[Turbo329]

Jennings Day 1 Jan. 14th, 2012

Well today was an absolute disaster to say the least. After driving 22hrs I realized that I forgot my tank mount lock so it's very unlikely that I'll have onboard footage.

Got to the track this morning after about 5hrs sleep. Chains too loose. Gotta tighten it. Check! Pulled the bike off the stands to go get my suspension looked at and the bike tipped over! Grrrrr. Cracked side panel (Good thing I couldn't get that new bodywork ready in time. hahahahahha), Clip-on bent, bent clutch lever. Replaced clutch lever. Clip-on got stuck and nobody could get it pulled out. Grrrrr. Missed 1st, 2nd, 3rd sessions and the 4th session(1st session after lunch).


Baseline suspension settings completed. Talked to the organizer and he agreed to let me ride both beginner and Intermediate to make up for my lost track time. Got suited up and headed out with the beginners.

5th session of the day (My 1st session though) I took it easy. Bedded in the new rotors and pads. No hard braking; this track flows so no real need to brake hard. Back to suspension guy. Told him of some squirming coming from the rear and some back and forth pitching when on the throttle/off the throttle.

Next session with Int/Adv. Got in to a rhythm. Started getting knee down in a few corners. Finally getting comfortable with fast turn 1. I'm strong in the infield but a little weak in turns 9 and 12.

Pitted in after a red flag and told the suspension guy about the back/forth pitching and he dialed in 3 clicks of compression on the rear Penske. The forks were spot on. No changes needed there.


Turns out the Red Flag was really serious. Helicopter came but didn't take the lady to the hospital. 2 control riders crashed. 1 male and 1 female. I'm very nervous about the outcome. She never left the spot and we were there about 90 minutes waiting for news. I'm sure I'll find out the outcome at tomorrow's rider's meeting. I hope she made it. From what I heard it was very serious.


Intial Riding Impressions
- The bike accelerates much faster. It almost scares me.

- The bike flicks into corners much faster. Flick the bars and you're on your knee. It's REALLY THAT MUCH FASTER. It's mind boggling. I found myself fighting it in turn 8 trying to stop it from turning in so fast. Un-friggin-believable! Also, I have the wheelbase longer as I'm running the swingarm indicator all the way to the mark at the back (Chain too long). And the bike still flicks in fast!

- Tires - So far I've got no complaints from the bridgestones. It feels like the tires want to roll right over to the edge. They're great! No chatter. I'm not sure about some of the other guys running these that complained of chatter but they need to get their suspension looked at. Tire pressure = 32.5 front and 31.5psi rear. These are HOT pressures off the warmers.

- New Brakes. TONS more feel. There are no really hard braking zones here but I like what I feel so far. No pulsing or anything strange. Just pure stoppage.

So after two sessions for a total of about 10 laps or so I must say I'm pleased with the mods. It feels like a completely different bike.


Hoping for some better days tomorrow and Monday.

As of right now, no onboard footage but I'll see what I can do. Lots of fellas have cameras here and I have my laptop. :smile

 

[Turbo329]

Day 2 (Sun) and Day 3 (Mon) Coming Shortly.

 

[Turbo329]

Sunday - Battle with a GSX-R1000 :crazyloco

Sunday got off to a somber start after finding out the outcome of the rider who was taken from us on Saturday afternoon. After a moment of silence we headed into the riders meeting and then the track.

I wasn't really feeling too good and decided to take it easy but for some reason I got comfortable quick. By the afternoon I had a nice battle with William on the '05 GSX-R1000. (You'll see in the video. I gave him a whoopin but he promised to pay me back at New Jersey this season. lol). The modded ZX-7R was great off the corners and I passed many folks coming out of the turns. It was flickable, stable, and the tires worked great!

By the lunch break they called me out over the PA system for my Titanium Knee Sliders. hahahahahahahahahaha. I almost got Meatball flagged. hahahahahahaha. I threw on my regular sliders and went back at it.

Towards the end of the day I caught a nasty slide coming out of turn 11. It totally caught me out. I didn't chop the throttle so I avoided a highside. I just rode it out. Then I went out the following session and was sliding in high speed turn 2. Scary stuff when you had in the high winds that we had to endure.

I ended the day puzzled. Was it the tires???

 

[Turbo329]

Day 3, Mon - Good run with a BMW S1000RR

After spending the night trying to figure out why I was sliding, I decided to soften 2 clicks of compression and give a little bit more chain slack to allow the suspension to work better. Whoila! I also ran a HOT pressure of 34psi in the back. I know, Crazy! but it worked. The Bridgestone R10s like higher pressures. No more kicking out, just nice controllable slides. I've always liked setting my suspension on worn tires. If you can make worn tires work then your suspension is spot on! (in my opinion of course)

I was sore and my knees were tight but I managed to get in a nice run with a control rider on his S1000RR. (onboard Vid to come) That was the highlight of the weekend and made my long drive worthwhile.

**on the other hand, it almost came to a smashing holt when a careless driver rear-ended me on the way home Tuesday. But fortunately everything is working out and the bike is back home safely.


Get your popcorn ready! Uploading the vids to my computer and will do some editing today to post on YouTube.

 

[ZXgreen7r]

Sounds great man!!

cant wait for the footage!!

Im itching to do track days but I dont think I will get many in this year... I havent even started any of my builds and the house is torn apart...

Jealous!! YES I AM!!

 

[mpskowski88]

damn i wish i had the time/money to do track days. someday, someday

 

[K-Dub]

The girl that died that day was my friend, and I can't believe she's gone...there is a memorial page for her on my Facebook page if anyone is interested in knowing more about her. She was a fabulous person and a great girl rider. I miss her dearly.

Find me on Facebook if you're interested...Heather Williams Hendricks...

 

[mpskowski88]

shit sorry to hear that KD. thoughts and prayers go out to her family and friends. too much of this kinda stuff lately

 

[K-Dub]

shit sorry to hear that KD. thoughts and prayers go out to her family and friends. too much of this kinda stuff lately

Yeah, thanks doll. And after talking to a bunch of people that do track days, that kind of accident is one that 99% of the riders are able to walk away from (low-side in a corner and a rider behind her hit her)...I just can't believe this happened to her, of all people. She was truly an amazing person.

 

[chuckbear]

Yeah, thanks doll. And after talking to a bunch of people that do track days, that kind of accident is one that 99% of the riders are able to walk away from (low-side in a corner and a rider behind her hit her)...I just can't believe this happened to her, of all people. She was truly an amazing person.

I don't want to get into it, but I've heard the details and it's not really fair to say the other rider (who was also a CR) hit her. They were both off the bikes when what happened to her happened and it was really no one's fault. If you've heard what happened you probably know this but I don't want anyone to get the idea that she was run over by another rider.

Like you said, it was a perfect storm of circumstances in an otherwise minor incident and it's very, very unfortunate. Condolences to you and Natasha's family. Very sad.

 

[Turbo329]

I don't want to get into it, but I've heard the details and it's not really fair to say the other rider (who was also a CR) hit her. They were both off the bikes when what happened to her happened and it was really no one's fault. If you've heard what happened you probably know this but I don't want anyone to get the idea that she was run over by another rider.

Like you said, it was a perfect storm of circumstances in an otherwise minor incident and it's very, very unfortunate. Condolences to you and Natasha's family. Very sad.

I agree that it was no one's fault but she was definitely hit. No ifs ands or buts about it. They were only 1 turn ahead of me when it happened.

 

[K-Dub]

I don't want to get into it, but I've heard the details and it's not really fair to say the other rider (who was also a CR) hit her. They were both off the bikes when what happened to her happened and it was really no one's fault. If you've heard what happened you probably know this but I don't want anyone to get the idea that she was run over by another rider.

Like you said, it was a perfect storm of circumstances in an otherwise minor incident and it's very, very unfortunate. Condolences to you and Natasha's family. Very sad.

She was hit...there is no question about that, and I'm not placing blame, of course it was an accident...

 

[ZX7RJoe]

Awesome report on the track day so far, can't wait for the footage!

:crazyloco

 

[christikitty]

Sounds like an awesome weekend!! Wish I could have made it up Turbo. Was all geared and ready to go, then life happened. Sucks about the other rider. My prayers are with her and the family..

 

[spuddy25]

The girl that died that day was my friend, and I can't believe she's gone...there is a memorial page for her on my Facebook page if anyone is interested in knowing more about her. She was a fabulous person and a great girl rider. I miss her dearly.

Find me on Facebook if you're interested...Heather Williams Hendricks...

Thats terrible news and a tragedy..Don't visit this forum much as a member of redmonkey.com/7r
We lost a member from greece a yr or so ago and even though no one new him in person we all clubbed together and raised some cash for his family and the isle of man air ambulance, think it was over £1000 in total.

Come over to the dark side on redmonkey great bunch on there!

Again very sorry for her loss and the pain thats left behind!

 

[K-Dub]

Thats terrible news and a tragedy..Don't visit this forum much as a member of redmonkey.com/7r
We lost a member from greece a yr or so ago and even though no one new him in person we all clubbed together and raised some cash for his family and the isle of man air ambulance, think it was over £1000 in total.

Come over to the dark side on redmonkey great bunch on there!

Again very sorry for her loss and the pain thats left behind!

Thank you.

 

[ZXgreen7r]

Thats terrible news and a tragedy..Don't visit this forum much as a member of redmonkey.com/7r
We lost a member from greece a yr or so ago and even though no one new him in person we all clubbed together and raised some cash for his family and the isle of man air ambulance, think it was over £1000 in total.

Come over to the dark side on redmonkey great bunch on there!

Again very sorry for her loss and the pain thats left behind!

Spuddy!! good to see you on here...

You forgot to mention to FILL OUT THE PROFILE!!

You should do that here too :rolleyes