Services available at CSC Track School

[Anonymous]

Alrighty, here is the deal - I am providing trackside support at the CSC Track School as some of you know. What you may not realize is I also have a fairly new motorcycle/racing-oriented business called Skinny Motorsports, which means I can also sell product at the track to help you guys out.

Regarding the coolant issue, you should all know by now that there will not be coolant allowed on the track, and this especially applies to you street riders. I believe there may be a cursory tech inspection, and you don't want to be "that guy" who glycol's the track. I will be providing free coolant flush services at the track (probably with Canuck's help, and anyone else who can lend a hand) to remove coolant and replace it with plain old water. While this will be functional and won't hurt anything, I will have some alternatives available for those that want it.

I will for sure have:

- PREMIXED Water Wetter and distilled dater, available by the gallon. I am willing to drain/flush your cooling systems for free as part of the service, to ensure you do not have antifreeze in them. I can't just give out Water Wetter, but I will sell it premixed in the right quantity with distilled water, in one gallon quantities. Probably around the $5/gal mark (when you include a free coolant flushing as part of the deal, this isn't bad!). Of course you're welcome to just have your system flushed, which I will still do for free, but you will get tap water put back in since that's all I can get that doesn't cost me money.

- Water Wetter by the bottle. I will sell this for $8 (I think it's $10-12 at some other shops around town) per 12oz bottle. However I won't be selling distilled water, so you'll have to supply your own or mix it with tap water if you go this route.

- I can do oil changes at the track while you wait. To get in on this, you will need to tell me IN ADVANCE what kind of bike you have so I can get you the right filter. I can get you AMSOIL, Motul, Motorex, and Red Line oil products. I will require prepayment on this stuff, so if you think you'll want this please let me know ASAP and I will PM payment instructions to you. My hope is that I can get enough people in on this to buy in bulk and bring the cost down. I will need to know and have payment by Wed August 10th for this one.

- Oil Analysis. This will also require pre-payment, but for right around $25 I will take a sample of your oil and FedEx it to an independent laboratory for analysis. This will tell you some important details, in particular how well your oil is holding up, particulate count, and whether you have any substances (including various types of metals and other chemicals) in there which would signal a problem. Again, I'll need payment by Aug 10th. Definitely recommended for hard-ridden bikes. I'm going to stock up on analysis kits for subsequent race weekends and will have it available outside of the Track Day, but I need to know how many people would want this before I order anything for the CSC event.

BASIC suspension settings. I won't tune your ride (you don't want me to, at least not yet) but we can do basic stuff like setting Sag (preload) and doing some basic adjustments here and there. Bring a friend or two over for Sag adjustments, and show up dressed to ride! (Gotta get the weight right.)


If you guys want any other fluids (cleaners, brake fluid, pretty much whatever) or random aftermarket parts, please tell me now. If I can order all of this at once I can save a lot of money on shipping, which means you'll ultimately pay less money. I can also get OEM parts for the Jap bikes if you're needing something, or will by then.

Our intention is to handle the wrenching for you if you need the help, so that you can concentrate on riding and having a good time. There will be a few times during the day when I intend to go play on the track, however we'll generally be available to help you out with ... whatever.

[~Barn~]

Do we have to be a participant to take advantage of the oil change services? Will means be available at the track, to properly clean a stainless filter?

[Anonymous]

Do we have to be a participant to take advantage of the oil change services?

Yes, at least if you want it for free. However, you can come out on a first-come first served basis and pay to have it done, with the understanding that school participants get first priority.

Will means be available at the track, to properly clean a stainless filter?

You mean, like taking it apart and blasting it out with solvent? Yeah, I can do that.

[~Barn~]

Word.

[Anonymous]

Edit: Added one thing, which is basic suspension setup. See first post.

[Desmo]

Ralph... Thanks for putting out these services for people.. This is really nice of you..

[«TigerTamer»]

Questions from a n00b: When we are done at the track - does the water wetter/distilled water need to be flushed and replaced with regular coolant? Is that something that you will do for us (assuming we bring our own coolant) or do we need to take care of that ourselves? Is it bad to run water wetter/distilled water all the time until the weather gets cold?

Also, as far as coolant goes, is it better to use something like 'Engine Ice' instead of standard coolant/distilled water?

[Bueller]

I would bring a gal of distilled water $.60 and several people go in on a bottle of water wetter (3-4 cap fulls per quart) and you can leave it in until it gets real cold. Engines inside garages won't freeze until it gets really cold. If you use tap water I would recomend you flush it out asap after the track day, and replace with distilled and coolant mix.

I am all for the no coolant idea, but were is it written that it wouldn't be permitted?

[Anonymous]

Ok, to answer these questions:

1. You don't need to remove the Water Wetter/Distilled water combo until it starts freezing outside.

2. I wasn't planning on replacing that with coolant again. If you bring your own we may be able to work something out, but I've also spoken with Red Line about this stuff, and they actually recommend leaving some of the Water Wetter in there with your coolant; their tests show it reduces engine temps. So really, just drain out some of it and pour coolant back in. As much as I advocate the Honda premixed coolant, this isn't the place to use it since it will be over-diluted.

3. If you use Water Wetter in your system year-round, replace it once a year to retain the corrosion prevention properties.

4. There is a lot of dispute as to what engine ice really does for you. Personally I'd just put some normal coolant back in, and leave it mixed with the Water Wetter.

[Anonymous]

I would bring a gal of distilled water $.60 and several people go in on a bottle of water wetter (3-4 cap fulls per quart)

You can go that route as well, and I'll be selling the Water Wetter by itself in bottles if that's your bag. Just remember you're already up over $3 just in supplies for one gallon and have to make an extra trip to the store.

I am all for the no coolant idea, but were is it written that it wouldn't be permitted?

I thought that was discussed early on in the planning of this thing. Also, glycol coolant is one of the worst possible things to spill on a track. If it gets in the line, it is worse than oil. We will be cleaning for a while if someone dumps it out there...

[«TigerTamer»]

As far as I know - SCR is not going to require us to flush the glycol. They are considering our track day as a "Test n tune". If it were a race day then they might consider it. I understand that it is always a good idea to flush the glycol just in case someone goes down (Hopefully we won't see anything too serious), but I think its going to be up to each participant. I am awaiting a call back today from Bob over at SCR and I will confirm whether or not it is going to be required and if anything else will be required.

[Anonymous]

Bob doesn't care, he'll let a street-stock bike on the track if you have the riding gear. I thought coolant wasn't being allowed in this thing though.

Oh well, if you're going to allow it, that's fine by me. I will still have WW available (though I may tone down my supplies a bit) for those that decide to switch it out.

[«TigerTamer»]

I'm up for flushing mine. I wanna see what the running temp is with water/water wetter compared to glycol coolant/water. Is it something that we 'should' require? and if so, what kinda time commitment is it to flush and refill 40 bikes?

[Bueller]

Like I said I am all for flushing these 'cause you know out of this many bikes someone is going to lay it down, I am just wondering if we shouldn't try to do a pre track day tech day. That way we could give some of these bikes and owners a heads up on possible problem that might ruin their day. I know it would be real difficult to find a time that would work for every one but it might lighten the work load on the day of the event.

[«TigerTamer»]

Like I said I am all for flushing these 'cause you know out of this many bikes someone is going to lay it down, I am just wondering if we shouldn't try to do a pre track day tech day. That way we could give some of these bikes and owners a heads up on possible problem that might ruin their day. I know it would be real difficult to find a time that would work for every one but it might lighten the work load on the day of the event.

Can you put together a 'tech checklist' for everyone to go over? You know, things that we should be aware of, things we 'should' do, things we might want to do but are optional....etc, etc.

[Bueller]

Can you put together a 'tech checklist' for everyone to go over? You know, things that we should be aware of, things we 'should' do, things we might want to do but are optional....etc, etc.

NO! It's a secret!

[Anonymous]

A quick list:

- Controls should be mounted correctly, with all required bolts and other hardware tightened as appropriate.

- All controls should operate freely and correctly, including throttle closing on release.

- Lights should be at a minimum, disconnected. Taping of lenses would be preferrable to avoid shattering.

- No loose bodywork.

- Nothing leaking, anywhere. These are street bikes and will not have fluid pans on the bottom, so any signs of leakage (especially on the engine surface) should be checked out completely.

- Tires in good condition.

- Brake system in good condition, including pads with adequate thickness.

- If you choose to require it, no Glycol-based coolants.

Probably more, but this is a good start. You won't have safety wire to worry about.

We could do an inspection maybe this weekend sometime, if people are up for it. That should leave enough time to get anything fixed. Unsure where to do it, but we could do some coolant changes possibly.

[«TigerTamer»]

Ok - just spoke to Bob at SCR. He 'STRONGLY' recommends we flush the glycol. It is not required, but as he said - if someone spills glycol on the track, we are the ones that are going to have to wait while its cleaned up.

the only other suggestions he made is to remove or fold back side mirrors. He said that taping the lights is up to each individual. Guess shattered plastic is easier to sweep off the track then glycol.

[Anonymous]

Well, this is your event homey, but I will have the materials and tools available to do the flushes if people need it. We required this at R2SL and it really wasn't that big of a deal for anyone.

[Kim-n-Dean]

I'm up for flushing mine. I wanna see what the running temp is with water/water wetter compared to glycol coolant/water. Is it something that we 'should' require? and if so, what kinda time commitment is it to flush and refill 40 bikes?

My 2003 R1 is my street and race bike (I switch the bodies) and it runs WAAAAY hotter on the street and track with the Water Wetter/water combo. I don't care what the graph on the back of the bottle says. My bike runs way hotter without glycol.

[Anonymous]

That's really odd Dean.

[Kim-n-Dean]

That's really odd Dean.

Yeah, it runs much cooler with 50/50 glycol/water and Water Wetter.

[Anonymous]

Mind if I pass that on to Red Line? I'm guessing they'd like to hear about your experiences.

Most people seem to like the stuff, so I'm wondering if it's isolated to you, or maybe your particular model of bike for some reason.

[Mel]

Ralph, just wanted to say that you are awesome, and the lengths you are going to to make sure that the rest of us are safe on the track is great.


Oh, and HAAAARRRRR