As a testament to how generous and accommodating this woman is, she gave me the opportunity to spend a day racing my motorcycle at Infineon Raceway on our Anniversary! Not only that, she also put up with traveling almost 2000 in the company of 2 of my crude riding buddies (love you dopes!). My son and his lovely bride also accompanied us on the trip and my son joined me on the track.
The Bike:
is the Buell 1125R. The only real American made sportbike. A full 145 horse power Superbike capable of racing, in stock form, against the best bikes in the world. The first non-Harley and water cooled engine used by Buell. A wicked, fast machine!The Track:
Infineon Raceway in Sanoma California at the south end of Napa Valley and just north of San Francisco. This is a very technical track with lots of elevation changes and tight, blind corners.
To say we had a good time would be a complete understatement. The weather was beautiful, the track was clean, the event was very well organized, and I didn't crash!
The track was set up with a tightening of turn 1 to keep speeds down just a tad so the track run was something like this:
Turn 1 set up as a sharp right-hander then a hard acceleration uphill into a blind right-hander that you start your turn before even seeing it. You are also cresting a hill so your tires are a little unweighted so you have to be gentle with your braking. Out of turn 2 accelerate hard into turns 3 and 3A, a fast left-right chicane where knee dragging is easy. Hard acceleration and then hard braking at turn 4, a hard right-hander. This corner was giving me trouble the whole day, I kept entering way to slow which led to a bad line. Accelerate hard out of turn 4 through a very fast turn 5, up hill into turn 6 'the carousel'.
Turns that have a name always have a bit of fame attached to them. They are either dangerous, technical, fast, fun, or all of the above. The Carousel is a hard downhill left-hander that is taken at very high speeds with an extremely wide exit. It is a great place to pass but it is also a little unnerving to be doing nearly 100mph leaned over so far that your knee is almost scraping the pavement. I loved that turn!
Accelerate very hard coming out of turn 6 up to turn 7. Turn 7 is a double apex corner that can be taken as a single radius or, a little faster, 2 hard radius turn. I always came into this one a bit hot and had to work hard late braking. the curves making up turns 8 and 8A are mostly straightened out apex to apex and are very fast. Out of 8A you accelerate hard and the track drops leaving you with the front wheel off the ground accelerating at over 100mph. You brake hard coming into the chicane at 9A causing the back end of the bike to fishtail like mad! Lay the bike over hard right and flop over to a hard left. This is a really fun chicane that if properly executed you can carry pretty good speed through it.
Then it is hard on the throttle through turn 10 and, once again hard on the brakes for the hairpin right-hander at turn 11. Turn 12 is taken on hard acceleration and as you shift up through the gears in the front straight you are generally wheelying as you pass the grandstands. Then you're hard on the brakes again to come into turn 1 and do it all over again..... but faster!
At the start:
Coming into turn 3:
The Carousel:
My lovely wife here to watch ME have a good time:
Coming out of turn 9A, the chicane:
Accelerating in turn 10:
A happy kid:
A fried tire:
Yep, a good time was had!
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