PDA

View Full Version : VTEC VMCC Rnd 3 report



vtec
24th July 2006, 11:56
Well I'm going to cut to the chase with this writeup, as there was a crap load of racing done on the day.

Streetstock Qualifying:
Went out looking to take it easy for the first lap or so, cause I'd heard that the additional back section of the long circuit was pretty tricky. Didn't take Texmo long to come hooning past into the first lefthander entering the back section. Tried to follow him, but he got a gap on me through that section pretty quick. Looks like the few laps that he did the day before really helped gain some insight to the new section. Was going to have to ride hard to get that kind of pace. Put down a reasonable lap trying to stick with Texmo (Aaron), but didn't really make much ground. Came in hoping that I'd be on the first row of the grid, wasn't sure, as I was feeling pretty average out there, not pushing it anywhere near hard enough through some of the corners.

Superlite Qualifying:
Can't remember everything that happened in this run, but didn't take it as serious as the Streetstock qualifying, just wanting to stay out of the way of the bigger bikes, as they were busy trying to cut me off into corners and stuff. After this session though, the tendons in my forearm were already starting to play up, was a bit worried that I wasn't going to make it through all the races.

Streetstock Race 1:
Waiting on the grid, red flag runs off the circuit, I start revving my engine to about 6000rpm, waiting for the green flag to drop, as soon as it starts to go down, I spike my revs to about 16,000rpm, and feather the clutch out to keep the revs at about 15-16,000rpm and launch real hard, the front wheel lifts slightly off the ground, and i go shooting through the nearly stationary 125gp bike group. Amazingly end up second out of the GP bikes and get straight into my workload. Get around half a lap before another 125 bike makes a challenge on me, and the pass sticks. Then I get him back, still riding pretty hard, put down a reasonable first lap. Then onto the second, heading around, and as I go onto the left hander entering the extended part of the circuit, I'm thinking to myself, I could have gone way faster on the last lap. I then proceed to badly over cook it through the left hander, try braking while I'm cornering, but I'm just way too far out of shape. I stand the bike up, then proceed into the muddy grass with just the back brake dragging. The bike's wobbling around on the mud like a very wobbly jelly. Notice that the tyres are approach a little fast for my likings, grab some of the front brakes, it starts to slide the front end straight away, but helped brush off a bit of speed, but also badly destabilised the bike. Then just as I'm about to stop, the bike twists sideways and plops into the mud. Bugger, not such a good start to the points chase for the day. Pick the bike up as fast as I can, wouldn't start, so I have to roll it back and forward trying to get it to neutral before it will restart. Got it started, put it in first rev it up, and it's not moving, just sprays a bit of mud out of the back. Proceed to push it back on the track while feathering the clutch to get it back out there. Was sinking in the mud up to the ankles of my riding boots. Once I'm back on the bike, I can see a few riders go through just ahead. My feet are sliding around on the pegs like anything due to all the mud. And the tyres still well and truly caked are all over the road. I do a few squiggles to clear most of the surface area of the tyres. Then get back into it, only really half hearted though, as the race is merely four laps and making up a minute is no easy task. Still I cruise round get onto the last lap, and I can see a couple of riders up ahead. One's AJ Chappell. So I work for the next lap and a half reeling them in. I get the first of them around the back section of the track, and then I'm following AJ going into the sweeper before the run to the finish, so I set up running it really wide so I can get a really good swing in for the run onto the straight, and carrying a lot more speed I get him easily just as we enter the front straight. And get the bike home to salvage an 8th place out of 12. 13 points helps to keep my points tally respectable, and not too far behind Neil Chappell.

Formula 3 Race 1:
Wrist tendons starting to give me strife now. Talked to Bert, and he suggested moving my clutch lever to a lower angle. I find that it helps, but it's too late my clutch hand feels buggered. Green flag drops and I launch hard again, do another little wheely, and gain a whole bunch of places again. But take it very gingerly into the first corner, as there are heaps of bikes all squeezing in to a very tight space in the first corner. Thus I lose a bunch of places. I think I would be more aggressive if that was actually my class, but I don't want to be involved in any incidents that would adversely affect my points chase in Streetstocks. Again out on the back section, I overcook one of the lefthanders and run really wide, hoping that I can keep it on the track, but to no avail. Run off onto the mud again, luckily I go over a connecting part of the circuit, so I get a small patch of tarseal with which to use my front brakes, so I slow it down plenty before I run off onto the mud again, but at least the bike is still up right and running, I get off to push it back onto the circuit again. Rejoin, and look back to see the pace car not too far behind me, embarrassing. Get busy shaving the mud off the tyres... again. Then back into it, make a few passes during the race, and finish up 27th out of 33 finishers. But at least I had fun.

Streetstock Race 2:
The forearm tendons are no worse than in the last F3 race, but I'm still worried about them. Decide to try using clutchless upshifts, but I've never really done many before. Green flag drops I again shoot past Aaron on the back wheel, and right up through the GP bikes again. I head around the first lap, chasing after a couple of the GP bikes. I'm doing alright this time, and am still in front of Aaron going into back section of the second lap, just before one of the right handers at Shell corners, I have a couple of big rear end lockups, and end up just staying on the track, but Aaron got an easy pass in, and again there was already a big gap so I was going to be unable to match his braking points and lines, was going to have to just copy his style and see if I can make some good ground on him. Going onto the last lap, I hadn't made too much ground, but was determined to make a concerted effort to get the win. The whole lap I make good ground, decide he must have buttoned off because he'd lost sight of me behind him, finally get some of the corners on the back section right, and have the bike well leaned over with the tyres groaning a bit, pegs and knee on the ground at the same time with my butt barely clearing the surface. Got pretty close going into the last sweeper before the run onto the straight, but Aaron seems to love that sweeper, and always goes in quite a bit faster than me, although I think I come out a bit faster. Still I don't make enough ground, and he takes the win by just under a second. Still was pretty happy that I got the best lap time of the day off that last lap in that race.

vtec
24th July 2006, 11:57
Formula 3 Race 2:
Again get another good launch just lifting the front wheel a little bit, and gain several places. Also back it off into the first corner to leave plenty of space for everyone. Doesn't take Aaron long to shoot through carving up the more powerful bikes while they are all still squeezed together. Once it spreads out a bit, I start making the odd pass here and there, I see Aaron and Gavin up ahead having a bit of a joust. I try to get up with them, but the are pushing pretty hard. Still I get to watch most of the action while tussling with a couple of bikes myself. Wasn't too far behind them in the end, but that was a very enjoyable race. Just hooning around with no real pressure.

Streetstock Race 3:
This was reduced to 2 laps thankfully as I didn't know how much more my left hand could take. Again got another good start, although the 125's were definitely starting better aswell, and didn't get past as many of them. At the end of the front straight, was having trouble getting into the right gear for the corner, and didn't have time to set up for leaning in so Aaron and a 125 came past on the brakes, but the 125 got between me and Aaron so I couldn't follow his lines, tried pretty hard to catch but I could see that Aaron was just leaning a lot harder into the corners. Managed to maintain the gap, but couldn't close it at all. Trouble with my downshifting wasn't helping, but Aaron certainly gave me a kick in the pants to let me know that I'd only been pussy footing around in all my other streetstock races. Tried pretty hard on the last lap, but kept making mistakes and only gained a small amount on him, so put in a concerted effort on the last couple of corners, but overcooked it into the sweeper before the main straight, and managed to just haul it up in time to prevent going straight off the track. But had nearly come to a complete stop, swung it back into the right direction, looked back to see nobody for a long way behind me, and just tootled over the finish line.

F3 Race 3:
Forearm well and truly buggered, light fading a bit, (my sight is pretty average at the best of times, will be looking at getting some lenses to gain back some more depth perception). Take off well again, but am having major troubles with my gear shifting. Aaron nails past again, carving up the F3's while we are all still bunched together, takes balls man. Tootle around watching several riders come to grief. Called back to the pits before a restart minus quite a few riders. Launched well again, Aaron comes past again still pushing hard right to the last, thought maybe the bastard is trying to better my laptime. See Paul Buckley slide off onto the grass, he's holding his head in his hands as soon as he came off, could tell he was pissed. Come round only to see Aaron's no longer so lovely ZXR250 lying a bit smashed up on the side of the track at the end of the sweeper, felt absolutely slutted for him, cause it just ruined what would have otherwise been a nearly perfect day for him. Quite a bit of damage, but at least all the important parts are all still good.

Well, this was definitely a day in which I gained a lot in terms of self improvement. It seems that up until now, I've only been doing what was necessary to take the wins. Which has kind of stunted my growth as a racer, but this meeting definitely got me back into riding hard and properly, even if I didn't take the wins, I gained a lot from the meeting without smashing up the bike. Also I think I've figured out what was causing the misfiring of the cylinders. It's an electrical situation which can be remedied by just giving the battery a bit of a charge before going out racing.

Up until that race, I had only ridden a bike about 2 or 3 times since the last race meeting and so was well out of practice. I think I'll have to take advantage of any practice days before the races if I want to get back to my winning ways against Texmo (Aaron).

Got a few cool pics you might be interested in attached below. Have 2 megapixel ones if you are interested let me know. Also got a few cool vids that might be worth watching. Some of the pics feature Gav who I didn't write enough about in my write up, he had to be character of the day. That CBR400RR must be bloody invincible. I don't know how many times he's come off it in the last couple of months.

Overall results in streetstocks were 8th, 2nd, 2nd still leading on points though despite the mud run.
Overall results in F3 were 27/33 :P 20/32 15/24 (these are a lot more powerful bikes than I'm on though). Notice the high attrition in race 3, so many people went down.

kiwifruit
24th July 2006, 12:15
Thanks for the writeup man, id love to see the video footage you have

texmo
24th July 2006, 12:51
Good write up dude. My attention span could cope with this one was too long for me :P. Where did you say I passed you under the brakes in race3 dude I didnt get what you ment. You wanna go down next time for the test day? Hope fully my bike will be up and running by then and I will have a gpr70 rear.
It was fucking close you just made one to many misstakes but all in the course of learning aye? 2:17's next time?

vtec
24th July 2006, 13:20
Yeah, I definitely need to get in some laid back laps so I can try some different things on some of the corners. I'm not entirely sure where you passed me, it could have been higgens right hander or maybe the left hander going onto the back extended section of the track. I was making so many mistakes, but this is the path to getting fast. Here's a vid... notice near the end of the vid, I'm doing that lefthander, and you can tell I come out of their way too slow, cause I ran right up nearly onto the kerb. Those kerbs are bloody dangerous, nearly always cause me to have tank slappers.

Here's the vid anyway, got a bit of you in there, always ahead of me.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6663161847544424579
It's about 4.4MB

texmo
24th July 2006, 13:33
It is loading now.... stoopid 56k

If you still dont mind me getting a life down with you I would be greatfully if I could I wanna get out and do a test day with you spend the first half of the day finding some new lines and just like you said get some laid back riding in then for the next half battle with you. You need another person to battle with to drop your times.

texmo
24th July 2006, 13:35
Nice exit on the sweaper I have no Idea whats going on from there as my eyes cant desypher the pixels.

vtec
24th July 2006, 13:36
Yep, should be room on the trailer and in the van, I'll keep you informed. Yeah, that sux, when I put it on Google video, it pixelated it a fair bit. Any idea where I could get it hosted where it can be downloaded just the same as I uploaded it?

texmo
24th July 2006, 13:38
Yep, should be room on the trailer and in the van, I'll keep you informed.
Ok wicked dude, I got you on the outside of the lefthander going into the long circut. Since you got sooo close to 17's I guess that will have to be our goal for next round but you can only do so much on a 250.

Mental Trousers
24th July 2006, 13:47
Nice write up. Chewed up quite a nice chunk of my work day :nya:

In the last pic, the guy on #44 (green bitsa) is Robert (Bob) Grover, a guy I work with (well in phone contact everyday anyway rarely get to see him face to face).

kiwifruit
24th July 2006, 14:05
Yeah, that sux, when I put it on Google video, it pixelated it a fair bit. Any idea where I could get it hosted where it can be downloaded just the same as I uploaded it?

www.yousendit.com hosts files without messing with them, as big as ya like too
Only drawback is they are hosted for 1 week or 100 DLs max

EDIT: looks like you are flying m8! i might have to lay off the pies before i can keep up with you guys lol

Goblin
24th July 2006, 15:04
Cool write up vtec:yes: Sorry I never introduced myself. At one stage I was staring at you wondering who you were....maybe if you had been in your back-up leathers I would have recognised you.:blip:
Good to see you out there enjoying your racing.

Two Smoker
24th July 2006, 19:00
Wicked stuff vtec :niceone: gutted about your wide moments... are well, all part of the learning :niceone:

MattRSK
24th July 2006, 19:11
Hey Vtec. Well done. Great write up. Showing some real talent out there. Just thought you might like to know that your video features with "David Hasslehoff - Hooked on a feeling" on google video. :nya: But good on ya for making the streetstocks exciting.

texmo
24th July 2006, 19:20
But good on ya for making the streetstocks exciting.
Yeah with out him it wouldnt have been nearly as good. man I am looking foward to next time.

MattRSK
24th July 2006, 19:21
Yeah im loving the battles you guys are having out there.

texmo
24th July 2006, 19:26
Yeah im loving the battles you guys are having out there.
Fuck yeah more fun than a bag of chips. best battle of the day was myself, hdtboy and a rgv250. Fuck it was good and I over took gavin on the last lap second to last corner hahah:rockon:

Coyote
24th July 2006, 19:41
Toooo many worrrdssss

I'm sure you had fun, wish I was out there

loosebruce
26th July 2006, 09:16
Great to see you out there again mate, must be good to have some competion to kick it with too, keep up the good work.

MOTOXXX
26th July 2006, 12:44
Man texmo your bike took a bad spill. How bad is that to fix?

texmo
26th July 2006, 12:54
not to bad we will see though...

HDTboy
26th July 2006, 13:25
Cheers for the avatar

emaN
26th July 2006, 13:41
You didn't have to go spending all that time & money to get yer bike grubby, Tboy... I could'a found a muddy bank to throw it down 'round here!!

Well done vtec! bit of red mist is all ya need huh?!
Texmo, sux about yr bike dude!

vtec
27th July 2006, 22:55
Thanks guys for all the supportive comments :sunny:

And gav, here's those modified pics you asked for.

Goblin
27th July 2006, 23:09
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :killingme I just pissed myself laughing! Great work vtec!!! Ok so now there's Gonzo Gav :laugh: Beaker Bruce...and Dr Bunsen Honeypoos!:nya: :killingme