Track Day at Virginia International Raceway - 8/05/02 by David Ludwig
VIR was an event of extremes. Extreme heat and extreme enjoyment best describe the day.
Drew Keith |
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Temps at VIR were indeed hot. Oppressively hot. I have not dealt with the effects of 99-100 degrees in a long time and it definitely got to me in my last session. It was pretty bad, and probably was a root cause of the multiple red flags that happened through the day.
A word about NESBA (Northeast Sportbike Association). Despite the heat and red flags, NESBA did a good job with this track day. It was a well run event. The event ran on time and Squid like behavior in the advanced class was dealt with immediately by them properly busting several riders out of the class. On the flip side, I do question if the "control rider" thing works like they intend, but it's not something that detracted greatly from the event, so not a big deal. I'd do another NESBA event. We got all the track time we could stand and then some.
David Ludwig |
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I'd been to VIR before, but not as a rider, so I'll admit to a bit of nervousness as we set up our EZ-ups Sunday night and walked around parts of the track. The long front straight with it's little kink, the fast uphill and downhill sections on the backside, and the tight turns #3 thru #5 on the front side had me a bit intimidated. This place ain't no Talledaga.
The place definitely had all of us thinking. We went to dinner later and the group was dead quiet and drinking non alcoholic refreshments. Way out of character for this bunch! The usual bullshit, trash talk, and adult beverage consumption that usually goes along with night before activities was not there. Sid did his best to convince us that we all weren't gonna die,and we called it a night early.
Drew Keith |
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In the first Intermediate session Monday, we set off on our "sighting lap" and I had no idea where the line was. With or without the Control Rider up front I couldn't figure it out. I coulda been in the damn parking lot and not known it. I fully expected NESBA to flag me and throw my incompetent ass right out of the place. After a while ,and with Sid and Robby's help, the line came to us and the fun began. It's a great and fast track. I missed hooking up with the Simonizer during the day and Bill Spight was in the other class, but Drew, Lee, and myself tried to run together and got a lot of laps in. I think we all did pretty good. We were lapping on a 2:02 minute-ish pace which seemed typical of the class based on the infrequency of passing or getting passed. That's got some room for improvement but I'll take it for the first time out in those conditions.
Lee Coulter/F4i |
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Sid mentioned Drew's excellent performance and I'd like to congratulate Lee on his. Lee and that F4i were just fast as stink. He's gotten real strong over the past year. He doesn't give ground easy, holds a good line, and I enjoyed chasing him around the track. Fine ridin' Mr. Coulter.
I called it quits after session 5 and running off in turn #3. I had braked late and hard into turn one to set up a pass going through turn #2. I made the pass and ended up touring through some of VIR's generous & grassy runoff room. No harm resulted and since I was unsure of the cause and feeling a little weird. I took it as a signal that the temp might be getting to me and trailered it.
VIR is a track we'll do again. Loads of fun and challenges.
DSL