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Brian's Track Day Report from New Mexico 8/14/04 - 8/15/04 Arroyo Seco Motorplex - ASMA
If you didn't already know, I have a lot of people to thank for being able to ride this weekend. Click here to read about who and why.
Well, I have a pretty new bike in relation to what I had before my crash. Here's a list of the repairs and new parts on my bike:
As you can tell, I had a lot to sort out during this track day. I decided to not even look at or care about lap times. I was more interested in getting the "feel" on my bike right. With so many new parts, I knew coming in that it would take some time to sort things out.
Friday night
Pat and Tom got over to Pat's house to start packing early in the day, but I was unable to leave work until 5 pm. When I got there at about 5:30, they were still working on their bikes. Pat was fixing his clutch and Tom was prepping his AWESOME new CBR 1000 RR!!! We loaded up the trailer and got underway at about 6:30. Because we lose an hour going to New Mexico, we didn't get there until 1:30 or 2 am. There was a TON of rain all the way there, so we were hoping the track days would not be rained out.
When we got there, we didn't even un-pack. I went and slept on the floor in Mike's brand new motor home (it's SWEET!) and Pat and Tom took the 2 accessible beds in Pat's toy hauler.
Saturday - clockwise configuration
It had rained the night before, so the track was a little wet in the morning. We didn't get onto the (still wet) track until about 10 am. When we did, I was pretty frustrated. I made the mistake of jumping immediately into dialing in the suspension without spending a session or two learning the track. That was a mistake. Still, the bike felt very harsh and no-where near as stable as my bike did before the Penske shock and Moriwaki link. It could have been mental, it could have been that the track is bumpy no matter what, or it could have been setup. When I rode Tom's RC51, it felt MUCH more stable, so I think it was my setup. It was a long and frustrating day because I never got the bike feeling good. It was always harsh and slow turning. I was happier on the stock stuff. Kane Lasky did ride my bike for a while and help make it feel better (thanks Kane!!), but I still didn't feel comfortable on it. Probably half mental and half not knowing how to fix what I felt.
I was not in a good mood that day, so thanks for the guys who put up with my crap. That night it rained hard again, so Sunday was going to be another cool temperature day.
Sunday - counter-clockwise configuration
I was pissed about Saturday sucking so bad, so I decided to change things up a bit. I tried to wake up in a good mood and enjoy the day more. I also decided to not think about the bike setup until after 2 sessions so I could learn the track. We were doing the track counter clockwise Sunday, which is how the races next month will be.
The first session was fun....at least more fun that Saturday. The parts of the track that I really didn't like from Saturday were better on Sunday. I also felt like the bike was better...which proves how much mental peace helps when racing because I had changed nothing from Saturday.
I don't remember if it was the 2nd or 3rd session of the day, but I was on about the 4th lap, going through turn 1 (a 180 degree sweeper at the end of the start-finish straight) when I low sided. I admittedly went through that corner faster than I had before, but that's normal when you're coming up to speed on a new track early in the first day. I was on the right line and at a speed that I felt was do-able. I was not on the brake at all. My low side happened mid corner at full lean. There is a black stripe where you can see the front pushing for about 5-7 feet before the part of the dark stripe where you can tell the front finally gave in and tucked. I was doing everything I could to save it. I don't know if the error was my fault or the tire. I may have misjudged the speed that corner could handle (it is a little off camber) or it may be the take off front tire I had on. Probably not a smart choice, but that's the only tire I could get a hold of for this track day.
So, two not so great days. The bike came out ok because the slider did a GREAT job of saving it. The upper and lower are fine except for a small stress fracture on the upper near the windscreen. I can repair that. The tail section will require a lot of fiberglass work, but should be fixable. The rear sets are now both destroyed (the other side was still bent from my previous crash), the fairing stay was destroyed, and my windscreen is gone. Also have to replace the left clip on bar, clutch lever and maybe the clutch reservoir. Other than that, I'm not sure at this point.
The drive home
No, the action was not over with my crash. On the way home, Pat put the sway bar on the trailer but did not crank it down as tight as normal. Well, we found out that sway bars really work! We were driving down the freeway dealing with high wind and noticeable movement by the trailer. We decided to wait to the next stop to tighten the sway bar (mistake #2). As we tried to pass a semi truck, the wind got so bad that the trailer almost made us crash. We were inches from hitting the semi or rolling in the ditch in the median. The trailer was ALL OVER THE PLACE and even sliding the rear of the truck from side to side. I think the trailer was probably taking up 2 lanes of traffic swapping side to side. The only thing that saved us was the manual trailer brake Tom has in the cab of the truck. While Tom wrestled with the steering wheel while Pat used the brake....that was scary. All of the bikes broke loose in the trailer, all of the water and red bull broke open and spilled out, and a lot of our gear boxes were broken. It was nasty.
It was good to finally be home.
Thanks to Pat for the use of his toy hauler, Tom for driving and gas, and for everyone for making the off track time fun and putting up with my PMS. Also, thanks to Matt Bollman, Matt Hartlieb, Gary Milchek, Kane Lasky, Tom and Pat for help setting up my bike (sorry I was so mental). Once again I am grateful for the sponsors we have as I'll be calling Helmet Harbor and Pipe City shortly .... again.
Pictures
Here are some pics (click on thumbnails for larger versions). The rest are in the photo gallery.
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