NSW Modern & Historic Road Race Championships 11-12 July

[dan]

I got set up last night. Garage 38 with Kanga. I'm still taking offers of R6/ZX6s to ride just saying...


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[Turbo]

Nah, gotta flippin work!!
Otherwise I'd have been racing.

[stevem]

I still think you should get that bodywork for the 125

I got set up last night. Garage 38 with Kanga. I'm still taking offers of R6/ZX6s to ride just saying...


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[Turbo]

Bit of action out there today. Jamie got one of his bars clipped by Aaron Morris and he binned it at T4.
Dan's chain snapped at T5 which put him out for the day, especially after the recovery guys mashed his MC with a ratchet strap!!
Kanga came off at T9, not sure what happened. I hear they're all fine tho...

[Little Mick]

Bugger. Glad all are Ok but would have liked to hear better news...

[Leezx10r]

Dam, hope the boys are all good.
Any pics Owen? Racing not the crashes.

[Turbo]

Jamie's and Mick's are on FB.. all I got from Dan was a pic of a broken chain! lol

[Metal-Man]

I'm uploadin vid to YT of first race in 600cc modern Sat.

[Metal-Man]

[Turbo]

Great vid, Cam! Looks like a good day. You have fun?

[KANGA]

Man that meeting did not go as planned, I'll post up a proper debrief tonight along with some footage. I've formulated some theories of what went wrong but would love some more input. Still had a great time though

Thanks for posting that Metal, I make an appearance at 8 min. First time I've seen my self on track in video footage, first race ever as well so extra special for me

[chubb]

how is the bike and the leathers?

[dan]

Great weekend! Qualified 3rd d grade in 600 moderns (19 overall) that I was rather surprised and happy with then broke my chain in race 1 and watched the rest of the race on the side of the track at the crest between t5 and 6. Didn't go out for the second race as was helping kanga do a tyre change cause he was in a rush and in the running for a trophy and I was well out of the running with no points and starting from the back of the grid after my DNF.

Started 41 in race 3 finished 21. Started 21 in race 4 and finished 18. I was riding terribly and rather disappointed with my times but had fun nonetheless.

Plenty of lovely machinery on show and a fantastic vibe in the garages.

Wakefield park this weekend for round 3 of FXRRC. Can't wait!


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[chubb]

as long as you're having fun

[KANGA]

Bikes ok mechanically I think but I need to have a proper look over it including a wash as its collected a bit of mud. Quick over view was a bent clip on and another ground down foot peg. Bodyworks a bit c*nted but probably repairable. Just whether I can be bothered or not.

Leathers held up really really well. Lost some color. Small hole where the leather meets the stretch fabric on the forearm and on of racing stripes became unstitched but otherwise good. Nothing Irena can't fix. Need to have another look at the gloves as they are a bit meh. Helmet some how didn't hit the ground with all my tumbling so stoked about that.

Forgot to mention a big thanks to Dan, Rob, Marty & Andrea for being so helpful at my first race meet. Made the whole event a lot less daunting then it otherwise would have been. Especially with the wheel change before R2 (even if I did make the wrong call lol).

Sooo first race event was interesting. Rain the night before saturday and fog all saturday morning meant we went out on a damp track for practice. No standing water but not a dry spot on the track either. I went out and came back in through pitlane straight away. To give you an idea of how damp it was I think Dan recorded an epic 2:35 lap time lol

After practice I had the bike straight back on the warmers. Sometime before qualifying I checked my pressure on the front and I was down by almost 3 psi. Grabbed Dans pump and added a bit back in to bring it up to 33. A bit later on I realised that my front tyre warmer was cool, laser temp reader was showing it at only 50 degrees. Unfortunately I forgot I added the extra air in previously because of the lower PSI which I attribute to the warmer not getting to full temp.

Qualifying started and the track had dried considerably. Still damp patches everywhere. There was heaaaappppsssss of traffic which I was working my way through. Came in to old 9 and I dunno. The front just washed. I wasn't trailing the front cause of the damp conditions. Maybe the front tyre was to high in PSI due to my early mistake with the warmers. Alternatively maybe my front hadn't actually got up to temp as well what with the wamers and with the super cold day and just didn't grip. Might have been off line and hit a slippery patch. Might have been come in a bit hot, but I don't think so. I just don't know. As far as I can remember I didn't do anything different to normal riding input wise. Footage off it is in the crash reel clip.


Jamie was nice enough to hang around for a bit and lend me his front warmer before race one after his run in with Morris in qualifying. I qualified 22nd. Luckily Marty sent me a grid map earlier in the week which made finding my spot a lot easier once I established where I was. Before I went out I was terrified of the idea of starting. Was no where near anything I was anticipating. I was expecting to be completely over whelmed but yeah it was fine. Managed to make 8 places and come in at P14 and 2nd D grader. Was absolutely awesome.


Sunday kicked off and we had rain again overnight. Because race 2 started at the same time as practice the day before I made a gamble and elected to put wets on. What I didn't take in to account was that the wind had picked up a lot. Went out on the out lap surrounded by people who gambled with slicks realising I was on an almost dry track. Man was it embarrassing lol, got over taken all race only to end up back in P22 for the next race.


Race 3 I got a decent run managing to run around the outside of a lot of people through T1 and T2. By the exit of T3 I had moved from 22nd to 16th. Something weird happened though and my engine died mid T2 on the third lap. The revs just dropped off and the throttle stopped responding. Raised my hand straight away and nursed the bike off track. I restarted the bike, throttle responded. Entered back on track in 24th and managed to get my self back to 20th. No idea what caused it. Maybe I hit the kill switch by accident but I really doubt it. Maybe the tip over sensor malfunctioned, I dunno. More unknowns, I'm going to have to look in to.


Race 4 comes by and I'm starting for the first time from and 'isle' on the inside. Wasn't to bad, definitely get caught up behind people compared to the outside aisles but wasn't crazy intense like I imagined it could be.
Came up to T3, tipped in and a second ot two later the front just folded. Again no idea why. I've watched the footage over and over and can't figure it out. Conditions were freezing cold which is what I suspect is the main culprit. Everyone has since told me how slippery T3 is, I've never had an issue with it in the past so wasn't aware of that. Watching the footage back my bike seems to land exactly on someone elses crash marks. IIRC 3 others in 600s crashed out on T3.
Must be a lot of stuff littered out there. Recovery team threw on a random foot peg, random brake reservoir and the remains of Wettys visor from his crash there the race before. My bike came back with more parts then it went out with lol. This crash is also in the crash reel.

Despite everything that happened (As the Dan said, thats #tracklife) I had a great time, fucking loved it. Most fun I've had since my first ever track day. I'll definitely be back again

... jesus sorry for the mega post lol May have been thinking about this a lot the last few days.

[Turbo]

Quite the weekend, Kanga!! A baptism of fire #Tracklife indeed
Glad you and the bike are all ok tho.

[Marshy]

Might have been off line and hit a slippery patch. Might have been come in a bit hot, but I don't think so. I just don't know.

Awesome writeup, Mick, thanks! Good to hear you enjoyed it, despite the offs.

To me, your first crash (T9) was fairly obvious. You were a good 1.5 metres off line, and probably 10km/h too hot for that line. The grip out wide is nowhere near as good, particularly when either dusty or after a good rain wash.

The 2nd crash is pretty much the same thing. You were slightly too wide (probably only 0.5 - 1 metre this time, beyond the edge of the grippy 'normal racing line' section).

I'd be suspecting the front tyre. How old is it? Those Dunlops feel and look like they will last forever, and you can do a dozen days on them, but they do lose grip over that time. It's particularly noticeable when you've put the brain on hold in the red mist heat of a race. You forget to factor in tyre life, a metre this way or that on the racing line, the track temperature, tyre pressures etc like you might do on a track day.

All in all, looking good out there buddy! A great learning experience, and not too much damage (hopefully). See ya at the next race meet!!

[Kris]

T3 is the last corner on the track to get the heat , in the ASC series alot of people lost the front here. Gotta be perfectly on line and not too aggressive until you're sure your tyres and the track are warm.

[KANGA]

Front tyre only had 2 track days don't, one of those only 4 sessions so don't think it will be that. I will put a lot of it down to the extreme cold we had over the weekend and my lack of experience riding in conditions like that. I think I've only ever done 1 cold track day before and it had nothing on last weekend. The turn 3 one really surprised me though as I wasn't pushing it at all, just didn't realise how slippery it could get out there especially when its cold.
I'm really glad I didn't take out anyone else in the process

[Nelso]

To me, there is enough similarity between the two crashes to indicate a possible issue, either with set up, or rider input, which might reduce front edge grip. Granted it was a low traction situation being offline and on a cold track, but the mechanics of both crashes look like you were off the brakes and the front suspension was cycling, when the front tucked. How hard were you tipping the bike in when it tucked?

[Binksy]

Might be obvious but you putting much weight on the bars?

[KANGA]

nah I'm loosey goosey on the bars.
Wasn't tipping in hard at all Nelso. The turn 3 one truely shocked me as I wasn't pushing it at all. My plan was if it was possible to get up the inside in to 4. Turn 3 is a weak corner for me.
I did just have my forks resprung by Al. Only had 1 track day of experience on em. Got 1.2s in em now. Before that it was 1 track day with the 1kg springs that came when cliffy sold me the cartridge kit. Stu made the suggestion that I should have eased off the stiffness on them in the cold weather.

[Metal-Man]

Race 2

[KANGA]

Geez Cam your race starts are epic!

[Metal-Man]

Geez Cam your race starts are epic!

yea not too shabby .. have been better tho

[Marshy]

Race 2

Nice riding, mate Bit slippery on the painted lines, hey.

[Metal-Man]

Nice riding, mate Bit slippery on the painted lines, hey.

tah .. yea just a widdle ;-)