The reason why I`m not working at my RD...

[Speed Freak]

I have too much bikes

In 4 weeks the racetrack season will start...

[Mike Cichetti]

You can never have too many!

[Speed Freak]

Ask my girlfriend, she has a different opinion about it

Trak bike works fine now, just crashed it at the second track day (dropped it on gras close to 0 speed)...


I`m happy that my dad has done the complete fiberglass bodywork, so he has moulds and we can cut out the destroyed area to make it new.

RD350 and Fireblade got the technical check yesterday, so there should be time now to clean up my garage and continue with the RD500.

[pstamper]

Number one are you OK. Looks like the bike tire is being used a bit. What track do you race at is the weather warming up? Or is that part of the incident? Be safe and have fun. Glad to see someone at the track, so much safer.

[Speed Freak]

Yes, I`m OK thanks.
As i said, speed was close to 0, even no sratch on my new Dainese leather suit just a bit of dirt...

Just had no power (i should do some workout...) after 2 trackdays to push the bike into a corner while braking too late and hard fighting with a Fireblade SC59 and BMW S1000RR in the race.
So I have chosen the straight line and the plan was to stop in front of the gras - but i stopped directly on the small gras stripe because I was still on the front brake
It was corner #10 of the Slovakiaring.


A bit a crazy corner, the straight in front of the corner is a hill, form corner #9 you go up with a lot of speed and then you have to break hard down the hill.

The bike is OK, just the front fairing is broken.
The alternator cover is scratched from the accident last year, there it was corner #7 of the same track.
I was not riding smooth enough and dropped the bike in the left corner down too low so that tha alternator cover hits the road, together with the wide opened throttle it became a nice low side crash.

What you see on the rear tire are the rubber balls collected from the track which will get pressed to the edge of the tire while riding.
Tire looks ok, not perfect but i can use it for the next 1 1/2 days on Pannoniaring in May.
For the race I will use a new rear tire.
Temperature was a bit cold, around 10°C but ok.


Since I`m on the track my road riding style is totally different.
Some say I`m getting old but maybe it`s just that i have recognized that I will kill myself with the previous riding style

I`m looking forward to my other track days:
21.-22.5. Pannoniaring
13.-14.6. Brno
16.-17.7. Slovakiaring
20.-21.8. Pannoniaring
19.-20.9. Brno




@pstamper: What are your plans for this racetrack season?

[pstamper]

With that temperature is the rear cold tear with all that horsepower. Do you take the RD out. Hoping to do COTA in July and August. Schedule not set yet. Need to get clutch straightened out. Repairing spare body work for paint so bike does not look so bad. Going to try the Pirelli SC tires this summer with existing ones are close to wear bars. Wish I was more motivated but my iT band on left hip keep cramping up. No matter what I am going to keep going because it is a blast. You have much better body position. I have been working on it. Trying to get over the front of bike more but my head is still to straight and my elbow is not getting out.

[Speed Freak]

Body position looks better than it actually is.
I`m also working on it to get my head down.

Still some work on the bike needed to optimize it.
The seat is too soft and wide (original), will be replaced by a closed rear cowl with some foam to sit on when I switch to a new frame (the actual one is probably bent).
Footrests needs to get higher and more back to get a better position on the bike and avoid grinding down my shoes
And I need to turn the shifting scheme upside down (shifting up = pushing down)

Some weight reduction is also planned by replacing the lead battery by a LiFePo battery and remove the alternator.
The alternator cover will be replaced by one which allowes more lean angle.


Very nice picture - thats how a RD500 should be used
But why are you using road tires? No tire warmers?
I was using Dunlop D211 GP racer ("cheap") and KR (expensive) slicks until last year, now I have switched to the new Bridgestone V02 - nice tire.

[Speed Freak]

I like this picture (brno)



But I`m too slow on this track, just 2:19
MotoGP: 1:55

If they overtake me on the track I guess I would feel like sitting on a tractor...

[pstamper]

Have been busy with AC units now that we are in heat. To more fun stuff. I use warmers at the track and keep going back and forth on tires. I use to run Michelins but when I started getting tires that were a year old when purchased that told me at the time they are not staying up with technology. I run Pirellis now. I used the Pro slicks https://www.pirelli.com/tyres/en-ww/mot ... erbike-pro" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for a while but they are a little hard. I switched to the Supercorsa SP due to not getting enough heat in the tire. It was not super hot last outing but would go out at 165 degrees and come back in at 135 front and around 145 rear. I am not riding nearly as hard as I should to keep heat up. Just had shock rebuilt and recharged and I am on a learning curve now. After rebuild the guy put too much preload on shock and I was wondering why my foot came off the peg mid corner after hitting a bump. rather interesting ride the entire day. Tells you to check suspension every time you go out. I figured I can do the set up. I am going to have my numbers rechecked before going to next track day. I am also going to the Pirelli DOT Supercorsa SC1 tire. Doing COTA in two week and temperature are expected to be 98 degrees. I think I will get them hot enough especially with suspension set up better. I have either been swimming or riding bike on the trainer for last 3 week so feeling better. Track day is 9th and 10th of July. My 62 birthday will be July 3rd so we will see what my old self and bike have since I am riding in the mid tier group. I myself have been working on body position and getting head out over the bike. I seriously am hoping for rain at least one day so I can run my rain tires again. They just announced another weekend in August so reserving a spot this weekend.

NEW SETTING Raised ride height in the rear about 10 mm to get more weight on front and better turn in. Bike is now 173 pounds rear and 187 pounds front. Rebound and compression dampening is very balanced and am going to work with both next month. I brake rather hard so will see what travel I have left on forks. I set it with more sag in the front because I understand it will allow the bike to turn in easier and track better thru turn. After adjusting bike feels better just sitting on it. taking it out hopefully Sunday morn for test ride. Here is a link to the group I ride with. http://www.ridesmart.info/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

front has 133 mm total, free sag is 113 mm, and rider sag is 98

rear measured at a point and was 528 mm total, 520 free sag, and 498 rider sag

Thanks for having atrack day passion as I do. I wish i had the chance to go to more tracks around the country. Be safe and updates to come.

[Speed Freak]

Here is a video from brno:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNW3QogICZg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

From 3:38 (pit wall) to 12:51 ("unfriendly overtaking" outside the curbs )
From 10:27 I`m close behind the camera bike after overtaking another rider on the start-finish straigth.

This day I started in the Smart Rider cup.
This cup is for slower riders (down to 2:23 in brno), but the superbike race was overbooked, so they put everyone above 2:19 into this slower group - more or less already disqualified at the start.
Had a bad day, second time on this track and crashed the bike on Pannoniaring before by touching the generator cover in a corner - qualifiing time was only 2:21.
In the race the best lap time was 2:19

For safety the race is started by a rolling start - from 3:38 there is one warm-up lap (with a guy in front who is leading the group) and when crossing the finish line the first time you can overtake.
This time only 6 instead of 8 laps after a restart because in the first warm-up lap there was a crash and the race was red flagged at the beginning of the first lap.

Started 10th, finished 3rd with the 2 leaders in front of me.
Camera is mounted on a CBR1000RR SC57 (172HP) against my 150HP R1.

Edit:
Here another video from Pannoniaring (SBK race)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTjIp7ti_7Q" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
You can see me on the start (2 rows in front right side of the camera bike, the guy whith the really bad start...) and in the end from 20:00 as a small spot to the end of the race where it was really close to get the 26th place.
But the 200HP BMW S1000rr was a bit too fast on the straight

This was one day after my crash, my times were only around 2:06.
Best time there is 2:04.

[Speed Freak]

Never push too hard in an endurance race where slower riders can take part.

I had a good speed, getting used to the reversed shifting and the new footpegs and then... a slow rider where I have planned to stay behind him on the corner outside and overtake him after the corner on the inner side went on the brakes much too early (for me).
I was braking hard but it was too late for getting slower or changing the side where i pass him.
Not knowing what happens behind him he went completely to the outside of the corner (not necessary in this corner) and forced me to go into the gravel.
The gras besides the track was slippery from the rainy days before, no chance to keep the bike on the wheels (brakes were already open).

the bike was just slipping into the gravel, nothing bent, just some cracks in the fairing and a lot of dirt.
I was rolling over 3 times until I stopped from ~150-200km/h.
Helmet and leather did it`s job but my glove on the right hand was torn up and I had pain in my left little finger.
Decided to leave the track and skip the whole sunday because i can`t pull the clutch.

Bone is partly broken - doctor said in 4 weeks it will be ok again for my last 2 track days this year (brno)





Now I will buy gloves where the outer fingers are fixed together...