Busa for a track day? Need some opinions.

[BusaWhipped]

Tufbusa you are hilarious!

Thanks so much for all the input! I'll take her out for my first track (on her) in about a month. I just joined this site recently and noticed all the pictures of you and your Haybusa's on the track.

Around my parts alot of people are not as supportive of me taking her out on the track. Maybe because I am a girl.....who knows. Thanks again all!

Around here, the guys on the 600s and 750s show no respect for the Busa either. But the local track is only 1.5 miles and is pretty tight. But none of them have been 175 MPH at Miller. Their bikes ran and hid under the bed when they saw my video

 

[Tufbusa]

A Busa on the track will wear you our faster than a smaller bike. I'm not concerned about being the fastest bike on the track, I'm there to have fun. I agree with bazooki about what track you take it to. A short tight track would be more work than fun in my opinion.

Loved your video Dennis! You must have cameras all over that bike. Great ideas. Are you using the GoPro?

 

[schroetf]

rode Busa at Barber for two days--too much fun and great learning curve--with new tires Busa will do way more than your head will let it so not to worry---

 

[BusaWhipped]

Loved your video Dennis! You must have cameras all over that bike. Great ideas. Are you using the GoPro?

I have the GoPro now. That video was taken with bullet cams feeding DVRs. I could mount 5 bullet cams and record any 3 of them at a time. The GoPro isn't as flexible as that setup, but it was only standard DVD quality and I wanted to move up to HD. The GoPro was my only option for that right now.

 

[skydivr]

Lola, I've had more fun riding my Busa at the track than I've had riding my Gixxer (maybe because I keep crashing my gixxer ) but you will learn more about your bike in one day on that track than you will learn in a year on the street. There have been plenty of days when I've got the only Busa out there...she's big and she's heavy, but once you get her pointed in the right direction she'll go just fine. Your goal is to learn more about YOUR bike, not about what everyone around you thinks.

P.S. There are some members of this board who can flat out RIDE the pants off their Busa; it's alway fun to see the faces of the other riders when they get out there and spank some riders on smaller bikes.

Just ride within your ability envelope; if you like it, you may eventually transition into a smaller bike for track riding, but you'll have a base of experience to work with. Tufbusa has been an inspiration for me and he can give you a lot of useful tips to work with (suspension/tires/air pressure) are pretty important.

Good luck and have a BLAST. Search for some Barber trackday threads to see some recent Busa's on the track!

 

[Lola]

BusaWhipped that was a great video. Almost felt like I was there. I was almost steering here on my chair watching it.

Here's another question for you all. Re tire pressure. I currently am riding with Pirelli Diablo's size in rear 190 50 17....max psi I recall is 43...If I remember correctly. What would be a good tire pressure to run at for a track day? The track will be a bit on the tighter side. ( yes I am prepared for a work out! )

 

[BusaWhipped]

BusaWhipped that was a great video. Almost felt like I was there. I was almost steering here on my chair watching it.

Here's another question for you all. Re tire pressure. I currently am riding with Pirelli Diablo's size in rear 190 50 17....max psi I recall is 43...If I remember correctly. What would be a good tire pressure to run at for a track day? The track will be a bit on the tighter side. ( yes I am prepared for a work out! )

You'll probably get as many answers to that question as there are members on the board. I don't run my street tires on the track, so I'll bow out of this one.

 

[TruWrecks]

43 lbs is way too high for the track. You will be looking more in the 32-36 lbs range, but every tire brand is different. You will need to do a few hot laps to dial them in by tire temp.

How many miles do those tires have on them now? If you don't have atleast 70% of the tread left on the morning of the track day don't use them there. Get new tires on her and know that grip is a non-issue.

I have run Bridgestone BT015, Michelin PP 2CT, and Pirrelli Diablos at my local track. The Hayabusa liked the BT015 better, and liked the feedback better. All were good tires. I found that the BT015 and 016 like to run at 32 front/33 rear when punishing them in the corners.

More on this later...

 

[skydivr]

Tufbusa recommends (and I use) 30/30 cold (which means 30 pounds front and rear BEFORE you start riding) Just put 30/30 before you go to the track. That pressure will increase as your tire heats, but will run you just fine. As Truwrecks asked, what kind of tire are you going to take? BT016 is a great tire, and there is a special on Dunlop Q2's right now for $225 TYD that are an even better tire.

 

[Sum Beach]

Hey! Thanks ya'll for the great thread with some awesome pics!! (raydog) Me and the wife have been debating for a while about a track bike. I ride a GSXR 600 and she, an 08 Busa. I want to get a Busa and she wants to buy a 600. That way, we can cruise on the Busa's and track the 600's.
Or just say screw it. Buy all the bikes we want and track them all!!!!!!!!

 

[kieranbusak9]

i use the busa at trackdays ALL the time as were not that heavy into drag racing here in the uk. capability wise,its up to the rider as to how hard you wanna ride the bike! one pic is me on the busa overtaking a cbr600rr on the outside line,so as far as capbility goes its up there with the rest of them. i also attached a picture of the rear tyre as its the new michelin pilot power pure,it didnt let go once that day,and the traction control was switched to 'off' also bearing in mind that we dont have hot temperatures in march here. as far as i'm concerned,its really nice to be different. check out a guy called MR HAYABUSA from germany.

 

[jdsbusa]

Just slapped my new Corsa III's on for my May 8 trackday at Blackhawk Farms Raceway - can't wait to get the big girl out on track and scuff those tires up! (and get a good workout in doing it!)

 

[TruWrecks]

Tufbusa recommends (and I use) 30/30 cold (which means 30 pounds front and rear BEFORE you start riding) Just put 30/30 before you go to the track.

I stand corrected. It was the Pilot Power 2CT that liked 32/33 on the track. They got too hot running at 30/30.

The BT015s I tracked at 30/31 cold and they did not heat up as much as the PP 2CT.

Different tires like different pressures. You need to find the tire that you prefer the feedback from and then figure out the best pressure to give you optimal grip on your bike.

 

[EarlyBird]

I have gone from the BT015's and 16's on my Busa to the BT002's and WOW! I run 34/34 cold! Excellent grip when warm... and the tires will tell you when they are spent! The ones I got we race scrubs.... I have had them on a 02 Gsxr 1k! Great tire! They are now replaced by BT003's!

 

[Charlesbusa]

The Busa rocks on the track! Don't be afraid to take the Busa out

Like suspension, tire pressure is not a concrete thing. If this is your first trackday, 33 rear 36 front COLD will be just fine.

Also like suspension, tire pressure becomes more important the faster you go. So in the beginning it doesn't have to be perfect. Just have fun!