The TD was good. I did what i went there to do, so
Mission Accomplished.
Thursday:
Left Wisconsin around 11am bike and trailer in tow:
Picked up Ken's GSX1000R loaded up and hit the CB around 7. ate breakfast (worst Biscuts and gravy i've ever had) and took off around 9. Ken drove until 6a or so, which put us in KY or GA, and i drove the rest of the way. the weather going into GA was crazy! The wind and the rain and the people in the ditches! It was all just insanity! but as we neared the FL/GA line it broke up and was just a light rain, which turned off as we got to Jennings around 3p. Then it was just windy and cold.
Friday night: As soon as we got there we paid the $5 gate fee, signed our lives away, rolled into our pit stall, and started setting up. first things first. the bikes. Well i should say BIKE as Ken didn't want to unload his until morning. something about leaving the bike outdoors... i just shrugged. whatev. so up went the ez-up (which is not always easy) opened the trailer. i unlocked and unloaded my CBR, put it on stands, and set to work on the chain and grips. The chain i didn't get pix or anything... but the grip install...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc_41VgQeRMGood times! After that we took some more photos:
Ken in the Blue Jacket, Kegger on the Right, and Deemo on the left. The CBR on the left is Shelly's
Two Triumphs and a RC51 we had as neighbors. Their owners we called them
The Russian Mafia. An Israeli/Russian group that moved to Chicago that just started doing track days.
The name of our "race" team... yeah. Ur Mom...!
Saturday:
Saturday morning was embarassing for me, personally. I signed up for Intermediate group and was being passed left and right. First of all, i've never been to the track, so i needed to learn it and when it comes to learning curves (I see what i did there...) jennings is pretty steep. There's a mix of everything. The front section (T1 through 3) is a series of incredibly fast left hand corners that you take flat out leaned over ripping through gears. T4 & T5 you don't pay attention to, you're supposed to go straight through them while breaking and downshifting for T6, which is a late apex left hander. T6 has a short straight so not a lot to be gained but T7 is a early apex right and sets up T8, which is again a late apex left... and the entire outside of 8 is a no man's land. cuts and groves, patches and splotches, bumps and debris EVERYWHERE. You do not want to screw up 8 and go wide. if done right, it sets up T9 well which is a normal right turn corner as is 10 BUT 10 follows into 11 and the combination of the two is an Increasing radius left hand turn which ends sharply so there's a good chance to lay on the power early if executed well. T11-12 is another fast (but shorter) series of left turn full throttle corners. 13 is a easy and wide right which should be taken just a little late and a little wide (by about 5ft away from apex) because you need to roll throttle for 14 so it slingshots you to the left and onto Start/Finish straight.
T1-4 Section 1
T5-8 Section 2
T9-13 Section 3
where i ultimately found my best area of improvement is the 7-10 turns. it's about rhythm there and i just couldn't find it. time on that track would give it to me certainly. Most of my Sat. was stuck at learning the rhythm and speed of the track and i did get better as the day progressed. in the morning i was being passed left and right. in the evening i was keeping a better pace and getting passed less often. i see that as a sign of improvement. Lap times are unknown. if i were to give a rough figure, i'd say SLOOOOOWWWW.
photos:
Holy hell there are a lot of people here today...!
First thing's first... gotta be official. Put the UR Mom RACING, the Bazzaz Performance, and the Sidi stickers on the bike
Playing nice i see...
Stephan broke a chain on his brand new Ducati 1098 (which i almost ran over on track), which busted a tooth on the sprocket, which broke the case, which broke the transmission... SO he needed some consolation by Dr. Jägermister.
Chain Carnage
Sproket Carnage
Case Carnage and 'The Fix' for the Duc before the sad realization hit.
Sunday: Not many photos, less people passed me, and by evening i wasn't getting passed at all. i did pass one or two people but they might have been novice bumps as they were looking like me on Sat. morning. best of luck to them! Looking at some of the photos that were taken of me on track i don't have my form back. i need to work on that, and soon. my arms appear stiff and my torso isn't off center line. the arm felt ok, but i wonder if it was a subconscience thing knowing it wasn't strong. we'll see. looks like i loosened up later on though, so it may just be the new track jitters. The first picture was Sat. morning. I used SC helmet but i had to switch out to the HJC because i was getting head-aches from the super tight fit. i need to get even larger (thiner) pads for it. feels like a small when i like a med. sorry SC, couldn't get more photos of the helmet in action for ya.
