1299S First Race Weekend Review

That's a perfect description of the 600s chasing the litre bikes. And that's what's most fun about it I find.

I would rather sacrifice a little fun for the sake of winning.

yeah we did 1 day then flipped and ran a second day on the other side...

sounds like our guess about it being to heavy of a spring sounds right then....

seems to bee spinning up a lot... I felt like I could get the drive sometimes, (as much as the pani still drives haha)

coming from a mild SS build R6 that was putting down 126 with similar mods..Wheels, light as .... and so on.. I was amazingly impressed just how quickly it was easy to go fast on this bike

I had the same thoughts. I thought it would take a lot longer to get up to speed on it than it did. I was within 1.8sec of my R6 times after only 8 laps on the Duc. For a bike with over 200hp and over 100ft/lbs, it is actually easy to ride (relatively speaking).

Chaotic said:

I cant wait to get the Duc to Jennings. Jennings is my best track. I set my personal-best on the RSV4 there (1:16.9), the Duc is lighter, faster and handles better. I cant wait to see what it can do.

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that is fast fast, you should beat it on the Duc, i tried the RSV4 in jennings a couple of weeks back and could not get on with it. the bike felt so heavy after getting off the duc.

Thanks, I hope so and think so too. The Duc has more power, better electronics, handles better and is much much lighter.

Even if I can't beat that time on the Duc, I should at least be able to run close to that same time consistently over race distance....instead of one flying lap that completely kicked my ..., haha.

Whoopazz said:

Yeah but you say your 12 is lighter, feels slighter and it has more power everywhere as opposed to the r6. So fully built r6 or not, it shows how great 600s are. I'm just saying because I feel my 2012 r6 was the best bike at the track. Better then the 1299.

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I just wanted to follow up on this old post after going back to TalladegaGP again.

I was able to run a 0:59 on the 1299S, which is 0.4 faster than I have gone there on the R6.

Like I said before, Tally is a short track, and not a "Liter bike track" by any means. So to be able to go faster on the Panigale than I did on the R6 says a lot about how good the Panigale is, and how much progress we have been able to make over the year.

It hasn't been easy, the bike has proven to be very finicky. When it is in its "happy place" it is very good. But the sweet spot on the Panigale is smaller than any bike I have ever raced. When we go to a new track, the entire weekend we are changing springs, geometry, gearing, wheelbase, etc.

I wrapped up 2 Expert Regional Championships on the 1299S (and 1 on the R6), so it has been a good year overall. But there is still so much potential in the bike. We get faster every single race all the way through every weekend. Really looking forward to being able to start next year with good setup notes at every track so we can keep building on the progress from this year.

Grand National Finals are up next.

Rogue said:

I don't want to derail Chris's thread, but I noticed about a year ago that a ton of the members here are 675 owners as well. I might start another thread in the appropriate sub-forum. I'll be needing some 675R info soon.

I've always tried to have one nice street bike that occasional saw track duty and one full time track bike. The street bike was a Buell and track whore Gixxer 600, until I got the Pani. I'm a firm believer in "don't bring it unless you're ok with leaving it in the dumpster".

I'm not ready to throw the Pani away so another track bike was a must. Thanks for the update Chris....don't forget I still have dibs on the R6.

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I picked up a new 675R as a backup bike. D&D Cycles is stripping it and race prepping it at the moment. .

I got it for a few different reasons. First of all, because I love them. They are such great bikes and so much fun.

But secondly, the 675R is legal for all of the classes I am racing the R6 and Panigale in. So it is a viable backup bike for all of them. In a few weeks I will be racing for 7 different National Championships, I wasn't going to show up without a backup bike for each class.

awesome man. thanks for sharing. i learn much from you.

Congratulations on your championships. I went back and got caught up on the build of your racebike. Very informative and insightful. Keep it coming.

Chaotic said:

I picked up a new 675R as a backup bike. D&D Cycles is stripping it and race prepping it at the moment. .

I got it for a few different reasons. First of all, because I love them. They are such great bikes and so much fun.

But secondly, the 675R is legal for all of the classes I am racing the R6 and Panigale in. So it is a viable backup bike for all of them. In a few weeks I will be racing for 7 different National Championships, I wasn't going to show up without a backup bike for each class.

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Great year man. I was hoping to do more this year, but it didnt end up that way. Taking next year off and coming back in 2018. Good luck at GNF.

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

Congrats on the great season Chaotic! Thanks for the updates and informative thread.

I have a RSV4 for my track weapon and am happy with it and plan on racing it in my local novice class next year for the first time. Any thoughts or input on racing for the first time and RSV4 setup would be greatly appreciated from a man of your experience.

Thanks.

Best advice I can give you is not to try and win the race in the first 2 corners. You wouldn't believe how many times I have seen a Novice race red flagged, before everyone even makes it to T2. I have seen it take a 4th try to actually get the entire field into T3 off the start. Just get going, get through T1/2 safely and get on with it. You cant win the race in T1, but you can damn sure lose it.

At the end of the race, the fast guys will be in front and the slow guys will be in the back. That is ALWAYS true, no matter what. Gaining 1 position off the launch isn't going to affect the outcome of a Novice race. There are times when the whole top 10 of the Expert field is running lap times within 1-2sec of each other, and in those cases you HAVE to be super aggressive off the launch or you might be stuck behind someone and not be able to get by them. But that isn't the case in the Novice races. Lap times vary a good bit, so there is no reason trying to get crazy off the launch. It will all work itself out.

You will get faster in your first race, I guarantee it. I dropped a full 2 seconds in my first race. There will be faster guys, that is part of it. Don't worry about them. Do you thing and they will get around you. When they do, try to tag onto them, even if it is just for a few corners. You will learn something every time.

Racing is just so much different than track days. In either case you are going around the track on your bike, but that is where the similarities end. The intensity, aggression, competition, etc...there is nothing like racing.

You will probably be SUPER nervous in the 10-20min before the race. Don't worry, that is normal. Hell I still get nervous. I reckon it is more excitement than nervous, but I still get it. It will get better once you actually get going. Halfway through the first lap and you wont feel all of that anymore, you will just be riding and racing and doing your thing.

Aside from that, get plenty of sleep the night before and start hydrating as soon as you wake up. Eat a good meal the night before with lots of complex carbs (pasta, baked potatoes, etc). If you are like me, your nerves will be all over the place and you will be busy during the day, and wont be able to eat much. So you want to make sure you do some carb loading the night before so you don't run out of energy. I would get some of those carb/energy gel pack things. Each one of them has 20-25g of complex carbs and can help keep you energized during the day if you don't/cant/wont eat properly.

Good luck

preparation is key. maybe you can even go to join a buddy for a race weekend beforre you do it yourself. that will take a lot of uncertainty out, get you to figure out the calls, the warmer/gear/last pee timing and all that stuff.

but be careful. once you start it, it makes crack look like a drug for kids.

Phl said:

the warmer/gear/last pee timing and all that stuff

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this, LOL

Dude, there is no such thing as "the last pee".

I did a total of around 50 Sprint races this year, and every time, between 1st call and 3rd (final) call, I will have to piss about 17 times.

Then I get on the bike, pull out of my pit and think "damnit, I gotta piss again".

Thanks for the pre-race and race info Chaotic and Phil! Yea, I still get first session jitters on track days and I feel I've done a good number of them but like you said once I'm out there and get a lap under my belt I start to settle down. I think the thing that will bring me the most anxiety will be the start and getting through turn 1. Again thanks for the pointers guys!

It's always nice to have friends or family with you to help carry your gear through tech and moral support throughout the day.

Hang a big clock in your pit area and make a checklist. I didn't do this my first race weekend and made all kinds of stupid little mistakes ranging from not topping off my tank after morning practice (resulting on the bike running out of gas on the cool-down lap) to forgetting to plug warmers in, and my personal favorite was forgetting to turn my transponder on during my first race win.

Went to a checklist system and watched the clock religiously and my stress level fell to about 1/10th what it was.