[Zippy]

Well, on the cold track and cold (45-50 degree) day, the Dunlop 208 GP A's sucked. They were nice when they warmed up, but they were slow to warm. Three Road America laps before they were ready. They have beautifull slide characteristicts. I think they would be good if you had tire warmers and a warmer day, they would be nice. Road America has so much room between corners that it lets the tires cool off too much. Another thing I noticed was that the bike was wiggling at very high speed on the back straight. This straight is actually a huge curve leading into Canada Corner (turn 12). On BT010's, it was pretty stable, but the Dunlops profile made it wiggle. That was a little disconcerting at 140+. I did not like that. I usually backed off there because of it. Granted, the new gearing made the section even faster than before.

I prefer the Rennsports by a wide margin for their quicker warm up. I like the turn in stability and the high speed stability better that the Dunlops.

The new (15 tooth) gearing was a real improvement. She pulled hard all the way down the front straight. It was a very windy day, and the wind, coupled with the increased pull from the gearing, made it darn hard to hang on! In the very first session of the day, I was thinking about how tired my hands were from hanging on. I want to add a seat back cushion to keep me spaced forward on the seat.

I have added a bucket style camera mount inside the front of my Sharkskinz track fairing. I tried it at Blackhawk last weekend. The picture quality of my Sony TVR19 miniDV camera was good. The aim of the camera was bad, and all I got were great shots of the pavement.

For Road America, I made adjustments in the angle of the mount...

The camera angle was not pointing at the ground this time. It was pointing at the sky!! All I got was shots of tree tops, and the bridges I was passing under. I have been working this weekend on making a better mounting system. I am using expanding insulation foam inside my bucket mount to positively locate the camera. Next time should work much better! This time, I hooked up my laptop so I could see what the camera saw as I was aiming it.

I will have to add a picture of my homebrewed mounting system soon.

The average of my best twenty lap times at Blackhawk ( a two mile track) were about .5 seconds faster than my twenty best of last year. I am happy with that, especially after not even riding a motorcycle for the last 6 months. For Road America (a four mile track), my twenty best lap times were about 1.8 seconds faster than my best of last year. So, a good start for the year so far. I intend to make a lot of progress this year.

A friend that I know from the track, Brian, had an amazing incident. He was riding his GXSR1000. He looped it on the crest of the hill on the front straight of Road America. He would have been going 130 to 140 at that spot. His front wheel caught air, and he was unable to bring it back down. On my bike, I can pretty much keep it pinned, when I have the guts, and the front wheel will rise and drop back. On his bike, which has probably 20 to 25 or more horsepower than mine, I am sure you cannot just keep it pinned.

Anyway, he slid on his back until his leathers burned through. Then he felt the burning and rolled over, so he started tumbleling. He was walking around afterwards. We were all amazed that he survived it without major personal damage. He had a small burn on his palm. Later, he discovered that he had burns on his behind, and a sprained ankle. After 20 minutes or so, he did go and see medical, where they cleaned the leather out of his butt skin. He is doing ok. His bike had sliders on everything, bar ends, swingarm, frame, cases, and they took the vast majority of the damage on the bike's left side. His solid mounted foot peg was ground down to about one and a half inches long. The bike has a wrecked subframe, but otherwise, it came through as well as he did. The frame doesn't look like it even hit the ground, thanks to all the sliders and the solid mount pegs.

This Brian fellow is one lucky guy. We were all so glad that he didn't get badly damaged!

Met a bunch of my old track friends as well as some great new ones. My friend Jessie brought his new used RC51 to Road America. He tossed his Honda F4i at Blackhawk in the carousel (turn 3) at the last session of last year. This year, he tossed the RC51 in turn 6 at Road America. He is a bit faster than me, but a bit hairier too. He is more the hare, and I am more the tortoise. But a little more practice on my part, and patience will probably prevail, as I continue to improve each time out. He's a great guy, and didn't get very hurt either time. Sorry about his bike though.

[phozed]

I heard about your friend's crash - sounded nasty and I'm glad he's OK! Glad the weather held out for you (hey at least it was dry ) - the CCS guys weren't so lucky.

[Zippy]

It was dry, but very windy. The wind made it more taxing to ride.

So, how were the CCS races? I never did make it down to work the corners.

[dirkmc1]

[quote=Zippy]Well, on the cold track and cold (45-50 degree) day, the Dunlop 208 GP A's sucked. They were nice when they warmed up, but they were slow to warm. Three Road America laps before they were ready. They have beautifull slide characteristicts. I think they would be good if you had tire warmers and a warmer day, they would be nice. Road America has so much room between corners that it lets the tires cool off too much. Another thing I noticed was that the bike was wiggling at very high speed on the back straight. This straight is actually a huge curve leading into Canada Corner (turn 12). On BT010's, it was pretty stable, but the Dunlops profile made it wiggle. That was a little disconcerting at 140+. I did not like that. I usually backed off there because of it. Granted, the new gearing made the section even faster than before.

The 208GP A front has a very pointy profile. On RA the high straightaway speeds really bring out the inherent instability. A rounder front profile will really add to the stability but will sacrifice front stability at heave lean.

The new (15 tooth) gearing was a real improvement. She pulled hard all the way down the front straight. It was a very windy day, and the wind, coupled with the increased pull from the gearing, made it darn hard to hang on! In the very first session of the day, I was thinking about how tired my hands were from hanging on. I want to add a seat back cushion to keep me spaced forward on the seat.

Kinda nice having the extra umph huh!


A friend that I know from the track, Brian, had an amazing incident. He was riding his GXSR1000. He looped it on the crest of the hill on the front straight of Road America. He would have been going 130 to 140 at that spot. His front wheel caught air, and he was unable to bring it back down. On my bike, I can pretty much keep it pinned, when I have the guts, and the front wheel will rise and drop back. On his bike, which has probably 20 to 25 or more horsepower than mine, I am sure you cannot just keep it pinned.

Anyway, he slid on his back until his leathers burned through. Then he felt the burning and rolled over, so he started tumbleling. He was walking around afterwards. We were all amazed that he survived it without major personal damage. He had a small burn on his palm. Later, he discovered that he had burns on his behind, and a sprained ankle. After 20 minutes or so, he did go and see medical, where they cleaned the leather out of his butt skin. He is doing ok. His bike had sliders on everything, bar ends, swingarm, frame, cases, and they took the vast majority of the damage on the bike's left side. His solid mounted foot peg was ground down to about one and a half inches long. The bike has a wrecked subframe, but otherwise, it came through as well as he did. The frame doesn't look like it even hit the ground, thanks to all the sliders and the solid mount pegs.

This Brian fellow is one lucky guy. We were all so glad that he didn't get badly damaged!
QUOTE]

VERY lucky indeed....His bike ended up nearly 400 feet away from him on the front straight..it looked REALLY bad at first. ....PS....nice last session with you!! and great to see you again!

[Zippy]

Oh yes, that last session was really great. I did my best time of the day during that one. We were in a fast group and the competitive spirit came out! It kicked butt.