From: ma1w+@andrew.cmu.edu (Mark Joseph Andy)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Faster rides during carnival: day one
Date: 13 Apr 92 17:22:50 GMT
Organization: Senior, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

Howdy,

Last weekend saw some track action.  On Saturday Pete, Axel, and I
went to Nelson ledges for a track day.  Pete and Axel were in the
street riders group while I was in spectator mode due to the distinct
lack of preparedness my bikes were in.  For $30, Pete and Axel got the
chance to take their bikes out onto the track and get some track time.
The groups seemed to be going fairly slowly, with the operating motto
being that this was a way to get a taste of the track and that if you
wanted more, you should take the ($170 more) TrakSport school which
would qualify you for a racing licence.

So, I spent saturday bumming around in the pits.  I met up with the
guy with the FZR400 that Two Geeks pitted next to last season when we
ran Nelson.  He was looking pretty fast, though he said that it was
his first time out on *any* bike this season, let alone on the 400.
(Oh, forgot to mention, alternating with the street groups was an open
practice for racers and TrakSport graduates at $50 for the day).
Bummed around some more, watching Pete and Axel have at it, and
watching a guy from Heshimura (Sp?) Racing who was *seriously* fast on
a CBR900RR (The guy's name should have some R's as well.  He was
incredible to watch).  The power of the CBR was impressive.  He would
exit turn 13 (leads onto the front straight) perhaps 40 yards behind a
GSXR750 or ZX-7, yank the chain (and have the front wheel come up as a
result), and *blow* past the 750's.  *WWWWHHHHHHOOOSSSSHHHH!!!!* :-)

Oh, and during the entire course of the day, in casual conversation,
at least 10 people mentioned something about the two ratty 750's out
in the street group.  I won't mention who's bikes were being talked
about, but I did help unload both of them :-)

In terms of speed, this street track day was definately slower than
the one at Summit Pt. that Pete and I went to.  It was slow enough
that both Pete and Axel were bored half the time, and it wasn't until
the very end of the day that speeds started getting into the
interesting region (according to what I remember from talking to Pete
and Axel).  There was only one crash in the street group.  A woman
riding an FZR (I think it was an FZR anyway), went down.  She was
apparently fine, but I don't know about the bike.  Reportedly, she was
pissed because she had helped to support the women suck as riders
stereotype.  I don't know why she crashed (Axel or Pete?).

At the end of the day, Arland ( the guy running the show) had a
wheelie contest and a burnout contest.  The wheelie contest was first,
with most folks being ok, but not great, at wheelies.  It was
impressive to see the power that modern sportbikes have.  None of the
riders balanced the bike on the rear, they just lofted the front with
acceleration and held it there until they ran outta power.  I would
say that the winning wheelie was in the 300 yard region.

The next contest was the burnout contest.  This is when insane people
destroy tires by locking the front brake and spinnin the rear wheel
under power, all the while moving the bike around so that the rubber
left on the street makes snazzy little patterns.  Contestants were
judged on the time of the burnout, as well as "creativity".

First up was a guy on a GS850.  He had been doing burnouts during the
wheelie contest as well, and looked to be a shoe-in for the win.  He
locked the front, revved the motor, and dumped the clutch, causing the
back wheel to hop and jump around until it settled into a spinning
mass of rubber and smoke on the pavement.  He kept it spinning, all
the while spinning the bike around and just generally being insane.
When he was all done, he had made 4 or so circles of rubber, with long
lines connecting the circles.  His time was on the order of 80
seconds.  The crowd, not expecting such insanity, went wild with
appreciation that he was on the other side of a fairly sturdy fence.

Arland, the afore mentioned runner-of-the-show, was next.  It was
clear that he wanted to win (and thereby claim the first prize, a free
TrakSport school, which he taught, so you have to wonder what the hell
I'm talking about, eh?).  He was on a GSXR750.  He got the rear
spinning, spewing smoke and rubber clods everywhere.  After no less
than 147 seconds, he brought the bike to a standstill, bringing the
crowd to yet another, perhaps even more thankfull, loud vote of
grattitude to the fence.

A few more folks went, doing nothing impressive (if you can call doing
one minute burnouts making that guy in Mad Max look like a girly man
unimpressive).  As the contest was about to be closed, a guy came up
on a GT380 (two-strok, I think triple).  He got the rear spinnin in
first, then then reached down with his left hand and clutchless
shifted the bike into second, causing more smoke to billow out and
pollute the environment (said smoke was of course mixing up with the
smoke from the exhaust from said bike (a two stroke if you recall),
making pretty much one big bunch of smoke, but no fire).  He went for
110 seconds or so, doing his donuts faster than the other folks.

Arland won the contest, amid protests that the GT380 rider should be
given the win on "creativity", with the GT380 rider coming in second,
and the GS850 rider coming in third and winning a new rear tire.

The most amazing thing was the tires left from this extravaganza of
rubber.  The Sportmax on the back of Arland's bike was destroyed, very
obviously having been heated to the liquid state.  The Continental on
the back of the GS was a different story.  The tire looked fine.  In
fact, it still had plenty of tread.  Don't ever buy Continentals
(ever).

(we have now reaced the high point of this post.  All the rest will be
long winded winding down, wrapping up the story.  Since it will be
long and boring, I suggest you hit 'n' now).

Then we went home.

Mark

| Mark J. Andy			WERA NV #813		DoD #813	|
| ma1w+@andrew.cmu.edu		AMA/CCS AM #811		AMA #700560	|
| Co-founder/Rider, Team RISC and Two Geeks Racing			|
| '82 Seca 650 (street), '85 RZ350 (track), '78 KM100 (commute-in-snow)	|
| I want RZ350 parts like steering damper, fork brace, exhaust, etc...  |
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