How do you thrash these things on the track?

[The Commissar]

You need to be at like 6k. Power doesn't start at 5 it starts at 6. Keep it in lower gears in tight tracks and it'll spank most inlines. When I'm chasing a 600 it won't even leave 2nd gear.

[Peter S]

Another thing that may help is making sure you have the throttle fully open!
That may sound a bit silly but it wasn't until I bought a bike with data logging that I realised how often I thought I had the throttle fully pinned but actually had it only open around 85% to 90%!
A lot of corners showed I would not roll the throttle fully on until the bike was upright and well out of the corner.
When I made a conscious effort to wind it to the stop on corner exit and between gear changes all my sector speeds increased and my lap times reduced.
But having said that I agree with the others that increasing corner speed is probably the most important thing to try and achieve.

[hank]

A quick turn throttle and quick shifter also help get things moving quicker... on any track bike.

The key to a fast run down the straight at T-Bolt is what amount of speed you're carrying through the chicane as setting up for the turn under the bridge. You should be absolutely flying as you make the right onto the straight as the bike swings all the way out to the left edge while you're head down aiming straight ahead.

As far as pesky I4 600s, well - T-Bolt is ideal for 600s... even the AMA racers admit that... And IIRC, the track record (Stump) is on an R6...

The Priller is indeed heavy, but it does hide that weight really well. Also, it does have a far better chassis and far more torque than any 600 you'll encounter so make sure you're riding to the bike's strengths.

Play around with gearing and set-up, there is absolutely no reason why a well-ridden V-twin Priller can't readily be competitive with a well-ridden 600....even at T-Bolt.

[TimeBandit]

Not sure the point you're making TimeBandit?

Well platypus, actually in your defense... the gist of your thread sounds like you're simply asking where your RSVR's balls go in the straights.... so my point being that if you want to "trash", aka have any chance in the straights against those pesky I4 wasps buzzing about, you may want to also stay a little higher in the RPMs than your aforementioned 4-6k exits.

Granted we have no way of knowing where "your" bike's torque is truly peaking, so I just throw the 9k out there as a typical stock map2 expectation.
Just to illustraight the potential up there, around 9k in 3rd seems to still float the front-end up on my bike.

Hank - +1

[theknurl]

Listen to Hank.

[burnham]

+1 on the quick shifter, that and GP shift made a pretty good diference on my bike. I have also bought a quick turn throttle, just haven't installed it yet.

But yeah, higher rpm's, roll on the throttle earlier in the turn, and make sure the throttle is open all the way. I'm running 15/42 at Loudon, not sure about the straight speed because I always tape the speedometer.

[rs250slowpoke]

^^^^ Good Post!

Yeah there is something great about having 100 hp and passing 150 HP bikes all day.

What's even better is flying by liter bikes on a 50hp 2 stroke 250! LOL

[shadowblaster]

I have only done a few track days, but so far I have learnt the most important things are,
1 get the bike set up. It took me all of the first track day to get anywhere near comfortable with the loads you place on the front on a trackday.
2. tyre pressures should never be overlooked. If you don't get though's tyres working it will not stop or turn. I found this on my first day when the track temperature was down, and I was running too low a pressure.
3. Make sure brakes tyres and components are up to it. Every time I see bikes having maintenance issues.
4. Have the bike geared correctly. Bringing the gearing down to suit the track is very important, there is no point in having it geared to do 185mph when the fastest speed on a track might be is about 150.
5. Get yourself bike fit. I didn't realise quite how much it takes out of you on a track day. Towards the end people get fatigued and then get slower or crash.
6. once all the above are achieved get those lines right and hit the braking points without over braking, it is amazing how much speed you can carry mid corner, but build up to this.
7. Use the advantages of these twins. They have awesome engine braking, which can lead to over braking, you can get them on power much earlier than an inline. Yes most straights will see most other litre bikes going by but get the corners right and it's back at them. I have begun to master overtaking others as you come out of the apex, they just hate you for that.

[potere]

An aspect of laptimes that has nothing to do with HP numbers is braking.

I'm not seeing any comments on braking. I use the blind corners to brake later. I pass a lot of people that way since many are averse to carrying more speed when they can't see over a rise or are approaching the end of the straights. Upgrade to Z04's or Vesrah's and move your braking markers back. Between those, you can catch up easily to a lot of people who've passed you after the previous corner.

That said, I sold my V2 and got a V4 to get the QS, WC and TC (relative effectiveness in that order).

Have to say +1 to the comments about corner speed. Ask an instructor at your track day to help you on that. Better yet, go to a school. Lastly ENJOY whatever level you're at, enjoy the learning, enjoy the progress, enjoy the challenge. Do you have any idea of what pecentage of people would like to track their ride and never do it???

[gkotlin]

Don't learn to brake deeper by braking later. Brake more. Then when you're over braking, move your brake marker deeper. This avoids braking hard to save yourself and make the corner by just going deeper until you can't make it any longer. Keep doing this and moving your brake marker slowly deeper. Then when you can't make the apex consistently you've reached your current maximum. Work on your skills, rinse and repeat.

[steve p]

A quick turn throttle and quick shifter also help get things moving quicker... on any track bike.

The key to a fast run down the straight at T-Bolt is what amount of speed you're carrying through the chicane as setting up for the turn under the bridge. You should be absolutely flying as you make the right onto the straight as the bike swings all the way out to the left edge while you're head down aiming straight ahead.

As far as pesky I4 600s, well - T-Bolt is ideal for 600s... even the AMA racers admit that... And IIRC, the track record (Stump) is on an R6...

The Priller is indeed heavy, but it does hide that weight really well. Also, it does have a far better chassis and far more torque than any 600 you'll encounter so make sure you're riding to the bike's strengths.

Play around with gearing and set-up, there is absolutely no reason why a well-ridden V-twin Priller can't readily be competitive with a well-ridden 600....even at T-Bolt.

Fucking bullseye!

[vfracer-r]

I'm getting passed a lot on the straights at trackdays - what do you guys do to ring the neck of these RSVs? No matter what I do I can't seem to get faster than about 130 - 135 mph on the main straight whereas others are reaching 150 mph. I know these are 8 - 10 year old designed bikes compared to more recent 1098s and Jap I4s but I'm loathe to blame the machine for my slowness.

Any suggestions? I've been coming out of corners in 3rd gear around 4,000 rpm, should I be in 2nd and closer to 6,000 rpm? That would mean a lot more gear changing and keeping the bike closer to redline all the way around the track.

I didn't read all the following replies to your post, but I can point to a couple of issues just from your little information given in the OP.

First, this bike only makes about as much (or less) hp as a modern i-4 600. You're going to lose a LOT on the straights to modern liter bikes and even some 600's because of that deficient power.

Second, if you're paying attention to what RPM your tach reads, you're looking in the wrong place. If you really want to know what RPM to ride in, consult your dyno readings and see where your bike makes the best power for torque and hp, then learn what that range sounds like. My bike pulls all the way to the redline, it's always singing at the top third of the rev range, somewhere between 7-11k rpm.

Finally, the drive out of a corner can be the most important part of getting up to straight line speed. With a good corner speed and a great drive out, you can smoke higher hp bikes on the straights.

I think the "cure" to your query is: More Seat Time and Instruction.

Have fun with it!

[dragonfire]

I've always assumed, up to a certain point, the bike really doesn't matter that much. If you give a novice rider a brand new s1000rr, they're probably not going to get around the track too much faster than they would on an sv650. And they might even end up being slower. Unless you're riding the bike to it's limits, that's probably not the problem. I've blown by people on the straights who have much more powerful bikes. I've also watched helplessly as guys on 600s have done the same to me. It had everything to do with rider ability and little to do with what was being ridden. IMHO




for Corner Speed and staying in the power band.