Track Weekend April 14th 2007 @ Coimbatore
ok so another track weekend safely under the belt
It was quite a build up to this track weekend, i had been busy setting up the Apache and what not,'high side henna' was adamant on setting up the rear to full hard setting and we did that. 2 days before the weekend i went and changed to new tires at JC road, Zapper Q 90/90 rear and zapper FS 90/90 front. On the way back i noticed the bike was pulling much easier to higher speeds and 100kph within the city was pretty easy. Got a little excited when i came by the domlur flyover and decided to test the tires out a bit, i should have put more thought into it before cornering hard on brand new tires. Anyways took the nice curvy left from TGIF up to the top of the flyover going towards airport ring road. It was all nice until i got to the exit at the top where i gased it, the rear let go in a hurry over the metal strip that joins the flyover sections together and needless to say with only a tshirt on i ended up with much paint loss across my whole forearm. Luckily nothing much else happened and the bike was fine. Picked up and went over to motors where motor got meds and i catered to my wounds, also made a mental note to soften the rear suspension. Doubt began to set into the mind about just how well the weekend would go...
Come friday and wounds seemed to be healing up quick but good ol murphy had to step in and throw a nasty throat infection in for good measure. I started myself on a dose of anibiotics knowing full well how draining they can be on stamina, things werent going as good as i had hoped. Nevertheless i had everything setup as i wanted and was gearing up to ride down when Anand called and said he had a free spot in the car. I thought about it and decided it would be best if i didnt ride down since i wasnt it the best shape.
we left by 11:30am or so and arrived in coimbi by 7:30pm. Anand dropped me off at the hotel and left to visit relatives, no one else had arrived so i I had a quick dinner and crashed.
Day One:
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By the morning everyone had landed up, including texas tornado (motor) and vikram arriving just in time. We headed out to track by 8am. Only 15 or so riders made it this time. At the track we finished with briefing the new guys, i set my tire pressure and set out for the first session. Bike was handling well and slowly the pace picked up, on the straight it was clocking 116kmph on the gun. Then suddenly things went wrong. Coming into C2 i got on the gas and the rear stepped out (forgot to soften the rear suspension), i decided i wasnt going to let this one go and stayed on the gas. The rear slid out so much that i ended up with the steering in total opposite lock, you can imagine the shit going through your mind in those precious seconds. Somehow in the next couple of seconds it seemed like i had saved it as the rear gained traction back and the bike began to come back in line, i still remember it like it was happening in slow motion. I remember thinking, damn thats the save of the century. In the next instant i was spat off the front of the bike and landed on my head, it was the scariest fall i've ever had. I'm sure had it not been for the helmet, i wouldnt have made it. I got back on the bike and made it back to the pits but for the next 15mins or so i couldnt even remember which corner i fell at let alone how, i got away with a small wound on my right hand and the medic suggested that i get a scan done for likely concussion
Anand was out showing the new guys around, everyone was having a good time. Prithvi had brought down his Unicorn and soon realized how much fun it was to ride despite being down on power. Texas Tornado too took a spin on my Apache and was immediately at home on it. Cant remember how many people took a spin on the apache but ofcourse we cant forget 'fat kid' (zloyd) who happily dumped the bike at the infamous second chicane (bermuda triangle). No damage was sustained to the bike or rider either, a bent handle bar was soon sorted with a nice heavy cement block and fat kid got away with a few minor abrasions and a bruised ego.
After resting in the pits for a bit my memory came back to me and i realized i had forgotten to soften the rear suspension. Dialled that in a couple of notches and reduced the tire pressure by a couple of pounds as well. I knew i had to get back and ride else mental block would set in and we all know the consequences of that. I went out and started from scratch again and this time the traction felt much better in the corners and i was able to get on the gas earlier and harder. The top speed down the stright had dropped to around 112kmph (gun) as a result of the reduced tire pressure but that didnt worry me. I went about my business putting in the laps, we had rules not to overtake on the inside and i used the opportunity to practice different lines while safely passing guys on the outside. By the afternoon session i had developed a headache but managed to get my times down consistently into the 1:30's (stop watch) and 1:29's by the end of the day. The setup felt good, i had finally dialed it in right.
At the hotel we settled down after a nice shower to some decent food and beer. Spoke to Abhi and he detailed how his fall had been very similar in the same corner, welcome to high side city! Soon it was time to crash and recuperate for the next day.
Day 2:
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The rain gods played havoc during the night, we arrived at the track by 9:30am to discover the rain had caused mudslides onto the track and the officials were busy cleaning up. We all hung around eagerly waiting to go out with the exception of a few who got their kicks wrenching on the bikes. CCR who had come down to watch with Arun was stoned shitless as usual and proceeded to test the effects of pot smoke on a fly that had somehow trapped itself in a water bottle, ofcourse it was safer than playing chicken with the pitwall but i'm sure the fly had other thoughts.
The previous days battering had left me pretty sore and the waiting around wasnt doing any good either, soon we were informed that portions of the track would be cordoned off with cones because they just couldnt clean them in time. The exit at both the chicanes were blocked and basically made tighter and the exit of the bowl was messed up as well. All this meant the times were up by 2 to 5 secs (depending on the bike) and there was no way i was going to be able to work on my times. To make matters worse the very corners i had decided to work on were the ones that were messed up, i decided to just go out and have fun.
Joel arrived on his fiero along with some friends, i took them out for a couple to laps to show them lines and immediately they were off racing each other lol. Most of everyone else had fun too. Prithvi took a fall and i guess psyched himself, looks like he doesn't want to ride track anymore which is unfortunate. Over the course of the day i noticed i was going faster than the previous day, was getting on the gas harder and much earlier, there was no way to confirm but i think low 1:29's / high 1:28's would be a good bet. Discovered the possibility that i might have to use 4th through the bowl instead of 3rd like i had been doing on sat coz i was starting to peak much earlier (need to check on that with championship riders), didnt experiment with that though. As far as line is concerned exiting the bowl midtrack and smoothly transitioning to hugging the left all the way out seemed to work best on the apache. Josh landed up with a prototype of the new 160cc apache which he did some laps on, he said he couldnt feel a difference from the older model. Texas tornado had fun on his rd but struggled with instability issues.
By 3:30pm it was time to leave as Anand wanted to take the Ooty, Masinagudi route. We were advised to take the Sathymagalam, Nanjangud route back though and took that instead. Got back to blore by 1am and hit the sack, It was an enjoyable drive back and fitting end to a not so perfect but decent track weekend. As always looking forward to the next one and on to better times.