Wednesday, March 30, 2005
humpday
today was a good day. took a flexi and went up to eastern creek for the day.
a couple of mates of mine bought a second hand, suzuki gsxr-1000 (2002 model) for trackdays. it was so cheap they couldn't say no. and now they are thinking of getting back to racing. so the "team pig" pit crew (me and me brother) took off for the day to play.
our quickest rider, who wants to get back into racing, said that unless he can get down below 1 minute 45 second laps at eastern creek, then he's not going to be racing, as it'd be too embarrasing. but it's the first time he's been on any motorcycle for 3 years. actually when i rode it down pitlane for scrutineering, it was the first bike i'd been on for 3 years as well. so the pair of them were taking it cautiously for the few sessions. a few rain showers slowed up the situation as well. especially as we only had slicks and no grooved tyres.
our quickest rider was hovering outside his "target" laptime for a few sessions, then he came up behind a guy he used to ride endurance rounds with. then he got a bit quicker. by the end of the day he'd managed a 1 minute 42 second lap, and a string of 1 minute 44 second ones. so we were pretty happy with a first day out. a few guys out there going quite a bit quicker though. including Kevin Magee on a mv augusta 1000. he was laying big black lines all round the track.
i wanted to take a photo of him with his bike, but when i strolled down pit lane he was sitting on the ground having a cigarette, and had a grumpy look on his face, so i left him alone. he probably gets bothered enough by people so i figured i wouldn't be a botherer.
didn't have too much go wrong the whole day. we were being really professional, and checking the fuel level with a hacksaw blade, dipped in the tank, until some dipstick dropped the fucking thing in. damn. i hate it when i do shit like that. i don't think we did anything else too kooky. some nice toys at the track. and as usual, a few people taking them home in a box after stuffing up in the rain.
in the last session, our quick rider was catching his ex-teammate again, and got the bit between his teeth, next thing we know he's missed turn one and is doing is level best to stop before the tyre barrier in the runoff area. hehehe he spent the rest of the session trying to catch him again but didn't quite manage it.
then we loaded up, cable tied everything to the trailer, jumped in the crapmobile, and joined peak traffic going nowhere. home eventually, now i'm stuffed. need sleep.
