After a full year off of all track riding due to global pandemic, a return to racing. ❤️😍
Unfortunately, the lack of seat time last year and this year’s hectic schedule (no track days to get back into the swing of things before racing!) also means my lap times are 💩.
Case in point: New Jersey Motorsports Park
2019:
SOS2- Fastest lap 1:47.008
SOS3- Fastest lap 1:48.881
2020:
SOS2- Fastest lap 1:51.058
SOS3 -Fastest lap 1:51.267
A FOUR SECOND DIFFERENCE!
Seeing how popular the KTMRC390s has become is pretty awesome. That also means I need to get used to a much larger grid than a few years ago, but I’ll get there.
I knew that it got hot in Alabama, but I was completely unprepared for ambient temperatures above my own body’s operating temperature. I couldn’t drink enough water to stay hydrated, and at some point I decided that I hated the taste of all liquids we’d brought with us and wandered around drinking lemonade from a vendor stand. Expensive lemonade, I might add. And I walked into a shower fully clothed to try and cool off. That’s how hot I got.
Complaints about the heat and its effects aside, I had an AMAZING time at Barber. I’d never ridden this track before and had heard the nickname “Alabama Roller Coaster” before, but now I know it lives up to the name!
I… did not do well at this racetrack. It’s flat as a pancake in the Chicagoland area, it takes me a while to get used to blind turns and massive elevation change!
It was so nice to get back on a racetrack that I’m familiar with. Tecnicomoto found the time to change the gearing back to stock while we were still at Road America since these two consecutive-weekend races would leave us with little time during the week. I honestly hadn’t realized what a difference the gearing would make until it was done- but I’m glad I did it for Road America. And I’m equally as glad to be back to stock for Gingerman.
Some highlights of the weekend: I dropped 5 seconds at race pace, and 4 seconds at practice-pace. I’m averaging a 1:54 lap time now, but I’m still a few seconds off the pace of the race leaders.
Things I need to work on:
apexing T3, T6, and 8 properly.
Work on more speed entering turns. (I can see fellow KTM riders pulling away from me in those spots and it’s so frustrating!) I think my exit is decent, but I find myself having to pick up more speed while leaned over, which means that my entry was too slow.
possibly change the line between 8 and 9 to spend less time leaned over and more time on power.
Another issue I have is that when I blip the throttle while braking to rev match, I end up pulsing the brake. I tend to do it more when I’m braking heavily, but I know this upsets the bike’s stability. Thinking that a quickshifter + slipper clutch for Gunther might be on the horizon next year.
Ok, maybe I don’t hate Road America anymore. It’s a fun place to battle. I still don’t love it, though.
Here I am in Turn 5, missing the apex.
But I had a battle!!
Racer #863, Brad Carlisle, was lapping similar times to me in race practice. We were gridded next to each other, and for race day 1, he beat me. By race day 2, I’d learned that he was better on the brakes in some areas of the track, and that I’d need to either brake later or have a more aggressive corner exit. Since I’m still a big baby about T5 after my crash there, Brad would pass me on the brakes into there and hold the lead all the way through turn 14 where I’d pass him on the exit and use my properly-geared bike to motor past him. For a few laps, I could pass him in the carousel, but he wised up and blocked me at every turn after that.
Our last lap was a drag race to the finish line, and I’m pretty sure I only won because the gearing on Gunther was changed to fit a high-speed track. Brad’s wasn’t.
Things that changed since my last visit to Road America:
new gearing (16/42) just for RA
unrashed leathers
unrashed bike/new stars
Things I should do better:
T1 is very very fast. Don’t brake much for it, there’s lots of runoff.
Brake later for T5!! Figure out where to look for a proper exit, stop looking at the damn gravel.
T6 is a blind turn, going uphill. Stop braking as much before the top of the hill, it’s not like the track is suddenly going to change direction.
Figure out which gears have the most power for the corner- since Road America’s so big, you get less laps per practice session. I need more seat time to get better. :-/
Things I did well:
no crash!
I like T13 now, it’s pretty fun. The Carousel is still my favorite, though.
Recoloring damaged race leathers is pretty simple.
Step 1: Color match your leather paint to the best of your ability. I used white, black, neon Tropic Sun Yellow, neon Lava Orange, and neon Bahama Blue. For the dark gray parts of my suit that were damaged, I decided to be a little cheap and mix the black and white paint until I got a match. I’m pretty lucky that a local art store has a good selection of leather paint, so I was able to see the colors in person. The smaller 1 oz bottles are about $3, the bigger 4 oz bottles are about $6. It’s highly unlikely that you will go through an entire 1 oz bottle of paint unless you’re recoloring the entire suit- this paint lasts a long time, and it’s tough.
Step 2: Clean all the damaged parts of your leather.
Tar is gross- I used Goo Gone to get the tar off, then washed off the Goo Gone residue with soap and water to get a nice clean base. This is how much tar came off the seat of my leathers after a crash!
Step 3: Prep the area
If you don’t have any other damage to your leathers, feel free to clean and wipe the leather with rubbing alcohol or acetone to remove oils that have built up. Most commercial race suits have a clear protectant sprayed over the colors as well; the alcohol helps remove some of the clear coat. Once that is done, begin masking. Larger areas of damage don’t necessarily need to be masked off, but smaller areas and patterns may need to be protected.
masking parts of the star after multiple coats of white as a base layer.
For the star, I had multiple colors that needed to be layered in a specific order and required multiple removal/masking steps.
Step 3: Paint!
Use a multiple thin coats of paint over the damaged areas and let those coats dry between sessions. I used slightly watered-down paint and a hair dryer to speed up the process.
To recolor the damaged star pattern on my suit’s arm, I also had to (LIGHTLY) sand the edges of the damaged paint that were peeling up first. This pattern had multiple layers of different colored paint on it and was pretty thick, so that’s why I chose to sand it. This could also be achieved with multiple swipes of acetone or alcohol if the previous paint pattern wasn’t as thick.
If you have a bright color to paint: first layer white paint! Layer enough to give a good bright base to the area, then paint again in the bright color. Think about the color layers of your pattern, if you have one.
If you have a dark color to paint: go to town, but still use thin coats of paint.
It’s better to use less paint rather than more paint. Think Thin, using the layers to build up color. Take your time. 🙂
See how easily the black rashed part shows through the neon when it’s not covered up with white first?
This is how the star was recolored:
First, white over everything that was damaged; dry it with hair dryer. Then mask off the parts that need to stay white so that it’s protected. Then neon yellow in the star center; dry it with a hair dryer. (I knew that I didn’t need to be extremely precise with the neon yellow because any ugly edges were going to be covered up by the other colors). Then mask off the parts that need to stay yellow, keeping the white parts masked as well. Then the neon orange; dry it with a hair dryer. Remove all the existing masking, and carefully mask again for the black outlines of the star. Paint the black outline; dry with a hair dryer.
Step 5: Protect
Give your leathers the same protectant and shine as the factory did. Neutral leather paint dries clear, and if you hate gloss you can always buy the matte version.
Step 6: Enjoy the fruits of your labor
I can see a few spots that I messed up because I didn’t mask well enough initially, but I’m otherwise very pleased with how the most damaged portions turned out.
little bit of overspray on the hip sliderlittle bit of orange overspray on the cuff and near the seam of the forearm armor.
I don’t even know what turn this is. Thanks to Electric Eye Images for the shot!
I had goals for this track day:
learn the track’s turns (14!!)
learn the race line
learn some brake markers and exit sights
What I actually accomplished:
learn that rumble strips are really freakin’ rumbly in some places. (basically, they’re smooth where the cars have worn them down, but tiny-bike-flippin’ rumbly elsewhere)
crash in T5
become scared of downhill braking with left turns
realize that new gearing is needed
Three sessions in, I went out on track and caused the second red flag of the Intermediate session. It was literally the second first-lap of the session. Strangely enough, the previous red flag (five minutes before) had been someone going down in T5 in the first lap as well. Maybe there was something on track, maybe not.. corner workers were checking it out after they removed me and Gunther from the gravel trap, but it was inconclusive.
Minor damage:
rashed up fairing (oh no i scraped off some stars!)
ground down a rearset’s foot peg (reminder to get spare parts)
broke off the clutch perch
lots of dirt. I can grow a garden in my bike. How did dirt get into the front fairing so bad I’d have to shove a screwdriver into it and chisel it out?!
so much dirt.you don’t realize how black and tarred a racetrack is until it’s all over your white motorcycle.
at the very least, I need to blunt this foot peg, it’s really sharp.
Tecnicomoto’s friend invited us to a trackday at BlackHawk Farms Raceway while he got used to his new motorcycle (a sexy shmexy new Duc), so we decided to use this trackday as a warmup before our first race of the year at New Jersey Motorsports Park with AHRMA.
Conditions were a little chilly in the morning and the track was a little slippery, but it turned into a glorious day in the afternoon as the track heated up and the moisture evaporated.
Blackhawk is a pretty short track, so Tecnicomoto wasn’t really happy about not being able to get on the power of his 848 for very long… but Gunther loves short tracks like this.
This particular track day was also the ChiVin Vintage Track Day, so there were quite a few riders from the Chicago vintage community out there riding- many of them were sorting out their bikes for racing, but many were also doing their very first track day ever! (awwwwwww <3) Because of this, the normal grouping was a little off- the group that would normally be Advanced riders as actually the Vintage riders. That left two intermediate classes to ride in. I chose the slower of the two Intermediate groups, while Tecnicomoto chose the faster.
I normally choose an intermediate group when in a trackday setting because I’m worried about the speed differentials. Basically, I’m scared of bikes behind me being much faster and hitting me because they don’t realize that I’m slower- but I’ll probably start choosing an Advanced group soon. Because as it turns out, I’m really not slower where I was always worried I’d get hit… I’m usually faster in turns and get passed like a little leaf on a straight.
After the first session, a couple coaches came by and asked me if I wanted to be bumped up to the faster group. It’s really nice to be complimented on my passing skillz (which I’m working really hard at!), but I declined. At a track, it’s SO MUCH easier it is to have someone else help you with taking off tire warmers and getting the bike off of the stands. (And turning on my lap timer, and giving me a thumbs up before I ride away…) If I was in the same riding group as Tecnicomoto, I’d lose my helper!
Things I need to work on:
passing (as always, gotta learn to get closer)
brake less into T1
listening to track coaches when they say not to pass on the inside
avoid the weird mile-high kerbing at T6
loosen up my inside shoulder, drop the inside elbow, drop my head more
Things that have changed between this year and last year:
new race leathers
new helmet
new (used) generator
tire warmers
back to stock gearing
OMG SO MUCH BETTER. Combined, all of these things have made riding Gunther so much easier and more fun. You know how getting your first suspension setup makes a night and day difference in your riding and confidence level? I had another of those moments with tire warmers.
Planted. Secure.
Words that sound a little strange, but definitely describe how I feel on Gunther now.
Battle with Gabriel #425 passed him on the inside of the last turn of the last lap.
