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This past weekend I was
privileged to do a motorcycle track day at the new Barber Motorsports facility.
This was a private event organized by the Floribama Riders motorcycle club of
which I am now a new member. This was a very inexpensive weekend since I
had a place to stay (riding buddy has a sister in
When you first enter the
facility there is a little guard-house where you have to sign a waiver, much
like all the other track facilities.
Since this was a private event you were not allowed in unless you were
on the guard’s list of attendees (rider/helper/guest). Then there was another check-point where your
name was verified again on a list and you were given a wristband to allow
re-entry onto the grounds without the hassle of signing papers, etc.
From the second checkpoint it
was at least a one mile drive to get to the parking lot where the control
building was located. On the way you’re
treated to a view of the impressive looking
When you
pull into the parking lot you are again treated to another impressive view as
you pull-up to the 3-story control tower. Under the tower is a concrete
paddock where you can work on your motorcycle.
AC power is available as well as air for inflating tires. From this paddock you can take the stairs up
to the roof where you can view 80% of the track.
From this level you can go
into the control area to an enclosed viewing room.
From the roof and viewing
room the main point of interest directly in front of you is turn 5, which is a
slow 180 degree left-hand turn. Of the 3
incidents that we had during the day, two were in this corner. There is a relatively long straight going
into this turn, and you don’t see the turn until you crest the top of a
hill. So if you haven’t yet memorized
the track, you have to seriously get on the brakes to slow for the corner. I found this out the hard way as I braked
wide-eyed from 100 MPH.
Here’s a view to the left
showing the front straight into left-hand turn 1 as well as turn 4 onto the
second straight. I was able to get my
highest speed on the third straight between turns 5 and 7 (6 really isn’t a
turn in my book). Although the front straight is longer, I guess I was more comfortable hitting
turn 7 at a higher speed than turn 2. On
a motorcycle you can go straight-through turn 7 because it’s more of an “S”,
but you’ve got to brake hard for a tight turn 8.
The only other tricky place
is turn 15 where you have a decreasing radius relative to the section between
13 and 14. On Barber’s map they only
have 15 turns, but our event had 16 corner stations.
I
corner-worked in the afternoon at turn 13. I could see the straight coming
into turn 5, as well as turns 11 and 12.
When I signed up I chose to
ride in the morning and work in the afternoon, thinking that it would be cooler
in the A.M. and more comfortable riding at my limits without sweat soaking
everything. Well, it turned out that it rained for much of the morning,
though I didn't get too wet since I brought my rain suit. This was my first time riding at speed in the
wet and I was a little nervous, as were many others judging by their slow
corner entry and exit speeds. By my
third and last session of the day the track had dried completely and I was able
to go a lot faster. The only “pucker”
spots I found were turns 5 and 15. The
rest of the track is relatively easy to go fast on, though I still consider the
track pretty technical due to the elevation changes. For example, turn 4 is blind and you have to
use your experience to realize that there’s a straight just after it and you
can you go WOT coming out of turn 3 with plenty of room to track-out.
Overall I’d say I like this
track better than Road Atlanta, atleast on a
motorcycle. I can’t wait to try it out in
a car since I’ll be able to go a lot faster in the tight stuff. My (relatively) portly VFR just isn’t made
for the track and its heft can really be felt at the track. I’m no racer, but I’ve got enough track days
under my belt to know the proper lines and feel safe about pushing it.
Here’s Mark Lin going into
turn 13. He’s rather sedate on public
roads in the twisties, but he’s learned to drag knees
pretty well on the track. I guess having
a track-prepped suspension helps J.
Videos
∙ Here’s
a video from a
motorcycle rider’s (helmet cam) perspective (3.4 MB – Quicktime)
∙ On-board Video taken by IYF Photo (38 MB – MPEG)