I enjoy watching people's narrated race videos (yours included) so I figured I'd give it a go.

That sounds like you were giving it everything!

Humbling and addictive. Thanks for sharing your experience Dan. Maybe you can teach me how to get off the line from a standing start!

That's awesome about the VF500. They're just such cool machines. Take your time on the forks and take more pics than you think you need. If you get stumped at all, just shoot me a message or post up on vfrworld. If you ride out to the MA races on it I promise you'll be fielding a bunch of conversations of people wanting to talk about the 500 they used to have decades ago and wishing they never sold it!

Thanks Stray. I'm happy with the progress but certainly not satisfied. Watching a bunch of 400s walk me in the later GTL/400 race on bikes with a lot less power is certainly humbling. But considering the time frame and how scared I was of doing a first track day a few years ago, I can't complain. It's clear I'm not a natural though--gotta learn everything the hard way! I still think you'd love it. There are some pretty laid back "intro to trackdays" courses (near me) that give a bit of the taste of track riding without all the stress of an actual track day. I know that you're proximity to tracks is going to be a limiting factor there. I think the bigger factor for you would be deciding on which bike to ride though!

@@matttriestodothings lol, yea none of the garage queens. I’d have to buy a track bike. Friend of mine has a KTM RC8 track bike that I’m thinking of buying to do a RedBull MotoGP replica. Probably too much bike for a track day newbie though.

For sure. I don't want to skate around for a sunday ride--I don't. I just want to ease towards boundaries and limits as opposed to jumping right at them because the price of failure on the track is pretty high. Sure is fun though!

Man it's just so fun. Nerve-wracking as hell but fun. Onboard camera just doesn't really capture it all but gives a decent idea. Good battles is what I want to be a part of.

​@@matttriestodothings I mean, your season seems to be off to a good start, you got some riders that appear to be close to you skill wise. Are you riding in more than one class at these events? As a side note re: the onboard footage - it never lives up to being there. The best I've seen is this dude Niccolò Canepa, his videos have this visceral feeling of speed. I haven't really seen anything like it. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jdpkpbmUlsuslok.html

Same. Just trying to get a little better every time. One of the things you need to work on is a working zipper on that Rev'It suit 😅

So, just go faster so it's a non-issue? 😅

Man I thought you did great--especially for having no practice day at all and a totally new track. I had a blast racing with you. I gotta figure out how to keep up on the next round!

@@matttriestodothings Thank you! Let’s catch up back in August 🙌🏻

@@karthikmateti6914 absolutely Karthik--I'll see you then.

There's definitely a bunch more safety factor I'm leaving. I've dipped into it a few times on lean when I came in what I thought was too hot, and it just sticks. I guess that's how you keep inching towards finding the limit. Luckily it still seems like I've got plenty more to explore before finding the limit.

It's a gen 1 (2001) SV650 stock motor. I think on the weekend this video was shot I was in the 1:22's for my best time, normally 1:23's. During the July round I got into the 1:20's. Going to need to be able to shed a lot more next year. Actually, here's a lap chart from that race: i.imgur.com/sSaaWOc.jpg

@matttriestodothings i just got sv650 and will do my first race on it on June 8. Usually riding r6. But not feel like do first race at the MW lol So sv650 it is :-)

@@Maximumtrack Sweeeeet! We'll be gridding up together assuming you're talking about Blackhawk. And also assuming the "new" engine I just swapped in doesn't blow up first, lol.

@@matttriestodothings yes blackhawk. But u i expert.

@@matttriestodothings if u do motovid. Ill see u there. Im cr with motovid

Will do. Will try to do. Got a couple more race weekends in front of me to work on it.

Exactly what Mad8v said. That was my issue my 1st season

@@JPRATT537 I guess I know what my focus will be on improving the next time I'm out there.

Hah, I could feel it was coming, I just didn't know where! It certainly illustrates that turn 1 and the subsequent drive off is a weak spot for me if I let him close up that much distance. You may be right about the draft. I'll have to be more cognizant of that in the future.

I'll try to put together a video and article later this year about my experience doing this and why I think more people ought to give it a shot. That being said, if you want anything specific now or just to ask some questions, let me know and I can send you my email. You can sign up on asraracing.com. For all the mixed bag of results from the new ownerships first year, they've made registration much much easier.