A lap of Taupo

**sharky** · 26th March 2009, 23:23

Anyone care to post a lap of Taupo (Track 1) through 'their eyes' for the Rookies in anticipation of the upcoming PMCC R3? Tony O'K did one for Manfield a couple of months back and it was a bloody great help.
Cheers.

**Benk** · 27th March 2009, 08:06

Full throttle round turn 1, keep it pinned into turn 2...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyp5nSgD21k

**svr** · 27th March 2009, 11:31

Easy - in the first practice just follow the fastest person in your class for as long as you can. Repeat for the rest of the day or until you can pass that rider.
Seriously - I've seen plenty of international quality riders learn a track the same way, and then win.

**neil_cb125t** · 27th March 2009, 14:37

hey sharky,

ill be there at PMCC on my zxr"400", i really like taupo and have done a 1;45 there. ill be trying out my new WAY DIFF Slicks 120/80/16 front WTF?? up there so will be taking it easy at the start of the day. come say hi can give u some pointers.

**scuzeme** · 27th March 2009, 14:55

this was last weekend.
I too have lowsided at turn two shes a bitch that bites that little corner.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Tw89YtCya4

**FROSTY:Me** · 27th March 2009, 17:52

come down for the open trackday end of this month--theres gonna be a few guys can lead ya round the place.
Taupo's a tadd more complicated than The Minefeild helped by the elevation changes.
If you look at a map of the place you'll see T1 is a nice hairpin at end of the start finish,--KInda like coke at minfeild only the other way.
But the track drops away there only a total of 3.0m but it maked T2 (an easy looking right) very interesting on cold tyres. T3 again is an easy lookin left but you have to get good drive out to arrive at T4 fast.
T4 is funny because its a suprisingly wide corner and finding the best apex can be interesting.

**svr** · 27th March 2009, 19:20

Originally Posted by neil_cb125t

hey sharky,

ill be there at PMCC on my zxr"400", i really like taupo and have done a 1;45 there. ill be trying out my new WAY DIFF Slicks 120/80/16 front WTF?? up there so will be taking it easy at the start of the day. come say hi can give u some pointers.

400 my arse!
I'll be there too - so that makes 3 at least. We'll have a race aye? Best way to sort those pesky lines out!

**sharky** · 27th March 2009, 21:04

Originally Posted by neil_cb125t

hey sharky,

ill be there at PMCC on my zxr"400", i really like taupo and have done a 1;45 there. ill be trying out my new WAY DIFF Slicks 120/80/16 front WTF?? up there so will be taking it easy at the start of the day. come say hi can give u some pointers.

Cheers mate, will do. See you there.

**sharky** · 27th March 2009, 21:08

Originally Posted by FROSTY

come down for the open trackday end of this month--theres gonna be a few guys can lead ya round the place.
Taupo's a tadd more complicated than The Minefeild helped by the elevation changes.
If you look at a map of the place you'll see T1 is a nice hairpin at end of the start finish,--KInda like coke at minfeild only the other way.
But the track drops away there only a total of 3.0m but it maked T2 (an easy looking right) very interesting on cold tyres. T3 again is an easy lookin left but you have to get good drive out to arrive at T4 fast.
T4 is funny because its a suprisingly wide corner and finding the best apex can be interesting.

You're on the right track, now can you please continue for T5-17 (or whatever)

Yeah I would have been keen on your trackday Frosty but I had already signed up for the KiwiTrackDays one on the Saturday - next time eh?
I have been around there once before a while back, just looking for a bit more insight.

**Tony.OK** · 27th March 2009, 21:22

Was up there today.......................horrible!

The tracks been patched up for the A1gp, and someones made a right cockup of a job.
They've used some from of resin to cover the joins where the rapairs were done, unfortunately its on most corners about a foot away from the apex paint.
In the morning it may as well be glass, bloody slippery. Not too bad once the suns been out for a while, but not confidence inspiring.
Apparently it will be fixed in 3-4 weeks.

So just take it easy till you've sussed your lines out, alot of bikes went down today.

**scuzeme** · 27th March 2009, 21:54

Originally Posted by Tony.OK

Was up there today.......................horrible!

The tracks been patched up for the A1gp, and someones made a right cockup of a job.
They've used some from of resin to cover the joins where the rapairs were done, unfortunately its on most corners about a foot away from the apex paint.
In the morning it may as well be glass, bloody slippery. Not too bad once the suns been out for a while, but not confidence inspiring.
Apparently it will be fixed in 3-4 weeks.

So just take it easy till you've sussed your lines out, alot of bikes went down today.

Im in the roading industry i cant believe the repairs have not taken into account two wheelers, that stuff round the outside of the repairs is called emulsion and its used to waterproof the repair cuts same as on a normal road.
Its not hard to laydown a fine grit mix in the the emulsion i think someone needs to be taken to task over this its ignorance or arrogance or both.
How many bikes went down today Tony? was it more the temperature of the track or can you attribute it directly to the resin?

**discotex** · 27th March 2009, 21:59

I know you're really after a racers perspective but after 250-odd trackday laps I might have a vaguely helpful perspective. And to be honest I enjoyed writing it up to think about what I do.

T1 is longer than you expect. Don't be fooled into apexing early but don't square it off too much either.

I love T2... But then I throw it to make the entrance to T3 work.

T4 is great fun unless you go wide as it goes off camber so I take special care to apex accurately every lap.

A short blast down the slight hill then on the picks for the >90deg right-hander T5. Run it out wide but make sure someone doesn't slip up the inside before you apex T6 on your way to the braking zone of T7.

There's a bunch of lines through T7 which cambers in nicely. Don't apex too early or you'll lose drive on the high speed T8. You'll want to stay to the left on the exit to setup for T9.

T9 I always feel I could have gone faster and it makes a massive difference to your speed through the short straight and T10 which is just a formality on the way to T11.

For T11 just follow someone fast and pick up their line. I only finally nailed regularly last time out after finding some reference points on the track when following Craig and Fred at the HRC day.

Then it's the sprint down to the straight to the chicane combo of T12/13/14 and back onto the start finish straight. Don't start out too wide on the entrance of T12 or you'll have to come back further for T13. Watch the seal repairs on T14 that's the worst of all of them.

**CHOPPA** · 28th March 2009, 19:18

Leong posted this one up from last year its got a whole race

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEM2wf3lGtA

**driftn** · 31st March 2009, 07:02

Originally Posted by CHOPPA

Leong posted this one up from last year its got a whole race

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEM2wf3lGtA

Thats my big fat ass wobling around in front of him for the first half of the lap.
My first time at Taupo. Gave him a hiding the next time though. Actually the first round you did I think chop ya bloody burgler.