Novice Track Day Tips

Here at ATM we’re always getting asked by track day beginners for track day riding tips so we decided to put together our 5 most important tips for track day novices to help you get the most from your track day event.

1. Bike preparation
Tape up your lights and take off your indicators. Check your tyres are the correct pressures for the track as this can have a massive impact on the bikes handling. Most importantly fold back your mirrors or tape them up.

2. Don’t look behind you
Fold back your mirrors so you can’t look at what’s going on behind you. One of the biggest causes of track day accidents by novice riders is caused by them taking avoiding action when faster riders are approach them from behind. Ignore the bikes behind you and concentrate on your own line. If more experienced riders want to get past they will find a safe way around you. Get yourself a novice jacket so other riders know you’re new to track days and will then give you lots of room to get on with your riding.

3.Stay hydrated and eat correctly
When you’re caught up in the excitement of doing a track day it’s easy to de-hydrate. So remember to take a full supply of sports drinks such as Gatorade and drink lots of water. Try avoid fizzy drinks and obviously stay away from the booze the night before as this only de-hydrates you further. Eating fruits such as bananas is also a great source of slow release energy throughout the day. Avoid large, greasy lunches as it will only make your more tired. Try eat a light lunch and make sure you have a hearty pasta dish the night before to load you up with carbohydrates.

4.Stay calm
It’s easy to get carried away when you first get onto the track. Too often we see accidents in the first few sessions as a result of over excited riders and knee down attempts before the riders or the tyres are ready. Remember to start off slowly and build up your pace throughout the day. If you have 2 days even better, use the first day to learn the circuit and the next day to thrash it. Build up your speed slowly and you will end up going quicker by the end of your track day. Always relax your arms and relax your grip on the bars. As new riders we’re normally quite nervous and have a tendency to grab the bars as possible. This energy is fed through to the bike causing unpredictable behaviour such as running wide or going off line. As soon as you relax your arms and grip on the bars lightly the bike will respond to your input far more and make it easier to control. So relax your body and enjoy the ride.

5. Remember to breath
This sounds obvious but when new riders are concentrating on cornering and the high speed adrenalin is flowing, many just simply stop breathing; and a lack of oxygen to the brain is exactly what you don’t want! So take deep breaths and focus on constant breathing.

6. Stay sober
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, stay sober! It’s all too easy to get carried away the night before a track day. All the bike banter with your mates and pondering about getting your knees down makes the beers go down way too smoothly and this can easily escalate into a 3 am stint which can have disastrous results on your track day experience! Riding with a hangover not only makes you feel sick, like you’re riding a rollercoaster after a large curry, but your concentration will be shot. Your mind will be scrambled at a time when fast reactions are paramount. Riding with a hangover will not only ruin your day and waste your money but it will put you and other riders at risk. So have a few beers the night before the track day but if one of your mates says: “tequila anyone?” You know it’s your time to leopard crawl out the bar and head home.

7. Look where you want to go
Make sure your look through the corner at the point on the track where you want to end up. We see far to many riders running off track as they approach the corner because they’re looking at the gravel they’re trying to avoid, they end up in it! Nine times out of ten you will end up where you’re looking so be sure to always focus on the exit of the corner.

In this video Andy Morrison takes time out to give us some of his top track day tips and how you can get the most out of your first track day

We hope this helps and if you have any tips you would like to share please add them below.

Ride safe…

ATM ~ Feed your track day addiction