YouTube - jennings gp 1/28/08

The numbers with the solid circle next to them
What are they there for?

 

Those are used to show you where to brake and where the apex is. The ones you're talking about are for showing where the apex of the corner is, the number beside it tells you what corner it is.

edit: probably obvious, but i'll throw it in there anyway.. the corners are numbered

 

Thats cool, one day ill have to go to the track and take a noob class if they have one so I can learn this stuff.

 

They have track schools. The basic information can all be found online.

(hand signals, apexes, body positioning etc etc)

As long as you're comfortable on your bike you can do a novice track day and probably have a pretty good time.

 

thats not entirely true....

watch the video, the numbers on the outside of the track that count down 3...2...1 are your brake markers, the dots on the outside/inside of the track are there to help the novice riders find the race line- basically connect the dots and you will be safe on your first few trackdays, the dots are not 100% accurate and the line changes slightly as you get faster / depends on bike. if you were on the track, you would draw an imaginary line from dot to dot, ride that imaginary line and it will help get you around the track the quickest, but more importanty, predictable to other riders around you
the apex is marked by the stripped marking on the inside corners. (red/white)

each corner is numbered and just happens that number is beside the dot...

 

oh, btw, the arrows are your turn in markers...

the best thing to do is go to the track, walk the track the night before with an experienced rider asking any questions you might have, you should have plenty being its a new experience, try get up front in the lead/follow, stay right on the control riders butt duriing the first session, then get out there and put the bike in 1 gear and try to learn the line quickly, once you are predictable, you can now start shifting and braking, but you need to find reference point on the track that help you place yourself in time

trust me, if you take thing slow ( putting the biek in one gear) and working on the basics, you will get faster quicker and have more fun doing it, if you go out there and think you have to learn everything in a short time, you will not have fun, possibly crash, and be worse off than from where you started


the guys that go there, think they have to learn shift points, braking points, turn in points, learning the flags, and whatever else, its just way too much to take in for the first track day, are the ones that hurt themselves or otheres around them.

 

i understand you work at the track and everything but i dont know what was wrong in what i said? maybe i did not write it as clearly as i should have. I explained the signs, then got specific and answered his question. you just told him the same thing i did in a long breath way...

 

good points about first time though

and to the OP, there's a Novice Day on March 27th that's still open, look into it

 

no harm Brandon, didnt mean to step on your toes, but the reason behind my post is because the dots dont show you where the apex is. the dots are used for an entirely different reason, the count down of numbers are for something and the numbers in the inside of each corner are for another thing.

 

No man, that's my fault! I think I sounded offended. My bad.

Anyway, I was under the impression that the dot was for the apex and the corner number was beside it. Apparently I'm wrong! Like I said before you know more about this stuff than I do, therefore, I'd rather have you correct me than somebody like CBER!