My first track day on the H2 SX SE

[cOoTeR]

Had a private track day today. It was supposed to be 8 people but only 4 of us showed up. I didn't get any action shots but here are a few pics from the pits. I'll write up how it went later.

[cOoTeR]

More pictures.

[biosed]

Savage! Can't wait to hear how you got on!

Did you baby it or were you 'balls out'?

[cOoTeR]

I got invited to take part in a private track day at Arroyo Seco Raceway near Deming NM so I couldn't pass that up. Arroyo Seco is a 1.4 mile 12 turn road course that has a 1/4 mile drag strip attached to the long straight. It's a little bumpy in spots but still a great track to ride and the owners are great.

I haven't had a sport bike on a track in over a year because I was focusing on racing my supermoto before I had a shoulder injury last year that needed surgery to repair. The last time I was on the track on a sport bike I was on my ZX-10R.

Today I was on my H2 SX SE, my good friend was there on his R1M and the 2 other guys were on R6s. So I was definetly the heaviest guy on the heaviest bike. My friend on the R1M was the fastest rider there and he was on slicks. I couldn't keep up with him through the corners but was able to stay dead even with him on the straights. He'd get on the gas sooner coming out of the corners and carried more speed through them. I was braking earlier due to not being at the same skill level as him. I'm pretty sure from a roll I'd be a little faster than him. In a drag race I think it would just come down to who got the clutch out faster and gets to full throttle sooner. His bike has air Filter, flash and tune, full exhaust, -1+2 gearing and up and down quick shifter.

The R6s would gain a little ground on me through the corners but not enough to make up the difference from the straights. A better rider would probably sway the difference either way.

My thoughts on how the bike felt on the track. It's fast and heavy. As we know from riding the bike on the street the linear power delivery is smooth and deceptive. It doesn't have the feeling that you're out of control going full throttle but it still is accelerating insanely fast. My ZX-10R had 175whp and my friends R1M would easily gain on me on the straights. I'd hit about 125-135mph (indicated) on my ZX-10R. My friend hits 145mph (per R1M GPS system) on the same straight using an earlier braking marker than me. I was hitting 142-149mph (indicated) on the H2 SX SE and I was getting on the brakes about 15 yards earlier than I used to on my ZX-10R. Like a lot of the reviews on the H2 SX SE said the way the bike accelerates causes you to get on the brakes and slow down more than you need to. It's like the bike accelerates faster than you realize and it decelerates faster than you realize as well. Getting on the brakes hard is interesting with the kibs system. Under full braking the rear tire would chatter and the lever+pedal would kick back. The pedal would kick back if I put enough pressure on the lever even if I only had slight pressure on the pedal. The brakes worked great at slowing the bike but under hard braking the way the rear chattered wasn't as predictable as on other bikes. On other bikes when the rear would lock up and chatter letting up on the brake pedal would bring it back in line and I could maintain steady pressure on the front brake or start releasing it as needed.

I put a pair of ZX-10R foot pegs on before heading out there. The weird position of the foot pegs and the large seat make getting into a good riding position a little awkward. I took the feelers off and still ended up dragging the left side foot peg at 49° of lean.

While the bike took a little more work to ride fast everything worked well and it was awesome to ride on the track. If you're planning on setting records or being the fastest guy around the track there are better options. But if you want to haul ass and don't mind putting in the extra effort the H2 SX SE is amazing to push the limit on. With more practice I'm sure I'll get more smooth and a little faster.

[cOoTeR]

Savage! Can't wait to hear how you got on!

Did you baby it or were you 'balls out'?

A little bit of both. It took awhile to get used to track riding on it. The brakes work great when really using them but it's hard to get your mind to trust that you will and have slowed enough to make the corner. So I didn't push it to the bikes limits but I did push it to my current comfort limits about 80% of all out I'd say. Pinning the throttle wide open with no fear of traffic or tickets or animals or other road hazards is an amazing feeling. There is still room to improve as I get more used to the bike on the track because it's a totally different beast from anything else I've ridden. It's not bad on the track just different in a good way.

[cOoTeR]

Here is what the track looks like.

[Delearious02]

Wow thank you for taking the time to write that up. Cant have the best of every world but it is nice to hear that you can ALMOST have it.

[TrevKerr]

great write up mate

[THOR]

this is the last bike I like to be on track sir you are brave.

[Switch18]

Interesting to read that you are using the rear brake. I never use the rear brake at the track...mostly because you are much more aggressive accelerating and decelerating so the weak rear has little if any effect on overall stopping distances.