- Joined
- Jun 21, 2012
- Messages
- 1,507
- Location
- Florida
This past weekend, Yaman of RapidBike and I went to JenningsGP for some testing of the bike in the dry. We left Orlando around 3am and got the track around 6am, so we decide to keep pushing to Lake Park, GA for some breakfast at Crackle Barrel. It's always a pleasure to hit the road with Yaman and talk about everything, especially bikes. Just remember, I haven't been on the bike since the Road Atl round in Sept of last year. After that round, I locked up the 3 championships and took a trip to Dubai where I got sick for over a month. I also missed GNF in October because of the sickness from Dubai.
There were quite a few customers that made it out to the Orlando/Yahama track day and they were all surprised to see Yaman. We unloaded the truck and pitted across from Eric from Monkey Works and my good friend Mike Banner on his sweet as race prepped 2016 Aprilia RSV4 RR. My good friend and coach Jason C. also joined us as he has upgraded to a 2011 ZX10R, so we were all interested to see how all the bike performed. Mike and Jason both race CCS, so it would be good to get out there with guys I know and trust.
So, we are setting up, Yaman is plugged into the RB to check things out and make some final adjustments before we take to the track. We received some information in regards to the LC - Launch control, so Yaman adjusted that as well.
I will have to say my first three sessions in the morning were straight ..... I had trouble keeping up with Jason and that has never been an issue. Granted, I havent been to Jennings in 2 years, but I know I was slow. Part of it was getting use to the bike. It felt very nervous and I never felt comfortable to go hard. I purposely went out on a used tire just to see how the bike was reacting to the environment and I didn't like it. The front felt planted but it was the rear I was not comfortable with. Each session we came in and made one change and went back out. By the last session, I was sort of getting comfortable.
As I came off the track before lunch, I told Yaman I'm putting a brand new rear on to see how things feel. So, I went tout for my first session after lunch and the old mojo was coming back. I guess being able to sit and think and methodically go thru in my head what I needed to do was exactly what I needed. I have the best laps of my day in that session, albeit still slower than my pace from two years ago, but I felt more comfortable. I only went out for 3 sessions after lunch, but they were good sessions. I was able to test out the LC many times and I love it. I need some work, but with more practice, my launches will be mega this year. I ran a few laps in the 24s and I'm good with that for now. We will make some more changes (New spring 8.5 to 9.0) and I moved the rearsets as well. On the front straight on 2 occasions, I almost got hit from behind because I missed a downshift using the autoblipper. Totally my fault, not getting my foot far enough under the shifter to fully engage the downshift. I was also contacted by someone I trust to make some other changes to my LC parameters to make the launches much better.
All and all, a good day. I came home in one piece, so did the bike, and got to kick it with the homies. I want to thank my wife, Yaman, Jason, Mike, Adam and Steve Moore for all their help. Some things I have learned from this wekend:
1) Never be off the bike for 6 months & expect to be right where you left off.
2) I changed too much and now I have to work thru all the changes to make it comfortable.
3) I'm a fat ass. My friends on this board know my wife is preggo and I'm eating like I am too. LOL.
4) Set small goals and attack them with head on.
Links to my LC videos:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEEzY6XE1HO/?taken-by=leonjohnsonracing
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEE09Onk1KB/?taken-by=leonjohnsonracing
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEETaTnk1Ey/?taken-by=leonjohnsonracing
A little action into T1:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEDnSOfE1Bo/?taken-by=leonjohnsonracing
There were quite a few customers that made it out to the Orlando/Yahama track day and they were all surprised to see Yaman. We unloaded the truck and pitted across from Eric from Monkey Works and my good friend Mike Banner on his sweet as race prepped 2016 Aprilia RSV4 RR. My good friend and coach Jason C. also joined us as he has upgraded to a 2011 ZX10R, so we were all interested to see how all the bike performed. Mike and Jason both race CCS, so it would be good to get out there with guys I know and trust.
So, we are setting up, Yaman is plugged into the RB to check things out and make some final adjustments before we take to the track. We received some information in regards to the LC - Launch control, so Yaman adjusted that as well.
I will have to say my first three sessions in the morning were straight ..... I had trouble keeping up with Jason and that has never been an issue. Granted, I havent been to Jennings in 2 years, but I know I was slow. Part of it was getting use to the bike. It felt very nervous and I never felt comfortable to go hard. I purposely went out on a used tire just to see how the bike was reacting to the environment and I didn't like it. The front felt planted but it was the rear I was not comfortable with. Each session we came in and made one change and went back out. By the last session, I was sort of getting comfortable.
As I came off the track before lunch, I told Yaman I'm putting a brand new rear on to see how things feel. So, I went tout for my first session after lunch and the old mojo was coming back. I guess being able to sit and think and methodically go thru in my head what I needed to do was exactly what I needed. I have the best laps of my day in that session, albeit still slower than my pace from two years ago, but I felt more comfortable. I only went out for 3 sessions after lunch, but they were good sessions. I was able to test out the LC many times and I love it. I need some work, but with more practice, my launches will be mega this year. I ran a few laps in the 24s and I'm good with that for now. We will make some more changes (New spring 8.5 to 9.0) and I moved the rearsets as well. On the front straight on 2 occasions, I almost got hit from behind because I missed a downshift using the autoblipper. Totally my fault, not getting my foot far enough under the shifter to fully engage the downshift. I was also contacted by someone I trust to make some other changes to my LC parameters to make the launches much better.
All and all, a good day. I came home in one piece, so did the bike, and got to kick it with the homies. I want to thank my wife, Yaman, Jason, Mike, Adam and Steve Moore for all their help. Some things I have learned from this wekend:
1) Never be off the bike for 6 months & expect to be right where you left off.
2) I changed too much and now I have to work thru all the changes to make it comfortable.
3) I'm a fat ass. My friends on this board know my wife is preggo and I'm eating like I am too. LOL.
4) Set small goals and attack them with head on.
Links to my LC videos:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEEzY6XE1HO/?taken-by=leonjohnsonracing
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEE09Onk1KB/?taken-by=leonjohnsonracing
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEETaTnk1Ey/?taken-by=leonjohnsonracing
A little action into T1:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEDnSOfE1Bo/?taken-by=leonjohnsonracing
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