My 94 FZR 1k at Putnam Park

[wortdog]

http://www.rpmphoto.net/store/04-26-08. ... index.html

They're watermarked proofs, I'm not too sure yet if I want to blow $45 on 7 'ok' pictures.

This trackday was a lot of fun, although I had a minor off the second day. The stock gearing on the FZR was great for a smaller track like Putnam, I could leave it in 2nd just nipping the rev-limiter for everything except the front straight which required a good chunk of 4th.

The stock 94 suspension with 30k miles on it was surprisingly good, although the rear shock is getting to be a bit weak. Steering effort is very high with stock dogbones, I think its time for some 155s or 158s from Jim. I'm on Dunlop Qualifiers and they were totally without fault, they came up to temp quickly and offered plenty of grip.

This being a two-day trackday, I spent the first day getting to know the track and not pushing too hard. The pictures look to be from the second and third sessions. By the last two sessions I was lightly dragging bits in a couple corners and was just within 10-seconds of the decent full-on racebike race pace of 1:12.

For the second day I wanted to work on my riding form and fix a couple of horrible lines that I was taking on right to left transitions. The first two sessions went well and I shaved around 2 seconds off, although I was starting to really drag pegs badly.

Things went badly in the third session. I was getting pretty tired from herding the heavy beast through the corners, and made a mistake. As I passed someone on a short straight before going into a big 120 sweeping left hander, I didn't get on the brake lever quite hard enough and had more speed than I realized going into it. I banked it into the turn anyway, grinding the hell out of the LHS peg, until it caught on a crack in the pavement and kicked the bike back to almost vertical. I tried leaning it back into the corner, but I quickly ran out of real estate and went off into the grass. The person that was behind mentioned that there was huge shower of sparks from the peg, haha.

I went down immediately as I didn't have enough time to get the bike vertical before it went on the grass. No damage to me, it was actually kind of fun sliding through the grass, but the clutch lever was no more. I also picked up a few minor scratches on a side that the previous owner had already put down, so no big deal there. The corner workers came over and gave me a shove after the session was over so I could ride it back in.

So, its time for some rearsets and dogbones.

[FZRDude]

Good job Eric!!!

Now you need to convince a buddy to go with you nest time and be a photographer/pit crew.

[stan]

maybe you need to look at your riding technique if you are dragging pegs all over the place

try a little wider approach, or a little deeper entry

if you really want to improve your riding on the track, get the Keith Code books, "a twist of the wrist" Vol 1 & 2, i had them in my kit bag at every race meet i did and were very helpfull in sorting out riding errors

another good trick is to sit on your bike in the shed with the stop watch in your hand, close your eyes and run through a lap in your head and check the time, i bet you are 10 sec quicker in your head than you are on the track....work backward slowing everything down till you have in your head a 1:12 lap, you will be amazed at how much easier your next track
day will be

good luck and keep riding

stan

[wortdog]

Well, I was mostly dragging the pegs in the long, slow corners where the entry angle/line through the corner doesn't matter quite as much in terms of total lean angle.

A wider approach or a deeper entry is just a way of slowing the corner down in most cases. One of the control riders on a Daytona 675 had me follow him for a few laps, as he upped his pace I couldn't keep up in the corners because I kept running out of ground clearance, even though I was near a proper line.

FZRs came about over 20 years ago, and the peg height really reflects that. Modern tires are so much better that the stock peg height is just too low and sets an artificial limit on lean angle IMHO.

Also, I'm a pretty light guy(under 150lbs), I can hang way off the 520lb bike and it doesn't change the angle a whole lot. I doubt even Rossi could run a 1:12 on my bike Thanks for the advice though Stan, its always appreciated.

[stan]

:bfg

stan

[wortdog]

Hahaha, its all good.

I know I'm slow as hell

[haunter]

but still faster than some