The 2010 season is well under way and though i’ve already attended 3 events, this is my first post for the 2010 track season. I picked up a 2006 Yamaha R6 dedicated trackbike earlier this year to campaign my 2010 season and it’s been quite the learning experience. I decided on a smaller displacement trackbike for a couple of different reasons including:
1. less horsepower – more focus on corner speed than straight line speed
2. lighter steering with more agility for faster cornering
3. don’t need to spend 3 hours prepping the bike before/after each trackday
4. cheaper to fix than a ducati
2006 R6 Trackbike - at home lookin' pretty
I picked up the R6 from a really nice guy on the WERA boards who raced the bike for 2 years up in Loudon. He had the bike set up nicely for his weight, which, sadly for me, is roughly my weight considering he’s half a foot taller than me! But that’s besides the point…the point is, its well sorted and the suspension is tuned nicely to suit the Dunlop slicks on the bike. The bike came with all the typical go-fast goodies…forks, shock, damper, rearsets, exhaust, etc. It also came with some spare fairings and a spare exhaust canister.
My first event of the year was more of a feeler than anything else. First trackday of the year + new/unfamiliar bike = scared and slow. That pretty much defined my whole day. I rode around timidly and was probably the slowest rider in “I” group. I remember thinking that i should’ve signed up for “B” group instead. I never really came to terms with the R6 and couldn’t even really tell the difference between the 1098 and the R6 by the end of it.
2006 Yamaha R6 - at the track warming its shoes
My second event was more eye-opening in terms of seeing the differences between the R6 and the 1098. Probably the biggest difference i noticed was that i don’t run wide anymore, even when i go into the corner too hot. The 1098 tended to push wide when exiting the corner too quickly, whereas the R6 just goes wherever you point it. With the R6 i feel like i can pull it in tighter anytime i want with just a little push of the handlebars. The other big difference i’ve noticed is i’m at WOT (Wide-Open-Throttle) a lot more often on the R6 than the 1098. Although the R6 is considerably slower down the straights, i feel like i’m using more of the R6’s power than the 1098. I don’t think i’ve ever even pinned the throttle on the 1098 before because even at 80% throttle the bike pulls so hard. I realized at this event why everyone loves the R6. Based on my videos, i was roughly 2-3 seconds slower on the R6 than the 1098 at this point.
NJMP Thunderbolt - R6 - shot by Event Photo Now
My latest event, where i shot my latest video, was this past Monday (June 14th). I tried to schedule this event as close to the previous one as possible so i could continue building on top of what i’ve been learning with the R6. I also picked up a lap timer to help me set goals for each event, that way i can gauge whether or not i’m improving as well as help me find areas i need to work on. I’ll let the video do the rest of the talking:
If you watched the video till the end, you would’ve seen the part where i almost binned the bike coming out of the chicane. I remember thinking i was just waiting to crash when that happened. Luckily the Dunlops held on and kept me upright! I ran low 1:43’s most of the day with my best lap being a 1:42.9, which is roughly 1-2 seconds faster than my fastest lap at Thunderbolt with the chicane on my 1098. This goes to show, horsepower is not everything. I’m looking forward to seeing how far the R6 will take me. My goal for this year is to break into the 1:30’s…and my ultimate goal for Thunderbolt is to run a sub-1:30. I don’t know if that’ll ever happen, but i’m not gonna worry too much about it, i’m just gonna try my best to enjoy the ride.
3 Comments
what does “binned” the bike mean?
It means i almost crashed.
cool.