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    • AF1 Racing’s Exclusive Aprilia-Only Trackday at Harris Hill Road Raceway

    -words and photos by Ayer Edwards

    Tell me lies!

    The weather report was bleak only days from the track day. After months of planning and anticipation after the AF1 announcement, a cold front was scheduled to move through Austin. The weatherman said that water would fall, but he failed to mention the spirits of the Aprilia riders who were counting on sunny skies. Hurricane Ike tore through the continental US, leaving havoc (and disgruntled fans of MotoGP) in its wake while leaving Austin with not even a sold drop of rain. Yet AF1 thrown a free track day and it is in mortal danger of cancellation… from a cold front. Fate somehow didn’t seem very fair.

    Yet we all make mistakes, and by Monday the forecast was for clear skies after Monday’s rain, chilly (for Texas autumn) nights and sunny days by Thursday. The weather man may be a liar but as the song says, “Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies.”

    Tech Inspection

    It’s hard not to be excited about a day like this – 8 hours of virtually uninterrupted motorcycle time. I tried though, and still found myself awake before the alarm rang despite less than 4 hours of sleep. Walking past my slumbering bike, my spirits dampened a bit. It would not be making this trip. Yet the truly sobering moment came 45 minutes later as I made the walk down the paddock towards the track. Standing sentinel over the track was a San Marcos ambulance, ready (though not eager) to rescue the unfortunate from themselves. A silent reminder that behind the joy and excitement of the day lay an element of danger as real as the ground beneath my feet.


    Once past the brooding ambulance, the entire mood of the event brightened. Here, in the “pits” as it were, the bustle of eager preparation reigned. All around, the history of Aprilia’s presence in the US was represented. In one corner a 250 in track gear crouched, a caged predator whose keeper forgot to close the door. Against the wall, a lone Falco was being secured next to an RSV. And under the AF1 tent… oh under the tent. The Shiver, the Mana, RSVR…. Even the 125.

    Except for the mythical, yet-to-be-released V4 the entire US Aprilia line was on display. Having not made it to the Mecca that is Aprilia’s shop in months, I hadn’t seen at least half of the models in the flesh. The 125 is more substantial than I thought! And all of this Aprilia porn to the occassional rumble of a twin engine firing to life before rumbling to be inspected.

    The RS125 has really nice, flowing lines in person. It is certainly easy to see why it’s won awards for motorcycle design. Despite offhand comments that the V4 looks “Japanese”, there is (to me) a marked resemblance between the front fascia of the RSVR, RS125 and the RSV4 that marks them as part of the same “family”. The 125 is also lovely from the rear. This is fortunate as, many participants at the track will tell you, they had plenty of opportunities to observe the view from that angle. More on that later.

    Making a special appearance was the AF1 fully prepped race bike. You should hear this thing going around a track! Stunning bike, and AF1 gave out demo rides! Joking. Are you kidding? They’re not quite that crazy. Still, how many fully prepped race bikes do you get to see at your average track day?

    Ready… Set….


    With Tech just about wrapped up, the folks from AF1 and Elite Track Days gathered us up to read us the riot act. Sage advice mixed with humar as we were given the rules by which we would live for the next 8 hours. In short, “Don’t be that guy…” and “If the ambulance never has to move for the entire day we will be very happy.” More than one pair of eyes flickered toward our guardian as it set upon the hill; forgotten, perhaps, until mentioned. We hoped that it would remain forgotten.

    The hungry made a short pilgrimage up the hill for some breakfast tacos. AF1’s personal chefs had been hard at work in the clubhouse kitchen, preparing to feed those who weren’t too excited to partake. Then it was the 5 minute warning call, the rumble of sport tuned V-Twins barking to life, and then….


    Go!

    If you want a bunch of adrenaline junkies on motorcycles to pay attention, one sure fire way to get the job done involves parading a hot girl (or guy) in their line of site. AF1 went for option 2: give them 2 miles of open asphalt with no speed limits and tell them they have (somewhat) free reign. If you want to see those same guys chomping at the bit, give guys with some of the wimpiest sounding bikes of the bunch the first lap traffic free. “To make sure the track is OK”.

    Right….

    If you want to humble them, try to have them match the pace that those two bikes set for the rest of the day.

    H2R was described by the riders that I spoke with as a technical track. Packed with a series of curves, the closest you really get to a straight is the back “straight”, a downhill plunge towards the final set of curves that take you into the start/finish. Exiting each corner requires that you almost immediately set up for the next. It is possible for a group of similarly paced riders to become a “pod”, all moving together. Part of the day’s instructions though was to pit in if this happened and you felt that you couldn’t safely pass. Riders were also encouraged to pit if they felt in any way “off”, as the rising sun could easily cause dehydration. Everyone played it safe throughout the day, and pitting riders provided excellent photo opportunities both coming in and heading out.

    If road tracks are designed to imitate the feel of the back roads that TT racers barnstormed around, then H2R was modeled after some of the Texas Hill Country’s choice B class pavement. 90 degree corners are followed by steep elevation changes. The long drop to the corner before start/finish ends in a corner steep enough that at least one person comfortably ran their hands along the asphalt on exit. Yet the course is wide enough that you can power out of the same corner hard enough to loft the front wheel (witnessed on a different bike).

    There was an excellent mix of bikes on the track, all of which combined to form a beautiful twin symphony. If you’re a fan of twins, being on or around the track was true audio porn. From the 125s, 250s, of course milles and even the Mana (yes, the Mana was out there rocking it) the Aprilia brand was well represented at H2R.


    Then there were the fast guys – the guys who moved so fast around the track that if you blinked you’d miss them. Speed Racer had his racer X, and whoever put the little yellow 250 through its paces was ours. The first time he went around the track for a truly hot lap, I thought that there were two of them. It was so fast in comparison to the other bikes that I photographed that I stopped and followed it around to ensure that my mind wasn’t playing tricks on me. The rider was reported to have lapped other bikes multiple times while they were on a single lap. That’s pretty damned fast on a technical track with a quarter of the power.

    The AF1 guys as well… I didn’t think they were slouches but seeing them on the official AF1 race prepped bike and the 125s shows what consistently fast truly is. The riders who got to follow them around a bit on their slower laps should have had quite an education. The were the only other ones that I heard of lapping other riders.

    Thanks so much to AF1 for putting this whole thing together, for letting some of us try out the bikes on track, for the cooking and patience. Cheers!