Toast
28th December 2007, 08:15
So, bullshit rule changes aside, what's it really like for a first timer racing at Wanganui?
F'k'n awesome!!
I'd been told how much fun street racing can be before, but didn't really think that I'd enjoy it as much as I did. I had the most awesome day on a bike that I've had for ages. Although it was only a one day event, it felt like I was there and racing for at least two.
Here's how it went down:
Christmas Day:
Rolled up to Wanganui for scrutineering at about 3pm. Persistent rain, hmmm, ok, that's what the forecast said, no worries. Unfortunately I'd taken it upon myself to clean out my van of all the crap I thought I didn't need, of which jackets and anything warm was included (it's summer, innit?), so I got wet and would later get a bit of a cold. What a poof!
Anyway. Passed a fairly casual scrutineering and was off to the hotel to shower.
I came back later in the evening and took a walk around the track with the gf, which was a really good way to learn which way the track went. The thing that most got my attention was the huge off-camber section on the outside of the Vesrah corner exit (entry to the front straight). Not a place to run wide on while hard on the gas.
Boxing Day:
Had a shit sleep due to some funny fk who had previously stayed in our room setting the alarm for midnight. Got up at 0540 and headed off to the track. After some diplomatic (and a little not so) land reclamation of our reserved pit area, we unpacked and got rained on. Slicks on my bike, wet tyre set up that I'm not at all comfortable with and no power available at this stage had me a tiny bit anxious.
Newbie's sighting laps:
So, it pissed down afer rider's briefing and I was on cold slicks. No worries, it's only sighting, don't need to go hard. What a dick I felt when I couldn't even keep up on those sighting laps! Like, I really couldn't! I was bricking it, there was no feeling of grip at all. I came in early 'cos I thought I was going to be lapped.
First practice:
I managed to scam 10 minutes on some tyre warmers, and the last monsoon had come though about 20 minutes ago, so the track was starting to dry a little. I was still pretty cautious of the white lines, but as the track tried out more I started to take some corners with a little bit of pace (well, I leaned the bike over a little bit, atleast).
Formula Wanganui Qualifying:
Ok, not time on warmers for this one, dead cold slicks, and the Heavens had opened 10 minutes before our time to go out. Shizzle. The only reason I decided to go out was because it seemed like a few others weren't, so I though if I just did one super slow lap then I'd at least get in front of all of them (but that's another story with its own thread). I wobbled around the track but didn't even make a full lap for fear of being a hazard to anyone coming by to lap me (on the first full lap). Oh well, my 7 minute lap time or whatever it was will at least put me somewhere. To cut a long story short: I ended up 31st on the grid, and was pretty close to throwing some toys around as it looked like my day was going to be a write-off. I drove 500kms here to go hard on some public roads, and it just wasn't happening!
Mum to the rescue:
Mum went to SuperCheap and got me an early birthday present of a flash as generator that I didn't want to accept 'cos it was expensive and I felt stink accepting it...but Dad gave me a virtual slap and cracked it open anyway. Some fully synthetic bike oil in there (all we had), and she was humming.
FW Race 1:
So, I was gutted with my grid position, but the track had tried, I had warm tyres, and I just wanted to have some fun. My goal for this meeting had been to make the Robert Holden races, mostly just 'cos I'm greedy and I wanted more track time.
Starting from 31st...shit, I may as well be on the back row right on the outside, 'cos there's no way I'm cutting through the sea of metal, plastic and cow-dressed flesh in front of me. I'll have to drop the pass 10 people off the line routine for today...nah fuck it, my bike can between those two...revs low due to the down hill grid, drop the clutch, and now I'm two rows ahead of where I was 1.5 seconds ago, and there's an Aprilla on my leg like a dog that hasn't been neutered. The right hand first corner looms...I almost laugh at the situation of 40 bikes trying to through there. Jay goes across in front of me. Bike on my shoulder, bike on my left leg, someone hitting my back tyre, all at Tokyo rush hour speed.
Similar thing on turn two and three, and then things start to even out and it's time to race proper like. I haven't opened the throttle wide for a single second up until now, I have no braking markers and I still don't trust the white lines...but I have a go anyway and wind up 25th or so. Better than where I started, but with a time of 57 seconds I'd given up on making the Robert Holden races...
Robert Holden Race 1:
Well somehow they decided to put me on grid position 31 out of 30...why? Fook knows, but it's a good thing the old man checked for me. Stoked, more laps!
The race went something along the lines of meh, meh, fookn neoow...Shiriffs lapped me, as did one of Bernard's boys, and Stroud. It was cool coming around the last corner beside Stroudy (who took it a bit wide in my expert opinion), and I wound up 23rd. I'd dropped 1.5seconds off my best lap to get to 55.5, and was now a lot happier with my riding.
FW Race 2:
I started 25th in this one thanks to my 25th place finish in the first FW race. I got off the line very nicely before my finger slipped off the clutch and my front wheel ended up where my head on the tank should have been. So, I'm guessing I'm about last by now? Went pretty hard, had a few tangle ups with people. I thought I'd made Phil Snowdon crash at the rail way tracks and felt really stink about that, but was relieved to see that he hadn't gone down when I came by for the second lap.
End result was a 22nd place and I felt like a bit of a hero (don't worry I realise I'm not) after having passed what felt like about two people per lap. What was more pleasing was that I had the 18th fastest lap, and was only about 0.7 seconds off Glen Williams' time up in 14th. I felt pretty confident that with a decent start I could be up there.
RH Race 2:
Once again 22nd with the 18th fastest lap time. Another shit start, didn't get where I wanted, and lost my patience with the KTM 990 Superduke in front of me and ran off the track. Came back on and had a mint battle with Sam from Wild West, which I lost, but it was cool anyway.
Robert Holden Memorial Feature 15 lap race:
I was shagged at this point, but thought it was pretty cool that I'd made it in to this race anyway, so I got out for it. Finished 16th out of 17 finishers after again running off the track and doing a U-turn...same annoyingly grunty KTM which was great under brakes but had low corner speed...and I tried to outbrake him...idiot. Fatness was probably also a factor in the poor display. I came back on and battled the same two '07 CBRs that I'd been playing with at times througout the day. Lap times slipped slightly but it was still awesome fun.
I'd recommend street racing to anyone. I wasn't sure it was for me at first, but I couldn't stop smiling in the van on the way home, just thinking about it all. Can't wait for next year!!
F'k'n awesome!!
I'd been told how much fun street racing can be before, but didn't really think that I'd enjoy it as much as I did. I had the most awesome day on a bike that I've had for ages. Although it was only a one day event, it felt like I was there and racing for at least two.
Here's how it went down:
Christmas Day:
Rolled up to Wanganui for scrutineering at about 3pm. Persistent rain, hmmm, ok, that's what the forecast said, no worries. Unfortunately I'd taken it upon myself to clean out my van of all the crap I thought I didn't need, of which jackets and anything warm was included (it's summer, innit?), so I got wet and would later get a bit of a cold. What a poof!
Anyway. Passed a fairly casual scrutineering and was off to the hotel to shower.
I came back later in the evening and took a walk around the track with the gf, which was a really good way to learn which way the track went. The thing that most got my attention was the huge off-camber section on the outside of the Vesrah corner exit (entry to the front straight). Not a place to run wide on while hard on the gas.
Boxing Day:
Had a shit sleep due to some funny fk who had previously stayed in our room setting the alarm for midnight. Got up at 0540 and headed off to the track. After some diplomatic (and a little not so) land reclamation of our reserved pit area, we unpacked and got rained on. Slicks on my bike, wet tyre set up that I'm not at all comfortable with and no power available at this stage had me a tiny bit anxious.
Newbie's sighting laps:
So, it pissed down afer rider's briefing and I was on cold slicks. No worries, it's only sighting, don't need to go hard. What a dick I felt when I couldn't even keep up on those sighting laps! Like, I really couldn't! I was bricking it, there was no feeling of grip at all. I came in early 'cos I thought I was going to be lapped.
First practice:
I managed to scam 10 minutes on some tyre warmers, and the last monsoon had come though about 20 minutes ago, so the track was starting to dry a little. I was still pretty cautious of the white lines, but as the track tried out more I started to take some corners with a little bit of pace (well, I leaned the bike over a little bit, atleast).
Formula Wanganui Qualifying:
Ok, not time on warmers for this one, dead cold slicks, and the Heavens had opened 10 minutes before our time to go out. Shizzle. The only reason I decided to go out was because it seemed like a few others weren't, so I though if I just did one super slow lap then I'd at least get in front of all of them (but that's another story with its own thread). I wobbled around the track but didn't even make a full lap for fear of being a hazard to anyone coming by to lap me (on the first full lap). Oh well, my 7 minute lap time or whatever it was will at least put me somewhere. To cut a long story short: I ended up 31st on the grid, and was pretty close to throwing some toys around as it looked like my day was going to be a write-off. I drove 500kms here to go hard on some public roads, and it just wasn't happening!
Mum to the rescue:
Mum went to SuperCheap and got me an early birthday present of a flash as generator that I didn't want to accept 'cos it was expensive and I felt stink accepting it...but Dad gave me a virtual slap and cracked it open anyway. Some fully synthetic bike oil in there (all we had), and she was humming.
FW Race 1:
So, I was gutted with my grid position, but the track had tried, I had warm tyres, and I just wanted to have some fun. My goal for this meeting had been to make the Robert Holden races, mostly just 'cos I'm greedy and I wanted more track time.
Starting from 31st...shit, I may as well be on the back row right on the outside, 'cos there's no way I'm cutting through the sea of metal, plastic and cow-dressed flesh in front of me. I'll have to drop the pass 10 people off the line routine for today...nah fuck it, my bike can between those two...revs low due to the down hill grid, drop the clutch, and now I'm two rows ahead of where I was 1.5 seconds ago, and there's an Aprilla on my leg like a dog that hasn't been neutered. The right hand first corner looms...I almost laugh at the situation of 40 bikes trying to through there. Jay goes across in front of me. Bike on my shoulder, bike on my left leg, someone hitting my back tyre, all at Tokyo rush hour speed.
Similar thing on turn two and three, and then things start to even out and it's time to race proper like. I haven't opened the throttle wide for a single second up until now, I have no braking markers and I still don't trust the white lines...but I have a go anyway and wind up 25th or so. Better than where I started, but with a time of 57 seconds I'd given up on making the Robert Holden races...
Robert Holden Race 1:
Well somehow they decided to put me on grid position 31 out of 30...why? Fook knows, but it's a good thing the old man checked for me. Stoked, more laps!
The race went something along the lines of meh, meh, fookn neoow...Shiriffs lapped me, as did one of Bernard's boys, and Stroud. It was cool coming around the last corner beside Stroudy (who took it a bit wide in my expert opinion), and I wound up 23rd. I'd dropped 1.5seconds off my best lap to get to 55.5, and was now a lot happier with my riding.
FW Race 2:
I started 25th in this one thanks to my 25th place finish in the first FW race. I got off the line very nicely before my finger slipped off the clutch and my front wheel ended up where my head on the tank should have been. So, I'm guessing I'm about last by now? Went pretty hard, had a few tangle ups with people. I thought I'd made Phil Snowdon crash at the rail way tracks and felt really stink about that, but was relieved to see that he hadn't gone down when I came by for the second lap.
End result was a 22nd place and I felt like a bit of a hero (don't worry I realise I'm not) after having passed what felt like about two people per lap. What was more pleasing was that I had the 18th fastest lap, and was only about 0.7 seconds off Glen Williams' time up in 14th. I felt pretty confident that with a decent start I could be up there.
RH Race 2:
Once again 22nd with the 18th fastest lap time. Another shit start, didn't get where I wanted, and lost my patience with the KTM 990 Superduke in front of me and ran off the track. Came back on and had a mint battle with Sam from Wild West, which I lost, but it was cool anyway.
Robert Holden Memorial Feature 15 lap race:
I was shagged at this point, but thought it was pretty cool that I'd made it in to this race anyway, so I got out for it. Finished 16th out of 17 finishers after again running off the track and doing a U-turn...same annoyingly grunty KTM which was great under brakes but had low corner speed...and I tried to outbrake him...idiot. Fatness was probably also a factor in the poor display. I came back on and battled the same two '07 CBRs that I'd been playing with at times througout the day. Lap times slipped slightly but it was still awesome fun.
I'd recommend street racing to anyone. I wasn't sure it was for me at first, but I couldn't stop smiling in the van on the way home, just thinking about it all. Can't wait for next year!!