I met a few of the wrecking crew today at VIR.

[werase643]

Octane...Mr SH!T EATING TAMPON FACE is going to his first track day on MONDAY...wish him luck
Pam G  .... Pam and Greg have some KEWL DOGS!!!!
Greg Gabis

[Greg Gabis]

Actually, they're Pam's dogs.

It was a pleasure meeting you, Ken.

Got to meet Octane, too!

[octane]

It was good  to meet you guys finally!

Managed to keep the primer side up today. Had lots of fun, and felt pretty fast by the end of the day.  Bike ran beautifully all day - wish it had just a little more power though! By the last few sessions when we were allowed to pass I found myself  eating up some much more powerful bikes in the technical stuff only to get slaughtered in the straight going to turn one and coming out of 4. Some slow dude on an R6 got some good video of me leaving his ass in the dust though! I realize I was in the beginner group, but it still really surprised me how many people have these big, powerful bikes and no clue what to do with them.  Had 7 or 8 riders get off too...only minor injuries though.

Pics: http://octaneonline.com/ipw-web/gallery/D-Dtrackday

[Pam G]

Good to meet you guys too!  Not sure if we'll ever be in the area again, but you never know.  VIR is a nice track!
I think the dogs enjoyed the attention too.

[octane]

It is a nice place. AMA is always a good weekend there. What tracks do you guys normally go to?

[Pam G]

Normally just the North Central region - Nelson Ledges, Putnam Park, Grattan, Blackhawk Farms for a trackday & CCS race once.  Beaverun & Circleville Raceway Park for YSR races.  Greg's raced at Road Atlanta twice & IRP once.

[perfdrug]

awesome pics. looks like a great time. i'm gonna hold off on tracking till i've got a full year under my belt, but then i'm definatly gonna get in a track day and maybe a one day class. i live pretty close to Road America, and there's a number of tracks in northern Ill.

[octane]

Normally just the North Central region - Nelson Ledges, Putnam Park, Grattan, Blackhawk Farms for a trackday & CCS race once.  Beaverun & Circleville Raceway Park for YSR races.  Greg's raced at Road Atlanta twice & IRP once.

Man, those are some long hauls for you guys!! VIR is almost 4 hours from my house and that ride starts getting unpleasant. You guys are troopers. I take it the van didn't give you any trouble on the way home?!

[octane]

awesome pics. looks like a great time. i'm gonna hold off on tracking till i've got a full year under my belt, but then i'm definatly gonna get in a track day and maybe a one day class. i live pretty close to Road America, and there's a number of tracks in northern Ill.

Definitely good times! This was my first track day, but I'll do it again - as many times as the budget will allow. Unfortunately that's not many.  I was really surprised how much I could push the bike through the turns. Lots of fun. If you have the opportunity, it's well worth it. It also really helped a lot that we had a 40 minute classroom session in between each 20 minute track session.

[Pam G]

Man, those are some long hauls for you guys!! VIR is almost 4 hours from my house and that ride starts getting unpleasant. You guys are troopers. I take it the van didn't give you any trouble on the way home?!

I forgot about Mid-Ohio.  Greg raced there once & I've been there to watch a couple AMA events & a car event.  Mid-O is probably the closest big track to us, then Putnam.  The CRP track for karts/YSR's is only a couple hours from the house.  That's one reason we're doing almost the whole Ohio YSR schedule this year.  Shorter drive there.

No problems with the van on the way home, but it got a flat tire Monday morning on the way to work, for Greg.

[octane]

Man, those are some long hauls for you guys!! VIR is almost 4 hours from my house and that ride starts getting unpleasant. You guys are troopers. I take it the van didn't give you any trouble on the way home?!

I forgot about Mid-Ohio.  Greg raced there once & I've been there to watch a couple AMA events & a car event.  Mid-O is probably the closest big track to us, then Putnam.  The CRP track for karts/YSR's is only a couple hours from the house.  That's one reason we're doing almost the whole Ohio YSR schedule this year.  Shorter drive there.

No problems with the van on the way home, but it got a flat tire Monday morning on the way to work, for Greg.

DOH!! We're having the fair share of car problems here too. My fiance was feeding my dog while I was gone. I got a frantic call Monday morning that she had stopped at my house on her way to work to feed the dog and her car was on fire in my driveway!! It turns out it wasn't quite as dramatic as it sounded. The water pump seized up, the truck overheated bad, and between the steam from the radiator and smoke from the burning belt pouring out of the hood it looked and smelled like fire. Still not sure how bad the damage is. I'm going to have to put a water pump in it and pray the heat didn't do more significant damage.  :dunno: