We’ve been to a number of practice/testing days over the last week and have been remiss on updates.
Oak Hill (9/25): We had our first trip to Oak Hill Raceway in Henderson, TX for the LSTD event. This track is very different than any of the other tracks that we’ve had experience in the area. First of all – it’s very narrow, at least 33% narrower as most of the track is 20′ wide. There is no curbing on the turns so care needs to be taken when dropping a knee to not get it caught in the grass/dirt. It also has a lot of low speed tight turns that require confidence to lean the bike quickly to desired lean angle for the turn. Carlo was not 100% recovered with his left foot and coupled with his laptime of 1:52 at the end of Friday, he decided not to race. He will need to run closer to 1:42 prior to signing up for a race at this track. We are planning to return there in November and run a whole weekend. We think 1:42 is achievable after at least 1 more trackday there with a stretch goal of going under 1:40 if we have 2 days.
We also spent a couple of days at Motorsport Ranch in Cresson. One of the major decisions is that Carlo underestimated the effort required to adapt to new boots. After spending over 5 track days to get acclimatized to his Sidi Vortice boots, he decided to go back to Dainese (his original boots were Dainese Torque Outs) and acquired a pair of Dainese Axial Race boots (which uses the same design as Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo’s boots). The Sidis were bulkier and stiffer than he was used to and he did not want to spend any more energy getting used to it. The Sidis are great boots but it’ll be better to get focused on improving on riding vs. adapting to new boots.
Another big change is that M2TX has a new racebike – a 2007 Yamaha R6! We will be planning to race this in 2010 but it will be an excellent platform to learn suspension changes (it has a fully adjustable suspension) and also to get used to a bike with more power and faster speeds – which should help in ‘slowing’ down the corner entry pace on the SV. Besides, it provides a fresh challenge and given our relative inexperience to motorcycles in general, additional exposure to a different type of bike will be helpful. The biggest challenge is the very aggressive body position on the R6, coupled with the need to keep it between 10k to 16k rpm versus 7k-10k rpm for the SVs and the Ducati. We’ve spent some time moving the clip-ons (moved it up and out to give a little bit more space) and we may be looking to get new pegs as the existing ones are a bit high for our preference and to fit the rider better to the bike.
On a positive note, Carlo is foot is at 95% and he is focusing over the next week to get back into training. We are planning some significant testing time, and hope to get at least 3 full days between Thu, 10/22 and Sun, 10/25. We hope for good weather as we get back on track.
