AFM 103 – Greg McCullough

Backing up a bit…

I ran back down to Buttonwillow shortly after round 1, to teach at a trackday with TrackXperience. While there, I found some issues with the Graves rearsets on the bike, and realized I wasn’t comfortable with stability under braking.

Thursday, 4.10.08 – Trackday with PTT at Infineon.

My goals were to just get comfortable with the R6 at Infineon, while mostly focusing on braking. I picked up some Woodcraft rearsets that really helped with basic comfort, and started really pushing my braking markers in turns 7, 9 and 11. Then I lost the front in 11. I haven’t crashed myself out in almost 2 years. It messed with my head a bit, but I borrowed a brake lever from another rider, re-teched and made it out for another 2 sessions. That helped, but my brakes felt really unpredictable.

Friday, 4.25

I signed up for the Red Shift trackday at Infineon with Jason, to see if I could work out my comfort issues. With a bunch of tech spec grip added to my tank, I set off to see if I couldn’t stabilize my body on the bike under braking, minimize handlebar inputs and gain some confidence. In 2 sessions, it was obvious that my brakes were simply not working right.  They were fading in and out when I really got on the hard.  No bueno.

The previous owner said the bike had a fresh set of Ferrodo pads, so I was surprised to be having issues. With only 1 option at the track, I visited the Galfer guys who were there, bead blasted my rotors at their tent, and slapped on some of their steel pads. In the process however, I discovered that the pads that were previously in my bike looked distinctly like OEM pads – marked as Sumitomo. I’m just going to assume the previous owner just slapped them in there before sale by mistake, and blame myself for not checking earlier.  Anyway, the Galfers were a massive improvement over the brake fade I was experiencing, but not as good as the Vesrahs I had on the SV last season.

During the day, the best time I could clock was a 1:48, matching my best SV time from last year, but that’s it. 7 seconds off winner’s pace in 600s. Must go faster.

Saturday practice

I ran over to Alex and picked up some Vesrah SRJL pads early in the day. My god. Those things are awesome. Great feel, stopping power with very little effort – not much more you could ask for.

My best times for the day were in the 1:49 range, but I spent my time working on body position and lines, based on a track walk I did with Jason the previous night. Absolute lap times wouldn’t change Sunday’s races much, as I’d be starting near the back of the grid in 2 of 3 races, without points from Round 1, passing as many people as possible.

Sunday

600 superbike was my first race, right after lunch, gridded around the 14th row. I got a decent start, getting past a few rows going into turn 1, passing a couple guys each corner for the first few corners. Around lap 3, I ended up behind a bunch of about 5 guys, all nose to tail. I guess I’ve become a bit of a wus in the off-season. I didn’t make a serious move on anyone for a couple of laps, instead letting them make mistakes one by one, picking up a few more positions by the end of the race. Thanks to some dbcom glitch, race results scored me in 60th, but hopefully manual scoring reconciliation will sort that out before official results are posted in a few days. I’m guessing I finished in 20-25th position.

Formula 1 was my only race with points from Buttonwillow, and I was gridded a decent 14th (4th row), which gave me a good shot at finishing well. I got a good start, heading up into turn 2 around 8th place. I held pace for a lap or so, trying to reel in Blaise, but couldn’t maintain it and gave up a spot to someone else. 1 guy in front of me crashed out, giving me back 8th, but I found myself basically out of energy by lap 5. Lame. Just lame. I was over riding the bike and wiping myself out, and not going all that fast in the process. Brian Esslinger took advantage of that and passed me, gapping me out a bit before the finish. 9th place. A top 10 isn’t bad, but I wasn’t happy with how I rode. It should be easy to clock a good pace for 8 solid laps without gassing.

Race 3 – 600 production

With only a 1 race break to reconsider my approach, I decided to focus on getting a good start, enjoy having a good ride, and continually remind myself to stay comfortable. It generally seemed to work. I started in 54th position, got a good jump up the outside, past 5 rows or so. I tried to not over-ride, and just pick off riders each lap.   I forced myself to stop being a wus and make some solid block passes, and started really having fun at it.  Racing’s fun when you’re working your way forward in the field.  I ultimately finished in 17th, running 1:47 flats, matching my pace from the previous race, but more consistently throughout, without running out of energy.

This weekend was progress. Not as much as I’d like, but not bad, given the brake issues. I wanted to finish somewhat respectably in each race, so I’d have points for next round. Most importantly, I wanted to learn and improve each day, which I feel I did, in a few small ways each day.

I can’t wait for the May 7th Zoom Zoom day at Infineon. It’ll be a great chance to go ride with Blaise and Jason and really disect the track better, now that my brakes work and I’m getting more comfortable on the bike.