Grattan 05-04-08 First Track Day on the Rockster
Friday, May 2nd, and I'm thinking I need to make some more definite plans for some events this year. To date I have late May and an early June weekend trips planned, but I've only glanced at the trackday schedules at NESBA and STT, and I definitely want to do some trackdays. Plus there's a couple BMW bashes planned. Plus I was seriously thinking about doing a week semi circumnavigating the state down through Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri... And I've considered doing a two week ride to California... so many things to do... so little time...
So, I'm looking at the SST and NESBA schedules and guess what... two of the tracks I want to go to are on the same weekends as the trips I already have planned, and the next good dates aren't until late June or July. Not good.
Hmmmmm... SST is at Grattan Saturday and Sunday (should that be pronounced like rattan or rotten? most people seem to pronounce it like rotten.)... Check the weather in Belding MI... Rain Saturday night, mid 40's for low, Sunday sunny and upper 60's for high... hmmmm... Check SST signup board... Online signup is closed, but they say there's plenty of openings left in all riding groups... I don't know... I don't even have my new hitch hooked up the the new car... it's so last minute... Just not sure...
Saturday morning, May 3rd, 5:00 a.m. ... The view from out my front door, over the neighbors roof tops...
I slept pretty good, but for some reason I'm getting up at 5:00. Thoughts start rushing through my head about the trackday. By the time I'm done with shower and breakfast I'm sure... Honey, I'm going to the track tomorrow... leaving tonight about 6:00... staying at a hotel about 40 minutes from the track... OK? OK.
Jump on the internet and start looking for hotels in the area... too expensive... too expensive... How about that Red Roof Inn I stayed at last time I went to Grattan? Yup, they have an opening... book it... I'm set...
Next. Need to hook up that new trailer hitch to the new car. So, here's how to hook up a Draw-Tite hitch to a 2007 Honda Accord in 2 hours or less. By the time I'm done with that, the wind is picking up, the clouds are out, and I'm getting just the occasional light drop of rain.
Next. Prep the bike... which is actually no big deal, just need to get all the tools out of my "trunk", remove the GPS connector wire and I'm pretty much done.
Arrrrrrggghhhh... Guess I need to wash the bike... ssssssshhhhh... I normally wouldn't do that. But the inspectors at the track don't like to see a dirty bike... makes it look it's not maintained... So, out comes the Dawn dishwashing liquid, bucket, scrub brush, and sponge.
Dang the front wheel is a pain in the butt, I spent more time washing it than the rest of the bike combines, and by the time I'm done it is slightly drizzling.
Back in the garage... I really should remove the mirrors... Remove the mirrors. No biggie.
Get the bike on the trailer, put it back in the garage, and it's ready to go:
Get all the other stuff ready... Track suit...Tools... Food... Have to buy ice and water when I go... Overnight stuff... I have a whole "racelist" checklist that I use to make sure I don't forget anything...
About 5:00 pm I'm ready to go and about 5:30 I'm on the road.
Shortest distance between home and Red Roof Inn...182 miles... 3 hours...
It was dry at first, but then as I started getting into Indiana it seems the sprinkles that passed us up came down a little better. The road had gotten wet here, but nothing serious...
Well, then it got more serious... fact is it rained the whole way there... Poor clean bike...
You know, although the road above looks pretty nice, some of the interstate roads along the way are for crap... I mean surface wise... ruts.. potholes... surface dips... I don't know how many time I went over a bump an said SONOFA#$%^$... You just don't notice it as much in a car, but when you have a trailer with a bike on it... and you see, and hear the trailer bounce around... What the heck do we pay taxes for, even some of the newly done parts of I80 aren't really that smooth... sorry... getting off track... We'll tried to avoid that for the rest of the weekend.
Made it to my Hotel room about 9:30 pm Michigan time. I ended up in the same room I had the last time I was there... Hmmm... coincidence?
I tried taking a couple pictures of the bike just outside my Hotel room... I got this... need to figure out how to work that new camera for night shots.
Got up the next morning at 5:00... Yeah... actually 4:00 my time... still had 40 minutes of driving and needed to be at the track by about 7:15 or 7:30...
After my shower and breakfast (consisting of two hard boiled eggs, some unsalted cashews, and a banana) I went outside...It was a bit chilly. Here's what the top of my car looked like... COOL frost patterns... I should have taken a better picture...
Started the car up... turned on all the heat and defrost and let it warm up while I finished getting my stuff together.
Back on the road...
It's funny... you know how you see signs that say "Deer Crossing"... well I saw one that said "IPass Crossing"... I didn't know what that meant... then all of a sudden this IPass darted across the road right in front of me... I just didn't see it coming in the fog... luckily I didn't hit it, but I did manage to get this picture as it left the roadway...
Oh... the sun is trying...!
Boom... at the track... 7:20 a.m.. It's going to be nice day!
Got myself unloaded and taped up... STT rules say any lights, reflectors, glass must be removed or taped up; so if you crack it up maybe it will stay together...
The day started out pretty chilly, and I never did take off my Robin-Hood Long Johns... but it just kept getting warmer throughout the day; the extra layers on top were coming off and by mid afternoon I was sweating in my helmet just enough to let me know I was working at it... Also found out that Monday was a BMW day... Apparently some BMW dealer worked with STT to organize it. I seriously considered staying another night... But decided against it...
Here's some shots throughout the day:
The above shot is the last corner just before the straight, and the one just before it is a blind uphill. Take that one at about 70 or 80... as you come up the hill the only thing you see is the tip of a cone placed at the apex of the turn (just behind that guy on the red bike). You have to initiate your turn just before you see it.. There's also a dip in the middle of that turn... the bike suspension is working big time with the elevation and direction changes.
Here's a panoramic shot of the track... New PowerShot camera comes with "stitch" software... that's a stitch of three different shots...
Well, before you know it, lunch rolled around. I brought my own pork and vegetable salad, but STT provides lunch, so I kept mine for dinner and had the bag lunch they prepared... choice of various meats and cheese combination with pickle and tomato and lettuce for topping. Not bad. Combines with nuts, fruit, and chips I munched on throughout the day, I was satisfied.
Human interest story. As I was sitting there eating lunch a couple guys came over looking at the bike (the bike gets a lot of looks). One says to the other something about the swingarm and how it's different than the other bikes. Then the older gent looks at the front end... says to me... I'm trying to figure out what moves with that.... Is that a ball joint?... So, I explain the BMW design to him... He just keeps looking, says he's seen the BMW's on the road but not one with all the stuff removed. E kept takin fer a vhile (how do you do an Irish accent...) and turns out he's from Dublin Ireland and he's visiting family here... Forgot to find out how he found himself at the track with what looked to be his son. Turns out he was quite into motorcycles and back in 1967 he use to road race in Ireland... He explains it was real road racing... through the streets... people got killed every year but they kept doing it... sort of like Isle of Man. He recounts one turn in a town where there was a big boulder in the middle of the corner (a monument for all the guys who ran into it?), so you had to figure out which side of it you were going to take... if you run wide you'd run into a gas station...Yikes! He took a shot of me and the bike... so now my picture and the Rock will be in some guys tourist photo collection... I could see his son didn't share his love of bikes... so after talking for a while he suggested they get some lunch... They must have gone and tried to get one of the lunches that were being served to the riders... Few minutes later they're walking around and I cross paths with them again... now the older gent is looking at a motard bike... asking questions again... His son asks me if I know where the Grattan Bar and Restaurant is... Figures... two Irish guys now looking for a bar...
That motard bike actually belonged to a guy I was talking to earlier. Several times on the track he would catch up to me, pass me, I'd stick with him, and then I would leave him behind on the straight... His bike only tops out at 80 mph or so... and I was hitting 120's... But most of the track is just one corner after another and 80-90 mph is fine. So, he's got this really light Honda 450 motard and he's killing the corners with it... and one to three corners before the straight he's all over me again... it was fun...
The first track session after lunch STT runs a "ladies and two-up"... yup... the ladies, and anyone who wants to ride two up, gets to have the track to themselves. That's not to say the ladies don't run the remainder of the time, but they get their special time.
Lady riding on
back....
Another couple...
And a Lady
at the Controls...
I was running normal Pilot Road tires, 31 psi front... 32 psi rear... after a track session the front rose to about 34 (good)... back was at about 38 (a little high, but OK). Have to remember next time start with back pressure a little higher to avoid so much heat buildup... After the track day the tires didn't look bad at all. They definitely don't get as sticky as the Pirelli Diablo's I use to run on my CBR1000, but they stick well enough...
Front
Rear
(crappy out of focus picture)
And here's yours truly...
The stock suspension really lets the bike moved around more than I like. I had the rear preload all the way up and cranked up the rebound on both ends. Got it to the point where it was manageable, but it was still mushy. For the most part the pegs and the knee touch down first... except for once... I was going through the bowl... actually the turn that the girl in the photo above is just existing. This is a sharp banked corner. Most of the time I take it high of the bank and sweep in. The other way is to take it tighter and count on the banking to allow you to take the corner sharper than you normally could... Went through it tight once... but the compression on the suspension was too much and I hit my left cylinder on the ground... I'm not talking lightly skimmed... I'm talking SMACK! Tire Chirp... wobble wobble... got off line but stayed on the track... At first I didn't know what happened... so first opportunity (right before the straight) I existed the track to see what it was...
Mental note... don't take that line any more! Not until I get those Ohlins mounted! I'm thinking I should get some aluminum epoxy and put it on there, just to have something else to scrape off if it happens again.
Aside from that incident, it was a perfect day... 117 on-track miles... full lean... full bore... occasionally touching down a knee and/or footpeg... I really like the power characteristics of the bike... plenty of torque to keep up with the crotch rockets... But it does tend to run out of steam near redline. I did have to work harder at leaning off and keeping the jugs off the pavement... Obviously I didn't work at it quite enough... The other nice thing was that it really wasn't that crowded... people spread themselves out pretty good... and besides occassionally getting passed and occassionally passing someone it was like I had the track to myself.
Some people weren't as fortunate as myself... Several times the crash truck was sent out, but nobody got hurt... One guy wiped out exactly at the spot where I ground the head. Looked to me like he was going too wide and then hit the front brake... front wheel slid out... and he tumbled off into the grass... got up right away and seemed to be fine.
Well, before I knew it, the last session of the day came and went... and I packed it all up to go home... Get in may car and no startiee... Hmmmm... guess I opened my doors and trunk once too many times... trunk light used up my battery? I asked the guy next to me for a jump. He had this huge diesel truck... had two batteries... A vision went through my head... Have you seen those commercials where a huge Dodge truck jumps a car and the car blows up? Advertising is doing it's job... Luckily the car didn't blow up...
Go the car started... ready to go... Ahhhh... hmmmm....GPS is locked in the glove compartment... only key is in the ignition... Do I want to risk it and turn the car off and have to jump it again? Considering my jumper cables are under everything in my trunk... NO... I just drove for a while... when I got out to the open road I stepped on the clutch... turned the car off... took the key out... unlocked the glove box... put the key back in the ignition... turned the car back on... popped the clutch... and I'm cruising... with GPS girl navigating the way...
About 150 miles into the trip traffic stops... all three lanes... What the #$#%^#.... GPS girl keeps telling me to make a U-turn... can't blame her... would if I could... Couple miles and 20 minutes later turns out they had all the traffic down to ONE LANE due to construction... Are they nuts... blocking the lanes on a Sunday night on Interstate 94? And when I got to the site... no one was even working... just a bunch of equipment spread around... tax dollars at work!
Speaking of the bad roads... I80 through Indiana is just BAD... my trailer was bouncing around like nuts... OH that poor bike... I kept looking back...
Hey, here's a question... Have you ever tried to take a picture out your back window, while using your rear view mirror to look at the LCD screen on the back of your digital camera. Try it some time... it is all kinds of messed up... Every time I moved the camera with my right hand my left hand wanted to make my car go in a different direction... Yikes...
Well sure enough when I got into the bumpy mangled areas on I80 I looked back and the bike was leaning to one side... YIKES! And I'm in the center lane... I make my way to the right... no shoulder (just construction barricades) and more bumps... AHHHHH!... Finally a spot to pull over... Yup... the rear had shifted to one side, so had to loosen the rear straps, slide it over, and then retighten... Now the fun part was I had limited room to get up to speed and there were four lanes of angry drivers coming at 70 mph!... So, I had to back up and wait for my opportunity... when it came I wound that Honda Accord out in first gear... Dang I miss my Turbocharger on the VW I use to have...
The End (Notice the patchwork on the road below...)
