So a week ago I had my first ever track day over at Harris Hill Road in San Marcos, TX. It was a great experience and I definitely hope to do it again. Joining me were my friends Kasey, Mario, Paul, Jason, Omar, Mase, Harry, Truman, Ricardo, and Jason’s dad. The trip there was interesting to say the least as it rained on us hardcore on the way there the night before and not only that but we had two close calls with the motorcycles on the trailer. One strap broke loose and Mario’s bike came within inches of hitting my bike and then just less than a mile from the track another strap broke free and Mario’s bike came loose and again almost hit my bike. Talk about tense!
We got to the track on Sunday as Moira (the lady that owns and operates Elite Track Days) did us the favor of allowing us to unload the bikes and leaving them locked up at the track the day before the event. We unloaded in the rain and then proceeded to go and get some dinner while we caught the last race of the MotoGP season and then we turned in for the night.
Our day started around 5:30 in the morning to get ready, get some breakfast, and get to the track by the time the gates opened at 7:00 am. Freaking rain hadn’t stopped all night and the roads were wet and slippery. The sun decided to peek out for a couple of minutes and mock us as it stayed cloudy until after lunch time. We ran our bikes and gear through tech and got the go ahead.
I was a bit apprehensive as the track had several spots with both standing and running water on it and I really did not look forward to wadding up my bike on my first track day, but the instructors were very helpful and they helped put us all at ease. So we got suited up and we headed to the rider meeting at the beginning of the event to talk about safety, lights on the track, signals and what to do in the event of an accident. We then proceeded to go into our first of several classroom sessions while the guys in group 2 (the fast guys) took to the track. We were told that our first session was going to be a “round-robin” which meant that they were going to divide us into several groups and each group was going to follow an instructor around the track going fast, around 40-50 mph, just to get the layout of the track and so that the instructors could show us what were the better lines to take.
Kasey and I where in the same group and we proceeded to take a couple of laps around the track, I was nervous as hell and the fact that the track was super wet did not help calm my nerves either, after two or three laps we went through the “Santa Rita” turn (my favorite of the track) and as we hit the straight right after we saw Oscar riding on the outside giving the signal that he was going out to pit row. I thought it curious as he wasn’t with the rest of his group and as we passed him we could see why…. the whole left side of his bike was covered in mud, he had lowsided going into Santa Rita. After round robin as done and we all exited to the pit area, we went to survey the carnage…. luckily it was mostly cosmetic damage: rashed fairings, bent clutch lever, and a broken foot peg. Oscar was uninjured and that’s all that mattered. Truman started working on the bike and got it ready to continue. The man’s got skills, that’s all I’m going to say about that.
After the round robin all of our track sessions were going to be open which meant “you are on your own” just make sure that you pass only on the passing areas (when available) and be courteous to the other riders (this isn’t a race). I rode out a couple of sessions but was still leery of the water so I took it easy and decided to come out a little early on the second session so I went to hang out with Truman at the clubhouse overlooking the track and as we are watching Kasey and Paul going at it… right after they passed “Damm turn” (where the biggest concentration of water was) we saw Kasey take the next turn (“Mustang”) but as Paul came to it we saw that he wasn’t going to make it and was coming in too hot. We say as Paul took his bike for a little “yard work” and luckily he managed to keep the bike upright. He came out so that he could wash the mud off and get the bike ok’d by the track marshals to continue and back he went on the next session.
As the day progressed and the track got dryer, I gained a lot more confidence and was more at ease and began to pick up the speed a little bit more. There were only two sections on the track that made me a little nervous and those were the “Hairpin turn” because of its decreasing radius and “Damn turn” because of the small lake sitting right smack in the middle of it. It didn’t help my distrust of the hairpin that as I took the turn once I saw Jason’s dad on the weeds by the side with his bike laid over in the mud. His was the third incident from one of our guys at the track, luckily his damage was also only cosmetic and Truman a.k.a the “Mad Scientist” was able to get it going again. Moira had been sitting on the inside of the turn snapping pictures as the incident happened and she managed to snap some good pictures.
Everyone had a good time, even the guys that went down, and we where happy by the afternoon as the sun finally came out and helped dry the track almost entirely (except for damn turn, it stayed wet all day). I had an awesome time, the Ducati ran great and I could tell that it wanted to go faster that what I was pushing her. I got some great tips from Roger and Ty (two of the instructors from Elite Track Days) and I saw what areas I need to work the most in (body positioning and relaxing).
I am hooked on the track experience and will definitely come back next year to do more events with Elite Track Days and Harris Hill Road. Here are a couple of pictures from H2H:
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