through turn 3.
Funny, showing up with my 26 year old Kat, was like going to a wedding in a 26 year old suit_

[mmattockx]

Not my video, but gives a good idee how intense this track is, with blind corners, up and down hills, and turn 3, freaky blind reverse camber left.
BTW: I had me olde Kat up to 130MPH on the straight, but was chicken wimp through turn 3.
Funny, showing up with my 26 year old Kat, was like going to a wedding in a 26 year old suit_

Nice track, lots of elevation changes and variety. Looks like it is due for a resurface, though. There is no shame in being a chicken in a sketchy off camber corner, those are easy ones to bin it in and you can't win practice so better to slow down a bit and enjoy the day with an unbroken bike at the end of it all. The best part of showing up on an old bike is kicking people's asses with it! First time I outbraked a $30,000 Ducati with my 2006 GSXR1000 I was grinning ear to ear inside the helmet. Having a whizzy bike does you no good if you can't ride it.


Mark