At the last race two weeks prior, I spoke to Dave Moss from Catalyst Reaction twice and found great improvement in my handling, but still had poor tire wear. As a result, I made a point of checking with Catalyst Reaction as often as possible this weekend.
As usual, I post a bunch of words but can summarize it pretty well: my results were the same as the prior round but my enthusiasm and confidence were off. Just like track-riding isn't the same as fast-paced-street-riding, I'd say that racing isn't just fast-paced-track-riding - and I've got a lot to learn.
** Saturday, 9/10/2011 **
Before my first practice session, Jim@Catalyst offered some suggestions to fix my tire wear: +2 front preload, -3 front compression, -2 front rebound, -2 rear rebound, -3 rear high-speed compression. I jumped on-track and felt awful. I couldn't hit any of my apexes and ran off-track twice in 5 laps. This continued through the entire morning; I typically stopped half-way through each session (3 laps) and came in for an extra click in the front or back. What I needed, however, was a few "slow" laps to warm-up the molasses running through my brain.
In retrospect, I don't think I'm skilled (consistent) enough to handle this quantity of adjustments. Although a single click of compression damping isn't going to change how the bike feels, I think my time would have been better spent trying to commit my turn-in points back into my subconscious. In the future, I'll remember to ask myself,
"What use of my time will benefit me the most?" It isn't always suspension or adjustments - this week, I just needed practice!
Regarding suspension setup and geometry, this is on Ohlins FGK212 forks and a Penske 8760 shock. The OEM fork tube extends 10mm above the upper-triple clamp; the shock is installed with the washer flipped (the higher-height position). I'm 6'0 and weigh about 165 lbs, without gear.
Code:
Front Tire: Dunlop GPA211 Medium, 1 day old, 30 psi cold = 33 psi @ 180F
Rear Tire: Dunlop GPA211 Medium, brand new, 21 psi cold = 23 psi @ 180F
Left/Right Fork Preload: +1.5 / +1.5 turns from full-out
Fork Damping: -9 compression, -10 rebound (clicks out from full-in)
Shock Preload: +4.5 turns from full-out
Shock Damping: -7 high-speed compression, -8 low-speed compression, -23 rebound clicks from full-in
Clubman Heavweight -
YouTube link
This was delayed about 10 minutes due to the number of crashes in the prior race, which left me sitting around with the bike off warmers for that amount of time. I should've gone back to the pit and bundled it back up, but I was lazy. Being lazy might always be a mistake.
We gridded up and were ready to go. I had already made my plans: visor down, hands on the bars, get the clutch barely engaging at idle RPM, then rip it open when the green flag flies! I believe I accelerate faster when starting from 2kRPM because the bike doesn't launch into the air so dramatically, so this will be my "How to Start" from here on.
I was in 6th position entering turn 1 off the start. I gunned it past a fast guy before turn 2, moving into 5th position with the lead-pack in my sights! In my wanton desire to catch them, I made a series of mistakes:
- Everything about my entrance to T3 was wrong - I was going too fast, too far on the inside, and pointing the wrong way.
- I was leaned down enough that I could kiss the ground. When my elbow touched, I reflexively pulled my arm in and lifted my head a little bit (post-video is great for analyzing body position). Raising my body means I lowered the bike further.
- I hoped that staying off the throttle would get the bike slow enough to come back into the corner. In retrospect, decelerating increased the load-bias on the front tire; a little bit of throttle would've put more weight on the wider rear tire and stood the bike up some more.
After I cleared the silt from my eyes, I had about 15 minutes to sit and ponder the situation. It was more than a little bit disappointing, but it's nice to be able to think about the situation immediately after it happened. Moreda#93 says,
"When in doubt, twist the throttle!"
The damage to the bike was pretty minimal. Although I've had awful issues with engine reliability, I suspect the invincible frame and metal bits came out of a Panzer factory. The Woodcraft sliders lost a lot of plastic and I lost a few mils off the tip of my rearset. The carbon fiber Akraprovic exhaust holder, though, completely sheared leaving my crumpled exhaust can hanging. 30 minutes and a lot of safety-wire got me past my next Tech Inspection for the rest of the weekend!
** Sunday, 9/11/11 **
Code:
Front Tire: Dunlop GPA211 Medium, 2 days old
Rear Tire: Dunlop GPA211 Medium, 1 day old
Left/Right Fork Preload: +3.5 / +3.5
Fork Damping: -9 compression, -11 rebound
Shock Preload: +4.5
Shock Damping: -7 high-speed compression, -8 low-speed compression, -23 rebound
I was hitting the bottom of the forks on Saturday, so Dave@Catalyst added two full rotations of preload to the front end. To be honest, I don't know exactly why that is - but I'll take some time this winter to figure it out.
Open Superbike -
YouTube link
I went to the wrong spot! Wade#794 tells me this is third on the Newbie-Fail list, so I'm glad I got it out of the way this year. I rolled up to position #9 on the grid, but Jones#415 was already there. With the grid manager's guidance, I rolled the bike back to my 19th spot.
I had a problem during the race with false shifting. While frantically downshifting (and depending heavily on the slipper clutch), I got caught in-between gears three(!) times during this race. When this happened I spun the engine up and then stomped on the lever to put it back in gear - but it's not something I enjoyed doing while leaned over. I replaced my left shift-lever since last weekend's crash, but I thought I had put it back to the same position. I resolved this problem by pulling the toe-lever about 5mm back (shorter) and lowering it about 5mm down before the next race.
My laptimes were inconsistent, bouncing between 2:07 and 2:13, netting me a 15th out of 16 finish.
Open Production -
YouTube link
It really is all in my head, and it showed in my last race of a disappointing weekend. After the leaders pulled away from me half-way through my first lap, I resigned myself to my fate and my lap times dropped to (consistently) 2:11. I did learn something, though:
Four laps into the race, Nishijima#687 passed me going into turn 2. I was a little bit surprised by this, and so I picked up my pace to retake my position. After following him for an entire lap, I noted where he was escaping me and where I was catching up to him - specifically, that he brakes too early going into turn 10! On the final lap, before turn 9, I formulated a plan to pass him around the outside before T10. I paid so much attention to executing my passing-plan that I forgot to watch for my brake marker - and I was into the dirt. I passed him with a wide-enough margin that I could've executed the turn, but I literally forgot about it because, as it turns out, I don't know how to pass people. Ed Chung says,
"Don't forget to turn at the turns."
I started 9th on the grid and finished 9th out of 10.
Problems with the bike:
- She still swings her rear-end when I'm braking too hard going into turns.
- I still have accelerated rear tire-wear. I'm considering trying a harder-compound tire at the next race.
Problems with me:
- I still brake too hard going into turns, causing the bike to swing her rear-end.
- I'm inconsistent (but only some times).
I was repeatedly told to
"be consistent, not fast." This is absolutely true: switching from my AFM-Round-6 videos to my AFM-Round-7 videos, I can see the difference between 2:05 and 2:11. Obviously, missing apexes means I'm taking a longer path around a turn. Subtly, sometimes-missing apexes means I need to pay attention to where I'm going; thinking about where I'm going means I'm turning slower, putting me off the apex; going wide makes me hesitate instead of just whacking the throttle open, which means I'm slower through the next entire straight. Being slow and lost doesn't sound like fun to me.
For my next round on October 8, I'll specifically make a point to take the first practice session slowly and consistently, instead of jumping in and trying to burn rubber on my first lap. After I have my confidence back, I'll work on dropping my times back to competitive levels.
--Ed Chung #916
Race Report from AFM September 2011.7 at Thunderhill Raceway, CA
#77 Race/Track Bike
Domn8er
Jeep Rubicon
S1000RR
Practice and Play
Linear Mode
