Spa Naoiri #1
Spa Naoiri – first track day
Yesterday, I went to my first track day. The track is called Spa Naoiri and is located in Oita, Japan. (The prefecture in the upper right of the big island in the pic.) As the picture shows, we had an incoming typhoon so it rained the whole time.
Even so, it was a blast! I put a total of 525km on the bike to get there and back, including track time. We had 4 20 minute runs and I was able to improve my time over each lap. (I’m hoping I can get some pics posted, but first I have to see if the cameraman took any of me.) It cost 10,000 yen (about $120) not counting tolls for the highway.
I’ll post my times and some more details about the track this evening.
Actually the weather wasn’t too bad, the rain ranged from drizzle to steady. I think the track was right on the edge of the dark blue area (which got at least 5mm of rain per hour) Turn 3 had a bit of water build up at its exit at some points during the day, but nothing too bad.
Spa Naoiri
Spa Naoiri Circuit
1.429km long
straightaway 420 meters
elevation change 21.2 m.
Runs counter clockwise, so lots of left turns.
Turn 6 is blind for the first two-thirds before you come into the hairpin.
Of the 4 runs I had, I was able to use a timer for the last 2. My slowest time was 1:20.360 (1st lap, warming up the tires – if that’s possible in the rain.) My best time was 1:14:192 and that was the last lap of the 3rd run. I probably could have done better than that, but 3 laps earlier a Ninja 400 missed turn 1 just 3 bikes ahead of me. I was expecting a yellow flag after that and it threw off my concentration. (He was in our group from Nagasaki.)
My 4th run, it took me a while to get around a Ducati that was puttering through the corners then flying down the straight. My fastest lap was 1:14.247. Considering it was raining pretty hard at that point I think I did okay. I was topping out just above 120 km/hr on the straight.
Apparently the best times the pro’s on 250’s are making are 50 second laps at this track. The fastest guys running in the pro class on Sunday were pulling 1:06 laps. (Mixed class – so there were only 3 250’s on the track counting mine.) So considering I was riding in the rain and it was my first time at the track, I’m happy with the results.
