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After buying GunnyFitz's old race SV650 for a good deal of 5 grand plus the trailer and stands, warmers and the whole shabang all included in the price (bike with penske, power commander, 748 fairings, extra set of tires) after christmas last year it was time to bring it to the track, here's my writeup:
Took off thursday 6pm, 4 hours later i arrived at RRR. Gate lady was nice and i later learned they were open 24/7. Looked for a spot near the pits, as i was not sure about what when and how with tech, school,etc.
Popped up the canopy over the tarp and an old carpet (sandy there) and unloaded the bike. By then it was almost midnight, okay, the beer made me slower, and it was cold! But i still had to fix the support under the seat ( i just bought the sv and the trailer after christmas and never rode either before)
My previous fix with spray foam did not hold up and that stuff ran all over the bike as soon as i lifted the seat... Well, cleanup time and building a support out of foam blocks took longer than i thought. By 2.30 am i was done, freezing, drunk and ready for a shower. Well, maybe too drunk as i couldn't get any warm water out of the spout so i had to leave again with cold wet feet. The air mattress in the trailer was waiting, and i was looking forward on turning the heater fan on. Bummer, that thing has maybe 150 W and while it might heat up an insulated bathroom in a house, the heat will just go through the aluminum roof of the trailer.
Fast forward 4 hours, time to get up have some oats and a banana, and get ready for tech. Registration first (7.15am), so filling out the forms and explaining that mongo pre approved me for practice as a pre school PN. needed that, as he bike was new to me... So back to the bike and up to tech. 7.30
Pushing that sucker seemed hard, as the tires just had 10 psi left in them. Thech went well, but i forgot to take the bellypan off first time. Thanks to the crew there!
So putting the warmers on and getting ready for the calls... At that moment i figured, there were no speakers of the PA around me but the neighbors generator was even louder when i tried to hear something... Wera cranked the pa up, and i could sometimes catch whats up... Note to self: park near speakers.
I skipped first session, as it was really cold and checked with the pirelli guys for pressures. 32/28 warm, bingo.
Practice sessions went well and i got to know the track better, my last visit in october ended after the 2nd session as the diva started crying oil out of her head.
I had no clue what times i was running but was overwhelmed by the feel of the bike and how it cornered (low ) and such...
Got pretty confident for race school and the big saturday. So after borrowing peanut's cooking pot for my chili i could finally get a warm meal (i'm kinda special about food so i had to bring my own) and some more hefeweizen.
Started chatting to more peeps and had a great time.
So saturday morning up to register, a lot going on there, paying for school and 3 races = $300 luckily no more tech for me but it was already 8.10 and school started at 8. But where??? In a trailer in turn 4, where the heck was that again, note to self bring a bicycle...
So me and the other guys met up, teacher Ed was cool and after the first lesson we went out for practice. All had warmers to take off except one, he fell and got ran over. (No names here) so coming into 3rd lap i saw red flags and got a strange feeling in my stomach. Back at the class the other teacher told us that if its required to run over someone in order not to crash yourself, you kinda gotta have to do it. But you have to apologize. Later we heard that it was not too bad, just a ran over ankle...
more teaching about flags and lines, body positioning and braking...
Back out there again for 2nd practice. Then meet for the rest and the test.
Collision on the schedule here, as the riders meeting was already going on and the mock race was close afterwards. So i took the test after the mock race. Bring the paper with the license stuff to the test as i forgot mine and had to run across the venue to get it. Then i ran to the board to check out my starting positions , i took a pic on the phone for the sticker on the tank, but bringing the tape and a pen there is what most do. Last position in LWT SS&SB and F2 to start, i didn't expect anything else. Up for races 4,7 & 14, good split.
I was always late for the warmup lap, (couldnt hear the pa) but made it every time. Starts went well and braking late into 1 helped me a bit.
Running close and competing scared the .... out of me, but i gained confidence and tried passing. My lines were too wide at most exits, there i lost most back, until the drafting and late braking into 1 again...
It was tons of fun and i never figured where i was or how i ended up. When peanut told me i made 3rd in the first race i thought he was teasing me
Well, all the guys who saw me at the ceremony saw that he was not kidding and i couldn't believe it... I guess i talked a lot of .... but getting wood on the first weekend made some synapses collapse...
Had a great time, stayed on the bike and am really looking forward to road atlanta, another new track for me....
https://picasaweb.google.com/110508499035613808700/WERARRRMarch152014#slideshow/5991508698389522866
Ah, and another note to self: bring more beer
WERA RRR 2014-03-15 LWT SB SV650 - YouTube
WERA RRR 2014-03-15 LWT SS SV650 - YouTube
WERA RRR 2014-03-15 F2 SV650 - YouTube
So thanks again to GunnyFitz and if i ever win on this bike i'll pay you a beer. Or 12
Took off thursday 6pm, 4 hours later i arrived at RRR. Gate lady was nice and i later learned they were open 24/7. Looked for a spot near the pits, as i was not sure about what when and how with tech, school,etc.
Popped up the canopy over the tarp and an old carpet (sandy there) and unloaded the bike. By then it was almost midnight, okay, the beer made me slower, and it was cold! But i still had to fix the support under the seat ( i just bought the sv and the trailer after christmas and never rode either before)
My previous fix with spray foam did not hold up and that stuff ran all over the bike as soon as i lifted the seat... Well, cleanup time and building a support out of foam blocks took longer than i thought. By 2.30 am i was done, freezing, drunk and ready for a shower. Well, maybe too drunk as i couldn't get any warm water out of the spout so i had to leave again with cold wet feet. The air mattress in the trailer was waiting, and i was looking forward on turning the heater fan on. Bummer, that thing has maybe 150 W and while it might heat up an insulated bathroom in a house, the heat will just go through the aluminum roof of the trailer.
Fast forward 4 hours, time to get up have some oats and a banana, and get ready for tech. Registration first (7.15am), so filling out the forms and explaining that mongo pre approved me for practice as a pre school PN. needed that, as he bike was new to me... So back to the bike and up to tech. 7.30
Pushing that sucker seemed hard, as the tires just had 10 psi left in them. Thech went well, but i forgot to take the bellypan off first time. Thanks to the crew there!
So putting the warmers on and getting ready for the calls... At that moment i figured, there were no speakers of the PA around me but the neighbors generator was even louder when i tried to hear something... Wera cranked the pa up, and i could sometimes catch whats up... Note to self: park near speakers.
I skipped first session, as it was really cold and checked with the pirelli guys for pressures. 32/28 warm, bingo.
Practice sessions went well and i got to know the track better, my last visit in october ended after the 2nd session as the diva started crying oil out of her head.
I had no clue what times i was running but was overwhelmed by the feel of the bike and how it cornered (low ) and such...
Got pretty confident for race school and the big saturday. So after borrowing peanut's cooking pot for my chili i could finally get a warm meal (i'm kinda special about food so i had to bring my own) and some more hefeweizen.
Started chatting to more peeps and had a great time.
So saturday morning up to register, a lot going on there, paying for school and 3 races = $300 luckily no more tech for me but it was already 8.10 and school started at 8. But where??? In a trailer in turn 4, where the heck was that again, note to self bring a bicycle...
So me and the other guys met up, teacher Ed was cool and after the first lesson we went out for practice. All had warmers to take off except one, he fell and got ran over. (No names here) so coming into 3rd lap i saw red flags and got a strange feeling in my stomach. Back at the class the other teacher told us that if its required to run over someone in order not to crash yourself, you kinda gotta have to do it. But you have to apologize. Later we heard that it was not too bad, just a ran over ankle...
more teaching about flags and lines, body positioning and braking...
Back out there again for 2nd practice. Then meet for the rest and the test.
Collision on the schedule here, as the riders meeting was already going on and the mock race was close afterwards. So i took the test after the mock race. Bring the paper with the license stuff to the test as i forgot mine and had to run across the venue to get it. Then i ran to the board to check out my starting positions , i took a pic on the phone for the sticker on the tank, but bringing the tape and a pen there is what most do. Last position in LWT SS&SB and F2 to start, i didn't expect anything else. Up for races 4,7 & 14, good split.
I was always late for the warmup lap, (couldnt hear the pa) but made it every time. Starts went well and braking late into 1 helped me a bit.
Running close and competing scared the .... out of me, but i gained confidence and tried passing. My lines were too wide at most exits, there i lost most back, until the drafting and late braking into 1 again...
It was tons of fun and i never figured where i was or how i ended up. When peanut told me i made 3rd in the first race i thought he was teasing me
Well, all the guys who saw me at the ceremony saw that he was not kidding and i couldn't believe it... I guess i talked a lot of .... but getting wood on the first weekend made some synapses collapse...
Had a great time, stayed on the bike and am really looking forward to road atlanta, another new track for me....
https://picasaweb.google.com/110508499035613808700/WERARRRMarch152014#slideshow/5991508698389522866
Ah, and another note to self: bring more beer
WERA RRR 2014-03-15 LWT SB SV650 - YouTube
WERA RRR 2014-03-15 LWT SS SV650 - YouTube
WERA RRR 2014-03-15 F2 SV650 - YouTube
So thanks again to GunnyFitz and if i ever win on this bike i'll pay you a beer. Or 12
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