Biggles08
17th April 2009, 18:27
Sorry its a bit late coming but oh well :-)....after reading this essay you will see why!
After arriving home from Australia at 1am on the Sat morning I got up again at 5am to hit the road from Aucks to Taupo for the trackday on the Sat. Arrived and set up in the Garage with the regular Scuzeme crowd. Missed the first session but went out in the second 'fast' group. Felt very very average and was lapping pretty slow I imagine but I wasn't supprised as I was tired and I'm always slow in the first sessions at a track day.
By the afternoon I was humming and lapping at 1:39's or there abouts when in one session I was braking towards the end of the session at the back left hand sweeper onto the back straight and quite un expectedly my front tucked and turned to the side. This was odd as it didn't happen at the time of braking but slightly after it. Luckly I managed to let the brakes go quickly before ending up on the track at 150kph! I reapplyed the brake pressure again...more gentle this time and still....bang....tucked and lost traction on the front wheel again.....now I'm screwed and I resigned myself to going straight ahead into the kitty litter. Hoping this was going to slow me down enough was a mistake and about halfway to the wall of tires I realized if I didn't do something quickly this was going to hurt. I decked the bike to the left in what was described by onlookers as 'quite an impressive cloud of red dust' and came to a halt about 30cm before the tires :-).
I got up bewildered at what had just happened and inspected the front forks to see if I could detect a leak or some evidence of failure......nothing.....was I going mad. I was sure I hadn't overcooked my braking marker or pushed any harder that I had been before but still here I was on the side of the track looking at my scratched up bike.
I gingerly got back on and made my way to the pits checking the brakes and front end as I went. I thought the front felt soft and spongy but in hindsight I may have been 'over analysing' the problem.
I stripped my front once back in the pits to inspect it closer and found my brake pads were worn on one side a considerable amount more than the other side. After lots of head scratching and discussion with others alot wiser than me I decided I needed brake pads ASAP....mmmmm....Taupo......3:30pm on a saturday.....better go! Gah Chan and myself raced into town looking for a bike shop open but to no avail.
Bugger.....I was beached as bro! Time to call my friends at MotoTT for HEEEELLLLLP! I called Sue to see if she could organize something with Chris Mitchel for me and the good bugger came and met me at his shop to get me some new pads!!!!!! Cheers mate....well over and above what is the normal when it comes to service!
Back to the track and by this time everyone has locked up and left apart from a few people who were staying there overnight. As I turned up the guy locking the garages and gate was there and said he had to lock the garage but he would be there in the morning at 7am and I could lock the gate on the way out.....nope! Matt Hepper turned up about 5 minutes later and asked how I was getting out as the guy had just locked the gate behind him!!!!! Grrrrrr....anyway, about an hour passed before a security guy came and let me out....not a happy camper at this point! Remember....I had only had about 4-5 hours sleep at this point and I had a bike that was scratched up with no front end on it sitting in the pit garage...not the ideal start to my racing weekend. So I went out with Scuzeme, Gah and a few others for a beer or eight....hehehehe
Sunday - Race day.
Got to the track a 7:15am to find a long line of cars waiting on the road to be let in.....this gate guy was full of shit! He eventually came at around 8am I think....I was a bit stressed.
Got in the garage and went about installing the pads....DOH!!! they don't quite fit!!!! I think they were the pads for the ZX6R 05/06 bike as opposed to the 07/08 model. I needed to file about 1mm off each pad so it would slot in and cut off with a hacksaw the lips that the spring sits up against! Gah Chan is a champion...he sat there with me frantically filing each one of the eight.....yes thats right eight pads to get me to scrutineering! Meanwhile, Darrin (Scuzeme) was busy changing over my 600SS tires to METZELER Racetec slicks for me....first time he had done this apparently.....cheers bro....you did a great job (I'll remember that for next time I need a tire change :-))!!!!!!!
We ended up getting my bike back together just as people were lining up on the dummy grid to go out for a viewing session of two laps. I really wanted to make this as I was still not 100% sure my front end was going to be any good for racing on as I was 50/50 thinking something more sinister was going on inside the front forks.
Came back in feeling better about everything as it didn't feel too bad but it did feel a bit soft.
F1 qualifying
Was feeling slow and unsure of my forks in this session but managed a 1:42.7 which was good enough for a start on the grid in 10th place...I was very disappointed with my time but happy with the position.
F2 qualifying
Still very unhappy with the way the bike was feeling I went even slower in this session qualifying in 8th place with a 1:43.1. After this session I went to talk to Jamie Rajek about the handling and the 'diving' I was getting under heavy braking and he made some adjustments for me based on my expert (cough cough) description of what I was feeling the bike was doing...soon found out if what he did was right as it was racetime...
F1 Race one
Pulled up to my grid position....what do you know.....right next to Shane Tunnicliffe...my nemisis! As always I wanted a good start so concentraited on the flag! Down it went....I got a meeeeeean start! First corner I was in about 6th or 7th place....soon back down to 8th by the second corner though...BJ cut me up through there and a couple of others showed no mercy....note to self....harden the fuck up for race two!
I ended up with no major issues for the rest of the race and was following Shane for most of it until he lost his front around turn 7 to let me sail past. I ended up in 8th place...happy with that because the front was feeling heaps better which showed up in my times....best at 1:40.1....thats more like it :-)
F2 Race one
Shane managed to get his bike back together with duct tape etc and once again he was on the grid :-). Had another great start although not as goos as my previous but entered turn one in about 5th or 6th position. Got nice and comefy sitting behind Shane for most of the first two laps when on turn 5, the infield right hand corner some bike hit my back wheel mid turn and pushed me wide....lost a couple of positions and ended up finishing 6th. I was a little disappointed with this result because my goal for the day was top five....missed it by one position (and best lap of 1:40.7).
F1 Race two
Once again I had a great start and this time I entered the first corner in about 6th position....wooooooohooooooo.....now we're cooking! I was going pretty well for most of this race until the fifth lap when the same thing happened at the same corner as the problem I had the previous day. I went off the track in exactly the same way but managed to keep the bike upright this time and made my way back onto the track loosing 3 places....the last one to Reece Picket.....game on! I had the best part of two laps to regain some dignity but at the same time I was once again unsure about my front forks. I pulled in behind Reece and followed for the rest of that lap checking out my bike making sure nothing was too untoward.....felt ok. Last lap, back turn (where I kept going off) I went deeper and cut up the inside of Reece onto the back straight...wooohooo....I'm past...tucked....ringing all the power out of the 600cc when Reece on his mighty R1 coasts past me about 3/4 of the way down the back straight....damn the extra 60hp he has! Followed him into the left at the end of the straight with a plan to cut on the inside onto the front straight and over the line. Perfect....He went shallow into the final turn and I had pushed deeper....turning earlier and got on the gas earlier and shot up the inside.....drifted wide to the concrete wall to protect my move.....got him :2thumbsup
F2 Race two coming soon...off to the movies now! :-)
After arriving home from Australia at 1am on the Sat morning I got up again at 5am to hit the road from Aucks to Taupo for the trackday on the Sat. Arrived and set up in the Garage with the regular Scuzeme crowd. Missed the first session but went out in the second 'fast' group. Felt very very average and was lapping pretty slow I imagine but I wasn't supprised as I was tired and I'm always slow in the first sessions at a track day.
By the afternoon I was humming and lapping at 1:39's or there abouts when in one session I was braking towards the end of the session at the back left hand sweeper onto the back straight and quite un expectedly my front tucked and turned to the side. This was odd as it didn't happen at the time of braking but slightly after it. Luckly I managed to let the brakes go quickly before ending up on the track at 150kph! I reapplyed the brake pressure again...more gentle this time and still....bang....tucked and lost traction on the front wheel again.....now I'm screwed and I resigned myself to going straight ahead into the kitty litter. Hoping this was going to slow me down enough was a mistake and about halfway to the wall of tires I realized if I didn't do something quickly this was going to hurt. I decked the bike to the left in what was described by onlookers as 'quite an impressive cloud of red dust' and came to a halt about 30cm before the tires :-).
I got up bewildered at what had just happened and inspected the front forks to see if I could detect a leak or some evidence of failure......nothing.....was I going mad. I was sure I hadn't overcooked my braking marker or pushed any harder that I had been before but still here I was on the side of the track looking at my scratched up bike.
I gingerly got back on and made my way to the pits checking the brakes and front end as I went. I thought the front felt soft and spongy but in hindsight I may have been 'over analysing' the problem.
I stripped my front once back in the pits to inspect it closer and found my brake pads were worn on one side a considerable amount more than the other side. After lots of head scratching and discussion with others alot wiser than me I decided I needed brake pads ASAP....mmmmm....Taupo......3:30pm on a saturday.....better go! Gah Chan and myself raced into town looking for a bike shop open but to no avail.
Bugger.....I was beached as bro! Time to call my friends at MotoTT for HEEEELLLLLP! I called Sue to see if she could organize something with Chris Mitchel for me and the good bugger came and met me at his shop to get me some new pads!!!!!! Cheers mate....well over and above what is the normal when it comes to service!
Back to the track and by this time everyone has locked up and left apart from a few people who were staying there overnight. As I turned up the guy locking the garages and gate was there and said he had to lock the garage but he would be there in the morning at 7am and I could lock the gate on the way out.....nope! Matt Hepper turned up about 5 minutes later and asked how I was getting out as the guy had just locked the gate behind him!!!!! Grrrrrr....anyway, about an hour passed before a security guy came and let me out....not a happy camper at this point! Remember....I had only had about 4-5 hours sleep at this point and I had a bike that was scratched up with no front end on it sitting in the pit garage...not the ideal start to my racing weekend. So I went out with Scuzeme, Gah and a few others for a beer or eight....hehehehe
Sunday - Race day.
Got to the track a 7:15am to find a long line of cars waiting on the road to be let in.....this gate guy was full of shit! He eventually came at around 8am I think....I was a bit stressed.
Got in the garage and went about installing the pads....DOH!!! they don't quite fit!!!! I think they were the pads for the ZX6R 05/06 bike as opposed to the 07/08 model. I needed to file about 1mm off each pad so it would slot in and cut off with a hacksaw the lips that the spring sits up against! Gah Chan is a champion...he sat there with me frantically filing each one of the eight.....yes thats right eight pads to get me to scrutineering! Meanwhile, Darrin (Scuzeme) was busy changing over my 600SS tires to METZELER Racetec slicks for me....first time he had done this apparently.....cheers bro....you did a great job (I'll remember that for next time I need a tire change :-))!!!!!!!
We ended up getting my bike back together just as people were lining up on the dummy grid to go out for a viewing session of two laps. I really wanted to make this as I was still not 100% sure my front end was going to be any good for racing on as I was 50/50 thinking something more sinister was going on inside the front forks.
Came back in feeling better about everything as it didn't feel too bad but it did feel a bit soft.
F1 qualifying
Was feeling slow and unsure of my forks in this session but managed a 1:42.7 which was good enough for a start on the grid in 10th place...I was very disappointed with my time but happy with the position.
F2 qualifying
Still very unhappy with the way the bike was feeling I went even slower in this session qualifying in 8th place with a 1:43.1. After this session I went to talk to Jamie Rajek about the handling and the 'diving' I was getting under heavy braking and he made some adjustments for me based on my expert (cough cough) description of what I was feeling the bike was doing...soon found out if what he did was right as it was racetime...
F1 Race one
Pulled up to my grid position....what do you know.....right next to Shane Tunnicliffe...my nemisis! As always I wanted a good start so concentraited on the flag! Down it went....I got a meeeeeean start! First corner I was in about 6th or 7th place....soon back down to 8th by the second corner though...BJ cut me up through there and a couple of others showed no mercy....note to self....harden the fuck up for race two!
I ended up with no major issues for the rest of the race and was following Shane for most of it until he lost his front around turn 7 to let me sail past. I ended up in 8th place...happy with that because the front was feeling heaps better which showed up in my times....best at 1:40.1....thats more like it :-)
F2 Race one
Shane managed to get his bike back together with duct tape etc and once again he was on the grid :-). Had another great start although not as goos as my previous but entered turn one in about 5th or 6th position. Got nice and comefy sitting behind Shane for most of the first two laps when on turn 5, the infield right hand corner some bike hit my back wheel mid turn and pushed me wide....lost a couple of positions and ended up finishing 6th. I was a little disappointed with this result because my goal for the day was top five....missed it by one position (and best lap of 1:40.7).
F1 Race two
Once again I had a great start and this time I entered the first corner in about 6th position....wooooooohooooooo.....now we're cooking! I was going pretty well for most of this race until the fifth lap when the same thing happened at the same corner as the problem I had the previous day. I went off the track in exactly the same way but managed to keep the bike upright this time and made my way back onto the track loosing 3 places....the last one to Reece Picket.....game on! I had the best part of two laps to regain some dignity but at the same time I was once again unsure about my front forks. I pulled in behind Reece and followed for the rest of that lap checking out my bike making sure nothing was too untoward.....felt ok. Last lap, back turn (where I kept going off) I went deeper and cut up the inside of Reece onto the back straight...wooohooo....I'm past...tucked....ringing all the power out of the 600cc when Reece on his mighty R1 coasts past me about 3/4 of the way down the back straight....damn the extra 60hp he has! Followed him into the left at the end of the straight with a plan to cut on the inside onto the front straight and over the line. Perfect....He went shallow into the final turn and I had pushed deeper....turning earlier and got on the gas earlier and shot up the inside.....drifted wide to the concrete wall to protect my move.....got him :2thumbsup
F2 Race two coming soon...off to the movies now! :-)