Before we get into the heat of the racing action let's take a look at what brought us to this weekend. I had every intention of having a fresh hot rod engine in my bike for this round, but the best laid plans of mice and men did not allow that to come to fruition. It's my fault. I was supposed to pull the Web cams out of my current engine, and get them to KC at BRG, and I didn't do it with enough time to finish. I didn't want him to take any chances while trying to rush so instead we ran our same tired old engine, minus our high performance cam-shafts. So not only did we not have a new engine, we had a slower version to boot!
On Friday we practiced with Pacific Track Time, and got 7 sessions of much needed practice. My suspension tuner Dave Moss of Catalyst Reaction was there but wasn't allowed to work. The politics of track days are getting stupid. Come on people it's the Friday before a race weekend at least let Dave work with his sponsored riders. So Dave wasn't allowed to touch the bike, but by communicating through the old school format of talking I began making adjustments. As I said last month I'm using Michelin tires now, and the rear tire was tearing up badly. I'm using the C compound which is the hardest and should last me 2-3 days of track abuse, and I barely got a single day of my first tire at Buttonwillow. I ran a couple of sessions in the morning to get my head cleared, and then started in on Dave. We tried more spring pre-load, less spring pre-load, but the tire was still overheating. Dave then suggested we need to get some weight off of the rear of the bike. At his suggestion we added 2 full turns of ride height. Non-motorcycle folks, that's a lot. I ran a couple of sessions, and the tire started cleaning up. We continued to add ride height 1/3 turn at a time until we felt like the tire stopped overheating. Interestingly once it did stop overheating it began to tear up in another way. We both agreed it was a rebound tear, and made the choice to slow down the rebound by adding some clicks on the adjuster. As Friday's track time came to an end the paddock livened up as more racers began pulling in to set up. Since most AFM racers are bay area based the Sears round usually has more participants, and none more than the first round. It was Friday night and the circus had definitely come to town. I tell you this circus might have 3 rings, but all the acts are filled with clowns. Friday night Kate drove up straight from work, and we settled in for a cold windy dinner before climbing into the back of the truck for a much needed rest.
We awoke Saturday morning to the bayying of sheep on the hillside, and generators starting up. There are few better places to wake up than at the race track. With the roust-abouts having set up all the tents the paddock was much more full than the previous track day. There are only 4 sessions of practice on Saturday and I needed to make the most of every lap. The tearing was better but could be improved. Sears Pt has some hard braking zones so front end feel is crucial, and I was having a hard time getting the bike to turn in while trail braking so more work needed to be done. The morning session is almost a throw one because the track is a little damp from the overnight dew, and the sun hasn't warmed up the asphalt. The best thing to do in the morning is get some heat in the suspension, the bike, and yourself, and not try to win practice. I was feeling good about the track, even with all the traffic I had to fight my way through, but I was still struggling to get the bike turned in Turns 7, 9, 11 which are all the hard braking zones. We started by adding some front preload which also helped keep the forks from bottoming out on heaving braking. Still trying to clean up the rear tire we took some high speed compression out which also seemed to help. One little adjustment at a time all trying to make the bike more comfortable, more stable, more precise, and not wear out the tires. After the last session we made some more small changes, and called it a day. Kate and I watched some of the novice races, drank some beer, and caused general mayhem around the paddock. OK maybe Kate didn't cause any mayhem. That was probably me and my buddy Robin. Well fed, well beered we went to sleep early to try and rest up for the following day.
Sunday morning, and I put on a fresh tire I went out for my 1 and only practice session. I tried to push as hard as I could to test the few changes we made after our last session on Saturday afternoon. It felt like the bike had a chatter transitioning from 3 to 3a, and I thought maybe we had overdone the front pre-load so after the session was over Dave took 3/4 of turn out. A tiny adjustment but we're getting there. The rear tire looked great, but after one cool morning session it's hard to say for sure.
Race 1 Open Twins. I decided to run OT because I wanted a race before the lunch break as my main races were after lunch. OT is mainly for the big bikes but it's fun to go chasing motorcycles that make much more horsepower. At the start of the race I got a good launch and stayed with the main pack until we came out of the carousel, and that was pretty much it. They were gone. I ran around by myself for a while trying as hard as I could. That is exactly what the problem was. When you "try" hard is when you really start making mistakes. The harder you try usually the slower you go. I had counted all the 650's in the grid, and the really fast guys were gone so I decided to stop trying so hard, relax, focus on hitting my marks and make the most of the race by being smooth and improving my laptimes. Then Fredrik went by me. "Where the hell did he come from" I screamed in my helmet. When I looked around on the grid I didn't not see Fredrik, another 650 racer. Now it was game on. Fredrik, myself, and Bill Brown riding a Ducatti 749 had a 3 way battle for 2 laps. Fredrik and myself would make brave passes on the brakes, or through creative lines and Bill would motor us on the straightaway. It was excellent racing. Fredrik and I kept trying to find ways to put Bill in the middle in hopes of screwing up the other guy. Poor Bill got to be a rolling chicane. It was damn fun, even though Fredrik motored by me on the straight to take the position it was great. I'm really glad I did that race. I made some bad mistakes and really needed to get my head out of my ass for the afternoon.
Race 2 650 Twins My case of cerebral rectum-itis cured I got a great start made a few passes (mostly on Robin hehe) and rolled around by myself for 7 laps. It wasn't a boring race though. I kept it interesting by losing focus, running wide, overbraking and generally trying to take myself out. I got tired, had no one to chase, and lost focus. All bad things. The worst part of the race was that Robin crashed out at the bottom of the Carousel, and luckily wasn't hurt. My next race started in about 30 minutes, and I needed to get some energy in my body quickly. When your body needs a short burst of energy what's the best thing for it? Sugar. I began scouring the paddock for a can of Redbull. I'm not a big fan of energy drinks because I think they are overloaded with sugar and caffeine that we just don't need in our daily lives. But if there was ever a time I needed some wings this was it. Again fortune smiled on my as Scott Reavey another 650 racer pitted right next to me had one to spare.
I ended the weekend with a 7th in 650 Twins, an 8th in Formula IV, my best finishes ever, and a personal best lap record of 1:50.4. The rear tire is almost perfectly smooth even after 3 hard races. Next month we'll have the new engine sharply tuned by KC at BRG Let's see if 1:49 or better is possible.
 | |
| New banner for long time sponsor |
 |
| I don't know what I just said to Scott to cause this face palm |
 |
| Always better to be the sittor rather than the sittee |
Thanks to the people that help me go faster.
Jennifer at Werkstatt Motorcycle Repair
Dave Moss of Catalyst Reaction
Michelin and Alex of AFMotorsports
Julio from Tommy's
Paul Fine of Fine Design
No comments:
Post a Comment