swft
Needs a life
Full throttle!
Posts: One MEEEEEELLION
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posted August 12, 2002 07:28 PM
WMRRA Round 6 at PR
A great track day on Friday, if you've never been on a racetrack in the bright sunshine, you really owe yourself the opportunity to uncork your bike in a legal and semi-safe manner.  I used about half the day trying to get my lap times down on the slicks, but was unable to duplicate my times that I was able to post on the DOT tires (weird, eh?). That afternoon, put the DOT tires back on and dropped an easy second off the earlier lap times.
Saturday was overcast and cool, but no rain. The New Racer's Clinic was in attendance for the morning, so practice was limited to the afternoon sessions. I got two practice sessions in and got my lap times down where I was comfortable with them once more. And that's part of the problem. I should never *be* comfortable. I'm not here to be comfortable, I'm out there to become a better rider. To get there, I have to challenge myself in every corner, at every opportunity. I'll climb off the soapbox now.  One interesting episode occurred in the second practice session, that I thought I'd share. I was following a fellow team member around the track, and recognized a place where I was faster through the corners than he was. At Pacific Raceway, it's the esses that make up turn 5,6 and 7. I found I could stay on the gas longer to turn 5, giving me a much higher entry speed. The problem was, he was beating me up the hill out of turn 4, and I was catching him at the entrance to turn 5. Let me describe it like this:
As you come into turn 5, you have a high bank on the left of the track, and a short runoff/airfence barrier on the right. The key is to be as smooth as possible through 5,6 and 7, so you have a good drive up the hill towards turn 8.
The other rider and I had talked in the pits, and I was very happy to be riding this close with someone I knew and respected. After a couple laps right behind him, I decided to make my move, and kept the throttle on up towards five, showing him a wheel as we approached the corner. He was looking through the corner, and as we approached it, I had to make a decision on whether to roll off and let him have the inside line, or stay where I was and try to muscle in from the outside. I decided to go for it, and as we came to the apex of turn 5, our bikes came together. We were so perfectly matched up that my left foot was resting against his right footpeg, our elbows were touching, and the bodywork of the bikes were rubbing against each other! We both made it through the corner, and gave each other a thumbs up, indicating that we both understood it was good riding, and that neither rider felt like the other was out of control. After we got back to the pits, we took off our helmets and looked like a pair of grinning fools. Close racing, but good racing can be a lot of fun! Oops, I shouldn't say racing. That was practice.
My race on Sunday wasn't till the early afternoon, so I spent the morning volunteering to help out with some race activities, like Tech Inspection. And of our fellow readers who regularly volunteer your efforts at a track, my hat is off to you. At the club level, volunteers are the very lifeblood of the organization, and the entire club appreciates their efforts. During my race, I was pushing hard into turn 2, braking deeper and deeper, getting to where I was feeling the front tire slide and push under me as I neared the turn in point in the corner. This put so much heat in the tire that it was getting greasy and wouldn't stick properly in turn 4, which didn't allow me the drive I wanted up the hill towards turn 5. I think that for the next round, I'll try to get some pictures of turns 3 and 4 for the rest of you. The drop from the top of the hill to the bottom of turn 4 is every bit the equal of the famed corkscrew at Laguna Seca, it's just that noone has ever seen it on television. In any case, I was able to better my best lap time, setting a 1:43.000 lap, but I was *not* consistent, and finished 17th. Still, a great weekend, and I wish more of my fellow 12 riders were there!
  
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