Day 142: May Task - Where You Stand

Going off on a slight tangent with today's subject matter I decided to take a photo of 'Where I Stand' my bike.

These are the what I use to stand my race bike up when it's not strapped into the trailer because being a race bike it doesn't have a side stand like a normal road bike.

The one closest is the front stand which lifts the bike from under the steering stem. Unlike other front stands that lift from the base of the forks, this one allows me to remove the forks completely should the need arise.

The one at the back hooks onto the bobbins that are attached to the swing arm and provides most of the stability for working on the bike. These are also necessary for lifting the bike up at track and race days so the tyre warmers can be used.

Day 140 : May Task - A Favourite Place

Eastern Creek has been one of my favourite places for a long time now, I've raced it in its old configuration on 2 and 4 wheels and have done more track days there on the bike than I can recall. The proximity of Eastern Creek to Canberra is probably the deciding factor for me that makes it my favourite, if Philip Island was closer it would probably take the gong.

The track itself has been undergoing a transformation over the last 18 months and it's now got a new section that has added a tighter, more technical section to it. They've also renamed it (very imaginatively I might add) Sydney Motorsport Park.

I'm yet to experience the full 'new' circuit so I'll reserve judgement on it until I've had a chance to sample it for myself. Despite the rubbish new name, I'm sure it will still be one of my favourite tracks to ride.

Day 105: First Ride

On Australia Day I took delivery of my new race bike, some 80 days later I finally got to ride my new toy. I had intended to try and do a couple of track days before entering a race, somehow I just never got around to it so a couple of weeks ago I bit the bullet and signed up for today's race meet at Wakefield.

I was a little nervous initially and my first qualifying session was really hard work. It seemed to take a long time to get comfortable on the bike but I still managed to qualify 7th outright which had me on the second row of the grid.

As the day progressed my times improved along with my comfort levels on the new bike. I even improved my previous best lap time for Wakefield by 2 seconds, not bad for my first outing on the 675.

So the somewhat delayed verdict: I like my new bike.

Day 99: A Successful Meet

This weekend was Round 1 of the St George Race Series for 2012 and it was also the first time I'd been to Eastern Creek to spectate instead of riding. I only had a half day spare this weekend to go out and watch my friend Mark racing his Yamaha FZ-1.

The race meet was a two day event and I'd been keeping an eye on Natsoft for Mark's results. He'd done exceptionally well yesterday and had won both races in the class he'd been concentrating on and was consistently in the top 3rd of the field in the second class he'd been running. Today he chose to only race in the one class because competing in both classes involved back to back races which really takes a toll both mentally and physically.

In this race Mark finished second and I found out later (through the live updates on Natsoft) that Mark had finished second in his second race and first in his last race which was enough for him to win this class outright for the weekend.

I was only able to watch one of his 3 races today so I made the most of it with Belinda's Nikon and her longest zoom lens. Of the 200+ photos I took today this is one of the handful that was actually in focus and captured the subject that I'd been aiming for. I've developed a new appreciation for the guys who do this for a living or even as a hobby, there is a lot of skill involved in taking photos of subjects moving upward of 200km/h.

I also dropped in on some other riders in the pit area, I'd done a few races last year with the BEARS and it was good to catch up with a few of the guys I shared garages with and hear some encouragement  to come back and race with them again.

Day 69: Renewed Racer

I renewed my AASA Race Licence at the start of Feb, unfortunately it took a while to arrive. Not that it matters much as the race series I'll be competing in hasn't started yet. The bigger concern is that I haven't ridden the new race bike yet, I really need to find time to get out and do some practice on it before the racing starts.

It's funny how life throws up funny little coincidences every now and then. Today is day 69 of my Project which is when my renewal showed up and last year my racing number was also 69. It was on the old bike when I bought it and I ran with it. I've always like the ying yang style symmetry the number 69, if the number's available in the BEARS series this year I think I'll run with it again on the new bike.

Day 26: A Very Happy Australia Day - Moron Continued Part 1

A couple of days ago I mentioned that I'd been making room in the garage for my most recent racing procurement with a promise of 'more on that later'.

Today, it arrived. So here's the more:

My new racing steed is another Triumph Daytona, this time it's a 'real' Triumph as it's a 3 cylinder, 675cc engine as against my old one that was a Japanese inspired 4 cylinder 600cc engine. Like my previous Daytona this one has been built for racing with many upgrades to improve the handling and performance. I spent a few hours today removing the old fairing and dented fuel tank to replace them with the new tank and undamaged race glass. My first outing on the new 675 is next weekend at Eastern Creek and I'm looking forward to posting up a comparison between the two Daytonas... so there'll be 'more on this later' again.