[ST] CSS 5/5: The Track

[Jim Huber <jhuber@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

	This is the long one where I tell you about all the glorious fun I had
on the Streets of WIllow Springs. I had never been on a racetrack before, and
had loads of fun! Overall, it's a tight track. The front straight is only 1000
feet - considerably less than 1/4 mile. Don't let that fool you, though, we
hauled ass up the front straight. The bike I had the second day had the speedo
covered (they were all supposed to be covered), but I got up to 13,000 rpm in
third gear on their 2000 ZX-6R before slowing for Turn One.
	Turn One: early on this wasn't really a turn, just a minor change in
direction to the right and a distraction before Turn Two. As the pace got up to
more amusing speeds, though, we discovered it really is a turn and you better
slow down for it and roll on the trottle through it. It's going uphill at the
end of the front straight.
	Turn Two: this is the first interesting turn, and you know it right
away. Coming out of Turn One going uphill you can't see anything but the desert
in front of you because the ntry to Turn Two flattens out. You better slow way
down, though, 'cause Turn Two is a pretty sharp right. You go deep and turn as
quickly as you can. The next interesting discovery once you've turned in is
that it's off-camber. You're now going back down the hill you just came up, and
the track falls away to the left in a tight right-hander, so the bike really
wants to go wide. Once through Turn Two, you're downhill into Turn Three.
	Turn Three is a long sweeper of a bit more than 180 degrees to the
left, so it takes you back up the hill. If you do it right - steer only once -
you seem to run wide in the latter half of the turn, but just stay loose and
hold it and you're rewarded with a perfect entry into Turn Four.
	Turn Four is a hairpin to the right, and bumpy one, too. Looking in for
my reference point just before turning in I had my head cranked around 120
degrees or so and braking pretty hard. Since it's really bumpy due to patches
you have to be sure to roll on the gas early and consistently or you'll get to
taste some of that desert sand. One guy did right in front of me on the second
day. Turn Four is also where the "New Streets" transition is - if you go all
the way around to the right you skip the back section and go straight down to
Turn Ten. Otherwise it's back to the left for Turns Five, Six, and Seven.
	Turns Five, Six, and Seven are medium speed reversals Left, Right,
Left. I never had any real trouble with them 'cause they're flat, constant
radius corners. Easy. The trick for me was getting to the right place and the
right speed for Turn Eight.
	Turn Eight. Ah, Turn Eight. This is my turn, I own it. It's "the bowl"
at the very back. It's banked to the right and brings you onto the back
straight. I went very deep and very high to take advantage of the banking and
came out of it like a rocket. Even the guy on his own R1 couldn't catch me
coming out of Turn Eight. I'd do the "pickup drill" coming out - stand the bike
up while leaning my body off the inside to get the most traction. Down the
short back straight I actually went as fast as on the front straight - about
13k in third gear. On the first day when I didn't have my reference points
completely sorted out, it got me in trouble once and I took a trip down the
gravel that parallels the back straight at 110 mph (that day the speedo wasn't
covered, and I was turning about 10k to 11k in third). I didn't crash it,
though, so a brief chat with my on-track coach and I was back in the game.
Whew!
	Turn Nine is a just a brief little blip of the throttle and a slight
direction to the left if you've managed to get all the way to the right of the
back straight by the end of it. The only challenge is that the end of the back
straight is sky because you're dropping down the hill through none into ten.
Gotta know where to be and have faith to come into it topped out in third gear
doing probably a buck and a quarter.
	Turn Ten is a moderately tight left hander, so brake hard after the
throttle blip for Nine and downshift to 2nd gear. As my speed down the back
straight picked up, I had to brake harder coming into Turn Ten or I'd run wide
onto the rumble strip. I ran wide like that twice in a row before I really got
my speed set there.
	Turn Eleven isn't really much of a turn unless you're really pushing
yourself. It's about a 20 degree right leading up to Turn Twelve which is a
much tighter 90 degree right that ain't very far down the track. So I'd just
leave the bike in 2nd gear and zip thorugh it, then brake hard for Turn Twelve.
	Turns Twelve, Thirteen, and Fourteen are tight right-left-right
switchbacks right next to the skidpad and coming onto the front straight.
They're flat and constant radius, so you just have to get through them. Some
guys on the CSS ZX-6R's would drop to first gear for them - they're that tight
- - but I found that leaving the bike in second was better coming onto the front
straight. Otherwise you had just a brief dash up the top end of first gear,
maybe 10k to 14k rpm, then had to shift twice by the end of the straight. Guys
that got down to 1st gear would pull ahead of me a half to a full bike length,
but then I'd be ahead of them again at the end of the front straight going into
Turn One.
	So now you tuck in, roll it wide open and wring it for all it's worth
to the top of third gear up the front straight, waiting 'til you start up the
hill into Turn One to brake and do it all over again. All the while you're
grinning from ear to ear...

Can't wait 'til October and Texas World Speedway on my own bike...

	Jim Huber

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