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TSUKUBA EAST JSB 08-09-07

Written by Anthony faulkner

Monday, 22 February 2010 06:46

TC 08-09-07
nice shots!!! i guess ill write the report here!! (maybe you can put that in the title solo!!)

well a day of ups and downs.
first of all let me say a HUGE thanks to you guys that made it out there. CRAIG and MIKE, man you guys are awesome. really i cant thank you enough for your support. SCOTT and KARL excellent, thanks so much for showing up, lending a hand and all the good vibes..

OK...

my mate had got a pit for me so we piled in, shaken, ready for qualifying. im always real nervous before qualifying. so i was pacing around, wringing my hands, and generally wondering about the relentlessness of the clock...

Craig took my bike to go around and onto the pit lane, i waited.... and waited..... and where did he go??? turns out i was a sound check short of a shaken!! eventually he showed up, i got on and blasted out of there.... new tyres so took it easy in the first lap, then let it rip....

to cut a long story short (well 15 minutes of long story), the bike was exiting like a wild bronco, all i could do was hang on. unfortunately i couldnt get on the gas 100% as a result, and was getting destabilisation of the chassis entering corners where the straights werent long enough for it to settle...
anyway i ran a 1.00.9 8) and was very happy with that, it had me gridded 7th of the field of 17.

relaxed, chatted, waited, wondered about the relentlessness of time further as it marched onto race time...

sighting lap, warm up lap, start.... i sucked, didnt get on the gas quick enough, lost a few places, was a little to polite entering the first corner. lost a few more, i dont know where i got em back, although i do remember pushing a ducati off his line entering the back sweeper up the inside at insane speed :badgrin:

people started to spread out, i kept view of the front runners for about 8 laps, then they started to slip away, i was running consistant low 1.01s with a best of 1.01.0 and the worst of 1.01.6 then BANG, lap 12 in exactly the same place i lost the front in exactly the same way i lost it last time i lost it again (entering the back hairpin). last minute chattering and down she goes, i slid, she hit the gravel and flipped over. i ran up to see if i could get back on, the levers were in place, but there was water pissing out of somewhere. so in the interests of safety i retired.

i was very disapointed, i was running comfortably in 8th, which would have put me in the points....

in reply to the suspension queries,

as you may or may not have read, the main problem that i am having that i can attribute to the suspension is my major chassis destabilisation. here is when it happens

usually at about 12000rpm in second gear. it can either be set off by
1) a small bump in the track ala. victory straight at tsukuba
2) shifting gear to 3rd while the bike is still leaned over ala midway between dunlop and the back hairpin.
3) rear end wheel slides, when it hooks up again, the bouncing commences ala anywhere.

what happens is the back end slides a little, or compresses a little and the bike generates too much momentum for the valving to effectively control it.

So....

i originally thought i needed a heavier spring, and the heavier spring i think helped, but as my speed correspondingly got faster i again ran into the same problem. so now you have the heavy spring and the extra force generated by the extra speed causing sometimes severe destabilisation and always slight to medium destabilisation.

result...

well the first thing to try is heavier valving, so i have sent some emails of to several lower level manufacturers looking for support and they seem interested. nothing firm yet but positive responses to my initial emails. fingers crossed. the make im hoping for is MATRIS. they are a european manufacturer of shocks, internals and dampners. and have been getting very good reports about the quality of their gear. anyway they are having an "in house" meeting this week to decide what kind if any of supprt they will give me.

i also have a K6 front end with OHLINS 25mm cartridges built and shimmed by the Aussie yoshimura team. itll come with some triples set to 28mm offset, which is the same as my current offset. that should settle my front end and bring me off the stoppers and hopefully stop the bike running so wide on exit. as i will be able to run much lighter springs 0.95kg to start. compared to the 1.05kg ones i have in there now.

Once that is done hopefully my woes will be over and i can get on with breaking that 1.00 mark at tsukuba.

oh well, when i get the suspension sorted out, i know i will be able to run with the front runners... so with that almost certainly being my last race of the year, its time to get things sorted out for next year, and have the bike ready to go so i can do some serious times....

thanks again for your support fellas!!

…..

you are right, a lot of it is due to tyres.

the slicks make a huge difference. primarily because of the amount of grip they generate, thus the front end chattering that bridgestone are renound for.
that was also why i went up 2 steps from what is already a heavy standard spring from 10.5kg to 11.5kg.

i have run several different pressures on the front and rear, but the pressure i was told that came out of HRC was 165 on the rear 180 on the front. i have run the rear up to 175psi.

it is the problem with slicks, they generate so much more grip that the spring rates and settings are totally different than dot tyres. when i ride with dot tyres i dont get any of the problems i am refering to.

and...

yes, i ride with a steering dampner. and its very stiff. but you are confusing front end wobble with rear end wobble.

Last Updated on Monday, 22 February 2010 15:55

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