I'm wore out. There were only two riding groups today, alternating 20 minute track sessions, 10 sessions per group. (Private Track Time puts on a great event) I couldn't even go out for four of them I needed to rest. I had a couple spooky incidents today. I'm trying to figure out how to blip the throttle for my downshift while I'm braking without terribly upsetting the chassis (read: freaking myself out too badly). I'm also still trying to figure out my body position on the bike so that I can set my knee down. My primary interest in this is I'm hoping to avoid dragging any hard parts.

So, scary incident number one is actually a combination of several smaller events. I'm coming through turns 13 and 14. My right peg touches down. This is the first time this has ever happened to me on this bike. It freaks me out. I blast down the start/finish straight with my concentration less than 100% after having hit 13/14 harder than I've ever hit it before. I'm carrying a lot more speed into turn 1 than I ever have. I get on the brakes, downshift from fourth to third, and I'm late for my 3-2 downshift. Because I haven't trained my right hand properly yet for the blip and brake, I manage to be on the brakes and the gas at the same time in second gear still carrying a bit too much speed for turn one. I gave up on the gas, stood the bike up, and used as much front brake as I could with the pavement I had left, then switched to rear brakes after going into the dirt. I kept the bike upright and returned to the track.

Scary moment #2. I'm railing (in my noob head) through turn 8. The photographer is there. I've been coming really close to that knee down moment. I lean the bike over a little harder than I have been and use a bit more throttle too. Rear slides out probably only a couple inches but the recovery is enough to toss me out of my seat a bit. I some how manage not to wet myself.

I love track riding. I can't wait until my body, my bank account and my adrenal glands have recovered enough to go again. At least in the meantime I have some things I can do to make the next time better. Braking and blipping is something I can practice anywhere, and I don't care how weird my neighbors think I am, I'm gonna go put the bike on the rear stand and practice hanging off.

Fun facts:
No I did not drag my knee this weekend
I hit 128 MPH approaching turn three
My buddy hit 140 (he did it on my bike too)
Ed Bargy is my hero (he taught me the rear brak in the dirt technique)

 

i'm glad you had a chance to experience jennings....some of your scary moments are moments everyone including myself have had at jennings. keep this in mind you can drag your pegs in every turn...as for getting your knee down, dont make that your goal. make getting faster your goal and your knee will hit, some corners your knee doesnt have to drag.

i dont know what your bike had for mods but you need to get on the jennings forum and ask some of the SV650 track junkies how they set up their bikes. one thing your probably going to do is get rear sets and use washers to give you a little higher ground clearance for more lean angle. Also a quick twist (1/4 turn throttle) adjustment to your throttle cause if my memory serves me correctly the twist on an SV650 is pretty long.

glad you made it out ok. 140mph on that back "straight" isn't to bad. i'm somewhere around 150-155 on a GSXR1000.

 

i wanna go

 

Thanks for that C4, It's good to know that I'm not just some basket case on a bike flinging himself headlong at his imminent doom. There was one guy there that was down three times this weekend (poor little SV650). I'm really not in any hurry to test my leathers or frame sliders.

I think I'm gonna buy a baggie full of the feelers that screw into the bottom of my footpegs and continue to crank the bike over until I'm no longer terrified of them scraping. If I feel like I need more after that, then I'll invest in the rearsets to allow me to get the bike that much closer to the ground (that sounds really nuts if you're not a bike person by the way). My concern with rearsets now is that it seems that, based on my quick google search, they don't typically have hinged footpegs. I'd hate to replace an item that will give some with something that may dig into the pavement.

Out of curiosity, when you're hitting 150+, what tires are you using? To get to 150 before turn three you must be coming hard out of one and not even lifting (sorry, I'm used to competing in cars) for turn two, right? Have you altered your gearing for track use? In the school we talked quite a bit about reducing from factory specs your gearing in order to allow for the top gears to be used primarily. The idea being that because the upper gears are typically closer to each other in ratio, you can keep the bike in the sweet spot of it's rev range over a greater portion of the track.

Thanks again for your post.

 

tires: pirelli supercorsa
Gearing:stock
i have a little more powerband on the 1000cc bike so the stock gearing is fine right now.

coming out of 2 i get caught sometimes as i tip it in i hit the rev limitter in second (about 125 mph), so instead i shift out of second early. i'm on the gas all the way around corner 3(140mph or so i cant reall look down) and shift to 4th gear (its more like a controlled slide since the 1000cc hp spins the rear the whole time) right before the quick left right(rolling off the throttle+down shift) before braking hard (i grab 2nd gear)for 5 and 6. once the puck hits at 5 i keep the same line for 6(opening and closing the throttle to keep it in line). imagine making 5 & 6 one corner like a one corner. ---> ) use your imagination a little. i lose all my time in the back more technical because i have to keep the throttle in check....and i know the wiggle the rear gives you at turn 8. i also highsided recently there. try and take 9 and 10 similar to 5,6...once the slider is down use throttle control to direct the bike. 11 hammer the gas(shift second to third), i brake real late for 12(back to 2nd gear). 13 (3rd gear)the puck hits gas is twisted on easy (upshift to 3rd). 14 i straighten up the bike while i hang off like a gorilla and i'm on the gas and right as i hit 3rd gear rev limiter its hard on the brakes (quick throttle blip and down shift, its just out of habbit my bike has a slipper clutch blip not really needed). i run deep into turn on and then square it off and drive the bike a hard as i can(battling to keep the front wheel down) shift early for 3 and it starts all over again...
*note on the 3,4 i actually hang off a bit more. i also try to hit the red dot marker at turn 3 with my knee. i try to pull my knee in before i actually hit it but sometimes i hit the marker and it flies up into the air.

i'm trying go get the video from VHS to my computer. i have a good one of me the first time on the GSXR1000 at jennings with no bodywork, trying to relearn my line. the good one i have my buddy lester (he runs 1:24's on a 99 R6 with rear sets and a -1 front sprocket...the bike is bone stock other then that. ) if following me and he hits the camera with his chin at turn 3 so you cant really see me but you see him reel me once we hit turn 7...

hope anyof this would help out.....but you need to just follow someone woh is faster then you(not like way faster but just a little, and looking as far throught the corners i cut off about .3sec.)

 

Cool, I liked the format of that post. So I'll copy it. My bike makes it's power midrange (6500 to 9000 or so). For me turn one is second gear, as I'm standing it up out of one I grab third, for turn two I back off the throttle for a moment before turning in. Bringing the bike upright I grab fourth and hold it as long as I dare going for turn three. Brake and downshift to third, and like you but to a lesser extent I turn in early so that I can cut the apex of three nice and tight (for me that's with 6-7 inches off the rumble strip). Turn four is more of a brake marker than a turn, as I go by I'm braking for five and downshifting to second. I set my speed and carve a big arc through five a six. Squirt as hard as I dare for seven, grab the brakes, tip it in, squirt again for eight, brake to the apex of eight and start rolling it back on. I take a relatively tight entry to nine. Ten and eleven are one big turn that tightens up a bit. On the gas as early as I can out of eleven cuz I gotta get to fourth before turn twelve. Hard on the brakes into turn thirteen, downshift twice to second. Back up to third between thirteen and fourteen, then into fourth as I'm standing it up out of fourteen. Turn one comes up quick, brake hard downshift twice and tip it in.

I know that there is a lot of improvement to be made, but I'm pleased for the moment. It'll be hard to be at work today instead of the track.

 

Took forever but I got the pics from the photographer today, here's a few:

http://www.badsalmon.com/pics/jennings

 

Looks awesome! Nice SV! How those pipes sound?

 

The pipes are almost too loud and sound amazing. I love Fridays when I ride to work (I park in a garage on the fifth floor).

 

overall looks good i would recomend to slide your butt off a bit more to help weight transfer