Track day on standard NX4

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Racer-unk
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Re: Track day on standard NX4

Post by Racer-unk » Mon Aug 27, 2018 8:34 am

Race Report:
Qualifying went OK, scrubbed in a new set and did one fast lap. Good place on the grid.
Race 1: went well, fastest lap was lap 9, went in to overtake at end of the straight and 3 corners later we were still next together and I rolled off to avoid coming together. that cost me a place as i bogged down and got overtaken by another..... :oops:
Anyway, was 2.5 second faster than my previous best timed lap. Wednesday practice, I am sure I was faster, because I was circulating without being bothered or held up.

Race 2: CHAOS, MAYHEM, what the hell happened? First start was so chaotic that they red flagged the race. Restart was not pretty either and I was pushed off at the straight. Turned after the guilty party went farming and rejoined....few corners later two of my mates took each other out...I was looking at the parts careering down the track and missed the apex, going farming according to the commentator. Coxylad would have being proud of my MX abilities, standing on the pegs and getting the bike turned before hitting the tyres. At some point another rider came past the inside of two of us at the end of the straight and went into the tyre wall
Red flag again. Next restart seems to be more orderly....I had a demon start but got duffed up at the first corner. That caused the bike to bog down and i lost a place and held somebody else up.....after that the chaos seemed to have stopped and i settled my nerves and rode like a demon with a good finish. The of track excursion cost me two places after combined time. In all 5 guys went down although some rejoined again for restarts. Bar one bike, the rest had relative minor damaged.
After the second restart the dude that passed me, came off a curb both wheels in the air. :shock:

What I learned: not to be concerned about anyone until you see a red flag. Don't look at the bodies, bits or even shake your head.....just keep focusing on the track. The lights can go out anytime........but we will discuss this at the post-race (postmortem) meeting on Wednesday.
I hope to see the rear camera footage from the dude in second place (R1 rider) [-( If I have another race like that soon, I will retire and stick to Cycling and Bowls

PS: My bike handled like a complete dog and people behind me commented of how bad it looked. Was too lazy and it seemed senseless to fix forks for the last race I EVER rode with them. R6 2007 model rear shock I want to order today, and must find a wheel for my other front end. two weeks to complete the mods before the next race practice.

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Racer-unk
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Re: Track day on standard NX4

Post by Racer-unk » Mon Sep 17, 2018 9:07 am

Race day 15 Sept 2018

Arrived late, seeing I replaced brake pads and bled brakes on Friday evening and only packed and loaded on Sat morning.
07h30 documentation....fortunately there was only one person ahead of me in the queue.
07h40...riders briefing.
08h00 tyre warmers go on...
Getting dressed and topping up oil, panicking as I go along.
08h15 going out for qualifying with unbedded pads and cold tyres.
bedding in the pads whilst warming the tyres and trying to stay ahead of the guys busy with quali....

Quali done, I head back to pits, all feels OK except for rear suspension feeling a bit fast on rebound, but stable otherwise.
Get back to pits, warmers on, adjust rebound to nearly max setting, checking if new shock adaptor is OK, etc

then I get asked "whats going on with me"......
turns out i put my bike on the front row.....

Race 1 - i had a bad start and a few of the good riders got past in the first corner.....raced nicely and lost two more positions.
Did a PB on last lap, when I was already quite tired.

Race 2 - good start, but pushed to outside of the track and had to back off allowing those I passed, to re-pass me on the inside. pretty much held my position, But lost another two places during the race.
Well the one gent/well seasoned master, had to pass me tree times before I gave up.....earning some respect and race cred......New PB on second last lap....

Race 3 Very good start on inside, but did not try and mix it with the top boys into first two corners, things looked a bit hairy as the youngsters and old national racers were making haste to the front of the field.
oddly I was quite calm with this aggressive riding happening right in front of me.....(slowly learning the race craft me thinks)
from there I was on my own holding my position and keeping up with my mate. Then half way through, my petcock closed itself, and I limped back to pit lane....found and fixed the problem, only to be met with a red light at pit exit.....
Well that cost me top step of the podium in my "sub-class".

anyway it was well worth seeing the new guy on his K6 or K8 GSXR600's face when he got the 1st place trophy for the class......after all we just all mates having fun and lap times are more important than class placement.

I need to find another consistent second a lap, so that I can stay with those darn slingshot and presling Suzukis. They a bit faster on top-end and gain half a second a lap on me when they get past.
Anyway, I am still the rookie and my time will come....hopefully when I eventually ditch the standard front-end.... :roll:

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Re: Track day on standard NX4

Post by coxylaad » Mon Sep 17, 2018 9:30 am

Good write up unk.

Nice to see you you are slowly developing the bike, and developing as a racer in the group with those around you.

you need to get some video footage!

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Re: Track day on standard NX4

Post by Racer-unk » Mon Sep 17, 2018 10:15 am

There is footage (Race 2)....but usually It shows him re-passing me when I beat him in the drag off the line....and then you dont see me again.
see the pink bike keep me wide at the end of the straight. I am obviously #51 (which was my age when I decided to start racing)
I ended 10th overall in this race, because I was a second a lap slower than my first race....must be an age thing......

https://www.facebook.com/malcolm.burrow ... 05VZbIXqjw

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Re: Track day on standard NX4

Post by coxylaad » Mon Sep 17, 2018 2:29 pm

that link just sends me to the FB page of Mac Burrows?

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Re: Track day on standard NX4

Post by Racer-unk » Sun Nov 18, 2018 7:00 am

so it's much been the same thing my last few practice and race days, some highs and some lows.

Yesterday was our last race day of the year, ....big event with lots of out-of-towners coming to collect our silverware....
Amidst my handling and tyre wear problems lately, I felt like I was going two steps back....anyway, a few tweaks here and there ,my new race tyre survived 45-plus laps and is good for plenty more. Front tyre wear is hardly noticeable.

Front end-patter still a big problem and corner entry speed on the tighter turns is my achilles heel (for now)
Lows: bogged down badly at the start of race 1 and handling progressively got worse as temp got higher.
During the twenty lap race, It was clear the rear shock needs a service as the bike really felt loose as the laps counted down.
My fastest ever off track excursion at the end of the straight missing the apex and doing some serious MX riding in the endurance race.
being 1,8 sec slower in race 2 than in race 1...... #-o

Highs: Fastest ever lap in Sprint race 1.
Bold overtaking done because of my bogged start. (learning race craft)
first sideways corner entry after main straight ---not on purpose, but trying to avoid taking out the Ducati who went in quite a bit slower.
Getting into the pub bike intact and body unharmed.

Roll on 2019:
Seeing Coxylad has refrained from lending his bike to me, I will have resolve some issues over the Xmas period.
New Racetech bladder and cap kit so I can service the rear shock myself.
Finding a new front wheel for the 43 mm forks I have in waiting.....
Strip and repaint bike....ohhh its going to look real special.....
Clean head and maybe clean-up ports if my friend's youngster in town long enough
etc.

all's well that ends well....

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Re: Track day on standard NX4

Post by cobbadiggabuddyblooo » Mon Nov 19, 2018 2:14 pm

I had an axle mod so I could use a std trx wheel in the R1 forks.
You can see what was done on my re build thread Bernard.
laughter is the best medicine

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Re: Track day on standard NX4

Post by coxylaad » Tue Nov 27, 2018 11:56 am

honest you could loan it but the postage would be a little excessive!

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Re: Track day on standard NX4

Post by Tarwetijger » Tue Nov 27, 2018 9:24 pm

coxylaad wrote:honest you could loan it but the postage would be a little excessive!
:lol:

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Re: Track day on standard NX4

Post by Racer-unk » Fri Apr 12, 2019 6:32 am

Have not ridden a bike since November.....not ready for tomorrow's races, as i had hoped.......
Too busy with life to find the time to knuckle down and finish off what i started.
Hopefully once the home renovations are done and the builder is off site I can focus again.

Hope my bike building efforts produces a positive result.... I am looking for two seconds..... :^o
I also hope after all this time away from the track, they don't give me a beginners bib again..... 8-[

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Re: Track day on standard NX4

Post by cobbadiggabuddyblooo » Sun Apr 14, 2019 6:37 am

I hope the renovations will allow you to work on the bike in the house????
laughter is the best medicine

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Re: Track day on standard NX4

Post by Racer-unk » Mon Apr 15, 2019 10:39 am

I wish....I need to install side lights in the garage for working in the evening.

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Re: Track day on butchered NX4

Post by Racer-unk » Mon May 27, 2019 1:46 pm

Well.....quali was a disappointment due to the bad shudder I was having upfront..... was doing double breaking, so slow into the corners. only 3.5 sec off my quali pace on the supposedly better bike..... #-o
I had checked steering head bearing play in the morning and that all looked good, although I tightened it a 1/4 turn.

Before Quali I put standard TDM850 map on. That fixed my mid-range and the bike pulled strong off the line and out of the corners.

After qualit I took the new carbon pads out and chamfered them a little, after checking them against the disk surface. Being Suzuki pads on used Honda discs, I thought that could be an issue. That helped tremendously and although the shudder was not completely gone, I felt comfortable to brake normally. (note to self....warm them up before you speed off)..


Heat 1 started badly with a missed gear or something leaving me stone last......caught up to the fastest SV650 quickly, but could not pass safely due to the lack of top-end power......If I pulled out of his slipstream on the straight I would go backwards.....frustrated on lap 7, I sat up and let him go about 100m ahead...then set after him again setting my best lap ever. This was obviously due to the mush improved handling with the Slingshot forks and new body position.

I always used the complete tyre on the righthand side around the clockwise circuit, but now I more aggressive on the left turning corners.
That wallowing feeling of the standard forks which I could never get to work, has disappeared.

Race two started just as bad seeing the two GSX-Rs in front of me had syncronized bad starts and I nearly hit the one dude trying to go between them..... after I released the brakes they had set off and I was last into turn one again. Nearly hit the ZX10 who lost his clutch, and he was been passed both sides and getting nervous. Got passed the SV's only by getting the run on them on the outside of the corners, tugging in and keeping my throttle hand steady......kept steady pace after that and keeping same distance to the two offending 750's, that was until I got tired, lost concentration and left the track at speed.... Rejoining second last.....waited to be last.... and then had some fun. Second last....but the guys in the pits said I rode well anyway.

Fact is bike has never seen a Dyno...and wont until I replace the 6 leaking inlet valves.
Secondly, after my mild gas-flow job, I can see I an running the motor a few degrees hotter. If I open the throttle full it bogs down ....even if I change at 8000 in fourth. Guess I need bigger mains....1 or two sizes more?

The 6 months layoff and great fear of falling with my new shining livery I suppose made me brake a little early, although my mid-corner and exit speed was good. Race fitness and a bit of weight loss would help.
I said the changes should make me 1.5 seconds faster, but I now have to wait for the head and fueling to be sorted first.
Cant wait to mix it properly with those damn 750s.

Last word: They have changed the regs and now I am back in the Breakfast class....meaning on Saturday my real class competition was a race 1098 Ducati....young girl on a late model R6, ZX10, modern GSXR1000...etc.....guess who wont get throphies for a while..... [-(
Alls well that ends well.... :D

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Re: Track day on standard NX4

Post by cobbadiggabuddyblooo » Tue May 28, 2019 8:43 am

Well done Bernard
How did it feel with the lighter wheels???

The bad inlet seating allowing leakage will cause your motor to run bad under load in 4th 5th.
If your running a little rich around 12:1A/F for acceleration this will compensate in the lower gears because the load won’t be quite as bad and would rev rather quickly to peak HP.
With 4-5th gear it would be running 6-9000rpm a lot slower which would allow time for the acc pump and A/F mix to run to a stage where it says enough is enough and I’m too lean.
laughter is the best medicine

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Re: Track day on butchered NX4

Post by Racer-unk » Wed May 29, 2019 6:50 am

Brian....the combination of the wheels and new handle bar position made my bike more chuckable...and easier to switch weight in the esses...
The stiffer forks gives me mid-corner stability and earlier on the throttle out of the corner...also I can ride a wider line easier.....(using the advantage of the TRX's midrange)

The 4.50J rear wheel has no impact (that i can notice) on the bike's handling or braking.
I need to up the idling to 1500 revs and try that next

It is great to reap the reward of risk and hard work.....
like you i like a bit of tinkering and already thinking of going Kawasaki ZX10 forks......seeing I already have the brake set-up

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