[a13x]

This track is gnarly. Probably the most physically demanding track I've ever ridden, beating out Loudon and Sear's Point, and by far the most intimidating. That said it's a absolute gem and a 'real' GP-level track with outstanding features and just flat-out memorable. "This weren't designed on no computer" (quote Nicky Hayden)

So today I called in sick to go ride, and the irony is I'm actually sick now! Anyway worth it.

Here's a lap of the track on a 848. (ps: doing hundreds of laps on XBOX totally helped....)



TURN 1) Heading down the front 'straight' (it's not straight) you click 5th gear just before the bridge and blind crest. You hold it 5th gear pinned, which is friggin' way scary, while holding down the rear brake to keep the front end planted while aiming at nothing. Totally blind corner/crest and you just gotta know where you're going. Topped out at 141 thru here (MotoGP bikes hit 153 in 2005). HAIRY.

TURN 2) You crest the hill on the straight, which is the T1 corner, and fire it from the apex across the track to the turn in point for T2, the Andretti Hairpin, a notoriously difficult double-apex left. Bang down downshifts, spaced out to avoid sliding it in sideways, and trail-brake the shit out of the bike heading in. You are never up and down at anypoint once you crest the hill in T1, the bike is leaned to the left the entire way up to and thru T2. It's extremely hard on the brakes going from 5th to 3rd and wrestling the bike thru the double-apex.

TURN 3) Heading out of T2 in 3rd you push wide, right onto the curbing while the bike wheelies under you. Normally producing some headshake since you are still finishing the turn and powering up to T3. Click a quick shift into 4th and fling yourself across the track to setup for T3. T3 is the first right hander since T10 and you gotta watch your tyre for coldness on the right side. It's also dead flat (on the dry-lakebed) and these two factors can catch you off. Brake slightly, it's little tighter than you think, and fire it in.

TURN 4) Apexing T3 you go all the way out to the blue/white curbing at the exit of T3 hard on the throttle in 4th heading up to T4. Short straight under the Yokohama / Dunlop bridge and very quick on the brakes as you lay it into T4, another flat right. This is is faster than T3 and you can carry a ton of speed thru the apex.

TURN 5) Pushing right out to the edge of the curbing at the exit of T4 you begin thinking about T5, which is at the end of a dogleg 'straight'. You have the bike leaning right and pinned in 4th, up into 5th, and setup on the tiny 'straight' area immediately before T5. You slam back down into 4th at the 3 board and enter T5, a cambered left that heads you up the hill toward T6. T5 is where Stoner crashed in 2006.

TURN 6) There is a actual straight section of track heading from T5 to T6. You hug the outer edge all the way up this hill with the bike banging off the rev limiter in 4th as you pass under another bridge. T6 is a extremely scary fucking corner. This is where Hopkins went down a few years back. It starts off cambered with a sizable dip right at the apex, then rises back up out of the dip and drops off-camber as you head to the exit point. The bike loads, unloads, and throws you off pretty easily. Anyway heading into this turn you back off the throttle, slam the brakes, lean it in without burying the knee, and motor thru the dip/rise almost like a motocross bike while hammering out. A good drive is essential out of T6 to set you up for....

TURN 7) Firing out of T6 you find yourself staring at a wall of earth, also known as the back straight going up to the Corkscrew. This hill is friggin steep and if you don't get a good drive out of T6 your bike WILL bog down and creep up this thing. You go wide exiting T6 and then drift left heading up the hill. You have no idea where T7 is riding up to it, as it's the left preceding the Corkscrew. About 3/4ths of the way up the hill you click 5th gear and hold it wide open while again standing on the rear brake to keep the front down and avoid some nasty headshake. Not fun heading into the Corkscrew... You setup left, drift right hard on the brakes, bang one downshift, push wide right over the blind crest, bang out downshift #2 putting you into 3rd gear, and drop it left into T7. Coming into this you are hard hard on the brakes and sliding the rear tyre first left then right as you setup for the turn-in. Scary, everytime.

TURN 8 "The Corkscrew") T7 is extremely quick left where you slam knee down and are in and out within a blink. You dip into T7 then immediately rise out and over a crest that blindly sets you up for T8, the infamous Corkscrew. You have NFI where the apex is... I used a set of black tyre marks to find my way, which normally had me just off the rumble strips, and a few times on it (ala Spies in 2007). Flip flopping from T7 to T8 is bananas... just bananas. The bike loads up in T7 and unloads over the crest, and reloads with even more G's as you accelerate down the hill. It's steep and really fun.

MEGA HAIRY MOMENT ALERT - My 2nd Session on the 848 I was still figuring out how to ride it around the track and how the bike reacted. Fucked up bigtime at this section and almost piled it in epic fashion. Was in T7 (left) and as the bike flipped left to right over the crest I was rolling on the throttle preparing to hammer down the Corkscrew. Problem was the bike wheelied during transition left/right and OVER the crest. So I'm hanging off to the right and can SEE under my front tyre as it's wheeling into the nastiest turn in North America. Front end comes down with a extremely loud CHIRP CHIRP and hops a few times. Some headshake and pantshitting ensues. **NOTE** Roll on throttle AFTER cresting into the Corkscrew....

TURN 9 - RAINEY CURVE - This corner is really fast and long. You accelerate out of the Corkscrew in 3rd and upshift to 4th heading into Rainey. The entrance to this turn is dead middle of the track and you tighten up to the late apex as you go thru. There are some bumps around the apex but overall you can push out wide while rolling it full throttle in 4th looking immediately ahead to T10. Rainey is fast.

TURN 10 - Sliding immediately right to left from Rainey to T10 you roll off in 4th while trail braking slightly into T10, a fast and slightly cambered right. There hasn't been a real right turn since T4 so again the tyre is sort of cold on this side. After you apex T10 you go up and over a slight rise in the pavement as you push out to the exit point. Nothing crazy, but you have to pay attention.

TURN 11 - T11 is the tightest turn on the circuit and comes pretty quickly after exiting T10. You drift (again quickly) from left to right to get yourself in the braking chute for T11. Banging two hard downshifts from 4th to 2nd results in some impressive slides but overall one downshift into 3rd and carrying a bit more speed results in a faster lap. You are hard hard hard on the brakes here and at this point your left arm and shoulder are about to explode. Hammer it down fast onto the knee and stand it up equally as fast so you can get back on the gas and start barreling towards Start / Finish, to do it all over again.



I can't stress how physically beatup I was after each Session on the 848 (Hyper is couch to ride). It's a pretty darn fast track overall with most of the corners 4th gear rippers with some quick, hard, and nasty braking into them with massive force on the left clip-on to steer the bike in. T2, T5, and T11 were especially brutal! You might notice I said 'trail-braking' alot, something I try to avoid at trackdays and save for racing. Ya well at Laguna you are rarely able to setup nice and easy for turns as you're always coming out of a corner or cresting some hill. This track will teach you to trailbrake anyway

Ended up doing 3 sessions on the Hypermotard, which was fun, but I had more fun riding the Hyper at other tracks. I had to ride the wheels off it here (track's so fast) and was draggin' pegs everywhere, which gets old fast and is just a constant mindfuck. You'd enter corners with 'good' speed only to find at the apex that you ran out of ground clearance, as you pucker up while running wide towards the gravel all you can thinks is 'god damn sunofawtfbitch'. Not fun after a while Normally I hate the OEM Bridgestone's that come on the base Hypermotard but Laguna had such impressive grip levels that they never got too out of line. Best laptime was 1:50 on this scoot.

The 848 was the real treat to ride. Got about 1.5 hours in on the 848 and just flogged the dolphin the whole time. Just a fun fun bike to ride hard.

Best part of the day was I ended up running a 1:40 during the last session, a session I almost skipped due to extreme fatigue. 1:40 would have put me less than 6 seconds off the AMA Formula Xtreme Grid back in September. Considering I was at a trackday, on a bone-stock 848 with 500 miles on it, was dragging pegs, at the toughest track to ride on the calendar, and chanting 'don't crash don't crash' in my helmet (crashing a unauthorized-borrowed work bike on a day I called in sick would be bad... real bad..) I was FUCKING PUMPED on that.

Laguna.

Worth a flight out gents. It's a one-of-a-kind track.

[a13x]

Here are a few pics:

Heading into Turn 6




Turn 6- Scary bitch. Tip-toed thru this one everylap....





Exiting Turn 2





Never ever have dragged my bootcuff before. Knee, bootcuff, toeslider, peg..:/ T3




The Corkscrew






Cost of Trackday - $320

[bertbert2oo6]

awesome!!

[Doc]

Ok really... Can I come out and play?

[BMFR6]

thats awesome alex. the track is crazy isn't it? everyone should get out there to ride at least once.

[smf]

riding this track has been a dream of mine for 15 years. _sooooooo_ jealous.

doc - organize a trackday for next year at laguna

[OreoGitorio]

DOOOOOOOPE!!!

[ChR1s]

You used the rear brake?! craziness!

Nice writeup. Thanks for sharing.

[SVRACER01]

Originally Posted by a13x

Never ever have dragged my bootcuff before. Knee, bootcuff, toeslider, peg..:/ T3

i did that in T1 here. thats when i knew i was going fast

PS: you get a charlie horse when i see you

[brewmaster]

Great write-up Alex! I too have Laguna on my list of tracks to do before I .... well you know.

See ya next weekend?

[schleppy]

Living the life...

[Brit-Triple]

I went to cali almost 7 years ago, I was able to walk around the track, on a whim went there, you can't believe how great this track is. The elevation changes are intense and playing it for years on GT does it no justice. When i was there they were running Skip Barber, their track days are just a little more than $320.

One day, I wish to be back. Great job on your outing.

[Daytona440]

so flipping awesome! Congrats Dude!

[s a x m a n]

i'm so jealous!

I want to come out that way and hit up that track for sure!

[BMFR6]

Originally Posted by s a x m a n

i'm so jealous!

I want to come out that way and hit up that track for sure!

maybe we should make a trip out for the Code school at some point.

[Paul_E_D]

Great read, Thanks Alex

[CMG241]

flip back and forth on this map while reading, it helps

really cool write up

[a13x]

Glad you guys all enjoyed the read. My triceps are still killing me! Some BARF photographer that was there posted this pic up on BARF. Me going around a GSXR 600/750/1000 (??) the long way around

I think I gave him 6' of room?