Kart Tracking the Ninja!

Labor Day weekend saw me blessed with a four day holiday. I checked the track schedule and made sure to reserve the day on the family calendar so that I could get out to the track with the little Ninja. All of this worked out except for me not reserving my spot at Buttonwillow with the track day organization. By the time I got around to it, they were booked up in all groups. Undaunted I loaded up the bike and gear and took my show to the kart track for an open practice day.

Right when I was hoping to get some extra cash to buy my Harbor Freight trailer, there was a coupon to bring the price of them down to $250 from the normal $300. My cash came in a little too late for me to take advantage of the deal. While I'm still waiting for the sale to come around again, I rented a U-Haul 5'x8' trailer for only $27.00. Here we are loaded the night before nice and snug after a couple of goofs loading things up that I won't detail here. Needless to say I learned a few things to keep in mind next time.

All my other miscellaneous gear fits in the back of the wife's Honda Pilot. Everything I bring is detailed in this earlier post. I have enough stuff to do minor repairs if needed as well as all the things I need to be comfortable at the track and film all my fun.

Pit lane! This is some serious racer looking stuff. I got to the track and paid for my session about 40 minutes before the open practice was to begin. That gave me enough time to set all this up (~20 minutes) and chat with another bike rider. I met a bunch of nice guys during this track day. It is really cool to meet other Motorbike Obsessed dudes and just geek out on all things motorcycle. All of them had stories about their own Ninja 250's. It is such a common bike for people to cut their teeth on. Out on the track with me during the motorcycle sessions were a couple of 2-stroke mini supermotos (85cc or so) and another supermoto that was a big bike, a 450 KTM 4-stroke.

Heat! Finally I'm getting down to business. After several round of laps, measuring tire temp in the center, left and right sides of the tire and adjusting tire pressure a little lower each time, I think I got the correct pressure dialed in. Being a Mechanical Engineer, I took a notebook with me to the track and logged various data on temp, pressure, lap time and lap count. The lap length is around 3100 feet. My fastest lap was a 1:05 as recorded on my lap timer app on my iPhone in my breast pocket of my leathers. I started the day with 1:17's and brought my time down by 10 seconds on average by the end of the day.

The rear tire got just as warm as the front. By the end of the day I was running pressures in the teens and had temps in the 120's to 140's (degrees F) depending on where and when I measured the tire. I don't know what these Pirelli Diablo Scooter tires are supposed to run, but by the third session I could feel that the front was stable and the rear had great grip. I could feel the front pushing out on me during the first two sessions in some of the tighter turns. The track has four hard rights with only one hard left and the tire temps and wear patterns showed that. After getting a trailer, I want to get some tire warmers and a generator so that I can keep the tires at temp between sessions.

I had such a great time at the track that I bought a one year membership. My plans are to get there at least one weekend every month if possible. I also want to get out to a big track and take a new rider class to see how the Ninja performs with the bigger multi-mile tracks we have around here. I can't wait to get back!

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