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MOST IMPORTANTLY: Relax and try to have fun, that the point, right? It’s not a race! You ain’t goin’ home with a trophy or prize money, so make getting you and your bike home in one piece a priority. There will always be faster and slower riders than yourself. Think of the consequences before you make an ill-conceived pass to show that “slowpoke” how good you are.

Try different lines. A trackday is a good chance to experiment with early and late apexing, different braking points, different countersteering techniques, using bodyweight to influence trajectory. Don’t just do the same thing over and over (no learning takes place).

Try to relax your arms as much as possible. When on the straights, consciously open your grip on the bars and make sure you can flap your arms up and down a little. If your arms are rigid and you can’t relax your hands, you’ll never make it to the end of the day. Ever hear of arm-pump. Racers get surgery to relieve it because when you’re trying to hang-on to one of these beasts, your arms can get so full of blood that you can have trouble opening your hands and flexing your wrist. I’ve had a hand swell up bad enough that I had to ice it and sit out 2 sessions before I could ride again.

Another way to give your arms some respite is to use your legs when you are braking. When you brake, all of your body weight gets transferred into your arms. You end up trying to modulate the brake, the feather the clutch, the blip the throttle and steer the bike all while your trying to support you full weight. Not a good situation. If you can squeeze your knees into the sides of the gas tank very tightly while you are braking, you can take at least half the weight off your arms. This makes all those other delicate tasks much easier.

Don’t use the rear brake at all. This one was hard for me for a long time and I found myself going into turns with the rear wheel kicked out sideways because I’d locked it (fun if you know what your doing, a terror if you don’t). You know how they say that on the street 70% of your braking is with the front wheel, well on the track it is 100%. We all know what stoppies/nose wheelies are …. 100% front braking. If the rear tire is off the ground or seriously unweighted, it’s useless as a braking tool. Learn to love your front brake and you will be much happier on the track.

If you know how to do clutchless upshifts, the benefits on the track are huge. For starters, your clutch hand will only have to work half as much of the time. Secondly, your upshifts will be much quicker and your drives that much stronger off the corners. This is an advanced technique, so if you’ve never done it, trying it a t the track for the first time is not a good idea. But if you’ve done it smoothly on the street, the track responds even better. I won’t explain how to do it here, as it requires lots of timing and feel. If you want to learn more, look it up online and practice it on the street before you ever try it at the track. I don’t recommend clutchless downshifts as it too easy to lock the rear wheel and damage transmission and drive components. Unless you are a top-level racer, the only times you should use the rear brake are in the pits and if you run off the track.

Remember to BREATH!!! We have a tendency to hold our breath when things get tense. Just like relaxing your grip and flapping your arms, make sure you are breathing.

Looks where you want to go! I know everyone already knows this, but it’s especially important on the track. I guarantee at least once (and maybe several times) you will get into a corner hot (faster than you want to be going) and if you just consciously crank your head around to look for the apex, then the exit, you’ll make it! Always look at the solution, NOT the problem. If you watch someone else crash or ride off the track, and you don’t look away, you will join them.

Usually, in the Beginner and Intermediate groups, passing in a turn is only allowed around the outside of another rider (this keeps someone from stuffing it up the inside of you, falling, and taking you out too). The best thing you can do to insure faster riders can get by you without incident, is to leave some room between yourself and the outside of the track (try about 10 feet minimum). I know that you think you need ALL the track to do that hot lap, but if you are using all of the track you better be turning Ben Spies lap times or all your doing is taking up too much space.

If you are finding it difficult to pass someone, but it’s obvious you are faster, there are two different strategies that have been successful for me. One is, as you follow the other rider, stay wide at the entry to the turn (delayed apex). Most riders turn in early and run wide. If you stay wide and turn later, you’ll end up inside of them and on the gas at the exit while they are still trying to finish their turn and get on the gas. If you then move over to the inside line, they will be forced to come around the outside of you into the next turn. Just be aware this strategy may backfire if they do the same thing to you at the next corner.

The second strategy is to out brake them into a turn. This can be intimidating but works well on somebody on a fast bike but with little confidence on the brakes. If you realize they are braking earlier than you into most corners, try to be inside of them as you go down the straight, when they start braking stay on the gas just a tad longer, enough to go by them, then start your braking. You’ve put yourself slightly in front of them on the inside line (block pass) and they must go around the outside now to pass you.

Don’t ever look behind. Your only responsibility is to avoid people in front of you. It’s everyone behind you’s responsibility not to run into the back of you (this is why you remove the mirrors).

Hold a predictable line. What is the worst thing you hate about car drivers? When they do something you don’t expect! Try not to make any radical moves on the track. Pick a line and stick to it. And especially don’t change your line to “let someone by”. It’s their responsibility to find a way around you, not yours to make way for them. I had a guy run me off the track because he thought I would pass him on the left so he moved to the right. I was already passing him on the right when he decided to move over.

Be SMOOTH in all your interactions with the bike. A lot of trackday providers relish the rain because it causes people to be cautious and smooth right off the bat. The key here is squeezing controls rather than jerking them. It’s tempting to twist the throttle to the stop coming out of the corners and knife the brakes on the way in. Both will put you on your head and you’ll wonder what happened. Being smooth equals going fast.

Unless you are using tire warmers (very few of you), each session you should give your tires 2 complete laps before you start really pushing. Rubber needs time to heat up to work it’s best and it builds heat by the normal flexing of the carcass while just riding in a straight line. Weaving doesn’t heat a tire faster, racers do it to get the feel for the steering response of the bike, not to warm there tires. Treat your tires like they are new when you first go out. Don’t accelerate hard, brake hard or lean hard until you crossed the start /finish the 2nd time, then things should be up to full temp. Obviously a cold day changes this for the worse.

Tire pressures is critical, and typically it should be set lower than the manufacturer recommendations. A few years ago we were running 30 front/30rear psi, but it may be different these days. It’s best to ask a couple of the regulars who uses the same tires you have on your bike. Pressure is not about stiffness, it is mostly about achieving the right heat build-up. After a good session your tires should be hot to the touch and the pressure should have risen about 10% from ambient temp. You should check your tire pressure several times during the day.

If you run off the track for some reason don’t do anything sudden. Get the bike upright, get your butt up off the seat (dirtbike style) and slow using primarily the rear brake. Don’t try to get back on the track right away (you may get deflected off the pavement edge or hit someone who’s now on the line you were previously occupying). Slow down to walking pace, check behind you and re-enter the track only if it’s completely clear. Make sure the step-up at the edge of the pavement isn’t so tall it will jerk your front wheel out from under you.

If you crash, let the bike go. Hanging onto the bike won’t improve anything. And you don’t want a sliding bike using you for battering-ram practice. The typical crash is a lowside and the bike slides away from you. You come to a stop, get up and curse your luck. But a highside, (usually caused by too much throttle coming out of a corner) can throw you over the hndlebars, then you’ve got a bike potentially looking to run over you. Realize this one thing, no matter what fantastic stories you’ve heard about “controlling” your crash, it just doesn’t happen. Once you are down or off the bike, you’re along for the ride. Whatever is gonna happen, is gonna happen. So just relax as much as possible and wait for the scenery to stop moving before you attempt to get up. If you are still physically on the track when the sliding stops, and you can physically move, try to get off the track toward the nearest edge. Don’t worry about your bike, your health and safety come first. If you feel you are really hurt, just stay put. (and if you come upon this scene, remember what I said earlier: look for the solution, DON’T look at the crashed/crashing rider. LOOK AWAY! Save rubber-necking for the highway (or actually, NEVER). Don’t even thinking about stopping for a downed rider, even a friend (that’s what the safety crew is for). Many trackday organizations call your day DONE if you crash.

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