I like Hell when it looks like this:
Despite the morning temps of high 60's and peak afternoon temps of low 100's, Thunderhill was a kickass track that was well worth the sweat and some bad luck.
I knew I had a long drive ahead of me not only for the distance, but also because of the speed limit set for a car towing a trailer, so I made sure that I left no later than 4AM to make it in time for tech inspection.
I wasn't sure what would've impressed me more;
that this guy was up at 5:30AM to ride to work, or just to ride.
It warmed up way before daybreak.Got to the track and set up my area, then proceeded to find folks that I frequently ran into off and on the track; everyone from AFM racers to founding members of an all-female motorcycle club, to regular folks I've ridden the hills with. It was actually a Women's VIP Day today, which meant that one of the three groups normally reserved for novices where set aside for all women to run, no boys allowed. Nevertheless, I don't think any guys minded watching all the women riders walking around sweating in their leathers.
Team Dennis and Belle Racing pit (sans Belle)
It was so warm that it didn't matter how soaked the inside of the suit got;
it was dry in a matter of minutes.
High speeds coupled with high temps on the track
equaled sticky tires that really got worked.One of the new folks I met today was Stan, even though he and I have come across one another at an online motorcycle forum he and I both frequent. Stan is an AFM racer, so I took the opportunity to meet him face-to-face on today's trackday to find out more information and what his experience has been since he began racing. He even took the time to give me some pointers for the track since I've never been to Thunderhill, and I expressed to him that even with track instructors giving me sighting laps (kind of "reconnaisance" runs) to get acquainted with the types of turns and lines to take, I was visibly having a hard time learning Thunderhill.
In Thunderhill, you sunbathe in the shade.Thunderhill is unique in that everyone that told me I'd love it was right, and yet it was the most frustrating track I've been in during the first half of the day. I know it was my first time there, but I never encountered the difficulty and amount of time it took for me to learn the track, and it isn't even that technical of a track. Eventually, towards the end of the first half of day, I was becoming more and more comfortable. Whereas the first few sessions found me learning the track, the next ones found me pacing with comfort and passing instead of being passed. By the 2nd half of the day, I found the rhythm for this particular track. If only the day wasn't mired by crashes and a mishap on my part, I wouldn't have had to cut the day short like I did.
Waiting for a crash to be cleared out before my session.My pit area had a direct view of Turn 5 of the track, aka Cyclone for its nature. On the track map above, it's the turn on the right side of the track that practically breaks the trend of long, fast, and sweeping turns adorning the track; almost like it doesn't belong there. Not only is it a complete departure from the essence of the track (read: fast!), it is a turn that has everything you don't want in a turn. Left turn uphill, blind crest, then into an immediate descent to Turn 6 where picking up your speed is as paramount as your line. Turn 5 claimed a couple of crashes for the day that I know of (there must have been a total of at least 6 crashes that I know of today), and one of them was Stan:
He walked away pretty banged up with a puncture on his thigh,
but at least he was still able to walk away, literally.That's Turn 5 up there, and despite it seeming like the black sheep of the family of fast sweeping turns, it demands respect and patience in going through it to make it out. I didn't see Stan go down, but I did see this guy when he went in too fast in this particular corner, flying off the track and into the gravel before laying his bike down.
The rider was so visibly upset, he threw his helmet on the ground,
and proceeded to run after it as it rolled down the grade!
Sometimes it isn't a crash, but running out of fuel.
For that, you have to wear the Helmet of Shame and be paraded in the paddock.Amidst all the crashes, I was fortunate enough myself to not have been involved in one, despite how conducive some of the turns were to running off for coming in too hot. My mishap though, did manage to leave me out of the track three sessions too short (there are 8 sessions in a day), thanks to an electrical failure in my machine that completely killed all the electronics while I was running on the track. Can you imagine coming out of a high speed turn trying to get a drive out by wringing the throttle only to find a loss of feedback from your machine? Not fun. I had to pull off the track and into the gravel in the middle of a session, while everybody else finished the rest of it, flying by me at blinding and deafening speeds.
Unfortunately, most track organizers have a policy that if you crash, your bike cannot be taken off the track by the retrieval team until lunch time or the end of the day. The exception is when the track has to be closed down anyway due to what could be an extreme crash that the medical team has to be called on the track too. Fortunately for me, my mishap was not a crash, just an electrical failure through no fault of mine (sort of), so the track organizers actually told me that they will retrieve my bike after the current session that was on the track finishes. At least, they intended to.
There's something missing in this photo.The session that would've been followed with my bike being retrieved had a major crash involving 3 riders, one of which had to be helicoptered out of the raceway. With all the medical frenzy and the retrieval team removing each rider's bikes, mine was left on the side of track where I left it. The medical team took a chunk of riding time, so the organizers had to put off retrieving my bike to allow for the riders already waiting for the sessions to continue to start again. Understandable, though obviously disappointing as I had to sit through 2 more sessions to wait for my bike.
Worst tumble of the day.
My bike chillin'. Like a villain.I eventually got my bike back, naturally, but the day was already over and I had a long drive home ahead of me. So even though I had a strong idea of what the problem with the bike was, I packed everything up and headed home to a shower, proper meal, water on glass, and now the confines of my comfortable bed.
For the day being Friday the 13th, I didn't feel so unlucky after all that. Obviously, things could've been a lot worse for me, but in the end, the good outweighed the bad, with my abilities in riding improving with each and every visit to a track I make.
Productivity is always a good thing.
Even in Hell.
