Personal Paddock and Hauling It All

I managed to get a bit of extra cash and made a deal with the family Chief Financial Advisor to be able to spend all (or most) of it on race related gear. I'm looking to be race ready, at least gear wise, at any moment so that when a race or track day comes up that fits my calendar I can go without having to beg, borrow or steal what I need. I went shopping earlier in the week and got a couple of items. During the long weekend this past weekend I set up my full paddock to practice and to gauge the volume of stuff I need to bring. This is the list of stuff I think is vital for those looking to do similar.

In the pic above I have my folding ramp for loading my trailer. I don't actually have a trailer, but when I do get one, I will have a ramp to use with it. The white square is a 5' folding table. The two blue bags are my camp chairs. The newest items to my paddock are the twin pack of fire extinguishers. Each one is about 2.5 lbs. of agent. I'm hoping to never need these for myself or for others pitted near me. The large black bag standing up to the right is my new 10'x10' pop-up canopy.

In this picture I have a bunch of miscellaneous stuff. The fuel can is a 2.5 gallon jug that is plenty big enough for the 250 Ninja if I have at least half a tank to begin with. The extension cord is a 100' cord that will either be plugged into power from the track or from a generator. I'm still on the lookout for a 2000W inverter generator to power my pit mainly for tire warmers that I also don't have yet. The black tool boxes are track tools in the top box. I have enough tools that I don't ned to raid my main tool chest for the track. Everything in the track tool box is stuff I could live without if it gets lost or worse. The bigger tool box on the bottom is my GoPro tool box to carry my three GoPros and all of their associated mounts and batteries. The green plastic totes carry my race gear like leathers, gloves and boots. The bottom one is just a bunch of stuff like spare parts, manuals and fluids as well as a first aid kit and rags. I will edit the contents based on experience.

The star of the show is my 2004 Kawasaki Ninja 250. It is fully race prepped and ready to run. I have it on my front and rear paddock stands. Moving the bike around my driveway was good practice for moving and setting up the bike without help. No mean fit with a bike that has no kick stand. I still don't have race numbers as I haven't registered with any other race organization yet. I'm still working the logistics to get some training or track days in before jumping into racing a full season.

Here is the skeleton of the canopy as I started to set it all up. I intended to take pics of each major step of the process, but it all went up quickly. Start to finish was less than 30 minutes even though gauging that was tough as my 6 year old "pit crew" needed to discuss important things with me like flowers and princess dolls.

One thing I need to get are some proper weights to anchor the canopy. I used my wife's ankle weights just for now, but they were only barely adequate for the light breeze we had. Anything more significant would have flipped the canopy prettily easily.

Here we are about 3/4 of the way set up. First was the canopy, then the bike. Table was third followed by everything else. The canopy is listed as a 10'x10', but the actual shaded area is less at around 8'x8'. I will think about getting some side panels to block the sun when the sun starts getting low on the horizon. My plan is to get my blog logo and contact info on printed on the panel to drive traffic to the blog. Keep your eye out at some of the local SoCal tracks for the My Motorbike Obsessions Race Team paddock coming soon to a track near you!

Here we are with the full paddock set up. Plenty of space for my one man race team. I need to find a rubber mat to go under the bike and stands. I still need to practice getting the bike in and out of the pits. When I get to the track I will take pics of what the other guys do to borrow ways to improve.

The most important part of the paddock will be the cooler and post race refreshments. I have pre-stocked the cooler in anticipation of my first race. I will also bring some water and food to avoid paying for track burgers. If I camp at the track, I will bring a small one burner stove and some food to eat a hot meal and relax after a hard days ride. I didn't add in any camping gear to this pack out. I have all I need to camp comfortably, but my tent is not a one man set up operation. I need to convince my pit crew (family) to come along and give me a hand. If I can get my girls to like racing, maybe I'll be able to get out more since it will be a family thing and not just my hobby.

Well there you have it folks. I searched the internet high and low to find more examples of how people set up their paddock to no avail. Hopefully this gives you an idea of what might be needed to be track ready. All of my gear was bought on sale or with coupons. None of it is name brand, "best of" stuff. I make do with the cheaper gear to try and make my dollar go farther. Maybe one day I'll be a sponsored, big name racer, but until then I can do everything the big boys do, just a bit differently. Swing on by for more coming soon.

Blue