Anna's racing story so far....

[Anna]

At last - a day at the Pod with decent weather.  We braved the forecast and were rewarded with a perfect day for getting lots of runs in.  So many chances to run, that we opted to sit out 2 of them  just to give the bike a chance to cool down, and still got 9 runs in.

It was the first chance this season to settle back in and get to grips with the new swingarm and gearing and to get the feel of the new track as the previous 2 meetings had been less than ideal weather wise. NOS will be coming in later in the season as the track gets bedded in and I nail the harder launches.

Feeling a bit pleased with myself for finally plucking up the courage to do burnouts but I now have a more complicated pre-launch up sequence that  involves remembering to activate the 2 step after the burnout - this sounds easy but on Saturday I had Kyle chasing me up to the start-line yelling "switch the 2-step on!!!" and another  run where I noticed it wasn’t on just as we both staged - too late and a messed up start.  Beginning to understand why the pro racers have crews doing stuff around them while they focus on riding.

I had a great day and 4 of my 9 runs were back in the low 11s.  One rubbish run, but I won't forget to switch the 2-step on again so chalk it up as another learning experience.

The new stretched swingarm feels great (thanks Stuart Crane); although it makes the bike feel heavier during low speed manoeuvres, it gives me more confidence at launching but I still need to bring the 60ft times down.

The day ended when I picked up a rear wheel puncture.  I had just done an 11.3s, 128.8mph pass but the rear end of the bike felt a bit wibbly as I slowed down for the 2nd turn off gate and felt very wibbly as I leaned it into the turn for the return road.  Limped up the return road and back to the pairing lanes vowing to get the tyre pumped up as I could feel it was very low but, as I landed, one of my fellow racers told me the tyre was completely flat.  Became really obvious why when we saw the enormous split in it (EEEK).   We told the marshals and they got the track and run off area checked but couldn’t find anything.  Luckily we have a new Shinko Hook up  ready and waiting to go on this week. 

Having ridden road bikes that had have punctures, the Shinko felt more like a partly deflated road tyre and not as hard to control as a flat road tyre. Very thankful for my experience riding on sand at Pendine beach,  I think this is why this latest episode didn’t scare me too much.

Fab to catch up with more of the RWYB crowd  and felt pleased with my results.  Still need to work on reaction times and 60ft though!   Bring on the results for the RWYB challenge and the next round.

[Sweary Bob]

On 07/04/2018 at 8:33 PM, Sweary Bob said:

Loads of runs at the Pod today, back down in the low 11s and ready for a 10 and then this happened!! Anna says she felt it as she slowed down and started to turn off the track. Not sure if she ran over something or the tyre gave in. Instant flat and wild ride, so in the van and fit the spare new Shinko on Monday. New spare already ordered!!

Found this inside the tyre when we fitted new Shinko!! Deffo not ours, at least it' confirmed that it wasn' a tyre failure.

[KATANAMANGLER]

Shit! That's kind of scary.

[Anna]

I don't scare easily but that was definitely another one of my nine lives used up. 

[Anna]

Back at the Pod the following week with a new Shinko Hook up and a new PB.  Not too many runs as loads of cars there for All Torque/ Test & Tune day on Sunday but one of my 5 runs was a new PB (10.8871).  I then followed it up with a huge fat RED light and then they closed the pairing lanes as it was 20:00hrs.  Any residual fears about punctures disappeared as I got into the pairing lanes. 

[Duckndive]

What size rear wheel and shinko are you running ?  

[Sweary Bob]

Running a 190 on a 5.5 rim at 15 psi.

[Duckndive]

5 hours ago, Sweary Bob said:

Running a 190 on a 5.5 rim at 15 psi.

Interesting I,ve just put a new 180 on a 5.5 rim and it would work better "sit flatter" on a 6inch like the old sticky mickys used to I think.............

Edited April 22, 2018 by Duckndive

[Gixer1460]

19 minutes ago, Duckndive said:

Interesting I,ve just put a new 180 on a 5.5 rim and it would work better "sit flatter" on a 6inch like the old sticky mickys used to I think.............

Tend to agree - I used to like using a 160 tyre on a 5.5 rim - absolute bugger to get 'beaded' though!

[zedhead]

21 hours ago, Duckndive said:

Interesting I,ve just put a new 180 on a 5.5 rim and it would work better "sit flatter" on a 6inch like the old sticky mickys used to I think.............

I agree, a 5.5" rim would be best suited to a 180 section tyre at maximum - the 190 needs at least a 6" rim (or wider), although unless you're going for an aftermarket wheel (ch-ching) then you'll be limited to Busa / TL Thou etc 6" wheel...

[Anna]

Whooo hooo! 21 April and the weather was a whole let better, so was the track and my courage levels rose accordingly.  The track was a lot grippier  with more rubber and I got more confident at launching. After a mediocre, 12s first run I hitched the Big Girl Pants up, held the throttle wide open and launched harder - and was rewarded with a 10.645 new PB in the left lane! Followed that up with a 10.614 in the right lane and then a 10.779 in the left again.  Back to the right lane and I lost grip and spun the tyre so back into the 12s. 
Feeling brave and confident - so upped the launch to 5000 RPM for the last 2 runs. Back into the low 11s and 10.868 to end the day.  And finally, I got air!

[Gixer1460]

See! - easy when you 'man' up LOL!

[Anna]

2 hours ago, Gixer1460 said:

See! - easy when you 'man' up LOL!

Tru dat. Biology is against me but I have #Bawbags to help.

[Anna]

Another sunny day at Santa Pod started brilliantly with a 10.6413 winning run, straight out of the van, against a stretched Hayabusa that used to belong to a friend of ours.

 This level of success must have disturbed the equilibrium of the universe so my next run was a total mess where I tried to take off in neutral followed by a lengthy delay for a track clean up following a major oil spill.

Once the cosmic balance of good stuff/bad stuff had been restored I got in two successive PBs before lunch.  The first was 10.594 and the next was an amazing (for me) 10.4129 with a highest ever top speed of 134.93mph!  Think I am finally getting the hang of launching properly.

We stayed on for the evening session and got 2 more runs in but these were (just) in the high tens.  This time last year I would not have believed I would have had a day of 10 second runs, let alone thinking of them as an expected achievement.

I wonder if #teamAPE sent us over some of their wonderful California weather; we Brits all turned into lobsters or sat around in whatever shade we could find.

#Bawbags - the Big Girl Pants continue to work their magic, not to mention the base layers that kept me comfortable  in race leathers in the hot sun and the buff that I used as a hat.

Was good to see a fellow  #WingedHammer on the track. 

[et1170]

Good to speak to you and some great improvements in your times there! wont be long til you are in the 9`s

[Anna]

19 hours ago, et1170 said:

Good to speak to you and some great improvements in your times there! wont be long til you are in the 9`s

 

[Anna]

19 hours ago, et1170 said:

Good to speak to you and some great improvements in your times there! wont be long til you are in the 9`s

Thanks, good to speak to you as well. Got to pull the Big Girl Pants up even higher and switch on the NOS. Was trying to practice runs with throttle wide open all the way in preparation for NOS time. 

[Sweary Bob]

Time to step up and punch in the Nitrous!!

[Sweary Bob]

First event running Nitrous went well. Anna is happy with the Soft settings so next meeting we will start to shorten the "Ramp up time" until she' happy with the power delivery. After that we will start pulling it back towards the 60' area. Onwards and faster!!!

Edited June 3, 2018 by Sweary Bob
Grammer

[Anna]

Happy that  today's RWYB  wasn't a RWYB Challenge points day!  The NOS is wired in so there's no turning back, so, on my first run I opened the throttle, dumped the clutch and... the back end went sideways.  First one way, then the other and when the rear tyre hooked up, the front end lifted and started to go into a tank slapper.  I  kept it nailed and fought the front end until it straightened out.  Kyle said  the start-line marshall gave him a thumbs up, possibly to thank us for avoiding a biker-down track closure.

After that I was a bit (a lot) shaken up and took me most of the day to get back to hard launches. I got the NOS working by opening up the throttle once I was rolling and it did kick in but not at the time we had planned. The NOS progression means it just feels like a faster bike, so at least I'm not worried by that aspect.  Just have to regain the hard launches and it should start to come together.   My best time was 10.7, I think, because the timing system failed and lost all the morning's timing data.  Don't want to mention my other times but at least I got some air and a vid showing me running down a friend on a drag bike.

[Duckndive]

Are you using the 2step with the gas or just using a WOT switch to activate the controller 

[Sweary Bob]

Using wot position and clutch switch to activate NoS.

[Anna]

9 June RWYB -  Ever had one of those days at the track where it doesn't quite work?  

Runs that felt quick - weren't and my best time was a 10.9.   Launch Mojo wasn’t at 100% (following last week's scary launch) so even when I got the NOS coming in, it was a bit late. When I launched hard and the NOS came in, the rear tyre span up with a vengeance.  We had our first trackside running repair, thankfully just a loose connection on one of the nitrous fuel lines so an easy fix (once we found it). 

But - on the bright side: 
•  I got a top speed PB of 135.25 mph.
• Managed a couple of hard launches so we have had 2 shake-down meetings on NOS,  got more used to running with NOS and shortened the ramp-up time.
• Saw lots of RWYB colleagues and met some new ones. Hello Duck & Dive!! was fun seeing you disappear up the track.
• Fixed the petrol leak with no harm done.

Looking forward to next week's RWYB Challenge Points day.❤️

[Anna]

 Has anyone got any "Man-the F*ck up pills"?  My launch mojo seems to have been misplaced.

Really enjoying the power of NOS, once I get it to come in but I'm still not back up to launching on full throttle so have to open up the throttle once I'm moving, which brings it in about 1 or 2 seconds later than intended. It helps me to fly up the track and catch up with the person I'm racing but my ETs are down. 
Had a bit of a prob with the switch for the purge and we're going to look at a means of getting the throttle to have a quicker action, which will save me having to wrestle with it after l set off.

And, it was an RWYB challenge points day.
But- on the plus side it was good to see fellow RWYB challengers, including the car guys in the Dilly Dilly crew again and some PBs were gained.

[Duckndive]

It can be frustrating at times 1 step forward = 2 steps back.....BTDTGTS...

Just turn the Blue bottle off and go back to your base line set up and get the 60ft right....the most important thing is jockey consistency....

then turn it back on and work on the set up need for the extra beans  ....as it will be sure to need a few tweak's ...

and only change one thing at a time ...