Got the track bug bad when I rented a bike at Phillip Island last year.
There's an amazing track just an hour and a half from where we live, but unfortunately, it's a private track with membership fees of $50,000 and annual dues of $4000. Too rich for my blood.
However, the facility does rent out their course to a couple of local track day organizers who then open it up to the unwashed masses!
Sweet!
Area 27 is a private track in Oliver, BC, just a few kms north of the US border. It's a 4.83 km race course, 16 corners with a good mix of increasing and decreasing radius turns, a moderate chicane and lots of fast sweepers. Very much a horsepower track!
I arrived on Day 2 of a two-day track event put on by HardNoX Racing - a track day organizer based out of Calgary.
The pits were half-full from the day before, so we found an empty spot in the back and set up our canopy there. Area 27 is home to the Camaro Driving Academy, so lots of expensive Chevy sports cars parked at the end of the pit.
I don't own a sportbike anymore, the garage is currently full of dirt bikes and adventure bikes. But I do have a Hypermotard I use as a hooligan streetbike, so I'm doing the "Run What You Brung" thing today.
Feel like such a newb.
I've had my Hyper for a couple of years now, and I know it quite well. I'm Hyper-aware that it's not anywhere near a sportbike in terms of performance, but I'm just out here to have some fun and to get in some WOT therapy.
I did feel a little out of place with all the other 200+hp literbikes around me, fully race prepped with all the expensive go-fast parts. And then there's lil ole me running a bone stock 110hp street bike. At least the Hyper comes with sticky Supercorsa Pros as standard, so no worries about grip.
I did have to break out these one-piece leathers that have been collecting dust at the back of my closet for the last 13 years! Dusting them off and trying them on was a bit of tight fit...
They say the key to fitting back into tight clothes again starts in the kitchen.
They were right. It took two large spatulas and a half-quart of olive oil to squeeze me back into these leathers!
It's still early in the season for track days, so the cooler track temps means everyone uses the outlap to warm up their tires, building speed slowly lap-by-lap. Sessions are only 15 minutes long, which is unusual for a full-size track. The organizers say that there were lots of crashes at the end of 20 minute laps due to fatigue, which I could see, however, with three groups, the 30 minute break between sessions is way to short IMO.
Since this is an early-season track day, it's only 75% full, so about 15 of us at a time on a very long track means very little traffic if you time it right. I try to slot in at the back of the pack so I don't hold anyone up, but seems everyone has the same idea because the minute I line up to go out, there's 5 or 6 literbikes already itching to get past me on the straightaway.
The nice thing about HardNoX track days is that they have a cadre of track coaches at the ready to show you the lines and help improve your lap times.
They paired me up with Rob, a guy on a MT-09. A good match for my Hypermotard!
I'm right on Rob's tail and we settle into a 6/10ths pace (for me) after he glances at his mirrors to see how far I lag behind.
Even after studying the track map, I have no idea which direction the next turn coming is going. Thankfully, HardNoX puts pylons down at corner entry, apex and corner exit, so all I have to do is connect the pylons.
Since I am in Yellow group (Group 2 of 3), passing is restricted to straightaways or outside the rider you are trying to pass. Our corner speed is pretty good as I get a tow around the track, so it's only down the two straightaways that all the literbikes blow past me. They pass me like I'm standing still, just another pylon in the middle of the track...
15 minutes go by in the blink of an eye, and Rob pulls me over at the entrance to the pits to give me some pointers. We spend 10 minutes having a good chat and I'm doused with a firehose of information, and the only thing I remember him saying is, "you're not using the whole track, you can exit the corner with more speed if you let the throttle push you all the way out to the turtles".
I agree with him, but this is something I can probably work on when I know where the next corner coming is...
The Area 27 track was designed by Canadian F1 Champion, Jacques Villeneuve. The #27 taken off his Ford when he raced at the Daytona 500. The course takes advantage of the natural topography of the hills around Oliver, and boasts lots of fun elevation changes and beautiful scenery to distract you from the turn that's rushing towards you at breakneck speeds!
My second session saw me getting slightly more familiar with the layout. Rob sees me go out and slots in behind me to monitor my progress. My goal is to not get passed by everyone this lap. I try very hard to get a good drive out of the fast Turn 1, but a damn gaggle of literbikes are already past me down the middle of the 1.1 km straightaway, buzzing past me on both my left and right.
I'm down about 100 hp from all of them, so this is entirely expected.
Expected, but still annoying.
About 3 sessions in, I pit in and notice my chain is super loose. I'm so ill-prepared for this track day, I brought a basic socket set to take off my mirrors and license plate bracket, but I didn't bring the special Ducati chain adjustment tool, which is basically an eccentric spanner wrench.
Now where-oh-where, can I find one of those...
These are my neighbours... LOL!
No shortage of Ducati-specific tools in the pits!
I borrow the chain tool from Steve, the guy with the beautiful 1299 beside me and we get to chatting about track. He tells me, "I was following you for a bit. You're definitely not holding anyone up in the corners!"
Oh, that was a nice thing to say.
Then he adds, "But it sure is nice to blow past you on the straightaways though!"
What a dick...
Steve and I go out together next lap and I try to stay on his tail. I'm successful on the first warm-up lap, but as his tires get up to temp, he pulls away on the straights and then it's sayonara 1299.
I'm getting faster in the corners and I manage to scrape my toe sliders on most of the turns. The Hyper has super-low pegs and the published max lean angle is only 47°. I have to back off the throttle way way before I can get my knee down. Most Hyper owners buy aftermarket pegs that are raised to get a better lean angle. This is something I wished I would have done.
The straightaways are a different story. Every time I throttle out of Turn 1, I wait for the army of Panigales and S1000RRs to buzz past me. They are coming later and later on the straightaway, so that becomes my metric for how fast I am improving.
On my fourth session on the straightaway, I'm going the fastest I've gone for that day and I'm holding the literbikes at bay on the straight. With only 150m before my regular braking marker, my bike bumps up against the rev limiter and I gain no more forward progress. The literbikes sense weakness and eat my Hypermotard for breakfast going into Turn 2.
Come on!
Back in the pits, I Google "top speed hypermotard" and the answer returned is 225 km/h.
fork.
The next thing I Google is, "cheap panigales for sale oliver bc"...
Lunch is catered by Area 27 in the clubhouse. What a nice facility! I still can't see myself paying for a $50K membership though. I think it makes more sense if you're tracking both cars and motorcycles and spend every weekend here. We're just too busy riding in the dirt to justify that kind of $$$.
After lunch, I formulate a plan. If I can't beat the literbikes on horsepower, I'll have to do it on the brakes, just like my hero Toprak Razgatlioglu!
Every corner, I push my braking markers further and further out. I've never been particularly good at trail-braking, but after a few corners, I'm getting completely off the brakes about midway between corner entry and the apex, which is not bad considering some of the corner entry speeds on the faster corners! Trail-braking is pucker-inducing when you're not good at it!
I top out again and again before the end of the straightaway, but I notice less and less literbikes passing me. YAY!
Maybe they've gone home for the day?
The 15 mins on, 30 mins off schedule is pretty hectic, so I end up skipping the last couple of sessions because of fatigue.
Still, a great day and if I was to do it again, I'd definitely prep my Hyper a bit better with higher footpegs... and a Panigale V4 engine transplant...
Did I mention, I did the newbie thing and rode to the track?
As everyone was loading their track bikes onto the trailer, I borrowed some tools to put my mirrors and license plate bracket back on, and rode the 1.5 hours back home!
I can just imagine all the Panigale guys shaking their heads and muttering, "What a newb!"
Would totally do it again!!!
There's an amazing track just an hour and a half from where we live, but unfortunately, it's a private track with membership fees of $50,000 and annual dues of $4000. Too rich for my blood.
However, the facility does rent out their course to a couple of local track day organizers who then open it up to the unwashed masses!
Sweet!
Area 27 is a private track in Oliver, BC, just a few kms north of the US border. It's a 4.83 km race course, 16 corners with a good mix of increasing and decreasing radius turns, a moderate chicane and lots of fast sweepers. Very much a horsepower track!
I arrived on Day 2 of a two-day track event put on by HardNoX Racing - a track day organizer based out of Calgary.
The pits were half-full from the day before, so we found an empty spot in the back and set up our canopy there. Area 27 is home to the Camaro Driving Academy, so lots of expensive Chevy sports cars parked at the end of the pit.
I don't own a sportbike anymore, the garage is currently full of dirt bikes and adventure bikes. But I do have a Hypermotard I use as a hooligan streetbike, so I'm doing the "Run What You Brung" thing today.
Feel like such a newb.
I've had my Hyper for a couple of years now, and I know it quite well. I'm Hyper-aware that it's not anywhere near a sportbike in terms of performance, but I'm just out here to have some fun and to get in some WOT therapy.
I did feel a little out of place with all the other 200+hp literbikes around me, fully race prepped with all the expensive go-fast parts. And then there's lil ole me running a bone stock 110hp street bike. At least the Hyper comes with sticky Supercorsa Pros as standard, so no worries about grip.
I did have to break out these one-piece leathers that have been collecting dust at the back of my closet for the last 13 years! Dusting them off and trying them on was a bit of tight fit...
They say the key to fitting back into tight clothes again starts in the kitchen.
They were right. It took two large spatulas and a half-quart of olive oil to squeeze me back into these leathers!
It's still early in the season for track days, so the cooler track temps means everyone uses the outlap to warm up their tires, building speed slowly lap-by-lap. Sessions are only 15 minutes long, which is unusual for a full-size track. The organizers say that there were lots of crashes at the end of 20 minute laps due to fatigue, which I could see, however, with three groups, the 30 minute break between sessions is way to short IMO.
Since this is an early-season track day, it's only 75% full, so about 15 of us at a time on a very long track means very little traffic if you time it right. I try to slot in at the back of the pack so I don't hold anyone up, but seems everyone has the same idea because the minute I line up to go out, there's 5 or 6 literbikes already itching to get past me on the straightaway.
The nice thing about HardNoX track days is that they have a cadre of track coaches at the ready to show you the lines and help improve your lap times.
They paired me up with Rob, a guy on a MT-09. A good match for my Hypermotard!
I'm right on Rob's tail and we settle into a 6/10ths pace (for me) after he glances at his mirrors to see how far I lag behind.
Even after studying the track map, I have no idea which direction the next turn coming is going. Thankfully, HardNoX puts pylons down at corner entry, apex and corner exit, so all I have to do is connect the pylons.
Since I am in Yellow group (Group 2 of 3), passing is restricted to straightaways or outside the rider you are trying to pass. Our corner speed is pretty good as I get a tow around the track, so it's only down the two straightaways that all the literbikes blow past me. They pass me like I'm standing still, just another pylon in the middle of the track...
15 minutes go by in the blink of an eye, and Rob pulls me over at the entrance to the pits to give me some pointers. We spend 10 minutes having a good chat and I'm doused with a firehose of information, and the only thing I remember him saying is, "you're not using the whole track, you can exit the corner with more speed if you let the throttle push you all the way out to the turtles".
I agree with him, but this is something I can probably work on when I know where the next corner coming is...
The Area 27 track was designed by Canadian F1 Champion, Jacques Villeneuve. The #27 taken off his Ford when he raced at the Daytona 500. The course takes advantage of the natural topography of the hills around Oliver, and boasts lots of fun elevation changes and beautiful scenery to distract you from the turn that's rushing towards you at breakneck speeds!
My second session saw me getting slightly more familiar with the layout. Rob sees me go out and slots in behind me to monitor my progress. My goal is to not get passed by everyone this lap. I try very hard to get a good drive out of the fast Turn 1, but a damn gaggle of literbikes are already past me down the middle of the 1.1 km straightaway, buzzing past me on both my left and right.
I'm down about 100 hp from all of them, so this is entirely expected.
Expected, but still annoying.
About 3 sessions in, I pit in and notice my chain is super loose. I'm so ill-prepared for this track day, I brought a basic socket set to take off my mirrors and license plate bracket, but I didn't bring the special Ducati chain adjustment tool, which is basically an eccentric spanner wrench.
Now where-oh-where, can I find one of those...
These are my neighbours... LOL!
No shortage of Ducati-specific tools in the pits!
I borrow the chain tool from Steve, the guy with the beautiful 1299 beside me and we get to chatting about track. He tells me, "I was following you for a bit. You're definitely not holding anyone up in the corners!"
Oh, that was a nice thing to say.
Then he adds, "But it sure is nice to blow past you on the straightaways though!"
What a dick...
Steve and I go out together next lap and I try to stay on his tail. I'm successful on the first warm-up lap, but as his tires get up to temp, he pulls away on the straights and then it's sayonara 1299.
I'm getting faster in the corners and I manage to scrape my toe sliders on most of the turns. The Hyper has super-low pegs and the published max lean angle is only 47°. I have to back off the throttle way way before I can get my knee down. Most Hyper owners buy aftermarket pegs that are raised to get a better lean angle. This is something I wished I would have done.
The straightaways are a different story. Every time I throttle out of Turn 1, I wait for the army of Panigales and S1000RRs to buzz past me. They are coming later and later on the straightaway, so that becomes my metric for how fast I am improving.
On my fourth session on the straightaway, I'm going the fastest I've gone for that day and I'm holding the literbikes at bay on the straight. With only 150m before my regular braking marker, my bike bumps up against the rev limiter and I gain no more forward progress. The literbikes sense weakness and eat my Hypermotard for breakfast going into Turn 2.
Come on!
Back in the pits, I Google "top speed hypermotard" and the answer returned is 225 km/h.
fork.
The next thing I Google is, "cheap panigales for sale oliver bc"...
Lunch is catered by Area 27 in the clubhouse. What a nice facility! I still can't see myself paying for a $50K membership though. I think it makes more sense if you're tracking both cars and motorcycles and spend every weekend here. We're just too busy riding in the dirt to justify that kind of $$$.
After lunch, I formulate a plan. If I can't beat the literbikes on horsepower, I'll have to do it on the brakes, just like my hero Toprak Razgatlioglu!
Every corner, I push my braking markers further and further out. I've never been particularly good at trail-braking, but after a few corners, I'm getting completely off the brakes about midway between corner entry and the apex, which is not bad considering some of the corner entry speeds on the faster corners! Trail-braking is pucker-inducing when you're not good at it!
I top out again and again before the end of the straightaway, but I notice less and less literbikes passing me. YAY!
Maybe they've gone home for the day?
The 15 mins on, 30 mins off schedule is pretty hectic, so I end up skipping the last couple of sessions because of fatigue.
Still, a great day and if I was to do it again, I'd definitely prep my Hyper a bit better with higher footpegs... and a Panigale V4 engine transplant...
Did I mention, I did the newbie thing and rode to the track?
As everyone was loading their track bikes onto the trailer, I borrowed some tools to put my mirrors and license plate bracket back on, and rode the 1.5 hours back home!
I can just imagine all the Panigale guys shaking their heads and muttering, "What a newb!"
Would totally do it again!!!
