Getting a 6th gen ready for the track.

My first track day is going to be on saturday. I am pretty excited but have some questions about getting a 6th gen ready for the track

So far I have removed my peg feelers and have replaced my coolant with water but I was also thinking about removing my center stand as well. I havent hit it on the ground or anything but its something I would like to avoid happening. Does the header need to come off to get at the right side bolt? Or does this not even need removed and I am just looking into this to much? Also is there something else I should be doing but am over looking?

I am running PP3 tires with about 3/4 of their life left, but the forecast is not looking good for saturday with a 50% chance of rain. Hopefully it holds off as the slick section of the PP3 bothers me.

Here is pretty much what my form is now except I will move my lower half off the seat a little more.



My issue with moving my lower half over further though is that I start to take some weight off of my outside leg, almost like my legs aren't long enough to get my whole butt off the seat and still have enough pressure on my outside leg to keep me on the bike.

Anyways, any advice on form or a suggestion on what to do to the bike please share.

 

I remember what I forgot. I have a two bros exhaust and have a question about running at the track with the baffle out of the exhaust. I know if you run with no mufflers that the bike has a tendency to go lean. Could running with no baffle in the exhaust have the same effect?

 

Good luck on the track day! You should have zero issues related to the exhaust so no worries there....

 

Each track has it's own rulebook. To say that one track someplace has the same rules as another, ain't too smart.

Best bet? RTFM

Good luck on those tires. Most riding schools have stringent tire rules and if your rubber ain't up to snuff, not much chance for a refund.

 

I know all of the regulations and the bike will pass tech without issue. Was just wondering if there was something else that should be done outside of an inspection, like the center stand.

 

I would safty wire the center stand just incase, but many have run them with no issue. The only issue is can the rider handle the bike around the corner.

 

You don't have to remove it but that chunk isn't helping anything either so I would and do pull it off along with anything else that isn't essential for the mission. Another way to look at it is that anything not on the bike can't get damaged if you go down! You should have grabbed my fuel tank for $20 to throw on their for the day. Too late now though. I also wouldn't pull the baffle. It won't make a difference in power and it already sounds good.

As far as form is concerned, what I was taught by Jason Pridmore at his Star School is that you need to transfer weight from outside to the inside foot when preparing to enter a corner. The outside foot should have very little weight on it. Position your chin over the inside wrist, hang your knee out to contact the pavement on the slider and allow the inner thigh of your outside leg keep you on the bike as it rests against the tank. You need to work up to it until yu are comfortable with your tires and the conditions. The VFR ergos are different than a true hard core sport bike so it looks different than a guy hanging off a CBR1000 but when it's done well it feels awesome.

Look at the difference between my body position on the VFR chasing this dude on his CBR600RR. He's on top of the bike while I'm kind in the bike hanging off the inside. Totally different on this fast left hander at Road America.

 

Thank you for the reply. I had always read to weigh your inside for while entering the corner but transfer the weight to your outside towards the middle of the corner lot. Theory behind it was keeping weight on your inside foot while in the turn would push the tire away from where you are tryingto turn. Weighing the outside peg would putmore weight straight down on the tire aiding in traction, however I know people on both sides of that fence. And I sure don't know which school of thought to follow.

I think my upper body is pretty good, I just can't figure out what peg to weigh and what exactly to do with my legs. I had always thought that I was having problems hanging off more because my legs were to short to move my ass off the seat that far and still keep my outside foot in contact with the peg.

Thank you for the reply. I read all these threads about body position on a sport bike it's nice to read how things should be adapted for a VFR.

 

Went out for a few minutes while putting my weighton the inside peg, gave me a lot lore confidence to hang off.

 

pull the passenger pegs, grab rails, dummy can and pull the baffle.
the hp increase is debatable, but its not helping anything being on there.
i don't know how much gas you will need for the day, but try to not go out with more than you need.
definitely try and get that center stand off, but i think you are going to have to drop the headers to do so.

 

Safety wire your oil drain plug.

 

Lets see.. Pull all that stuff that is on the bike as ridden on the street, go to a track day, where the hired staff is more than likely the local fast guys who ride race prepped bikes that are not used on the street and basically find out that you ain't all that good or fast with or without all that extra stuff that is weighing you down and making you slow.

BTW, dismounting and mounting a centerstand on a VFR is really fun and since all these tracks have the same rules and regs, it might be a good idea to look for some of the now famous nannoprint for what they have to say about noise restrictions. These being the downfall of many a racetrack over many years.

 

Sounds like a lot of work just taking off all these parts that you may want to put back on.... You should see if they have a track bike if your willing to go that route.

 

I always found that the preparation of the bike was part of my mental preparation and the more I did, the more I enjoyed the whole experience. It did get to the point where I started looking at getting a dedicated bike but then I bought a Duc 748 and away I went.

 

Me too. I even took a weekend retreat course on Zen tire changing. Now I bead with everything.

 

http://vfrworld.com/forums/racing-track-days/42788-video-first-track-day.html#post405504

Thread about the day.

 

Pretty cool!

 

I did my track day with the center stand on and it never touched. I did have to remove the peg feelers though. Even when I was scraping the pegs (without the feelers) the center stand never hit.

 

You may have lucked out by having one of the VFRs manufactured early in 2002 that came with the non-scraping feature. Some of the really cool dudes unbolt the feelers, put them in a vice and run a rough file over them. This should be done with great forethought otherwise there are those that will think the bike went sideways dragging the pegs. This can be difficult to explain at times.