Day 2 - 2:27.86

Date
October 9, 2016

Gear
2013 Triumph Daytona 675R
GoPro Hero 4 Silver
GoPro Session
VBOX Sport


Club / Group
Keigwins at the Track
C Group

Track
Thunderhill East 3 Mile w/ Cyclone

Personal Best
2:27.86

Notes
Arrived at track on time and feeling good. During bike prep, discovered that one of my seat bolts was loose and the hole in the frame was stripped. No way to repair on site. Rode anyway.

Set best time in first session. Ran 2:28s most of the day. Very few laps without traffic. Speed in
several corners noticeably faster in 4th/final session. Indicated 81mph (+20mph) in turn 2. All I have is this pic because of a litany of technical issues with my devices.

During session 4, my VBOX was turned off, my front camera was on but not recording, and my rear camera filled up the memory card.

It was that kind of day. Earlier in the day, my front camera indicated "Full" but only had 1 20 minute session on a 32GB card. This was because of ghost data and left on the card from previous shoots and the only way to clear was to format the card.

I ended session 4 early because I made 2 mistakes in successive laps. Both came in turn 13. The first was a little too much throttle while being leaned over on the rumble strips. The following lap, I hit a false neutral upshifting while leaned over and wide open throttle.

Overall, the day was a positive one. I took 7 seconds off my best lap from a month ago. Based on my improved corner speed late in the day I'm sure I had potential for another 2 or 3 seconds if not for traffic.

My focus for the day was to go after the easy seconds.

1. Get tucked in on the straights.
2. Come out of corners with better drive.
3. Never coast between corners.
4. Go deeper in the braking zones.

I had success with most of these goals but have to keep working on braking performance. I got a wobble in braking on the back straight and missed many shifts braking on the front straight. I think getting more consistent with the mechanics of braking/shifting would give me the confidence to carry the gas longer.

My plan for next time is to spend a few sessions eliminating the downshift and spend all of my attention finding and then hitting good brake markers. Knowing all I have to do is squeeze the brakes should help me go deeper and by doing that often enough, I can calibrate myself to the speed. When I get comfortable being flat out near the end of a long straight, I can go back and incorporate the other steps.

I will spend one more day in the C group but I think I'll have to step up to the B group to have enough clear track to make the next step up in my lap times.