Lap at NHIS

I am writing this for those who may be interested in doing a track day at NHIS or perhaps even race at NHIS. Keep in mind this will be from the perspective of my Motorcycle as I have been on track with that most in the past 3 years. The 7 years prior, I spent behind the wheel of an ITS spec RX-7. The gears used on my bike closely match those used in a car application as well. You may need to read this a few times to make sense. I will try to find a map so you can follow along.

We'll start our adventure in 4th gear full throttle on the main straight, clipping past Start / Finish. The "4" board is quickly approaching us on the right. Full throttle....4-3- BRAKE (start looking left through the apex of 1) -2- Match rev (heel toe) Down Shift to 3rd gear as the 1 board passes us... Looking to the left, tip the bike in with light trail brake pressure. Ease off the brake and add throttle to settle the chassis as we hit our apex. Passing the apex with a left knee on the ground.

Looking through the corner to a "mid-line" in the middle of the track we begin to stand the bike up and really open the throttle for the short chute between 1 and 1A. Looking right we can see the 1A apex cone across the grass infield from us. Staying at neutral throttle we tip the bike to the right, again a knee hits the pavement. This time it is very close if not right on the burm at the edge of the track. 2 seconds before we hit the apex cone in 1A we start looking left (across the bike) again at 2.

As we stand the bike up to go left we give a quick release of the throttle and down shift into 2nd. This helps to bleed a little bit of speed and get the bike (or car) pointed in the right direction. As the bike starts to turn left we apply a decent amount of throttle to settle the chassis for the upcoming pavement transition. Turn 2 has noticable transition from road course to oval. Looking quickly at the apex marker in 2 we shift our focus to a small hole in the fence diaganally across from us. Soon after gaining focus on the hole in the fence our left knee is on the ground. As we cross the transition the front end unsettles a little bit and as the backend catches up to the now sliding front. The extra throttle we applied earlier helps keep us going in the right direction.

Out of 2 we are full throttle out to the nascar wall, shift into 3rd gear and look slightly left into the braking chute for turn 3. Using the cones on the side of the chute we count down from 6-5-4-3-BRAKE-Downshift into 2nd, and look right, thought the corner at a clump of grass across the track. 2- start turning in, just missing the rumble strips to our right, knee down looking across the track at this clump of grass adding a moderate amount of throttle.

Once we are sure the bike is heading towards the clump of grass we crane our neck to the right looking up hill at our next apex marker. Again we encounter the first of 2 pavement transitions, the first is not really noticable, the second however causes the bike to bump up and down rather viloently. After the second transition we can really start to add in throttle to power up the hill going past the apex marker in turn 4. We are leaning to the right, close to full throttle and can see our track-out cone across from us in 5 on the left side of the track.

Full throttle over the top of 5 shifting gears into 3rd again. Moving from the left side of the track in 5 we start coming down hill into the turn 6 chute. 6 is a bowl shaped turn with 32' of camber. It is AWESOME to say the least. We can see braking cones on our right and we have set up about 2 ' off from them. At the bottom of the hill there is a space between the last two cones and we are aiming for the gap between them. full throttle down the hill until we pass cone 3. We sit up from behind the bubble, BRAKE! Look left down to the bottom of the bowl in this turn. We then ease off a bit to a trail braking pressure. Just before we are at the gap in the cones we turn left, ease off the brakes, apply moderate throttle and can feel every bit of the suspension working with us, compressing and then rebounding as we pass the apex of the corner. Just passed the apex we can really add some gas and let the machine slide to outside of the turn. Our left knee is on the pavement the whole time through this corner.

At the apex of 6 we have turned our head up hill and to the left. Looking beyond the infield tree to the apex marker in 7. If you pull off 6 correctly, no further steering input is needed for 7. The bike (or car) will go the direction you need it to with the initial input from 6. Standing the bike up through the "kink" in 7 we ride / drive over the rumble strip on the right side of the track. We start to turn slightly to the right up a small hill and under the turn 8 tree stand.

As we pass under the tree stand we are at full throttle, and can see the track continue to the right a bit. Instead of following this slight curve in the road we will look straight ahead at the apex marker for 9. It is across the track from us and we can stay at full throttle until we are literally right on top of it. A quick stab on the brakes to settle the chassis we begin looking left down the hill. The nice thing about 9 is that we can go passed the apex marker for what I like to call a count of 3. 3-2-1 now start turning left. Delaying our entry into the apex allows us to bleed a little more speed as well as really square off the turn. Once we have started turning left we look for a cement wall on the left edge of the track. Adding gas we put our left knee down and contiue our turn down hill to the edge of this wall. At the wall, we stand the bike up and start turning right through 10.

Turn 10 is a parking lot. Changes to this part of the track over the past 8 years have really opened it up to just about any line. We will be taking an early apex through 10 missing a "man eating" curb on the right side of the track. Close to full throttle we have come down the chute from 9 and have started looking right and can see well down the track to a cone waaaaaaay across the track on the left. We do need to be a little careful as we will be crossing the oval again and experiencing the pavement transition similar to those in 3. Just as the bike starts to bounce a little we can feel the pavement under our right knee and are sliding both the front and rear of the bike (or car) praying that our michelins (yes I'm sponsored) stick. Full throttle across the track gradually standing the bike up to the cone we saw just seconds before. It is much closer now and we can see a braking cone for 11 and also apex cones for 11A. After we start looking left into 12 we straight line 11, and just passed the inital cone we grab a handful of BRAKE! Now you should have noticed we haven't changed gears in a while. Last time was grabbing 3rd at the top of turn 5. Reason being is that from 5 through 11 we are moving at a high rate of speed and can use every bit of 3rd gear from a low point in turns 6 and 9 to almost 4th in turn 8 and out of 10.

After braking hard we trail brake a little and begin our left hand turn. Easing off the brakes we add moderate throttle to settle the chassis and our knee is now firmly planted on the ground. Ok, at this point the cars will continue on a straight line back out to the main straight. Bikes are completely different, we use a 12-12A chicane to slow us down. After our knee is on the pavement through 11A we look across the bike into 12. There is a Diamond shaped peice of pavement in the middle of the track that cuts across the apex of 12. Simply connecting the dots here is a big help. If you were to draw a line across 2 opposite points of this diamond you will hit both apexes for 12 and 12A.

Keeping neutral throttle we need to transition to the right. We force the bike from our left knee to our right knee and then adding a handful of throttle we turn left one last time and head out on the main straight. Full throttle we shift gears, 3rd, 4th.... passed start /finish.

 

Steven,

Sorry I couldn't make it yesterday. I will definately set aside some time in the next few weeks to get up there with you.

 

Sadly I can not see the video from work.

I'll See if I can get it to work at home. Seat time will definately help you in your quest to find more speed.