N20GT Does Road America (on 2 wheels) *Vid Added*

FirstWorldProblems

TCG Elite Member
Staff member
TCG Premium
Sep 6, 2006
70,461
80,172
Crown point, IN
Here for the first time in 2 years. Super disorganized start, but now we’re in it and the bike is on the warmers.

5 of my 6 track days last year were at Putnam, where you barely need to use the brakes. I am FUCKING exhausted after the first session. Skipped The second session to catch my breath and get The canopy set up lol. There are 3 super fast straights, all followed by 90’s, so you use the brakes a LOT which is extra exhausting. New gear that’s isn’t broken in yet just adds to that exhaustion.

more to come

C9B3D9E6-90EE-4A08-8E07-E303DF0F1F9C.jpeg
BE2E4FF6-4A73-482D-9753-615CCCCE8199.jpeg
 

FirstWorldProblems

TCG Elite Member
Staff member
TCG Premium
Sep 6, 2006
70,461
80,172
Crown point, IN
That is such an exhausting track and i was on my 636. Liter bike, heat with new leathers, ouch!!!! vids please.
I have my aim solo Lap timer and GPS GoPro, so I’ll be able to do videos with a speedo and track location overlay. Just need to redownload the software on my new computer and spend a couple hours finagling it. Sometime this week
 

SpeedSpeak2me

TCG Elite Member
TCG Premium
Aug 27, 2018
23,402
38,794
Real Name
Jim
Yeah, I love RA. The nice thing about my 600 is that even if I gear down for smaller the tracks I can pin the throttle in the lower gears and have no fear of spinning up the tire, even at 40° of lean angle. The most it'll do is maybe power wheelie a bit at the top of 1st, around 13k-14k RPM (redline is 16,500). If I bang into 2nd hard it'll loft the front wheel halfway through second gear, but it never comes up more than about 6" off the ground. Just doesn't have the torque for it.

My stock gearing at RA sucks for T5-6 and the chicane. For T5 not enough torque to get me up the hill quickly in 2nd or 3rd and it's a dog coming out of the chicane. However I can hit 175mph on the front straight without a draft if I get a fast clean line out of T12.

I went down 1 in the front and up 2 in the back. I lost my top end and hit the limiter in 6th about 165mph, and T5-6 is still a challenge because it's just a bit too short to hold 2nd all the way up the hill and 3rd isn't enough to not get passed like I was parked. So I have to short shift into 3rd then bang down under the bridge before I hit the dip to take the turn.

However it does let me drop into 1st for the chicane so I can launch hard on the exit going into Kettle Bottom. That's where I can gain a lot of speed. Not worrying about spinning the tire leaned over, so I can pick up on throttle sooner that the liter bikes. Then of course, the back end getting squirrely going into Canada Corner. Man that is a fun part of the track. From the chicane all the way to T12.
 

FirstWorldProblems

TCG Elite Member
Staff member
TCG Premium
Sep 6, 2006
70,461
80,172
Crown point, IN
Yeah, I love RA. The nice thing about my 600 is that even if I gear down for smaller the tracks I can pin the throttle in the lower gears and have no fear of spinning up the tire, even at 40° of lean angle. The most it'll do is maybe power wheelie a bit at the top of 1st, around 13k-14k RPM (redline is 16,500). If I bang into 2nd hard it'll loft the front wheel halfway through second gear, but it never comes up more than about 6" off the ground. Just doesn't have the torque for it.

My stock gearing at RA sucks for T5-6 and the chicane. For T5 not enough torque to get me up the hill quickly in 2nd or 3rd and it's a dog coming out of the chicane. However I can hit 175mph on the front straight without a draft if I get a fast clean line out of T12.

I went down 1 in the front and up 2 in the back. I lost my top end and hit the limiter in 6th about 165mph, and T5-6 is still a challenge because it's just a bit too short to hold 2nd all the way up the hill and 3rd isn't enough to not get passed like I was parked. So I have to short shift into 3rd then bang down under the bridge before I hit the dip to take the turn.

However it does let me drop into 1st for the chicane so I can launch hard on the exit going into Kettle Bottom. That's where I can gain a lot of speed. Not worrying about spinning the tire leaned over, so I can pick up on throttle sooner that the liter bikes. Then of course, the back end getting squirrely going into Canada Corner. Man that is a fun part of the track. From the chicane all the way to T12.
Ok I gotta ask, is that 175 on gps or the speedo? The 1000 superbike motoamerica record speed is 184, 1000 superstock is around 179 I think, and those dudes are bad mofos riding $100k bikes. Soooo 175 on a 600 seems like a stretch lol. Bike speedos read super high right from the factory, that’s why I ask
 

SpeedSpeak2me

TCG Elite Member
TCG Premium
Aug 27, 2018
23,402
38,794
Real Name
Jim
GPS, I wouldn't trust my speedo. Even with stock gearing it's off by like 5%. With the -1 / +2 it was off by like 18%. I'll see if I can find the photo. I was using SportsTrackLive (android) and it was from before you could upload your tracks, and I couldn't take screen caps with that phone (Droid Incredible 4G, which indicates its age). Had the sensitivity on the GPS as high as it would go, so IIRC it was plotting twice a second?
 
  • Like
Reactions: FirstWorldProblems

SpeedSpeak2me

TCG Elite Member
TCG Premium
Aug 27, 2018
23,402
38,794
Real Name
Jim
I’m gonna go out a couple minutes late in the next session to hopefully avoid any traffic

Man I really should do the CCS race here in 3 weeks. Problem is I don’t think my fairings will arrive by then
That's what I did. Wait until a minute or two after the first few groups were sent off. That way I had a mostly clear track to get up to temp.
 

Thirdgen89GTA

Aka "That Focus RS Guy"
TCG Premium
Sep 19, 2010
19,299
15,654
Rockford
Real Name
Bill
I will agree. RA can be a bit intense with the braking zones at times.

Turn 1 is easy. Braking zone into Turn 5 is downhill with a slight bend. So you gotta be on the right line, and the follow up turn 6 is blind.

Turn 7 is fun as hell and you can cary a lot of speed, but leads to turn 8 the slowest corner, but tons of run-off room if you boo boo.

Carousel spins you right round like a record with some good speed, gotta be careful with the revs if you have a non-baffled pan in the car, you can generate enough G's to suck the pan dry.

Squirt out of the carousel and bang through the Kink clenching your butt hole as the track narrows from all the run-off room you could want, to oh god oh god there's a wall....

Kettle Bottoms I hella fun at speed when the car rocks back and forth as the camber of the track changes. Dive into 12, but stay right so you can get the right line through 13.

Climb through 13, but use ALL the road you can so you can point directly where you need to be for 14. Then onto the front straight and up the WAY BIGGER hill than you thought it was wondering where all your HP went.

I miss RA, have't been there in a long time. I need to go back.
 

FirstWorldProblems

TCG Elite Member
Staff member
TCG Premium
Sep 6, 2006
70,461
80,172
Crown point, IN
I will agree. RA can be a bit intense with the braking zones at times.

Turn 1 is easy. Braking zone into Turn 5 is downhill with a slight bend. So you gotta be on the right line, and the follow up turn 6 is blind.

Turn 7 is fun as hell and you can cary a lot of speed, but leads to turn 8 the slowest corner, but tons of run-off room if you boo boo.

Carousel spins you right round like a record with some good speed, gotta be careful with the revs if you have a non-baffled pan in the car, you can generate enough G's to suck the pan dry.

Squirt out of the carousel and bang through the Kink clenching your butt hole as the track narrows from all the run-off room you could want, to oh god oh god there's a wall....

Kettle Bottoms I hella fun at speed when the car rocks back and forth as the camber of the track changes. Dive into 12, but stay right so you can get the right line through 13.

Climb through 13, but use ALL the road you can so you can point directly where you need to be for 14. Then onto the front straight and up the WAY BIGGER hill than you thought it was wondering where all your HP went.

I miss RA, have't been there in a long time. I need to go back.
I spun the hell out of my rear when leaving the kink 2 years ago, TC caught it late, and it threw me on to the tank RIGHT next to that wall. Scared the fuck out of me. If that turn was just a little bit faster it would have launched me
 

SpeedSpeak2me

TCG Elite Member
TCG Premium
Aug 27, 2018
23,402
38,794
Real Name
Jim
Squirt out of the carousel and bang through the Kink....
Motorcycles don't get to the run the Kink, they have to use the carousel, unfortunately. Cycles were carrying too much speed into/through the kink and the powers-that-be were fearful that someone eventually would get splattered on the cement barriers. Kind of like turn 1 at Brainerd, where when the bikes became too powerful they'd overshoot the turn and end up in the weeds. After some weekends of pro racing there would be a pile of junked bikes out in the grass from all the bikes going off.

Kensington Kensington re: the hill on the front straight. On the more powerful bikes that power wheelie over the top, if you can't manage it, meaning it might be intimidating, or the bike has so much power it will literally go over backwards, you just put a bit of pressure on the rear brake to keep the nose down. Some will lift the front end predictably and you can just ride it out. However the first time it happens it can be a bit unnerving.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FirstWorldProblems

SpeedSpeak2me

TCG Elite Member
TCG Premium
Aug 27, 2018
23,402
38,794
Real Name
Jim
I spun the hell out of my rear when leaving the kink 2 years ago, TC caught it late, and it threw me on to the tank RIGHT next to that wall. Scared the fuck out of me. If that turn was just a little bit faster it would have launched me
I came off of turn 1 carrying more speed into 2 than expected, and had stayed to the right and caught the hill, lifting my front end. When it came down it gave a quick tank slap, just enough to send the pads away from the rotors. I was passing a few liter bikes that would stand up and parade through the corners so I had to really work to get around them in the straights, and that was my opportunity. I had just enough time to pump the lever to get brake pressure to get my speed down for turn 3 and not take out the bikes I had just passed. I didn't want to be "that guy" and take out other riders.
 
Old Thread: Hello . There have been no replies in this thread for 90 days.
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant. Consider starting a new thread to get fresh replies.

Thread Info