Grattan May 2010

PRELUDE      

It has been long winter and I was itching to get back on the motorcycle.  The last time I had ridden the 848 was at the WERA GNF in October.  We had missed a few race weekends due to military duty but now the planets had aligned and it was time to race.  The venue Matt and I chose was one of my favorites as well as the site of my first two race wins, Grattan.

            Now that I live in North Carolina there is a bit more planning involved in coordinating a race weekend any place north of Virginia.  Fortunately Matt had the bike ready, I had the time off from work, and he would be able to be away from the shop for a few days.  It seemed as if everything was falling into place as I purchased my plane ticket to fly from Raleigh to Indianapolis.  The plan was a simple one: I would fly in on Thursday where Chris Ramseur would pick me up, transport me to the shop and come with us to Grattan, we would drive to Grattan that evening, spend all day Friday practicing to be ready for the races Saturday and Sunday, with me flying home on Monday.  I preregistered for the STT track day as well as my races with WERA.  The weather projection for the weekend was mid to upper 60’s during the day and partial sunlight.  All was in place.  Unbeknownst to us, Murphy’s plan was in place too.

THE JOURNEY         

Thursday came and my flight went without a hitch.  I did spend a bit of time on the runway in Chicago due to weather but nothing major.  I arrived at the shop with plenty of time to spare, was greeted warmly, and went about putting the finishing touches on the 848 before loading the trailer and heading out.  Those touches included mounting fresh Dunlop Ntech tires, double checking all my safety wire, and mounting my race plastics.  The weather at the time was windy but not wet.  The shop closed and we loaded the trailer.  All we had to do was drop off Matt’s Streetfighter at home and get on the road.  It was a bit late but still on par for us.  Matt tossed me the keys and I eagerly suited up for my first ride on this venerable new beast. 

            The bike rumbled to life; it’s Termignoni exhaust singing in a throaty baritone-like rumble.  My excitement quickly turned to trepidation as the rain started to fall.  The Streetfighter boasts tons of horsepower and torque so I was not exactly looking forward to riding it on freshly wet and slick roads.  Oh well, I am a rider and have ridden in worse conditions.  The ride was uneventful but fun as I carefully controlled the throttle.  The Streetfighter was surprisingly easy to ride, ergonomically more comfortable than a sportbike but with all the horsepower just waiting to be released.  I found the torque made it easier to ride in the rain as I could carry a gear higher thus reducing wheel spin.  The brakes were very powerful, with a strong initial bite, requiring a gentle single finger pull in the wet conditions.  They did have very good feel and I never experienced any locking or slippage. 

            We reached Matt’s place, dropped off the bike and got going.  It was 10pm but with three of us taking turns behind the wheel, we figured we’d be just fine.  Our plan was to stop on the way and get something to eat.  Interestingly enough, it took us a few hours to find anything open.  Places that would normally be open were closed for reasons unknown.  Undeterred we eventually found a Steak and Shake, had food and kept on with the drive.  Shortly after eating, we had the misfortune to run into – rather over – a good sized raccoon.  It was on the road, in the rain and was nearly impossible to see; its natural camouflage working too well.  We all felt lousy but could have done nothing to avoid the unfortunate incident. 

            Within two hours of flattening the raccoon, the omens of foreboding continued.  I had taken over for my turn at the wheel and made it maybe 15 minutes down the highway when traffic came to a standstill.  We had no idea why or how long it would last.  After sitting there for a few minutes, we noticed the traffic ahead of us cutting off their engines.  We followed suit and ended up sleeping in place for about three hours before we were able to move again.  The cause of our little nap break was a tractor trailer that had driven off the road and overturned.    Once that mess was cleared up, we were on the way again. 

TRACK DAY 

We arrived at the track and met up with Gene Burcham and Gary Jefferies as well as another Ducati rider and Carrmoto customer, Jim King.  Matt and Chris set up the pit area while I signed in and went through the STT tech inspection.  Everything went smoothly and we got ready for the day to start.  It had rained the night before so the track was a bit green.  The decision was to wait until a dry line had formed.  I already had knowledge of the track so learning the way wasn’t an issue, getting up to speed quickly was. 

Practice would be critical for our effort.  Not only had I not ridden for almost seven months, the engine had received a complete superstock build at the hands of former Indy Ducati employee, Craig Allen.  The bike now sported higher total horsepower as well as a fatter mid range.  More power coupled with a careless right wrist could end badly so I wanted to maximize my time on the bike before entering a race situation.  In addition to the internal changes, the bike now also sported a “Grave Digger” green frame.  It didn’t make my 848 any faster but it looked dead sexy!

By the time 1030 came around, it was time to go.  I suited up and rolled out to the track entrance only to watch someone crash their Kawasaki literally right in front of me.  In the early sessions I had watched another rider high side in a puddle of water.  The track looked much better now but was still apparently not completely up to temperature.  Back to the pits I went.

The next session came and I went onto the track.  I felt like some newbie, wobbling around the track and trying to remember how to ride.  Over the winter Grattan had been partially repaved, removing all the marks on the pavement and reference points for turns one through three.  I still had track knowledge to draw on but had lost all brake and turn in references, making it almost like learning a new track.  I continued at a slow pace as the track was still a bit slick in places with standing water in the apex’s of turns five, six, and seven.  Water was also seeping up through the cracks in the area between the bus stop and the 10A climb.  It meant that I had to ride off line in a few places but probably would have done that even under perfect conditions!  Needless to say, I was happy when the session ended without incident.

One thing that was apparent to me despite my extremely slow pace through the turns was the power of the engine.  My “seat of the pants dyno” confirmed what Matt’s Dynojet 250 indicated, more power.  I could feel it in the acceleration coming out of corners as well the extra top end on the long straight.  I was even more eager than before to get up to speed.

Within a few more sessions, my brain – and tires - were feeling more scrubbed in and I was steadily picking up the pace.  My confidence increased as I saw less and less water on the track as well as watching the fast guys turn faster and faster laps.  The Dunlop’s were as grippy as I remembered and I was enjoying having my knee skim the pavement rather than pawing at the air. 

It wasn’t all peaches and cream however, as I struggled with turns two and three.  As mentioned, my references were gone now with the repaving and I was having difficulty finding new ones.  Both these corners are blind, making your brake and turn in points critical. Thankfully, Jim King offered Matt his 848 in order to compare the two engines performance.  This would be an interesting test as Jim’s 848 only sported a full termi system while mine had the aforementioned superstock build.  In addition to testing the engines side by side down the front straight, I would be able to follow Matt to learn better lines and have Matt follow me to see how I was doing.  This was extremely useful as Matt has logged literally thousands of miles around Grattan.  Not to mention, he’s just extremely fast.

We headed out, rode a warm up lap, and started picking up the pace.  Traffic was a minor factor as passing wasn’t always easy to do within the STT rules, resulting in Matt gapping me and having to wait for me to catch up.  We made the best of it however, and got some really good work out of the time on track.  Within a session we had shaved several seconds off my lap times.  I had good reference points for turns two and three and was going faster and faster. 

At the end of the session, we went in for a debrief before heading back out with the advanced group.  A fellow named Arshog accompanied us during the debrief.  He is an old friend of Matt, professional suspension tuner, and local fast guy.  I listened intently as they covered different lines and places to make up time around the track.  Because of my track knowledge I was able to understand what they told me and visualize putting into practice during the next session.  Upon the conclusion, I gave Matt some feed back as to what I was feeling from the bike and he made some changes to the suspension.  After a quick hydration break, I went back on the track to test the settings.  The changes to the front end worked so we adjusted the back before Matt and I headed onto the track together again.  The afternoon was going great.

We went back out with the advanced group, did our warm up lap, and got down to business.  Matt took lead as we picked up the pace, going faster than we had done all day.  Matt looked back on occasion and gave me the thumbs up when he saw I was still with him.  Since the advanced group is comprised mostly of racers, some of the passing rules are a little more relaxed, allowing us to stay together through traffic.  On more than one occasion we split riders, Matt going around the outside and me ducking inside, through the bowl and sweeper.  We also played with the engine a bit as I would pull alongside Matt going into the braking area of turn one or make up any gap he had coming out of 10B.  I had picked up speed everywhere, even carrying a higher gear through turn four.  It was a huge confidence boost to do more passing than getting passed. 

One area Matt and Arshog talked about being able to pick up lots of time in was turn five.  This is a difficult turn as the jump hump resides squarely in the middle of what might be the beginning of the brake zone for this turn.  Complicating things is a larger patch of crack sealer going right down the middle of the track.  This is very slick and prevents any sort of trail braking.  I had found a thinner patch near the turn in point and was practicing hitting that spot every time.  With the fast guys’ advice, I did hold off my braking until after the hump and treated the corner like a sweeper, nearly blowing turn six.  I knew I had it right when I scared the heck out of myself but still made the corner. 

At one point in the session Matt signaled for me to take the lead.  I did so going into turn one and rode as fast as I could, focusing on running the lines we had discussed and he had shown me.  Riding faster and with confidence, I was able to more fully appreciate the power of the revised engine.  It absolutely leaped off corners like never before, wheelying out of the bus stop and over the rise exiting the bowl.  Bottom line, it was a ton of fun!

The telling point of the engine improvements came when Matt and I came onto the straight nose to tail.  I felt him attempt to pull alongside of me but to no avail.  My bike walked away from Jim’s.  Granted, Matt does outweigh me by about 40lbs but the power difference was obvious.  Additionally, I used to lose out to 600’s at the end of a straight, not this time.  I could stay with them into the brake zone which made me very happy.  We pulled in from that session very happy with how things were going. 

Since we confirmed the difference in the 848’s (and Jim wanted to ride again) Matt switched to his 1198.  He was curious to see the power of this bike and wasn’t disappointed.  He said it handled well to.  Matt seemed to feel immediately at home on the 1198 and it wasn’t long before we were having a good time passing people at various points on the track.  I was comfortable enough with him to ride very close as we circulated the track. 

After some time we hooked up with a group of STT instructors and started dicing with them.  It was a lot of fun as the group of four riders were quick and consistent, allowing back and forth passing, a skill area I felt weak on last season but quickly developed confidence in.  This also provided us the best opportunity for Matt to test just how much grunt the 1198 has.

            Matt dropped behind me on the sweeper and stayed there as we flicked right then left onto the straight.  The bikes in front of me included an R1 and two GSXR-750’s.  As I wound on the throttle hard I happened to look to my left in just enough time to watch Matt weave between me and the R1 in pursuit of everything in front of him.  He glanced over at me on the way past and I could almost see Cheshire Cat-like grin under his helmet.  His and my curiosity had been satisfied, the 1198 is stupid fast. 

            As we came around for another lap, flicked through the esses and lined up for the bowl, I got a funny feeling from the bike.  Rather, I got no feeling from the bike when I wound on the gas.  I immediately pulled in the clutch, signaled, and came off the race line.  A quick glance behind me showed no one in sight.  It was later in the day and there were very few of us on the track.  I let on the clutch and tried the gas again; thankfully it worked but not the way it should.  I immediately went to the pits and waited for Matt to return from the track.  When he did, I explained the problem and he switched from racer to wrencher, testing and checking everything.  The problem was quickly diagnosed, a broken shift linkage.  Without the parts to repair this problem, my race weekend was over.

AFTERMATH

            I can’t even begin to explain how big of a disappointment it was to know that I wasn’t going to be able to race; all the planning and preparation we had both done was all for not.  Matt offered his 1198 to me but I had no intention of learning how to race that monster of a bike with no practice.  The bottom line was that my weekend was over. 

We spent the night at the track, watched the solo races on Saturday, and headed home that night.  It was an uneventful drive, we found food to eat, and didn’t run down any wild life.  We did arrive late but without any problems.  The drive back was the antithesis of our drive out there.

Sunday saw us break down the bike, confirm the problem and work on fixing it.  We established a timeline as to when we wanted to be on the track next and watched the World Superbike races, cringing as Haga battled at the back of the pack.  It turned from a race weekend to a hanging out weekend.  No complaint here though, anytime spent with good friends is time well spent.  On Monday I returned to North Carolina.

Matt was frustrated with the outcome of the weekend because he is a professional and takes pride in his work.  He also stands behind his personal work as well as that of everyone in his shop.  He is a loyal friend and sincerely wanted to see me race, especially considering all the effort that went into us making the weekend happen.

I was a bit frustrated also but a lot less than I would have expected.  I have had the racer itch since the GNF and was really excited to get on the track again.  After the early pace we showed I was confident that I could have taken home a few trophies.  What kept my frustration in check is the acceptance that this is racing.  Stuff like this happens all the time in racing, on every level, from motogp to kids racing.  Even the best prepared teams have mechanical problems.  I’m actually a bit relieved that it happened during practice and not in the middle of a race.

Overall I am pleased with the weekend, despite the lack of running a single race.  I was able to knock off some winter rust and get a feel for the bike again.  We changed some settings and made progress.  Also, we came up with a few other modifications to make, including a power commander to smooth out the power delivery as well as a slipper clutch to help with corner entry.  Oh yeah, had a green seat to match my frame!