Well I had yet another awesome trackday this past weekend down at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, SC, making now my 5th so far. Got to hang out with lots of old friends, met some new ones, had weather that simply couldn't be beat (low-mid 70's and partly cloudy), and overall just had a great time!

Anyways, I was originally gonna head down there friday night, but ended up having to redo my forks again friday night after having a little fiasco with them all week, lol. So I finally got those done friday night but was dead tired and wasn't even loaded up yet, so decided to head down saturday morning instead. Got up early and got the bike and car all loaded up, and all 3 kiddos this time too, and made our way down to SC

Don't mind my old trusty rusty beast, lol.... poor girl is getting old



Got down there about lunch time or so, got the kiddos situated in the shade while I got everything unpacked



Had a BBQ sat night and hung out with everybody and had a great time.... one of the coaches made 'bacon explosion', which was freakin awesome until you got to the 'explosion' part of it the next day or so...eek! After dinner one of the other coaches helped me get my suspension set up since I had it all apart and nothing was set, we got a pretty good baseline setup to start with and I must say it felt pretty good from what I could tell. Hung out for a bit longer yapping, then got some sleep

Nothing better than waking up to a nice brisk morning at the track



Fed the pigs, fed myself, then off to tech and registration we go



The beast is ready to roll



First session out of the day is always slooooww.... always spend the first few laps with the coaches showing everybody the lines and whatnot. Getting toted around by one of the awesome coaches Larkin Willis on the Super Duke



Came back at lunch time and found Riley apparently wanted in the car. I had the windows down at first and he had jumped in the window. Put the windows up but the sunroof was open, he literally climbs up the side of the car (good thing I have an old beater, haha) and jumped down in the sunroof. So I closed the sunroof and he climbed up yet again... literally right up the side. It was quite amusing to watch! LOL



CMP also has a pretty sweet go kart track, people bring fancy shifter karts and they also have rental karts (which we've done multiple times... they're a blast, lol). But this day they seemed to be having an all motard (and a few other small 2 stroke bikes) trackday over on the kart track



I must say some of those supermoto guys sure have some fancy rigs!



Made a quick video while I was over that way... quality isn't that great it was from my phone



Back out after lunch and moving along a little faster. I still need a lot of work on my body position... though it's definitely improving from previous times I still have some things I need to work on my next time out. I know I need to get my head/chest down lower and out further, and arms up. I really need to get a new suit though cuz this one really doesn't fit me well at all, I'm finding it way too tight in some areas and I simply can't move, and my arms is one of the things. So I'm on the hunt for a new suit, and hoping that will help me out a bit with getting my BP correct. I'm getting there, I'm just a little slow, I openly admit it, hahah











A few GoPro videos... was trying a few different mounting spots this time. This was the 4th session out.... we only had 11 people in B group, and most of them were actually pretty quick, so a few people from I group bumped down to B group cuz they had a few things they wanted to work on at a little slower pace without holding anybody up in I group. This session was a blast, all 3 of us got together and were having some fun (they were running about the same pace as I was in B group)


Then I was curious what kind of vid would come from it mounted on the tail pointing backwards. Actually thought it turned out kind of cool! LOL


And then on the front pointing backwards so I'm able to see what I'm doing. I learn a lot more by actually being able to see my mistakes instead of somebody just telling me. So I wanted to try this.... while a little distorted, can def still see where I need improvement. Give me time, I'm working on it... already got a list of stuff to work on the next time. Constructive criticism always welcome though =)


I tried it with a sticky mount on the upper triple tree nut cover too, but I guess it wasn't as tight in there as I had thought... ended up with about 16 minutes of..uhhh... this, lol. Actually kinda cool in it's own way though cuz you can watch throttle and brake




The suspension was feeling pretty good, I wasn't fighting the bike and wasn't getting exhausted. AND I remembered to fill my gas can this time so I didn't run out, haha. Did all 7 sessions, a little over 100 miles, no mishaps, no close calls, and loaded up at the end of the day still shiny and in one piece... so that's always a good thing



We all got loaded up and headed out, and a bunch of us went down to Camden, SC and got some dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Soon as we pulled in my buddy Josh locked his keys in his 4 Runner with the key and lights and everything still on, lol. Luckily I had a slim jim with me that my dad gave me years ago that I've never even used... got it open and all was good. Oddly enough 2 ladies in a car that pulled in right after us ended doing the exact same thing, so had to go get into their car too haha



Finally got home at about midnight, completely exhausted since I didn't get a ton of sleep the night before. So I just left the bike on the trailer and toted it into work monday morning to get her back in her daily commuting attire. Went and pulled the sticker off the front and... damn it.... pulled all the clear coat with it...grrr



Oh well live and learn.... next one will be going on the windscreen. Still had an absolute blast though, awesome weekend for sure! Can't wait until the next one... possibly doing one (MAYBE 2, but that's a squeeze) more trackdays before the year is over with

Yup, I'm hooked, lol

 

Always enjoy reading your trip posts/vids Jared.

Sorry about your clear coat. As I recall, you know a pretty good paint guy (painted your split seat tail IIRC). Hope you can repair it asap.

That's ironic about both cars having keys locked inside. I helped an older lady not long ago that locked her keys in her 'vette (still in ignition). All she had to work w/ was a couple of coat hangers. I didn't think I could access those keys but kept working at it thru the top of the window btwn the glass & rubber weather stripping. After about 20 min, I was able to finally hook the keys, pull 'em out of the ignition & up thru the top of the window. If someone had said it could be done beforehand, I would've said absolutely not! Got 'em tho. ;-)

 

Nice pics! Not had a change to watch the videos but i'm still at work

Love the boots man, I have the exact same ones haha!

 

Nice write up. I liked the video looking back at you, definitely good for learning how you use the brake/throttle. Sometimes what you see on the video isn't what you experienced on the bike so see where you can improve a lot easier. I'm done track days for this year and I'm planning for next summer already.

Your dogs look nice and calm in the pictures. I have a 5 year old black Lab but he's never been to the track.