Willow Springs, Ca
06/13/97 - 06/15/97

Event Baseline Tech Info

Event Action Plan / Goals:

Friday 06/13/97 (FasTrack Practice) - Lap Times:

Saturday 06/14/97 (WSMC Practice) - Lap Times:

Sunday 06/15/97 (WSMC Race Day) - Lap Times:

Friday 06/13/97 (FasTrack Riders Practice) - Notes:

This month Steve & I got our butts out of bed and were on the road by 4:00am. This weekend was Steve's first race event and he was amped. It rained off and on all the way to the track, but the rain stopped as we crested the mountains into the Antelope Valley. The wind, however, was another story. My first practice session saw 25mph gusts with an air temperature of only 65f - it was cold.

The track had been shaved & repaved in the rough areas around T3, T4, and T5. Some areas were as smooth as glass, but there was a lot of dirt on the top of T4.

I used the first session to play with some lines in T3 and T6. For T3 I tried entrances from inside, outside, and the middle to get some alternate lines to use during a race. For T6 I entered way over to the left and cut across the track to the right as I came over the rise. I didn't cut it sharp enough the first time using this line and found myself in tank-slap city. The left side of the track is off camber to the left, the bike is coming up from being keeled over to the right and you're getting on the gas.

The recurring headshake problem in T8 was the worst its ever been. The head-wind was blowing hard enough to push my right knee back and tried to spin me off the back of the bike. The natural reaction is to grab the bars at this point, which puts the whole bike out of whack. Loosen up on the bars and you're sliding off the bike again. I thought a lot about this problem after the first session and decided to try keeping my knee closer to the bike by pushing it forward and down instead of out, supporting my weight more with my calf instead of my thigh.

That helped a helluva lot. I also kept my body tucked and low alongside the bike, as opposed to being over the tank. My knee went down to the pavement through most of T8 and T9, though it was probably because I was pushing it down there instead of leaning the bike over farther. The head-shake wasn't as bad and I felt 100% more comfortable.

Steve (sel@aramel.com) made his debut in the FasTrack New Riders school for the next session. Of all the things that Danny Farnsworth was going to teach him today, I told him that the learning the line around the track was the most important. He was to stick to Danny's butt like glue - he did and cranked out a 1.47.21 in his first session. Steve has hands-down the most riding experience and is the most natural talent of anyone in the family. I knew he'd make some great strides in the next three days and he didn't disappoint me (hell, he almost embarrassed me!). Other than not spending a lot of time on a track before, his biggest handicap was not having much saddle time on a sport bike. He's spent the last five years riding a Kawasaki 750 Vulcan and a Honda Shadow 1100 - you don't worry too much about being in the right gear on those sleds, just give it more gas and it'll get moving.

An in-line-four sport bike is a totally different creature. The powerband is up in the high end of the rpm range and you have to keep the motor in that range to get any real power. Steve is accustomed to shifting his Shadow the 5-6k rpm range. The F2 comes into it's powerband at about 10k and sings all the way up to redline at 13.5k. Keeping it in the powerband means selecting the right gear before entering a turn to give the maximum drive out. We spent a lot of time during the next three days going over shift points and gear selection and his times kept coming down.

Saturday 06/14/97 (WSMC Practice) - Notes:

Saturday went pretty much like Friday. I put in three or four sessions during the day and Steve went back to school. The wind continued to blow all day (10-15mph), but at least it warmed up a bit.

I continued to work on my line through T6. A major change came when I tried shifting into 4th as I crested the ridge, instead of short-shifting before reaching the top. This let me stay on the gas all the way to the top of the hill in 3rd, back off as I crested and shifted, then back on the gas in 4th down the back side. The front end was more planted coming over the top and as long as I stayed away from the left side of the track I was fine. The faster drive up and over T6 increased my final speed coming into T8 on the back straight. I've been running full throttle through there for the past couple of months - now I'm closer to the powerband and really accelerating through there.

One other area I worked on was my speed through T1. I pushed my braking marker deeper into the entrance and shot for an exit speed at 11k (was usually 10k). This put me into a fatter part of the powerband and gave me a better drive down to T2. I had to move my entrance line to the right of T1 a bit to keep from running too wide on the exit. I still need to work on waiting a little longer before cranking it over and make a later apex.

I think I've resolved the headshake in the wind problem in T8. On one of the laps around during the day I was late getting set up to turn into T8 and just stayed tucked in tight on the bike without hanging off. Viola! The head shake was still there, but it was so minor as to be a nuisance rather than a limiting factor. I stayed tucked in until just before diving in for T9. It doesn't look as cool running through T8 with nothing dragging, but it works! With nothing hanging out in the breeze for the wind to get a hold of, I'm not being pushed off the back of the bike. Sitting up on the bike lets me hang on to the tank with my knees and keep a loose grip on the bars. I guess Morris at Computrack had it right (is it the bike or the rider?). Give the man a star.

Steve was getting more comfortable on the track as the day progressed. He was a little frustrated at the end of his second session, though, because he'd only bettered his time of yesterday by one second. I asked him what rpm he was running as he exited T9 and he said about 7k. 7k? What gear? 6th. Man, I gotta get him off that Shadow! I told him to go out in the next session and downshift into 4th before entering T9 and see what that would do. He dropped three seconds off his time! That's it, I'm not giving him any more advice.

Steve finished the day as all new riders do with practice race starts. We didn't have a chance to get any pre-practice runs in on our favorite deserted road, so I advised him to just run fast street starts - no revving before letting out the clutch, just drop the clutch, gun it and keep the front end down. He was consistently off the line ahead of everyone else. On his second start he led the pack through T1.

Part of his quick starts was his reaction time to the starter. The starter holds the green flag down low, brings it up over his head and back down. I told Steve to watch for the flag to twitch before the up-swing and go.

The other part was just raw talent. The kid is gonna be good!

We had a few problems with the bike during the day. The needle snapped off on the Auto Meter tach (again). I pulled the TupperTach out of the spare parts box and hooked it up. I think the vibration of the motor is getting at the tach and causing the problem. Michael Martinez runs one on his F2 and he's been fine for 18 months. His mount is a lot looser than mine and allows the tach to move around more. I'll try that when I get the tach fixed.

The sending unit for the Yoshimura temperature gauge is went bonkers (again). This is only the second month for the unit and I'm getting pissed. The old Daytona gauge may have only read to 100c, but it ran all last year without a problem. I'll see what Yosh has to say when we get back home.

On the plus side, Rob Daugherty (#516), who attended the New Racer's school with Steve, stopped by the pits and actually admitted to reading the ramblings that I've been posting here these past 13 months. Thanks for the kind words, Rob.

Sunday 06/15/97 (WSMC Race Day) - Notes:

Sunday was the best weather I've ever experienced at Willow. Almost no wind, just a slight breeze to keep things cool. The temps never got above 95f.

All my starts were crap!!! I was gridded 10/19/20 and lost the pack by the entrance to T3. I got off the line fine in each race, but ended up behind the traffic jam into T1.

The Pepsi 600 Mod Prod race was my best of the day. I picked off seven riders by the time the checkers flew (yep, I was second to last for the first lap!). I'm pretty decent in the T3 to T5 area and used that to close the gap, then the last two days practice over T6 paid off as I got great drives down the back straight and pulled most of my passes between T7 and T8.

My runs through T8 and T9 were very good. I picked up about 1K coming into and out of T9 by staying tucking in on the bike and running a real wide line through T9. It got spooky the first few times coming through T9 that fast as the front end was pushing and sliding towards the dirt.

The extra speed through T9 and the drive out gave me a new speed advantage on the front straight. The shifts were coming faster and I passed a couple of guys by the start/finish line.

I got a marginally better start for the Graves Motor Sports 650 Superbike race, though a lot less passing opportunities. Most of the race was spent slowly closing the gap on the guy in front of me. He was pretty good, especially in T2, but I knew I could take him on the back straight. I paced him for what I thought was the last lap, took him on the back straight, and hauled ass for the start/finish. Wait a minute - what's that white flag all about. That wasn't the last lap, one more still to go. Damn, here comes T2. I kept the steam on and never saw the guy again. Whew!

My last race of the day, the Viewpoint Photography / Honda Challenge 600 Super Stock, was pretty much a replay of the second race. Crappy start, one paced pass. The first lap saw a rider go straight off of T9, heading for the wall. I had diced with the guy in practice and he was pretty good - I hoped as I rode by that he'd lay the bike down and not smack the wall. Man was I surprised (and pissed!) when he stuffed me in T3 on the last lap. Watching the video of the race later that night, I saw that not only did he not hit the wall, he kept the bike upright and got back on the track with about the full front straight separating him from the last place racer. It took him the entire race to catch me, but he did it. I was surprised, pissed and impressed!

Steve's first Novice race was excellent! Not only did he run the first full lap in third place, but he broke into the 1.38s. His start was great, coming off the third row into third place by T1 and held that for the first lap. He started fading a bit by the third lap and eventually finished in sixth, but it was a fantastic effort for his first race.

It was a great weekend! I squeezed an extra second off my lap times and Steve blazed to a best of 1.38.93. I'm really looking forward to the next few months as he gets over the learning curve of riding a crotch-rocket and his talent starts to take over. You heard it here first - next month will see a top five finish, a top three in the next two months, and they'll be kicking his butt out of Novice by the end of the summer. Guess I better start working on the other bike, eh?

Bob.

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