Track Day Report - Buttonwillow 3/5/2005

Thought I'd throw out a few thoughts on Saturday's track day down at B-Willow.

BAVFR turn-out was great. The usual track-whores were there (Bob, Tim, Greg V., Mike B., and I) along with Hans and Rod - glad to see you guys back out at the track.

The drive down Friday night was cold and rainy. It wasn't boding well but the weather-dude said it would clear by Saturday. We had the standard BBQ dinner (it's not Oklahoma but quite good for California) and with the prospect of waking at the crack of dawn, I followed Bob's lead and turned in early.

Saturday dawned cold, overcast, and damp. After getting bent over by the B-Willow entrance staff (why the f**k do we have to pay an entrance fee when Lance has rented the track? I knew there was a reason I hated that track.) we found Mike and Donna who had thoughtfully coned off a nice pit section for us.

The track was damp with standing water in a few corners. The track workers got to work with the jet dryer but by the time for sighting laps the track wasn't in much better shape.

Having made the move to slicks I was fairly nervous about the first session. I headed out for the sighting laps on brand-new stone-cold tires (my tire warmers didn't arrive after giving them a month's notice. I was told today they were 'lost in a building move' and that I would have them on Wednesday). But with bikes circulting a dry line began to appear. Save for the puddles at the exit of the sweeper (180 deg right-hander leading into the esses) the track came into decent shape by the end of the first 2 sessions (though still pretty cold).

This being my first track day of the year and having only been to B-Willow once, 5 years ago, my first session was pretty nerve-racking. I was painfully slow and extremely tense.

The other 2 morning sessions found me getting a little more comfortable w/ the bike and track (I at least knew which direction the coreners went) but I was nowhere near Bob's pace. He would run off to dice w/ Lohmeyer (on his 400) and leave me to get strafed by all sorts of unsavory characters. I didn't even bother to turn on my lap timer.

The main thing I was strugggling with (aside from trying to find reference points) was rear wheel hop coming into corners. Compared to the RVF, the Gixxer is EXTREMELY sensitive to downshifts. If you don't blip the throttle just right the rear end will hop and wag all over the place as you're trying to turn in. Often I would have to feather the clutch to get it settled down. I decided I'd let Dave Moss look at it over lunch to see if he could smooth anything out.

Dave made some adjustments and warned me that eventually the forks would have to be revalved (he believed them to be stock based on the response to his adjustments). He also recommended a 4mm increase in rear ride height to help turn-in (compared to my RVF this thing steers like an elephant). Greg helped me with the ride height adjustment and I headed out onto a sun-filled track for the first session after lunch.

The changes made a huge difference. The bike felt easier to turn and more stable in corners. I did a string of 2:03's and a 2:02. Between my mental state and the suspension changes it was a whole new bike and track. Though I was still having trouble with wheel hop if I didn't focus on my downshifts. Typically this would come in the the form of my passing someone and, not wanting to hold them up, I'd push my brake marker a little deeper than I was comfortable with. This would cause a little bit of panic to creep in about being in too hot and I would blow my downshift(s). I can only imagine some poor person getting passed only to see the ass-end of my bike hopping and wagging around in right front of them. Though despite the acrobatics the Gixxer never spat me off. I was always able to feather the clutch as I was turning in and it tracked through.

The next session was even better. I was now being routinely held up in traffic instead of the other way around (I didn't feel comfortable enough w/ the track to pass aggressively although having 130fwhp instead of 55 makes this much less frustrating). However during this session I finally had clear track for an entire lap and turned a 2:01.51!

I talked to Lohmeyer between sessions and he gave me some insight on my shifting problem. I'm looking forward to working with him more at Lance's Race Skills in April. It's nice as he's making the same transition I am (from a 400 to open-class) and although he's at an entirely different level (or maybe 2 levels) he can speak to the challenges of a small-bike rider moving up.

The last session of the day I tried to work on my downshifts and I made a little progress. If there was no one in front of me and I could plan ahead, I could get them done without any problems. But as I started to push my braking a little deeper I would start blowing them again.

So I've decided to avoid the problem with technology and ordered a slipper clutch. Sure, I could work on this and train myself into making downshifts second-nature but I figure if all the pros use them, it must be to allow them to forget about that aspect of riding fast; freeing them to focus on other techniques like braking deeper or trail-braking more aggressively. Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it

So in all a great day was had by all. No mishaps w/in the group and Bob even got some on-track video of Rod.

I'm #1 on the waiting list for Laguna next week so I'll be out there. Is it just Tim and I? I'll have warmers by then (can I mooch off your generator?), not sure if I'll have the clutch in though.

Anyone every done a clutch change? Don't you need a special tool? Anyone have one?

--
Christopher Leach
San Mateo, CA