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So this was the first weekend since I started racing that I was able to make it for Friday practice. So my intentions were to at least do the Friday racer practice however given my inconstant / low lap times this season I decided to put my self in to remedial school. I'll start off by saying if you're already intending on going for practice the extra $90 for the Penguin Advanced Class is well worth it!
Thursday after a lllooonng drive up from NY I arrived at the track around 12:30am unpacked and got my self ready for Penguin Advanced Class in the morning. At 7am I headed over to the media center checked in and then got my bike teched for the day. The class was lead by non other than the man himself Expert #5 Eric Wood and assisted by a good friend Expert #29 Michael Weyant. Between the two of them they have a wealth of knowledge that’s astounding. So I'll be frank the classroom sessions were okay and there wasn’t anything too eye opening that I haven heard before or knew. However there were a few key things that were said and were told to try that did help. However the track walk was well worth its money and then some, to actually walk the track and have the time to take it all in was something that will forever change how I see and handle the track. At one point walking T1 we stopped by the orangypink box and looked aaaaaaalllllllllllllll the way back at the 4 board and it sunk in... Why the fauk do I break so early?! :blink:. Then came Eric and Michael's explanations of the intricacies that exist in each corner of NHMS. Their explanation of how to approach and handle each corner is something I'll have and use for the rest of my racing career. After the track walks we had some open practice / 1 on 1 track time in which Eric gave us challenges to try that would improve are times..... I’m not going to say too much more of what’s cover in the classes so you'll have to pay for that wealth of knowledge yourself :p. All I have to say is take the class no matter if you're running :30's or :15's there is a wealth of knowledge to be gained. Thank you to Eric and Michael for their time and furthering my progress.
Friday
Since I was able to tech the night before after Advance Class, it was nice to be able to get some last minute things done and make it for first practice; usually with tech in the morning my tires don't get up close to temp in time for the first session of group 1. In the mean time I threw in some new CL60 pads, did an oil change, and was ready to go. Practice one went on without a hitch, no clue on lap times at the moment but felt great going through the motions. During second practice; entering T3 I took a downshift and heard some chatter from the transmission as the gear wouldn't engage. I tried to up shift still nothing, so a bailed into the T3-T10 split ending my practice. I had had this issue once last season enter in the bowl, thought it was user error. It occurred once round 1 then again round 3 and now, always on downshifts. I had installed a shift star prior to this round hoping it would rectify the issue, but apparently not.
Race GTO grid 8B
Race went off without a hitch, I was mid pack through the first few laps but started trailing off towards the middle of he race. I spent my seat time focusing on using my legs and toes more and hitting reference points on the track. 3/4s of the way through the race entering T1 I took two downshifts and the issue occurred again. I was at mid lean, tried to save it by upshifting and couldn't get it so I held the clutch in to prevent a lock up or ect. With the clutch in a slowed rapidly knowing I didn't have enough velocity to enter / exit the apex I made the judgment to call to bail on to the NASCAR oval. As I did #213 Cole Hall was making his way around me from the outside, we made contact at speed and I went down; did a fun on my back ninja turtle 360 and got to my feet. Fortunately I was the only one who went down in the incident, walked away unharmed, and was able to finish the race. I apologize for the incident and hope I didn't injure you or cost you a position (edit: kudos on the 1st place). Cant tell who the other rider involved was but I sorry to you also. Even with the off I was able to finish the race 15 out of 16.
https://youtu.be/qThx3NXmmOI
After that I decide that the issue was occurring more and more frequently and was not going to risk injury to others or myself and I called it quits for the weekend and filed for a Mechanical. Also this incident was a wake up call to the fact that I need a set of lever guards, so I will be picking up a set of Woodcraft shortly.
So given my personal schedule and Rd5 being so close by I realize if it's a major issue I may not have time to fix it prior to next round. Semi panicking, I decided to go over and talk to Scott Mullin of Souhegan Valley Motorsports. Told him the story and told me he'd get some prices. With my particular bike to pull the tranny would me splitting the cases, if I spitting the cases I might as well have it rebuilt.
So I spent the night googling away at threads online. I had read some thread over the years about tranny issues in 3/4, where I was having issues and etc. So in the AM I decided I had nothing to do all day might as well strip the bike down and have a peak and maybe able to rectify the issue myself. While tearing into it Scott stop by and threw me some numbers at me, none of which I was willing to drop on a 10yr old bike that I could easily replace the whole motor for. So I rip into it; as he stood by talking with some other riders while. Within an hour of work I was able to strip it down and pull the shift forks out to find this...
Left to right 1/2 - 3/4 - 5/6
You can clearly see each one of the ears are worn especially on the 1/2nd's each one's thickness was only ~.05 above factory tolerable specs to be replaced. Also you can tell from the radius shaped wear at the bottom of the 3/4 and slightly on the 5/6 that they are bent as well. The shift drum has no signs of wear and is well within spec. I still need to verify that the gear groves are within spec and the dogs /slots appear okay later today, knock on wood they are. Hopefully it’s just the shift forks themselves, which are already on order ($160).
It was a discouraging and frustrating weekend to say the least. I was really hopefully and focused on making some huge improvement this weekend and get myself close to where I ended last years season. I wish I could have had more time to apply what I learned from the Penguin Racing School class. Between now and next round there is not much I can do but get her back together and ready. After I plan on making more of an effort and time to get to some track days and get some well-needed seat time in.
And now I leave you with both the saddest and funniest picture of the weekend....
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Originally Posted by csmutty
