Getting back to the track on the Ninja.
I hate Mondays. Most everyone can agree that they kind of stink. In order to do something about it, I took another Monday off. I had some comp time coming to me for my 12 day work stint recently. What better way to center oneself than to get all zen. My way of doing that is to get out to the kart track and burn some laps. You may remember my craptastic last track day in December. I wanted to redo that day for a while. A non-holiday Monday seemed like the best way to do just that.
I loaded the car and trailer and set out to Riverside, CA to get to Adams Motorsports Park. I arrived to a great day weather wise and crowd wise. There were only five karts and one other bike to share the track with. The air temp was 63° F and the track temp was 102° F. I had the feeling I would get my tires up to temp in those conditions. If I could do that, I could have a knee dragging day.
Pics or it didn't happen as they say. Here is a short clip of a couple of my good laps from later in the day. Yes I did get passed by a DRZ 400 Supermoto. Those things can just grunt off the corners compared to my Ninja 250. I tried to make it hard for him to pass, but it was no use. I did get both knees down and worked on getting smoother and more predictable with my lines. I also played with tire pressure. I found that I was going the wrong way with the front pressure. The Pirelli's like a higher pressure to be stable. I do need to upgrade the front fork springs soon as my front end feel is still vague and unconvincing.
Anyway I set my fastest time for the three good sessions I have data for with a 1:02.4. I know that isn't burning up the asphalt, but the fact that my times are dropping is good enough for me. I am planing to step up by taking the Ninja to some big tracks. I have a day planned for April and in May as long as work cooperates. I also have some projects in mind for both the Ninja and the FZ1.
Enjoy the video, see you back again soon!
Blue
I loaded the car and trailer and set out to Riverside, CA to get to Adams Motorsports Park. I arrived to a great day weather wise and crowd wise. There were only five karts and one other bike to share the track with. The air temp was 63° F and the track temp was 102° F. I had the feeling I would get my tires up to temp in those conditions. If I could do that, I could have a knee dragging day.
Pics or it didn't happen as they say. Here is a short clip of a couple of my good laps from later in the day. Yes I did get passed by a DRZ 400 Supermoto. Those things can just grunt off the corners compared to my Ninja 250. I tried to make it hard for him to pass, but it was no use. I did get both knees down and worked on getting smoother and more predictable with my lines. I also played with tire pressure. I found that I was going the wrong way with the front pressure. The Pirelli's like a higher pressure to be stable. I do need to upgrade the front fork springs soon as my front end feel is still vague and unconvincing.
Anyway I set my fastest time for the three good sessions I have data for with a 1:02.4. I know that isn't burning up the asphalt, but the fact that my times are dropping is good enough for me. I am planing to step up by taking the Ninja to some big tracks. I have a day planned for April and in May as long as work cooperates. I also have some projects in mind for both the Ninja and the FZ1.
Enjoy the video, see you back again soon!
Blue
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