Track Day Ground Clearance

[skidonald]

Did my first track day at Oulton Park a couple of days after BSB meeting. Fantastic day but a couple of issues. Scraping the pegs and the side of the fairing all day so took the extension bits off the pegs and moved up a notch to 3rd one on the rear shocker. Still scraped the pegs after this but not sure about the fairing. A set of Harris rearsets has just been purchased so now just the fairing to sort. How would it affect the handling if I notched the rear shocker up to 4 or 5 just for track days. I'm a complete novice when it comes to suspension issues. I'm 12 stone and 5' 7". Next post has a few pics. Recently put Maxxis tyres on. Wow

[skidonald]

[donk]

Hey up there,

Nice storm you have there, i did a trackdy at cadwell park in june, i removed the peg bolt thingies before i went, if i was you i wouldn't bother adjusting the suspension, i would just remove the belly pan for when you do a trackday!!

Twin lamps look good.

[Pete.L]

Try a shockspacer.
It will jack the rear up without overtightening the spring. If you keep putting the preload on max all you will do is upset the handling.

Pete.l

[Wicky]

Take out the spare wheel from the big capacity tank-bag you've got fitted :wink2

[Seven Of Nine Firestorm]

Could always fit the stock belly pan and save your other one for road use.

[sirch345]

IMHO that particular belly pan does sit quite low on the Storm.

Another thing that would help would be having your forks Rogered if you've not already

Great pic's though

Chris.

[gilson]

It happens to me too. It's about technique more than anything (updgrading your forks won't help ground clearance).

The only advice I can give is don't lean so far over! Sounds obvious but it's true. From your pictures you outside knee should be locked into the tank, you might have to sit back in the seat more to achieve this. Your knees look like they are poking out the same distance, so changing your sitting position, one elbow cheek off and push out (90degrees if you are flexi!) your inside knee more. When your knee touches down, push up on the bike a little more to reduce the lean.

I'm no expert, I too scraped the belly pan on the RHS in particular (quickly followed by the entire RHS when I fall off) and had the same advice that worked. The belly pan is low but changing your technique can help reduce that lean and stop you going too far without reducing your corner speed.

That's the idea anyway....you'll have to wait until spring to try it though! (Unless you are hard core)

[Zakalwe]

Maxxis tyres are the schnizzle! Good piccies as well, BTW.

Running out of clearance is to be avoided, as it becomes all too easy (especially if you are harsh on the throttle or hit a bump) to lever the tyre off the road. Then things become expensive and sore. Some aftermarket rearsets will help in this regard.

You could increase the ground clearance by getting more over the side of the bike. Keep your spine parallel to the centre line of the bike and move over to the inside of the bend (don't twist your body on the bike....you'll be doing it right when your head is outside the fairing, almost like you are headbutting the mirror). it'll feel a bit alien at first, but when you see pictures you will realise that you are barely off the seat. Push back in the saddle a bit as well.

Get your head lower as well....your head is a fairly big lump of mass and lowering it will lower the overall centre of gravity. This will reduce the amount of lean required to go round a bend, meaning you can take the bend quicker without running out of clearance.

[sirch345]

(updgrading your forks won't help ground clearance).

I realise you know more about track days than I do as I don't do them, but surely if you have your forks reworked with the correct weight related springs for your own body weight, they are not going to compress so much as the standard fairly soft fork springs will, hence when braking going into a turn you won't be losing so much ground clearance as you would with the standard springs

Chris.

[stormingjoe]

I run out of rear tyre and have 1/4 inch contact left on front tyre, my bike doesnt touch anything down, has reworked forks and jacked up rear, got no fancy belly pan though.

[gilson]

(updgrading your forks won't help ground clearance).

I realise you know more about track days than I do as I don't do them, but surely if you have your forks reworked with the correct weight related springs for your own body weight, they are not going to compress so much as the standard fairly soft fork springs will, hence when braking going into a turn you won't be losing so much ground clearance as you would with the standard springs

Chris.

Hi Chris, if you are braking so deep in the corners as to compress that much as you lean into the turn then you should be in MotoGP. Most of the time the grounding is due to lean rather than braking... forks compress in the corner for sure, but I doubt that significantly contributes to ground clearance. It's mostly technique.. one day I'll get it right!

[skidonald]

The scraping was purely down to lean angle, it didn't matter if I had to brake heavily or when I just rolled off the throttle or neither, it still scraped. To be honest I don't want to stop leaning over less, I want to lean over as much as possible. These pics were taken from the 1st two sessions when I was trying to learn the track, I was hanging off a lot more in the later sessions. I will give it a try next time and if it still scrapes I'll maybe crank up another notch on rear shocker or go the shock spacer route as Pete suggested. I don't want to remove the bellypan as I think it transforms the look of the bike and I want it looking it's best in any photo's. If all else fails though I shall have to bite the bullet. Thanks for all the advice though lads.

[gilson]

I don't want to remove the bellypan as I think it transforms the look of the bike and I want it looking it's best in any photo's.

Ya big tart!

It's all fair enough, as others have said above, it's not the fastest way and you increase your chances of a rear slide, especially if it's your only goal and you come across a negative camber corner, (Rockingham first right for instance). Only a slight neg camber will make your lean become about 90Degs, bang, ouch, slide...

Keep tracking though...the Firestorm is a great bike for track....

[sirch345]

(updgrading your forks won't help ground clearance).

I realise you know more about track days than I do as I don't do them, but surely if you have your forks reworked with the correct weight related springs for your own body weight, they are not going to compress so much as the standard fairly soft fork springs will, hence when braking going into a turn you won't be losing so much ground clearance as you would with the standard springs

Chris.

Hi Chris, if you are braking so deep in the corners as to compress that much as you lean into the turn then you should be in MotoGP. Most of the time the grounding is due to lean rather than braking... forks compress in the corner for sure, but I doubt that significantly contributes to ground clearance. It's mostly technique.. one day I'll get it right!

Hi Gilly,
Perhaps I should be in Moto GP then I wish.
I can see what you are getting at now. Cheers for that,

Chris.