RE: [ST] Road Atlanta

["James Goldston" <jgoldston@xxxxxxxx>]

I give up.  Looks like even if I get below the 50k limit I can't post a pic.
Guess you'll just have to trust me on the pics.

=-=-=-=-=-=
Okay, you got it.  It's not really much of a report, but it's about all I
can do for right now.

James '02 Sprint
> -----Original Message-----
> From: st-triumphnet.com-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:st-triumphnet.com-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of
> Masiak, Richard
> Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2005 8:18 AM
> To: ST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [ST] Road Atlanta
>
>
> Paging the lister who was planning to go to RA from
> Tennessee.  Did you go?  Have a good trip?  Go the scenic
> route or the easier HWY route?
>
> I bet the races were exciting live.  Especially since the
> crappy SPEED channel did the WORST COVERAGE I'VE SEEN YET!!!
>
> Rich


Well, it was a wonderful time at the Road Atlanta (www.roadatlanta.com) this
past weekend.  Sunday morning, my son, son-in-law, bro-in-law, nephew, and a
friend rose up early to leave Knoxville at 5am.  We arrived at Road Atlanta
about 4 1/2 hours later.  They were right in the middle of a practice so I
shot off to the racetrack leaving everyone behind.  Good thing we had
walkie-talkies or we'd all been split up for good all day.

It was simply amazing to see the power these bikes had.  The skill the
riders had had to have been seen to be believed.  TV just doesn't do it
justice.  It's my first time at street bike racing.  I've raced dirt bikes
decades ago and it was pretty scary  at times.    I can't imagine doing what
those guys do on the asphalt track.

It just doesn't seem possible for them to stick to the track at the speeds
they run.  I've seen guys lay down the knee (actually, they usually stretch
like crazy and cock their knee out to get it down), but these guys drop the
knee only as they need it and then only enough to get the job done.  They go
much faster than it appears on TV.  Plus, sitting on the sidelines, they
look closer to each other, they're pretty loud but not so much you need ear
plugs, and they smell great.  I think I could get high on that racing fuel.

We didn't buy pit passes but was able to go down there and be within about 5
feet of where they were working on the bikes.  Try that at a NASCAR race!
Several places around the track we were able to get within about 20 yards of
the racing.  At the other places we wouldn't have wanted to be that close as
it would have just been too dangerous.

No one told me that we would be able to drive onto the property, nor that we
could bring whatever we wanted in coolers, even bring tents with the sides
folded up.   We saw the first race at turns 2, 3, and 4 (see
http://roadatlanta.com/trackmap.lasso), then started working our way back to
the starting line.  In race 2, we started at the far end of the track at
Turn 5 (where the Jumbotron was).  I think that was the best seat in the
house, but we had to see it all, so we worked our way down to Turn 8, where
I tried to walk onto the track, not knowing I was doing so.  Heck, the fence
was open and I was gawking so walked right up to the corner boys and girls
till someone yelled at me.  I turned tail and saw everyone laughing like
crazy because a bunch of folks saw me walk right out there.

At race 3, we sat at Turn 10A so we could see watch the whole race on the
2nd Jumbotron.  We also watched from the bridge overlooking Turn 12.  That
was the scariest looking corner to me, as it dives down the hill and they
have to keep their speed up as they approach the finish line.   It looks
like they could easily go airborne over the hill and under the bridge if
they chose to.

Poor Matt blew it on the restart due to clutch woes but he doesn't have
anything to cry about.  Heck, he's the champion.  I think he's been quoted
as saying Suz has not so good clutches and he never does well off the start
even if he has the pole.  I can sympathize as I've killed a clutch on my
Sprint trying to burn a tire off.  I successfully killed the clutch after
only about 6 burnouts.  Then again, he's a champ, I'm just a BIG wanna-be.

I didn't realize everyone changes clutches during a red flagged restart.
They only had 2 laps in, but I understand they pretty much fry the clutch on
the start and have just enough clutch to change gears the rest of the race.
When upshifting, it seemed they all used air assist to change gears.  Is
this true, or did I hear something else.  I understand it's the norm on the
drag strip but I didn't realize they did it on the track. Perhaps they don't
clutch when upshifting at all.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, we just
got satellite TV and have only been able to see a couple of weekends of
racing.

Of course, all of them use slipper clutches for downshifting.  This is
something I'd like on my bike, as I blew through a corner on Route 28 near
the Dragon once.  Thought I was in 3rd, revved it up till it was time to
downshift, went to what I thought was 2nd, but I had been in 2nd all along
and downshifted into 1st with the expected result: tire lockup.  Good thing
a car wasn't coming.  The way that story compares with what I saw at the
racetrack is this.  Never once did I hear anyone screw up changing gears or
be in the wrong gear.  Plus, they were all smooth as silk.  None of this
gear banging and throttle jacking I like to do on occasion.

Of course, if they do throttle jacking they'll either pull an unwanted
wheelie or slide the rear tire right out from under them.  They have so much
horsepower they have to be ultra smooth or they'll be left in the dust by
the smooth guys.

Inside passing was a thrill to watch also.  Much as I'd like to do that to
the HD rider mentioned in an earlier post it's not a nice thing to do on the
road, nor on the racetrack unless you are all good and really racing.  It'd
be pretty easy to stick the leg out and give a shove to the rider who won't
let you pass, but they taught us to be nice in kindergarten, didn't they?
Also, you never know when someone won't pull a gun on you.  We all know HD
riders all carry guns, knives, and crowbars, but us sport riders (um,
sport-touring) don't. ;)  All we carry is enough hp to leave them in our
dust.

I will say a group of HD riders did a good thing for me one day.  I was
hightailing it on the Istate when I saw a car come across a graveled median.
I was going so fast  I decided I wouldn't slow down to see what it was and
turned it up even more to top speed.  Went to the next gravel connector,
turned around and went South on the Istate, then turned around at the next
connector and went back North.  Right then there were about 30 HD riders and
I pulled out right in the middle of them.  I made some hand signals and got
in to be around  the #4 rider.  Of course I stuck out like a bid red sore
thumb (my ST is red), but they let me ride with them a few miles, then I
took off with a big wave of thanks.  They probably figured I was from
Alice's Restaurant and needed some cover.  Good thing I didn't have to tell
them I was probably running from my own shadow. Ha!

Other surprises:

 1. If you own a Gixxer you would have been able to take 2 laps around the
track with Kevin Schwantz.  I've never seen so many Gixxers.  Several of
them felt the need to burnout on the track and leave their marks.  One idiot
went off the track right in front of us as he was attempting a wheelie that
got away from him.  He about dumped it inn the grass.  Ha-ha.   We got a
good laugh about that.

 2. If I would have brought my Sprint I would have been able to take about
3/4 of a lap (I don't think they went the whole way around, but I never did
see them start).  Road Atlanta is definitely prejudiced. :)

How do you like that pic with me and Matt?  Durn if he didn't say he owed it
all to me and couldn't have done it without me. Nyuck, nyuck.  The smaller
picture in the lower right is Matt on the podium from a web article.  The
lower left is Ben Spies.  Both guys were very nice and didn't mind getting
their pics taken with an old wanna be like me.  You can read an article
about the race at
http://www.amasuperbike.com/article.php?UID=xyrm056PhRVe4OglxTjWZpJ2YR2MS3&a
id=6876.

Boy, did I want to be on that track.!!  I could if I wanted to drop $1,600
to take Kevin Schwantz's Suzuki School racing (www.schwantzschool.com).
It's a 2-day school at Road Atlanta.  Hmmm.  I might just do it anyway.
Hootie-hoo and yee-haw!!

See you in the mirror! :)
James
_______________________________________________
Triumph Sprint ST/RS mailing list
Send list posts to ST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Change your list options at www.Triumphnet.com