Barber Trip
What can I say? The trip to Barber was simply awesome! All total, 7 of us came from Dallas with 8 bikes.
- Aprilia RSV4
- Aprilia RS 125
- 3 Triumph 675s
- Ducati 749R
- Ducati 900SS
- Kawasaki ZX-10R
We arrived Wednesday, with the track days starting on Friday and going through Saturday. This gave us plenty of time to relax and make any last changes and adjustments to the bikes as necessary. This was a great thing too since one of our group didn't know ahead of time that we needed to drain any anti-freeze and replace it with a non-ethyl glycol based coolant as well as RTV silicone both the oil fill and drain plugs. We made these changes, picked up some supplies from Wal-Mart, and just relaxed and looked forward to the next few days on track!
Once we arrived at Barber Motorsports Park, we were greeted with the beautiful sites of all that is Barber. If there wasn't a race track here you would think it was a golf course. However, I for one sure am happy Mr. Barber chose motorsports rather than golf.
Here's a little teaser video of us pulling into the park:
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Upon pulling into the gates, we drove in to find the museum. Part of the draw of this event for us was the fact that on Friday night that museum was going to be shut down for 4 hours just for those of us attending the track day. We were going to have a catered dinner and 4 hours of private viewing time. More on that later.
Our first view of the track facilities. Simply amazing. For me it wasn't so much the facilities as the immaculately manicured and maintained green areas surrounding the facilities. The amount of care an attention that went into these areas was obviously as much, if not more, than what went into the planning and development of the track its self. It's quite apparent that this place cost every bit of the $55 million they say it did.
Our first real view of the actual track. As we would find out later, this is turn 15. Not much to say about this turn other than it's awesome. Then again, so are the other 16 turns on the track.
It's pretty apparent that this place doesn't discriminate against motorcycles, but rather embraces them with open arms. We would come to fully recognize this later when we visited the museum where the motorcycle parking is better than the handicap parking. Not to mention the entire museum is pretty much dedicated to motorcycles to begin with.
Here's another video of the drive into the track the first morning. Should give you a pretty good idea of how awesome this place really is. However, nothing can give you a true appreciation for this place until you actually get out on the track. It's simply stunning how much time and effort has gone into creating a venue for the riders and drivers out there looking for the ultimate in a track experience.
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We arrived at the pits and unloaded the bikes. Managed to get everything situated and we were ready to ride!
Took a look at the track map and decided to head to the hotel for some much needed r&r before two long days at the track.
Here's a quick video of Alejandro on his RSV4. If I counted it right, he's running about a 1:50 in these videos. That's about the pace I was running. Unfortunately, I didn't get any video of me riding. About 3:04 you will see a kid come flying past him on a Honda 600. This kid is all of 14 years old. He's been racing for 11 years. Yes, you read that right. 11 years. Read more about him here: Jake Lewis & Jake Lewis Fan Club (FaceBook). He ran a 1:32.4. The track record is a 1:21 by Ben Spies (per the rider meeting Saturday morning - though I can't find anything about this online - please link me if you find it!!). Last year, at the AMA Pro Superbike Races, Mat Mladin ran a 1:26 to walk away with 1st. To run a 1:32 at the age of 14, on a 600cc bike, is astonishing to me. It was only his 3rd time to the track to boot.
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