What a nightmare...but at least I drove away.
Practice 1: Scrubbing in cold, new race tyres. Felt bloody awful. Came off and heard that others seemed to be feeling a lack of grip. Sweet.
Practice 2: Feeling a smidge better.
F1 race 1: Got a shocking start, was shy on the gas for some reason (probably 'cos I didn't know where the green flag was gonna be and hadn't gotten any revs up). Let the clutch out at 5k rpm, and unsurprisingly was near enough to last off the line and in to Turn 1. Started feeling better as it went on, still no stability on the brakes and on turn in. Getting in to the groove by about lap 2 or 3 when suddenly there's no power and a whole lot more weight on the front wheel than I was expecting. I stood the bike up instantly thinking that it had cut out on me, and was in the pitlane entrance when I realised it had just popped out of second gear in to a false neutral. Gave up on that one.
F2 Race 1: Another shit start (quite disappointed as I'd gotten better at Puke last weekend). Feeling better as the race progressed, then on lap 3, in the same place, the bike popped out of gear again. Same reaction from me, and by the time I'd got my shit together was in the pitlane entrance again. Didn't feel like doing a u-turn. Another DNF.
F1 Race 2: Got a decent start from the 4th or 5th row this time (never did find out where I was meant to be starting). Was around 10th out of the first corner. Everything going relatively ok until I came out of the sweeper pretty hot in 4th gear (200+ kmh). I hadn't come out of it that quick, so I decided to be prudent and brake early for the chicane. Bloody good thing I thought too, as the lever came back to the bar. I pulsed them a bit incase the little slaps out of the left hander before the sweeper had messed with the pistons, but no more stopping power was to be found, so I jammed them and headed for the tyre wall. Didn't hit too hard, just a few bruises on my palm and forearm.
Picked the bike up, got it started and went back to the pits. Even cooled down, the lever was still back to the bar with little effort. I cursed myself for not changing the fluid before this meet. I know I shouldn't have to, but I've had problems with these brakes all along, and after a good showing at Puke, I thought they were sweet now. Slackness on my part.
Poos came along to inspect the carnage, and point out how shit the brakes were still. After looking at how much fork travel I was using, he recommended a 1/4 turn of compression damping. I took his advice and gave it a 1/2 turn on each leg, still thinking that it wouldn't make much difference. Shit was I wrong.
F2 Race 2: Missed this one while changing the brake fluid. The lever still hit the bar, but it was a lot firmer than before.
F1 Race 3: I went out for the warm up lap and was instantly shocked at the difference to braking and turn in that the 1/2 turn of compression dampening had made. At first I thought I was just imagining it, but a few more corners confirmed it. I positioned myself at the very back of the grid, thinking that I'd wait a few seconds after everyone else started and just circulate by myself, since I'd just binned the bike and wasn't so confident of the brakes. The green flag went down and it took me about 2 seconds to change my mind about circulating at the back. I gave the throttle a handful and eased the clutch out really quickly and had the front wheel a few inches off the ground through first and a little bit in second. I cut down the outside of a few in to turn 1, revelling in how much better the bike was braking with that extra compression dampening in the forks, and turned in smoother than I had been able to all day. I found myself somewhere around 12th I'd estimate, behind a motard, and thought that I'd just stay behind him and get used to things for a while...a couple of corners later I decided $%^& that, I'm gonna go for it, and took him on the outside of the sweeper (I'm a little fickle at times). Braking for the chicane, 4th down to 3rd, 3rd down to...3rd down to...where the bloody hell are ya 2nd gear? Turned it anyway, and (kinda) powered out in 3rd with 7k rpm on the clock. I used only 3rd and 4th for a couple of laps, until I realised that I could actually change to 2nd, just not after changing down to 3rd. I haven't had time to straighten it yet, but I think that the gear linkage was rubbing on the frame after the crash, and the selector wasn't returning back to the middle after a downshift.
F2 Race 3: Got a pretty good start from the 5th row. Wound up in about 11th for the first turn. Still had to use 3rd gear out of some of the 2nd gear corners. Couldn't quite past some red bike that was following Jill. Made a mistake and then fell back a little. Was pretty frustrated by this stage so just stayed there and took the hiding.
Overall, a shit day. Pretty much nothing went right. The only saving grace was the suspension tweak, which gave me a little hope for a brighter future with this bike. Cheers heaps for that PoosDuties before next AMCC round are obviously to fix the brakes, pray that the gearbox doesn't need major work, set the sag on the suspension for me so I can start working from the right point, and learn to ride.
Highlight of the day would probably have to be following Death and watching as he did the rodeo thing on the back of a (fast) whale. Nice save
Cheers to everyone who was there for being good company, especially my Dad who came to help out, glad you enjoyed it more than me. Congrats Jono on winning F1.
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Originally Posted by kiwifruit
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