ninjette.org - View Single Post

Mechanikrazy · November 9th, 2019, 12:16 AM

So, I originally was going to let this thread go as I moved away from the ninjette, but the random thread bumps made decide it would be fun to continue the progress thread. If you moderators feel it inappropriate in ninjettes at speed, just let me know. I wrote up these 2019 reports for posting elsewhere originally.
___

For 2019, I dedicated myself to running as much of the AFM season as I could. For 2019, I bought a 2011 R6 and ran it as a triple 450 in AFM. It is a fantastic stepping stone class without going into the 600 meat grinder. The 450 is about on par with an SV650, but without the need to frankenstein mod. Marcus Zarra sells a fuel injector bypass that plugs right in. The fast guys are doing cam grinds for the last bit of horsepower, but I like having the option to switch between 450 and 600.

AFM - Round 1 - Buttonwillow

First of all, I have to thank all of the 450 riders who were welcoming and helpful to this newcomer. In particular, Marc, Owen, Brandon, Sandy, and Dave were generous with their time and information sharing. The weekend almost ended before it started, but for Marc Zarra saving me.

As a bit of background, I have been riding a pretty much stock Ninja 300 at the track for the past three years. With the new Ninja 400, it made more sense to me to get a set up R6 for racing that would also have an easier time at trackdays rather than continue to dump money into the 300. That being said, I just did not have much time to get acquainted with the R6 before round 1 as I only got out to two California Superbike School cornerworking days at Vegas with it (Hi @Misti

).

Saturday

It was only my second time ever at Buttonwillow. I started off the day a bit frustrated as I was only lapping where I was the first time on a Ninja 300 at 2:16. I am still adjusting to the additional heft and size of the R6 versus the Ninja 300, so I know that my cornering speed is still lacking quite a bit. I also know that it is all mental as I was on Dunlop Q3+ on the 300 and am now running Pirelli SC1 slicks on the R6. Also, I was going from a soft, stock 300 suspension to full K-Techs, so the grip is there for the taking.

As practice went on, I focused on trying to pick up speed through T3/T4 and Riverside as I thought I had the most to gain there. I started to make some headway into my lap times and slowly whittled away. However, things were about to take a turn for the worse. Coming over Phil Hill in practice 4, the bike just suddenly felt a lot weaker. I thought maybe I was imagining it as it continued to run without any ticking/clacking/terminal sounds. However, once I reached pitlane, I pulled in the clutch and the engine immediately died.

I parked the bike and started asking around if any mechanics were around for a consult troubleshoot because I wanted to make the Clubman Lightweight race. Unfortunately, the prognosis was not favorable. I ended up cancelling all of my races and started loading up with the expectation of troubleshooting the bike at home. However, the other 450 riders and Oscar from Race Pace Motorsports suggested I check in with Dave for his opinion. Dave then pointed me to talk to a guy.

The guy started asking me about the bike and also how the 450 bypass was done. As part of my explanation, I told him, "I bought a bypass harness from Marc Zarra." It turns out the guy I was talking to was Marc Zarra. He went over to inspect the bike and take a listen. He dismissed the light ticking as normal R6 noise by asking the rhetorical question of whether I'd carefully listened to this bike without earplugs in before. That would be a no. He then took the time to rewire the bypass harness to bypass problematic cylinder 1 instead of cylinder 2. And it ran! It's a good thing I only needed three of four cylinders. Of course, after this weekend, troubleshooting cylinder 1 will still be done. But it ran! At this point, I was just glad to have the chance to race on Sunday.

Owen then suggested Indian for dinner. I had no idea that there was Indian food in Buttonwillow. It was tasty, and even included entertainment by way of a random table figurine.

Sunday morning

First things first, I went to talk to Allie at registration to get re-registered. Unfortunately, I couldn't run 450SB because the cutoff time was 5PM the previous day. However, I was able to get back into F4 and 450SS in the afternoon. After resolving the registration issue, it was time for practice. I am not a fan of cold morning practices but I knew I needed to test the bike, so I took it out for two laps for shakedown. Coming across two downed bikes in the first lap alone was reason enough for me to pit-in after the engine seemed to work fine. Then began a long wait to the afternoon races.

Formula IV

Formula IV was mostly an experts race. Before the race, I had set a personal goal of hitting 2:08.

Off the line, I got a better start than the other novice rider and I was able to stay in touch with an expert rider. I was getting a better drive than the rider off the corner, and was able to get by while on the brakes.

The next rider ahead of me was on a blue bike. As I worked on slowly closing the gap, I saw that that the bike had a narrow tail (so not a GSX-R). As I got closer, I saw the tail had Feel Like A Pro stickers on it. "Oh boy, it's an ex-FLAP Ninja 300," was what crossed my mind. (More below with 450SS, but it was a 450 and wasn't a 300). In that moment, I convinced myself that I had to (a) learn from this guy's cornering and (b) utilize the higher horsepower of my bike to get by. However, I could not get a good drive on the "300" bike for the life of me. It was frustrating to say the least as I should have been packing significantly more horsepower so I kept questioning my technique corner after corner. I was staying in touch and closing up on corner entry, but the gap would slightly open on corner exit. After following the other rider through three laps, I decided to make a pass in Riverside as I was getting more comfortable through there. I know that the oft spoken rule is "don't add throttle and lean angle," but I also knew I was previously nowhere near the limit on entry to Riverside. Mentally, I convinced myself that I needed to get past this "300" so I broke the cardinal rule by increasing load on that front tire. After completing the pass, my front end went for a little slide as a big reminder to me to keep it in check. That lap was a 2:09.144.

The next lap, I got to 2:08.649 as I was trying to prevent a repass and pushed a bit more. Honestly, the set up for the pass mentally drained me. The R6 takes a noticeable amount more effort to move around than my old 300. However, on the last lap, I made some mental errors overslowing on corner entry and dropped back to 2:09.558. I could feel the other rider hanging over my shoulder, and can only hope I didn't surprise him too much with the overslowing. On the cool down lap, I glanced over my shoulder and didn't see anyone there before continuing to pit-in. It turns out I looked the wrong way as the timing shows the difference between us at the finish was only 0.3 seconds.

450SS

Very similar start to Formula IV. After the first lap, I was back following the FLAP bike. I then spent the entire race trying to understand my corner exit drives and trying to get a good run on this "300." My bike seemed to be pulling fairly strongly, so I figured it had to be a line or rider throttle application issue on my part.

As the race progressed, the skilled riders from the following 300/400 waves started catching us. This really hurt my rhythm as they would slot in between us on corner entry. I spent the rest of the race trying to constantly close back up the gap but I could not figure out a way to set up a pass as the fast 300/400s were coming by. We held position all the way to the checkered with me 0.8 seconds behind.

One thing though about that "300" bike. In the final corner of the last lap, an actual 300 came up the inside of me. On the front straight, I easily powered back by to the finish line. This made me wonder about that FLAP bike as I knew my corner exits, while relatively slow, shouldn't have been losing out that big. Upon looking at the results in RaceHero, it looks like the other rider was actually on a 450 but maybe sponsored by FLAP rather than running an ex-FLAP bike. So at least mentally, I'm not racking my brain as hard about how I was losing out so big on corner exit drives versus what I thought was a 300.

Still, I am racking my brain over the 1:53 on a Ninja 400 by Rocco Landers. Absolutely incredible. I ended the weekend in the 2:08s, and know that there is still a lot of easy time to be had in T2-T6, Riverside, and Phil Hill.

Recap

All in all, I brought the bike home in one piece so I can't complain. I am also glad I was able to get more comfortable on the R6. Next time out, I'll hope to cut it down to 2:05 or lower. The real target is to at least visually stay in touch with the 450 pack.

I just pulled the forks and shock for a refresh service tonight, and will now also set about inspecting the engine. I haven't had time to learn about the R6 since I bought it, so I'm looking forward to reading the service manual and figuring out what is where on this bike.

November 9th, 2019, 12:16 AM	#68
Mechanikrazy ninjette.org guru Name: Al Location: Orange County, CA Join Date: Dec 2015 Motorcycle(s): Thruxton R, R6 450 triple, EX300 (sold) Posts: 263	So, I originally was going to let this thread go as I moved away from the ninjette, but the random thread bumps made decide it would be fun to continue the progress thread. If you moderators feel it inappropriate in ninjettes at speed, just let me know. I wrote up these 2019 reports for posting elsewhere originally. ___ For 2019, I dedicated myself to running as much of the AFM season as I could. For 2019, I bought a 2011 R6 and ran it as a triple 450 in AFM. It is a fantastic stepping stone class without going into the 600 meat grinder. The 450 is about on par with an SV650, but without the need to frankenstein mod. Marcus Zarra sells a fuel injector bypass that plugs right in. The fast guys are doing cam grinds for the last bit of horsepower, but I like having the option to switch between 450 and 600. AFM - Round 1 - Buttonwillow First of all, I have to thank all of the 450 riders who were welcoming and helpful to this newcomer. In particular, Marc, Owen, Brandon, Sandy, and Dave were generous with their time and information sharing. The weekend almost ended before it started, but for Marc Zarra saving me. As a bit of background, I have been riding a pretty much stock Ninja 300 at the track for the past three years. With the new Ninja 400, it made more sense to me to get a set up R6 for racing that would also have an easier time at trackdays rather than continue to dump money into the 300. That being said, I just did not have much time to get acquainted with the R6 before round 1 as I only got out to two California Superbike School cornerworking days at Vegas with it (Hi @Misti ). Saturday It was only my second time ever at Buttonwillow. I started off the day a bit frustrated as I was only lapping where I was the first time on a Ninja 300 at 2:16. I am still adjusting to the additional heft and size of the R6 versus the Ninja 300, so I know that my cornering speed is still lacking quite a bit. I also know that it is all mental as I was on Dunlop Q3+ on the 300 and am now running Pirelli SC1 slicks on the R6. Also, I was going from a soft, stock 300 suspension to full K-Techs, so the grip is there for the taking. As practice went on, I focused on trying to pick up speed through T3/T4 and Riverside as I thought I had the most to gain there. I started to make some headway into my lap times and slowly whittled away. However, things were about to take a turn for the worse. Coming over Phil Hill in practice 4, the bike just suddenly felt a lot weaker. I thought maybe I was imagining it as it continued to run without any ticking/clacking/terminal sounds. However, once I reached pitlane, I pulled in the clutch and the engine immediately died. I parked the bike and started asking around if any mechanics were around for a consult troubleshoot because I wanted to make the Clubman Lightweight race. Unfortunately, the prognosis was not favorable. I ended up cancelling all of my races and started loading up with the expectation of troubleshooting the bike at home. However, the other 450 riders and Oscar from Race Pace Motorsports suggested I check in with Dave for his opinion. Dave then pointed me to talk to a guy. The guy started asking me about the bike and also how the 450 bypass was done. As part of my explanation, I told him, "I bought a bypass harness from Marc Zarra." It turns out the guy I was talking to was Marc Zarra. He went over to inspect the bike and take a listen. He dismissed the light ticking as normal R6 noise by asking the rhetorical question of whether I'd carefully listened to this bike without earplugs in before. That would be a no. He then took the time to rewire the bypass harness to bypass problematic cylinder 1 instead of cylinder 2. And it ran! It's a good thing I only needed three of four cylinders. Of course, after this weekend, troubleshooting cylinder 1 will still be done. But it ran! At this point, I was just glad to have the chance to race on Sunday. Owen then suggested Indian for dinner. I had no idea that there was Indian food in Buttonwillow. It was tasty, and even included entertainment by way of a random table figurine. Sunday morning First things first, I went to talk to Allie at registration to get re-registered. Unfortunately, I couldn't run 450SB because the cutoff time was 5PM the previous day. However, I was able to get back into F4 and 450SS in the afternoon. After resolving the registration issue, it was time for practice. I am not a fan of cold morning practices but I knew I needed to test the bike, so I took it out for two laps for shakedown. Coming across two downed bikes in the first lap alone was reason enough for me to pit-in after the engine seemed to work fine. Then began a long wait to the afternoon races. Formula IV Formula IV was mostly an experts race. Before the race, I had set a personal goal of hitting 2:08. Off the line, I got a better start than the other novice rider and I was able to stay in touch with an expert rider. I was getting a better drive than the rider off the corner, and was able to get by while on the brakes. The next rider ahead of me was on a blue bike. As I worked on slowly closing the gap, I saw that that the bike had a narrow tail (so not a GSX-R). As I got closer, I saw the tail had Feel Like A Pro stickers on it. "Oh boy, it's an ex-FLAP Ninja 300," was what crossed my mind. (More below with 450SS, but it was a 450 and wasn't a 300). In that moment, I convinced myself that I had to (a) learn from this guy's cornering and (b) utilize the higher horsepower of my bike to get by. However, I could not get a good drive on the "300" bike for the life of me. It was frustrating to say the least as I should have been packing significantly more horsepower so I kept questioning my technique corner after corner. I was staying in touch and closing up on corner entry, but the gap would slightly open on corner exit. After following the other rider through three laps, I decided to make a pass in Riverside as I was getting more comfortable through there. I know that the oft spoken rule is "don't add throttle and lean angle," but I also knew I was previously nowhere near the limit on entry to Riverside. Mentally, I convinced myself that I needed to get past this "300" so I broke the cardinal rule by increasing load on that front tire. After completing the pass, my front end went for a little slide as a big reminder to me to keep it in check. That lap was a 2:09.144. The next lap, I got to 2:08.649 as I was trying to prevent a repass and pushed a bit more. Honestly, the set up for the pass mentally drained me. The R6 takes a noticeable amount more effort to move around than my old 300. However, on the last lap, I made some mental errors overslowing on corner entry and dropped back to 2:09.558. I could feel the other rider hanging over my shoulder, and can only hope I didn't surprise him too much with the overslowing. On the cool down lap, I glanced over my shoulder and didn't see anyone there before continuing to pit-in. It turns out I looked the wrong way as the timing shows the difference between us at the finish was only 0.3 seconds. 450SS Very similar start to Formula IV. After the first lap, I was back following the FLAP bike. I then spent the entire race trying to understand my corner exit drives and trying to get a good run on this "300." My bike seemed to be pulling fairly strongly, so I figured it had to be a line or rider throttle application issue on my part. As the race progressed, the skilled riders from the following 300/400 waves started catching us. This really hurt my rhythm as they would slot in between us on corner entry. I spent the rest of the race trying to constantly close back up the gap but I could not figure out a way to set up a pass as the fast 300/400s were coming by. We held position all the way to the checkered with me 0.8 seconds behind. One thing though about that "300" bike. In the final corner of the last lap, an actual 300 came up the inside of me. On the front straight, I easily powered back by to the finish line. This made me wonder about that FLAP bike as I knew my corner exits, while relatively slow, shouldn't have been losing out that big. Upon looking at the results in RaceHero, it looks like the other rider was actually on a 450 but maybe sponsored by FLAP rather than running an ex-FLAP bike. So at least mentally, I'm not racking my brain as hard about how I was losing out so big on corner exit drives versus what I thought was a 300. Still, I am racking my brain over the 1:53 on a Ninja 400 by Rocco Landers. Absolutely incredible. I ended the weekend in the 2:08s, and know that there is still a lot of easy time to be had in T2-T6, Riverside, and Phil Hill. Recap All in all, I brought the bike home in one piece so I can't complain. I am also glad I was able to get more comfortable on the R6. Next time out, I'll hope to cut it down to 2:05 or lower. The real target is to at least visually stay in touch with the 450 pack. I just pulled the forks and shock for a refresh service tonight, and will now also set about inspecting the engine. I haven't had time to learn about the R6 since I bought it, so I'm looking forward to reading the service manual and figuring out what is where on this bike.