Shane - Superlite (#43)

One side affect of the demise of the Triumph is there's a total lack of drama when I head to the track.

Friday was a Honda day with Aaron Slight. It was also stinking hot and the last time I was at Hampton Downs was for AMCC Round 3, which had also been stinking hot. However, on that particular day not only had I learnt a lesson about how track temperature affects the tyres but the track had started falling apart. This time, however, the track had been repaired by a different contractor using a different recipe so I had high hopes that the problems at Round 3 wouldn't be repeated; I wasn't disappointed.

Although the repairs have left the surface quite rough there's tons of grip and it's held together extremely well. Even the edges of the repairs, which have a similar appearance to tar snakes, give you lots of confidence. The only problem I had with it was straight lining the exit of turn 5 - it seemed to be a bit slippery due to rubber build up from cars lifting their inside wheel and spinning. If you took a slightly more rounded line there wasn't any drama.

There was some drama with the groups though because of the way registration for Honda days is done. The bike shops take bookings then on the day they all hand over their sheets. Turns out there were 45 people booked for the medium group and a bunch of very fast race guys. So we were all split into 3 groups plus the very fast race group.

This meant that I was in with lots of guys on litre bikes that would blow past me at the end of the straight then brake 100m too early while I'm still holding it pinned.

On the second lap of the first session when I was just easing into things on the hill at turn 5 someone squeezes up the right side of me, all but on the grass, and then dives across my nose. On a race day I'd expect that sort of thing to happen but in the first session of a track day where nobody is allowed within 2m of anyone when passing this dude squeezes into the 1m gap between me and the grass and then almost takes my front wheel with him. So he got a talking to from one of the Play Day guys when they tracked him down but, more importantly, the quickish guys on big bikes that are prone to doing that sort of shit got lumped in with the fast race guys who would put them in their place.

The next few sessions were trouble free and very enjoyable so I called it quits half way through the fifth session as I was having far too much fun, which meant I was using up tyres. Considering I still had to use those same tyres to race on Sunday I didn't want to start the race day sliding around all over the place and they were definitely starting to tear up on the right hand side, a result of an extremely hot track, tyre pressures too low for the temperature, too much preload for the temperature and fairly aggressive compression damping.

I was glad that things worked out so I could ride Friday and Sunday and have Saturday off to relax. I think it's the ideal situation for me as I can spend the day recovering from the heat and any aches and pains I may have picked up before hitting it fresh and still with the feel for the bike.

Sunday morning I woke just after 4:00am hearing a series of loud noises so I got out of bed and went out to check on the trailer and bike. There was no problem there so the sounds must've come from the street. However, that meant I couldn't get back to sleep so by the time my alarm went off I was knackered. Swearing at the alarm didn't help but reminding myself that coffee is the cure I was sufficiently motivated to make it to the kitchen.

One large coffee in a travel mug and I was on my way to McD's to stock up on the grease and fat that would see me through the entire day.

Pulling into the pits I'd already decided I'd find out which shed I was in after scrutineering as I couldn't see Geoff or Peter around. So I went and signed in then took the bike off the trailer and went to scrutineering. Unfortunately I'd forgotten to take the belly pan off and was very apologetic to the scrutineers. They were all in good moods though so it wasn't a problem; they just had to reach in and feel around for the sump plug and lock wire.

By this time Geoff had turned up and informed me there were 4 of us in shed 10 - James Jarmen, Geoff Batt, Peter Woodford and me. All of us would be in the same Formula 3 races.

Another side affect of having the CBR instead of the Triumph is the amount of crap I now leave in the shed. When I set up in the pits these days there's a single plastic storage bin, gear bag, food bag, 2x stands and the fuel can. The toolbox and spare wheels stay in the car unless they're needed. With the Triumph I had to take half a work shop and I'd still have to borrow bits and pieces from others.

Because I like to beat the rush (sucks if you don't cos you can still be sorting stuff out when first practice starts) it leaves me with lots of time to kill before qualifying so I do my usual and wander around talking to people.

At riders briefing they do a roll-call of random people who are entered for the day, resulting in two guys receiving fines for not being at the compulsory riders briefing.

Qualifying, we're second up and I roll down pit lane expecting to head out last, as usual, but because there was a bit of a hiccup in the F1/F2 qualifying there's guys rolling out well after we're released so I find it difficult to get a clear lap, having to try and pass a few guys and work my way through a small group. After 5 laps in total the green lights over start/finish line are flashing so a few of us start to slow down. Around turn 4 we all get the evils from a couple of guys who are still going hard.

However, I did alright qualifying 15th, 4 seconds ahead of Peter but better than that I'm 0.8 seconds faster than my quickest time at Hampton Downs.

Very pleased with that, I let Michael sort things out with the bike. I did qualifying with the pressures I finished the Honda day with and we decided that after the first race we'd up the rear pressure a couple of pounds as it was only going to get hotter.

Once the bike is sorted we head off and find Chris Costello to see what the story is. He says the lights shouldn't be used for anything except the starts, flags being used for everything else so he heads off to have a word with the guys controlling the lights.

Race 1 and I almost line up on the wrong row, looking at the row numbers on the fence instead of the chalk ones on the ground. However, it's quickly sorted and I'm in the right spot waiting for the start.

The previous meeting my starts were appalling and I'd since figured out that as the clutch has worn a little the feel has changed but I hadn't altered what I do to suit. I decided I'd go back to how I launched the Triumph seeing as that worked well and the CBR clutch now had a similar feel to it.

The lights come up, there's an unusually long wait for them to go out so I almost jump the start but then we're off!!

I get a fabulous start, drawing level with the guys on the row in front of me, all of whom got decent enough starts that I can't get past them. Through turn 1 and I'm not far behind them but not close enough to take them on the inside. Because turn 1 is so slow off the start I'm actually in the correct gear for turn 2 but I don't realise it and do what I always do for turn 2, change down a gear. This slows me right down just enough that I can't fire it up the inside of Nigel Lennox at turn 4 as I'd been planning to so I claw back some ground and have a go into turn 5. However, I still wasn't close enough and he dives across my nose to prevent the pass. Fair enough as I wasn't far enough forward.

This causes me to lose drive out of turn 5 so Nigel pulls a good gap and then he slowly pulls away for another lap until I'm slowly pulling him back, but it's nowhere near fast enough to make a difference to the results. On the second to last lap Neil Slater sticks a wheel up the inside of me at turn 4, so late and so close I stand it up to avoid a collision. I manage to stay in front of him and that's the kick in the pants I needed to get moving, dropping 1.3 seconds on the last lap.

Up until Neil tried that I felt like I was at a track day, some faster bikes in front that I was chasing and only the vaguest notion that there should be people back behind me somewhere but I don't know how far back.

Wandering around after race 1 I saw Nigel was turning his rear tyre around, which gave me a bit of hope for race 2 that he's having grip problems.

Race 2 the start was almost identical to the first one except this time I knew I was already in the correct gear for turn 2. Most of the race I spent chasing Nigel when, on the second to last lap coming out of turn 5, he suddenly looked down and seemed to slow as I pulled back 50m on him. Turn 6 he still had good speed but up the hill I dragged back even more ground, blazing past him across the start grid and carrying lots of speed into turn 1. I then put my head down and pushed to stay in front of him, crossing the line well ahead of Nigel.

After the race I wandered over to see what had happened and he told me his bike started over-heating, causing it to cough and splutter and lose power.

Looking at the rear tyre, the right side was a mess. We'd upped the pressure by 2lbs after the first race but it looked like I needed even more air in it. I really should back off the preload and compression damping as well, the problem being that even the slightest reduction in preload will cause the bike to understeer when exiting a corner. Set up as it is I can use full throttle at the apex of a corner with my knee on the deck and the bike will simply drive hard, holding the line I want it to with heaps of grip at both ends.

After thinking about it for a while I decided not to change the preload and compression damping as I really want the ability to drive hard from the apex of the corner. I knew it was going to destroy the tyre but this would be the last race for that pair of tyres anyway and, despite the state of it, I wasn't suffering from any loss of grip at all. We did up the tyre pressure by another 2lbs though, putting it 4lbs above what I'd started the day with, which was already 3lbs higher than I'd raced on at round 3 race 2 (it was awful cos I was sliding around all over the place).

Race 3 I got an alright start, but not as good as the previous ones. Phil Munt came past me and into turn 1 I heard that the rumble of Peter's SV just to the left of my rear wheel and I knew he was going to go right around the outside. Turn 2 and Peter eases up the inside of Phil, over the top of 3 and I push around the outside of him trying to follow Peter. However, Phil has great drive out of turn 3 so I try to get up the inside at turn 4 but can't get far enough forward and dives across the front of me. Out of turns 4 & 5 are my worst as I don't have the mid-range of the other bikes so I don't get close to Phil again until after turn 1, but not close enough to pass him. I start to line him up at turn 4 but Neil Slater comes steaming up the inside of both of us looking like he's not going to make it, although somehow he does. Again, Phil pulls a bit of a gap out of turns 4 & 5 and again I catch him after turn 1. This time I make certain I'm far enough forward at turn 4 so he can't come back.

By this time Neil and Peter have both put a fair gap between us but I set off to try and catch them up. Unfortunately the gap is too big.

After eating muesli bars all day I was really keen for a steak burger and chips but the catering people had packed up and gone home already so I had to make do with a beer.

I'd like to thank:

• Michael for being my pit crew
• Gary, Tony, Eddy, Ash and the crew from Play Day on Track and the Honda guys for the great Friday
• AMCC for the great days racing
• Stefan @ DL Consulting
• Allan at Grey Street Motors
• Tony, Diane, Boaz and Eve for looking after my bike

This isn't the worst the tyre was
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Image courtesy of AMBA Photography
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