Willow Springs, Ca
06/14/96 - 06/16/96

Tech Info (06/14/96)

Tech Info (06/15/96)

Tech Info (06/16/96)

Friday 06/14/96 (Fastrack Riders Practice):

We almost didn't make it this weekend. I got home Thursday afternoon to start packing & found a broken water supply pipe for the toilet in the guest bathroom. Had three inches of standing water throughout most of the house. First calls went to the Race Team - 'Uh, I need a little help ...... ', then to Quick Dry. We pulled EVERYTHING out of the house & put it in the garage and on the patios out front. Quick Dry pulled out all the carpet, sucked up the water, and put in 20 blowers & two dehumidifiers to dry the place out. (Plug - Quick Dry did an excellent job. They showed up w/in an hour and had everything cleaned up & drying out before the sun went down. Thanks guys!)

I guess racing is really getting into my blood - I was really pissed at the situation, but more because it was screwing up my race weekend than the damage done to my home. Forget the furniture, I wanna go racing!

The alarm clock went off at 3:00am & off we went.

Since I did so lousy last month, I decided to run through Fastrack Riders' beginner's school. Of all the things I needed help with, learning the line around the track was #1 on the list. I pulled in right behind Danny Farnsworth, instructor for the class, & stuck to him like glue for two laps. By the end of the day's sessions, I'd chopped ten seconds of my time. I felt a lot more comfortable getting around the track and started setting goals to improve my times.

Line Notes:

T1
Entry on outside, across to normal apex. Exit in middle of track, holding line tight until exit speed increases.

T2
Keep building speed from exit of T1. Enter on outside of turn & cut to inside. Stay to inside through turn (single long arc). Exit turn as close to inside as can. Hold line until speed pushed further out.

T3
Enter from right third of track. Cut to inside but apex late; kiss inside of turn and drive up to inside of T4.

T4
Keep straight line into turn (from T3) to about middle of track. Make smooth arc around turn, point exit to far inside by corner worker station. Exit towards outside of T5. Keep the power on down the hill to T5.

T5
Setup to the outside of the turn, straighten up, hard on the brakes, cut to the inside. Track is torn up a bit around turn (damn cars!), keep to the inside. Exit pointing towards the outside of T6. Start the drive for T6 through T9.

T6
Enter on inside of the turn, watch going over the rise keeled over, though. Front end loves to come up here. Exit turn pointing all the way down towards the inside of T8.

T7
Take a nap, relax, this turn doesn't really exist. Keep on the gas.

T8
Keep on the inside of turn & on the gas. Start moving out to the outer edge of track when entering the straight section before T9. Look for the apex (dip) of T9.

T9
Find that apex! Straighten out over the dip & gas it down the straight. Relax.
 

Other Notes:

Use front straight & back of T6 through entrance of T8 to relax. Take the tension off the shoulders and enjoy the scenery!

Run down to T1 in sixth, keep on the gas & brake later. Shift down to fourth and make the turn - keep on the gas. Need to keep speed up through exit of T1 to entrance of T2. Slow exit from T1 = slow entrance to T2.

Experiment w/staying above the bubble for turns (leverage on the bars, more comfortable) as opposed to under the bubble (aerodynamics are great, but a bear on the arms & legs).

T1 - turn-in sequence: brake & down shift, hook right knee into tank, move butt half-off the seat to left, start turn, knee out, off brakes, gas.

T2 - work on lean angle for speed

T3 - get down in third to keep revs up for drive up into T4.

T4 - flow arc around nice & smooth

T5 - kiss outside edge & late apex to inside edge

T6 - watch lean as cresting over turn, front wheel will come up.

T8 - fast, fast, fast. Keep outside line on straight going longer for dive into T9.

Saturday 06/15/96 (WSMC Practise):

Worked in general at getting faster around the track - shaved four more seconds of my time by the end of the first session. I started to realize just how much out of shape I was by the end - my shoulder muscles were sore as hell and my thigh muscles were having spasms around T2. Guess I'll have to get out from behind a desk and start some exercising (cutting down from two packs of Marlboros a day wouldn't hurt either!).

First Session Notes:

1) Keep to outside of T1 longer & carry more speed through it.
2) Don't slow down between T1 & T2.
3) Keep a more upright riding position to take some of the strain off the shoulders.
 

Second / Third Session Notes:

Getting tired. Keep working on speed into T1 (late, hard brakes, late apex). Back on throttle through T2, power on to T3.

Learned a better line through T4 - cut a straight line from T3 to T4 like normal, spot the turn-in point in T4 as the outside edge, middle of the top of the turn. Immediately look for the inside edge of the exit of T4 and head there.

Power down through T5, kiss the far outside on the entrance, cut deep to the inside & drive through the rise over T6. Go a little bit wide on T6 to keep from going off the outside of T7. Straighten out the line from T6 to T7 to the entrance of T8.

Sunday 06/16/96 (WSMC Race Day):

The two practice sessions went well. Shaved about one-half a second off my times. Worked on late braking for T1 and the T3/4/5 notes from yesterday. Feeling much more comfortable around the top of the Omega. Need to lessen my grip on the throttle, though, as two painfull blisters formed below my first two fingers. Ouch!

The race was a blast, though it ended after only five laps. The starting procedure, though, wasn't so hot. I guess it's one of those things that rookies need to learn. We were first up after the Toyota Gold Cup race (the 'main event' at Willow). The race schedule showed a 15 minute period while they had the podium interviews. My plan was to get suited up & ready to go while the interviews were going -- at least I wasn't the only one with that plan.

LAST call for our race came as the Toyota race was on its last lap. I think the interviews lasted the entirety of our race. About six of us were missed the warm up lap & were gridded behind the rest of the starters. I had a decent start, making it through the usual knee & elbow fight of T1 in 12th place.

I was still smarting from finishing dead last last month, so I was determined not to give up any ground. I managed to keep even with the pack in front of me, and picked off a Duck on the inside of T8 on the fifth lap. The red flag dropped half-way through lap six, so I held 11th place. Hot Damn!

Bob 

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