scracha
16th May 2009, 23:33
http://honda-motorcycle.co.nz/
After braking the frame of my CBR400 last round I wasn’t at all looking forward to this meeting. Weather forecast of “long dry spells with occasional showers” combined with the overall impression from my exploits at Manfield that the CBR600 was too skinny tyred and overweight to make use of the extra grunt wasn’t helping my confidence. As anyone who lapped me (sometimes twice in one race) at least year’s wet VMCC round will testify, I’m bloody awful in the wet. Anyhoo, the hurricane was loaded onto the trailer and off I jollied with my new pit bitch Ellen.
Post Classic Qualifying
Well it was wet. Jokes at riders briefing aside, I was seriously considering marshalling for the day but what the hell, I’d paid my entry fees and Plan A was to just wobble round and collect a handful of points. I didn’t have the worry of wets or slicks as I had neither. I followed Nicksta around on her wet shod treety pie VFR400 for 2 laps to get into a rythm as she normally leaves me for dead in the wet. Today she was riding like an old lady so I set off for some “hot” laps. To be honest, a lot of riders on full wets were riding like old ladies….very strange. Anyhoo, commuted round and round for another 2 laps or so. Locked it up a couple of times in braking but no real dramas. Nobody more shocked than me to qualify 10th on the grid with a 2m 6.
Post Classic Race 1
Fairly decent start. Still can’t launch it like the 400 yet. Hook it up to 2nd…nope, bang it up to 2nd, nope. Hit limiter in neutral and finally hit 2nd. I guess I’m down to about 18th and swearing like a trooper in my new Shark helmet that’s rapidly fogging up. On the infield I’m having to open her up to see where I’m going. A thin dry line has formed so I set about chasing down the lost places. My favorite overtake place up the inside between T4 and T5 by using the extra speed at the blind crest on T4. It’s a ballsy move but leaves them with nowhere to go. Unfortunately this takes me off the dry line going into T5 and they’re just passing me back on sheer corner speed on the exit. Otherwise I’d overtake up the inside at the left hand hairpin or T1. But nobody but the insane is going up the inside as Taupo still haven’t fixed the glass-like surface on the apex of nearly every turn and in the wet it’s super scary. Fortunately, on the dry line the Dunlop GPR’s are providing superb grip on the faster corner exits and I’m slipstreaming and passing bikes on the straights. After a couple of laps I get up to a pack of big pre 82 bikes. 2 words….”damn scary”. Dave Freeman touches my bar at the end of the straight going into T11. These guys spend thousands on these big Pre-82 bikes and just seem determined to run into each other. Sure enough, over the next couple of laps I count 3 of them on the grass. I spend 2 laps stuck behind a red bike (Paul Brigham?). He’s chopping the throttle mid corner but I can’t go up his inside as I’m seriously worried he’ll just run into me. I can’t pass him on the gas as he’s got about twice the power. Every time I run into a corner faster and start a pass around the outside his bike suddenly lurches towards me and he’s a bit out the seat like his bike’s having a “moment”. If it’s a scare tactic then it’s worked as I didn’t fancy getting skittled again. If it’s not a scare tactic then he’s lucky guy as this happened at leat 5 times. We’re slowing each other down….OK…stuff being polite. He’s slowing me down and I start worrying about being caught up by other bikes. I look behind me, there’s at least 8 seconds gap. I look in front of me…hmm…the two bikes ahead are definately not “junior” so won’t affect my points. There’s no way I’m catching the PC Junior bike 3 bikes ahead without a big fight so for once I think with my head and just settle into sitting up the red bike’s arse and trying to force a mistake. He doesn’t and I’m relieved to finish 4th in my class (Pre-89 Junior) and 9th overall. Best lap 1.55 which is faster than 3 of the guys ahead of me but I just couldn’t pass.
Post Classic Race 2
Although very overcast, the track was completely dry. Decent launch but the CBR went sideways a bit, felt someone hit the back of me but carried on regardless. I think they did too. Bloody good dice with Scott Findlay’s ZXR400 for most of race. Bike 142 (KR250 2 stroke I think) passed me with a rather messy pass that required evasive action on my part. Gave up chasing Scott with 2 laps to go as the CBR had clearly overworked the rear tyre/shock and was getting more and more out of shape. Ben was behind me again for the last 3 laps but no way was I giving him a chance to ram me again :-). The CBR was scrawing everywhere and wallowing like a whale on the fast A1 corner I’d fallen off last meeting on. Took some strange defensive lines to screw up Ben’s rythm and try and use the CBR’s power to keep him behind me. Got a good drive coming out of T11 and passed bike 142 back on the final lap. Mission accomplished. 4th again in my class with a 1.49 best lap. 12th overall as the big boys could lay down some of the massive power advantage they had.
The 400 is still a couple of seconds a lap faster than the 600. The CBR6 still has ground clearance issues with its engine covers scrawping at T4 & T9. I’ve concluded the CBR6 gets itself tied up in knots when pushing it hard in the dry but in the wet/damp it’s a nice ride as it’s stable, has plenty of power and I can’t push it that hard due to there being less grip. On the final race I tried “squaring off the corners” as my guru Paul had instructed and to an extent it seemed to work. Would have worked a lot better had I the nads to go over the glassy surface that was on the inside of the corners tho’.
A great meeting. I didn’t crash. I got a podium (3rd overall on points). Ellen got the phone number of the poor innocent young lad who was in the VMCC garage. Drew paid his parking fine and I sold the Ducati 748r. Ok, the last bit wasn’t great but it looks like it’ll go towards sticking the CBR600 motor into the 400 frame as I think the steel framed 600 has too many issues for Ohlins shocks, emulators and wider rims to plaster up.
Thanks
Dunlop for rubber
Drew for back protector
Paul for making a road legal hurricane into a race bike
VMCC for another excellently run meeting
After braking the frame of my CBR400 last round I wasn’t at all looking forward to this meeting. Weather forecast of “long dry spells with occasional showers” combined with the overall impression from my exploits at Manfield that the CBR600 was too skinny tyred and overweight to make use of the extra grunt wasn’t helping my confidence. As anyone who lapped me (sometimes twice in one race) at least year’s wet VMCC round will testify, I’m bloody awful in the wet. Anyhoo, the hurricane was loaded onto the trailer and off I jollied with my new pit bitch Ellen.
Post Classic Qualifying
Well it was wet. Jokes at riders briefing aside, I was seriously considering marshalling for the day but what the hell, I’d paid my entry fees and Plan A was to just wobble round and collect a handful of points. I didn’t have the worry of wets or slicks as I had neither. I followed Nicksta around on her wet shod treety pie VFR400 for 2 laps to get into a rythm as she normally leaves me for dead in the wet. Today she was riding like an old lady so I set off for some “hot” laps. To be honest, a lot of riders on full wets were riding like old ladies….very strange. Anyhoo, commuted round and round for another 2 laps or so. Locked it up a couple of times in braking but no real dramas. Nobody more shocked than me to qualify 10th on the grid with a 2m 6.
Post Classic Race 1
Fairly decent start. Still can’t launch it like the 400 yet. Hook it up to 2nd…nope, bang it up to 2nd, nope. Hit limiter in neutral and finally hit 2nd. I guess I’m down to about 18th and swearing like a trooper in my new Shark helmet that’s rapidly fogging up. On the infield I’m having to open her up to see where I’m going. A thin dry line has formed so I set about chasing down the lost places. My favorite overtake place up the inside between T4 and T5 by using the extra speed at the blind crest on T4. It’s a ballsy move but leaves them with nowhere to go. Unfortunately this takes me off the dry line going into T5 and they’re just passing me back on sheer corner speed on the exit. Otherwise I’d overtake up the inside at the left hand hairpin or T1. But nobody but the insane is going up the inside as Taupo still haven’t fixed the glass-like surface on the apex of nearly every turn and in the wet it’s super scary. Fortunately, on the dry line the Dunlop GPR’s are providing superb grip on the faster corner exits and I’m slipstreaming and passing bikes on the straights. After a couple of laps I get up to a pack of big pre 82 bikes. 2 words….”damn scary”. Dave Freeman touches my bar at the end of the straight going into T11. These guys spend thousands on these big Pre-82 bikes and just seem determined to run into each other. Sure enough, over the next couple of laps I count 3 of them on the grass. I spend 2 laps stuck behind a red bike (Paul Brigham?). He’s chopping the throttle mid corner but I can’t go up his inside as I’m seriously worried he’ll just run into me. I can’t pass him on the gas as he’s got about twice the power. Every time I run into a corner faster and start a pass around the outside his bike suddenly lurches towards me and he’s a bit out the seat like his bike’s having a “moment”. If it’s a scare tactic then it’s worked as I didn’t fancy getting skittled again. If it’s not a scare tactic then he’s lucky guy as this happened at leat 5 times. We’re slowing each other down….OK…stuff being polite. He’s slowing me down and I start worrying about being caught up by other bikes. I look behind me, there’s at least 8 seconds gap. I look in front of me…hmm…the two bikes ahead are definately not “junior” so won’t affect my points. There’s no way I’m catching the PC Junior bike 3 bikes ahead without a big fight so for once I think with my head and just settle into sitting up the red bike’s arse and trying to force a mistake. He doesn’t and I’m relieved to finish 4th in my class (Pre-89 Junior) and 9th overall. Best lap 1.55 which is faster than 3 of the guys ahead of me but I just couldn’t pass.
Post Classic Race 2
Although very overcast, the track was completely dry. Decent launch but the CBR went sideways a bit, felt someone hit the back of me but carried on regardless. I think they did too. Bloody good dice with Scott Findlay’s ZXR400 for most of race. Bike 142 (KR250 2 stroke I think) passed me with a rather messy pass that required evasive action on my part. Gave up chasing Scott with 2 laps to go as the CBR had clearly overworked the rear tyre/shock and was getting more and more out of shape. Ben was behind me again for the last 3 laps but no way was I giving him a chance to ram me again :-). The CBR was scrawing everywhere and wallowing like a whale on the fast A1 corner I’d fallen off last meeting on. Took some strange defensive lines to screw up Ben’s rythm and try and use the CBR’s power to keep him behind me. Got a good drive coming out of T11 and passed bike 142 back on the final lap. Mission accomplished. 4th again in my class with a 1.49 best lap. 12th overall as the big boys could lay down some of the massive power advantage they had.
The 400 is still a couple of seconds a lap faster than the 600. The CBR6 still has ground clearance issues with its engine covers scrawping at T4 & T9. I’ve concluded the CBR6 gets itself tied up in knots when pushing it hard in the dry but in the wet/damp it’s a nice ride as it’s stable, has plenty of power and I can’t push it that hard due to there being less grip. On the final race I tried “squaring off the corners” as my guru Paul had instructed and to an extent it seemed to work. Would have worked a lot better had I the nads to go over the glassy surface that was on the inside of the corners tho’.
A great meeting. I didn’t crash. I got a podium (3rd overall on points). Ellen got the phone number of the poor innocent young lad who was in the VMCC garage. Drew paid his parking fine and I sold the Ducati 748r. Ok, the last bit wasn’t great but it looks like it’ll go towards sticking the CBR600 motor into the 400 frame as I think the steel framed 600 has too many issues for Ohlins shocks, emulators and wider rims to plaster up.
Thanks
Dunlop for rubber
Drew for back protector
Paul for making a road legal hurricane into a race bike
VMCC for another excellently run meeting