Just did a day at Thunderbolt, the AMA track in NJ. Never been there before and had a steep learning curve to overcome and a new track to learn. Certainly more of a HP track than Lightning.
I never did get comfortable with the track, it is much more technical than Lightning and required some hard acceleration as there was alot less momentum and flow to carry speed through. I'm sure others would argue but I had a really hard time coming to grips with it.
My friends with much more track experience on prepped SVs were able to keep up the little bike pride amongst the 600s-1000s and the sea of Ducs that came to play but I had nothing for them that day. Better to come home humbled than scuppered in pieces for sure. The Bandit was the smallest 4 stroke in the paddock that day, there was a 2 stroke here and there but they were race prepped and slick shodded.
There are some more flowy parts of the track such as turn 1 and 2, the chicane after the straight as well as a chicane before the straight that I was able to carry speed but I wished for a little more power to help in the point and shoot parts of the track. I actually bumped down a group because I couldn't keep up in the group I would normally ride in. It was alot of work to even ride in group 2 and I think I can say that I'm really starting to have to over-ride the bike to keep up.
Some good anyway:
-Brakes continue to work well, 4 pots and EBC HHs worked well all day.
-New steering damper helped out immensely. It would normally wag a bit when tossing it from side to side and under power heeled over but not anymore. Now it just stays planted where you put it.
-I wished I had rearsets but made do. They would certainly change the riding position to a more track-oriented setup but I think they'll come with a new bike.
-Bt016s are a great tire. From morning till the end of the day, all the traction I could want. They had more grip than I had balls this day. 3 track days and they still look good.
-The divider I put in the exhaust collector broadened the power of the pipe and helped immensely. Much more linear and still had the improved output of earlier, just not as abrupt. Power now comes on at 8k instead of 10k and still pulls to 14k. With the jetting I'm running, SVs can't run away on the straights anymore but they still have a better drive out of the corners. There's no replacement for displacement.
This last day is making me seriously consider a newer bike in the 600 range if I continue the direction I'm going. The Bandit is great for the street and more flowy momentum based tracks but in more technical places, it's a rolling chicane. If they had a smaller displacement trackday I'm sure it would do well at more technical tracks but I certainly had my ass handed to me this day.
Just didn't have the package to do well there against more track-based tack.
-Randy
Topic: Trackdays on the B4... (Read 5419 times)