Joe took this picture of me
just before an elimination.
| Date: | June 29, 2010 |
|---|---|
| Track: | Music City Raceway (Nashville, TN) |
| Bikes: | 2002 Honda RVT1000 (RC51) / 2002 SV650 |
| Weather: | Hot to mild, going from high 90's to mid 70's. |
| Sponsor: | LearnToRide.Org |
| Conducted By: | N/A |
| Track Characteristics | Music City Raceway is a simple drag strip with no extrordinary chracteristics except that it is only a 1/8 mile strip instead of a 1/4 mile. |
After our weekend together at Road Atlanta
| Joe took this picture of me just before an elimination. |
When we got there we unloaded the bikes and headed over to tech to get registered. The guy doing tech gave me some flack about the fact that my bike didn't have a chain guard and there were dents in the tank, but he let me through. He also razzed Joe about his boots, which weren't laced. Joe laced up his boots and I promised to get a chain guard before next time back. I never made any promises about the tank.
We got several time trials for some reason. I guess the turnout was a bit light and they just kept things moving along. Seemed like we'd barely grab a seat and they were calling us back to the lanes.
I was riding the RC51 and Joe rode the SV650. Part of my purpose in all this was to work on my launches, which I must say did seem to improve as the night progressed. Joe's launches included gratuitous wheelies and even 2nd gear wheelies when he'd do his first upshift after the launch. I gave him some advice about trying to get the upshift done more quickly, which he took favorably. Seemed like he managed to keep the wheel down a lot better after that.
Both of us improved a lot as the evening went on. Joe's times dropped quickly and soon enough he was down into the low 8.1's I was running maybe 2 to 3 seconds quicker on the RC51.
When eliminations came up I advised Joe that the evening was still getting cooler and the bike would keep getting quicker, so he needed to drop some time off his best time trial to come up with a dial-in. He dialed in an 8.0 flat (I think). Unfortunately he still ended up breaking out, which is a bitter-sweet way to get eliminated. At least it meant he was still getting quicker.
Meanwhile, I was somehow on a mission. Somehow my launches got better than I can ever remember them being, and I was not only getting quicker but getting better reaction times. I ended up getting eliminated on the penultimate round, so I didn't end up with a trophy, but the guy who eliminated me was definitely sandbagging and probably wouldn't have had the luxury of doing so had I held my cards close to my chest. He asked me what I was dialing in and I told him, then he refused to tell me what he was dialing in. No matter, winning a drag race isn't that big a deal to me anyway and I've got plenty of trophys on the wall.
Joe and I had a great time at the old Drag Strip.
Most important lesson learned during this event: Not much, just need to do this again with Joe!