WSMC / Willow Springs International Raceway
09/18 - 09/20/98

Event Baseline Tech Info

Race Times / Results:

Notes:

We were looking forward to getting back on the track after a long five weeks off. Even with all that time off, though, our ex-painter finished up Steve's new bodywork two hours after we were supposed to hit the road - after having it in his shop for almost four weeks!

GMD Computrack LA had rebuilt the forks and shocks on both bikes, including some new trick parts and procedures in the process. We knew we'd be spending a lot of time dialing in the suspension this weekend. We got it to about 90% by Sunday's races.

We set the suspension up close to our usual Willow settings for Friday morning. The shock rebound was backed off quite from usual because the range of adjustment changed radically with the new progressive jet.

Everything felt too stiff and harsh, which makes sense when you consider that the suspension was past due for a rebuild to begin with. We'd been stiffening up the settings for the last couple of races. We both  felt like we were going to fall off out in T8. Steve was also having front end chatter / wash problems in T8. I was getting way front light coming off T2, T6, and T9.

We re-set the suspension to the as-delivered-from-Computrack settings (except rear rebound) and went out for the next session:

Yep - as I suspected would be the case, it was way too soft, but it gave us a starting point to build from. We reset the suspension to a mid-point between the too firm and too soft settings:

We radically backed off the rear rebound because it was still too slow - we could see it by compressing the rear-end in the pits. At the original settings of 14/16, it was taking two seconds to top out. Changing to 21 / max changed that to about one second. These settings felt much closer, though Steve still wasn't getting as planted in T8 as he'd like. My fast settings felt pretty good, but the slow compression was still a bit soft, especially in T4. I changed slow compression to 6 / max and fast compression to 11 / max to compensate for the relationship between slow and fast circuits in the Penske shock. We left Steve's settings alone to make sure it was the bike and not him.

My bike still pogoed in T4 and a bit in T1. I added one click of slow compression. I still had the problem in the next session, so I added one more click of slow and waited for the first session on Saturday to check it out.

Steve's front end still wanted to wash out out in T8 come Saturday's first practice session. I backed off the rear slow compression to make sure the rear wasn't packing down too much. My bike was still pogoing, so I added one click of slow and backed off one click of fast compression. The front end felt like it was rebounding too quickly, so I added on click there too. I was running 1.29 / .30 lap times, Steve was in the 1.31 / .32's.

Steve's front end problem was still there, so we raised the rear ride height from 8.75mm to 11mm (one rotation of the lower shock body). This put his ride height equal to mine. My suspension was too harsh after the last round of adjustments, so I put it back to where it was the last session.

Steve's front end felt better in the next session - about 90% there. Moving the weight to the front made the rear end harsher. I took one click off both rebound and slow compression to deal with this.

We had fried our tires by the end of the third session on Saturday, so we lost a couple of sessions mounting another set of practice skins. Steve took the old set to Sport Tire Services to get new tires mounted for Sunday's races. Unfortunately, we didn't discover until late Saturday night that we received someone else's rear rims back. Steve's fit fine - mine was another matter.

I'm not sure if it was an F1 rim or what, but the dust seal on the right side was too small for my wheel spacer. The finish on the spokes had a rough cast-type finish instead of the usual F2 smooth finish. The rim itself was the same size, so it wasn't an F3 rim, which is wider by 0.5 inches.

We checked with STS Sunday morning to see if anyone had brought back F2 rims, but no one had. I used a razor blade to cut the lip off the seal on the 'new' rim and ran with it. We'll have Charlie at CBR Bearing set up a new seal before our next race.

The weather for the weekend was much cooler than the last two out at Willow. Afternoon temperatures stayed around 85 - 87f. The humidity was gone, so the air density stayed about the same during the afternoon. We ran with the same jets as our last outing.

Steve and I got in a lot of practice laps on Friday and Saturday, but we didn't get the suspension 100% dialed in. We knew we'd be a bit slower than usual for the races Sunday, but that's how it goes.

Sunday was WINDY! Definitely one of the windier days we've experienced at Willow. By the time we went out to race it was blowing a steady 25 - 30mph. At least it was a steady blow - no gusting to catch you by surprise. It was blowing hard enough to move you across the track coming down the front straight. Coming through the apex of T1 you were met with a hard blast that wanted to push you off the track. T5 was treacherous as the wind would push you down from the right as you were starting to turn to the left. The back straight was great, though. The tail wind through T8 had me pulling higher revs than I've ever run through there.

I got a great start in the Graves Motor Sports / Bert's Motorcycle Mall 650 Super Bike race, running in the top ten for most of the race. Alone, but up there. A pass late in the race relegated me to 11th place, Steve finished on my heels in 12th.

The Tom Sera Racing / XYZ Clothing Formula II GP race got off at about 2:00. Another excellent start. I was holding my own in the top ten, fighting off those pesky two-strokers when one of them fell on the track in T5, bringing out a red flag. We lined up for an eight-lap restart.

Every now and then my brain turns itself off without telling me. The restart of the F2 race was one of those times. I got a good jump off the line, but couldn't get the bike out of first gear. I kept tapping down on the shifter, while the motor bounced off the rev-limiter, all the way into T1. My brain came back to life and I hooked my foot under the shifter and pulled it into second gear. I'm sure the crowd in the stands around T1 could hear me swearing inside my helmet all the way to T2.

I had lost two-thirds of the pack by T2 and ran those eight laps all by my lonesome. Steve, on the other hand, had a great race. Even though we finished 16th / 17th, his pack was half a track ahead of me and he diced it up with Bob Cole and Tony Silvera for most of the race. The benchracing afterwards was particularly intense. I'm glad Steve had a good run but was embarrassed that I pulled such a boner - especially since I had to re-tell the story every time someone came up and asked what happened.

Our race lap times are a bit spotty as the MyChron system was a bit confused with three other transmitters sitting on the front straight wall. The wind and our less then 100% suspension setups slowed us down quite a bit, so maybe it's OK that we didn't get many lap times!

Joe Davidson made one last WSMC appearance this weekend. He made a quick run to Atlanta in a U-Haul to drop off his worldly goods, but had to come back for his motorhome. Tony Silvera lent him his F3 for the Formula II race. Both Joe and Tony surprised and amused paddock with new hair colors. Tony went for a neon purple, while Joe resembled Alfred E Neuman with his shocking red flame job.

Congratulations are in order for Tony on his excellent run in the WSMC 'Saturday Night Special' Solo GTU series. Tony ran all five of the grueling 50 mile races and finished third overall. Contrats also to Marty Cookse for his lock-down of the 1998 All California 550 Super Bike championship. Way to go guys!

Next round - AMA action in Las Vegas October 2 - 4.

Bob.

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