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Inside Line Motorcycle Racing | |
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I bought Brian's GS (the one he used in the previous two seasons) in February. I parked it in my garage. I changed the oil, mounted the belly pan Les made (Thanks Les!), safety wired everything that wasn't and made sure the battery was charged. That was about it. That was the plan buying the GS from Brian, that it would be a bike I can learn to race on, not learn to be a better mechanic with, and it has worked so far.
I went to Novice School on Thursday. Bill Cismar and other racers did the yakking. Went over procedures, flags, what to expect, etc. All very important knowledge for anybody that is about to spend any time at the track. But there was also a lot that was very basic, most of which I knew from previous track visits or was so common sense obvious that it makes you wonder what kind of squids you get there that need to be told those kind of things (and I assume that Bill and Co. have very good reasons based on their experience to repeat that every time...) Maybe if you have never been to a track before, but you'd think that everybody that goes racing has had at least one track day to see how it feels, right? Well, maybe not. They did a pretty good job even with the information I thought was basic, because time went by quickly. No doubt it is well worth the time they take to do this. Thanks to all the instructors that took the time to come and help the newbies get their bearings straight.
Friday morning was the practical side of the school. Meet at PIR early, do tech for gear and bike, and set out in groups. This part was a little disorganized. There seemed to be lots of instructors that weren't sure of what the schedule was, what happened first, etc. Not cool. My instructors seemed to be particularly unaware of the organization for the day. It also turned out that I had been grouped with two 600SS guys so there was a speed problem on the straight. My GS tops out at 115, and that's toward the end of the straight, these guys wanted to wick it up on the main straight and it opened a gap. I moved to Jim Kennedy's group. He was on an FZR400, which is still faster than the GS, but he didn't feel that he needed to let it rip down the main straight. Good thing I switched, because my previous two instructors proceeded to crash (both single bike accidents) in the next exercise... The lack of coordination showed up as a missed exercise at the end of the morning, when we ran out of time. We did practice starts which were really entertaining. I seem to be rather good at launching that GS/timing the flag, because I would kill most of the novice field during this exercise. I think it had a lot to do with the lack of power my GS enjoys. You just rev it and drop the clutch, no worries about wheelies, looping it, etc... Of course, I had one of the slowest bikes in the field, so before we got to the bridge, the 600s (not to mention the two GSX-R 750 and that R1) would come roaring by. It was a little scary, because I knew these guys had no experience, and they were closing on me at over 20 MPH at that point... OK, it wasn't as bad as on other times, when they would catch up to me more towards the end of the straight (having launched in a wave behind me) and have 40 MPH on me... But, by some miracle, I did not get rear ended, and the class finished successfully. I got my Novice license.
Afternoon had open practice and I got the first taste of "racing" conditions. Obviously I signed up for the slow practice, being slow myself and not having a bike that can make up for that on the straight... It turns out that there are some real sandbaggers in this group, who may not be very fast for their class, but have the HP to fly down the straight, so they, again, come roaring by and suck the paint off my poor GS. I got used to it after a few laps. I was still trying to learn the GS (never rode it before this weekend) and the track under these conditions (not quite the same as on a trackday). I practiced my lines through the turns and by all accounts of those that had the misfortune to get stuck behind me, my lines were good, I just need to go faster. What do they mean "faster"? I am going as fast as I think I can... ;-) I know the problem is that I don't have well defined braking points, so I don't adjust my speed consistently before every turn. I know I am slowing too much before T9 and T1, and these are the two most important turns on the track. I didn't realize this until Saturday (about the braking points, not the slow part, that was painfully obvious on Friday too...), but even then, I couldn't really change it. I need a little more practice.
Saturday was another practice day, and was much of the same. Except that I now had a DB Com, so I could get lap times. Well, they could have just as well used a sand clock... ;-) My first laps were all over the place. I could correlate that to being stuck in traffic (the guys in the vintage bikes came out en masse on Saturday, so now I was no longer *the* slowest bike on the track... ;-) So when I caught up to them, my lack of passing experience showed in the lap times. Of course, there were a few that I had now pretensions of passing, like Simon Pierre Smith who is so fast on that skinny tired vintage bike that it's embarrassing. I tried following SP for a while, and I picked up some good stuff. My next session showed a 2 sec drop in lap times, and they were a lot more consistent.
My best times came on Sunday morning in the 4 lap "heat" qualifier. I left the grid in traffic, but most of it was faster than me to T1, so by the time I got to T1 I had a clear track and managed to put in 4 good laps. I was very happy with the result.
The second event on Sunday was a 7 lap race in the "kitchen sink" class, which includes Lightweight Supersport, some vintage classes, and Smallbore Classic Superbike. I was trying to keep up with Martin Buehler, on a Bandit 400, but I lost him in traffic. Again, my lack of experience passing people. I finished last of the running bikes in my class, but not last, because a couple of bikes (one of them a novice on a MZ Scorpion, which was surprisingly fast down the straight) took the agricultural detour sometime during the race. Like they say, to finish first, one must first finish... ;-)
The third event on Sunday was the 450 SS which also includes 650 GP twins (which mostly consists of SVs that make about twice the HP as the GS). Obviously, I got lapped by the SVs rather quickly. For the most part, this was a good learning experience, because it allowed me to get used to having a bike show up out of no where and pass me as I am setting up for my turn, or am already in it. Only once did one of the SVs come in just as I was turning in (to the space he now occupied) it to worry me enough to change my line, all others, I just kept going. Again, I was the slowest of the finishers. I got a better start than Martin this time, but he passed me on the straight on the second lap (he said he had to draft me to pass, which was surprising, I thought that Bandit was faster than that).
I kept him in sight all the way to the end, but did not manage to catch him.
The fourth event was the second "kitchen sink" race. I had a very good race, racing with a few of the guys in the larger vintage class (RD350 and 400s). I got passed by the guy on the 400 on the second lap going down the straight, which really surprised me, I didn't think it was that much faster than the GS. Then I passed him back going into T3. It went like this a few times, and I ended up ahead of him on the last lap (drafted him on the back straight... ;-). It turned out that his RD is about as fast as the GS on the straights, and he said his first pass on me down the straight was after he had drafted me for a while. I was starting to worry that even the vintage bikes were faster than the GS on the straight... I was very happy with this result, because it gave me a chance to dice with a bike that seemed equal to mine, so I got some practice in "real" racing, even if he is in a different class.
All in all, it was a very good weekend. I had a lot of fun (I was also really tired when I got home every night...), and I think I improved my riding already. If I keep shaving a second or two every weekend off my lap times, in two or three years I'll be competitive with the vintage 160s... ;-)
First to Martin who bought one of our ramps.
Second to Les Green for the super cool looking belly pan that makes the GS legal.
Then to Brian for the advice that helped me to get ready for the season.
And last, but not least, to Lizbeth, who allows me to do the things I love even
if it always worries her when I'm on the track.
Here I am on the starting grid:
A picture in the pits (182KB).
Copyright 2002 Inside Line Motorcycle Accessories LLC
