redkow97

I've seen video of a LeMons car flipping, so you definitely want a "real" car, and a serious roll cage. The $500 purchase price is enforced, but there is no dollar limit on the amount of parts you can bring, so it can still get quite ridiculous. I saw pictures of a team running a $500 Taurus SHO. their car was legitimately worth about $500 ...but they had 5 (seriously 5) parts cars on standby to donate parts. The collective lot of them was worth $3,000... Tell me that's fair. Doing LeMons for fun is one thing. Doing it to win is waaaaaaay different, and still pretty expensive.

i have a dirt cheap rear tire that is has at least 80% center tread left if anyone wants to save a few hundred bucks on this and buy it w/o the new rear.

I have always been told "no passing in the kink" is kind of an un-written rule. Sucks to learn that lesson the hard way. I hope the guy makes it back to the track.

And you need to learn where to insert periods in your sentences, so they're semi intelligible.

so you can ride, you're just not supposed to; right?

that's what I was afraid of thanks.

you know what tires John was running? I am trying to figure out if I'm really approaching the limits of Q2's, or if it's all in my head. I have a new Q2 rear that I need to use, but after that, I'm strongly considering DOT race tires; likely Pirellis, as they seem to be the most reasonably priced.

expensive. What are you trying to achieve with an upgraded ECU? For street riding, more mid-range is going to be preferable to an extra 6hp on the top end. honestly though, the cheapest way to make your bike accelerate faster (which is what most people want) is to shed weight. From bike bike, or from yourself. Simply re-gearing (more teeth on the rear sprocket) will have a similar affect for a lot less money. Sure, your top-speed will be 145 instead of 158, but how often is that going to matter? Your fuel economy will suffer a little if you re-gear, but the power commander will likely have the same (although not as dramatic) effect. Just something to think about before you spend a bunch of money.

I can't say anything bad about Mid-Ohio, but do as much as you can to learn the track before you get there. Youtube, track maps, etc. it's a world-class layout, which makes it a lot of fun, but also more challenging to learn than other tracks. enjoy

I just saw that. Damn impressive on that bike. John's used to the chassis, given that he's got the same generation 750, but I am confused about how he can give up 150 cc's, and probably 25hp, but turn a lap ~3 seconds faster than he had on Saturday! I have hit a temporary wall at Nelson. Might need to bug someone for some help to tell me where I'm slow. I pointed out turns 3, 4, and 12, but I'm sure there are other places I'm pussing out too.

there's no way this is going to be a $5, 10-minute fix. I just don't get that lucky.

I'm willing to cut the guy a little slack because his friend just died, and emotions are surely running high. we'll see what his next few posts say. People seem to have been nice enough in his intro thread, so hopefully this thread won't be too off-putting.

yeah, that was unfortunate. I think there were 4 or 5 crashes. Most were in novice. it happens though. Hubris. I didn't see Imprez55 go down, but after talking about it, it seems like he just made a minor mistake, and didn't quite have the experience to recover. I had watched him riding earlier that session (from the tower), and he was doing really well for someone who had never been on track before. The two more serious wrecks (ambulances rolled) were ones I didn't hear much about. I did see the first kid sitting in the tech shed with ice on his shoulder, and one of his ankles looking pretty beat up. The second guy who actually went to the hospital crashed right before the kink (so I was told), so even if he was a slower novice, you have to think he was doing 100mph or so... On an RC51, how could you not be? I got conflicting info on him though. Someone said he was knocked out, and someone else said he was rolling around on the ground in pain. I could be wrong, but i don't think Advanced had any incidents, other than Chad running out of gas, and Craig having the tip-over switch fail on the endurance bike. The only casualty was that possum on the back straight.

My bike "weeps" oil where the lever that actuates the clutch enters the engine case. In a 20 minute sessions, it's maybe 2 or 3 "drops" of oil that run down the case, so it's not a big leak, but I noticed it getting worse at Nelson this past Saturday... anyway, just based on the part name ("oil seal"), I am betting it's #17 on this diagram that needs to be replaced http://www.bikebandit.com/houseofmotorcycles/2003-honda-cbr600rr/o/m2055#sch407016 How much of a pain in my ass is this going to be to fix? I've never had the cases off this bike before, and i'm kind of hoping I won't have to break that streak to replace this part, given that it seems to go in from the top of the perch. Thoughts? Tips? warnings? "just take it to Pauly?"

for my part, i was happy with how the day went. I didn't drop as much time as I would have liked, but I think I know where I can shave a few seconds. I need to grow a pair in turn 3. I started the day braking for 3, then finally got to a point where I could just roll off the throttle, and by day's end, I could go through with neutral throttle. Need to be ON the gas there though. T4 has more camber than I want to give it credit for. Must go faster. The SV's were eating me alive there. I brake too early for T12 too. This was somewhat of a bad line choice on my part, but the faster guys will run 12 really deep, and just hug 13 on the inside. Better defensive line, and faster way around the track. Fixing those problems should save me a couple seconds. I didn't look at the timer every sessions, but 1:19.2x was the fastest lap I saw reported. underwhelming, but any improvement is better than no improvement.

wow! no offense, but after seeing you guys out on track with that bike, i didn't see that coming. How many teams entered, and which one of you gets to keep the trophy? Pat should have gotten a trophy for that bike RUNNING for 3 hours

if you click on the "Bell" logo, it says "Bell Star Helmets from $199," but if you click on the link, you're right - $399 and up. I stand corrected. My fault for believing the internet. I haven't had a chance to wear my Vortex for more than 2 minutes, but for $110, I think it compares favorably against the EXO 400 or 700. the 2010 build date was the selling point for me though. My last closeout Scorpion from STG was 3 years old when I took delivery. That limits its useable life with WERA, and Moto Series (didn't know they checked until this morning)

The vortex is the the lower end model for sure, but mine was $110 shipped. The Stars can still be had for $200 for a 2010 model through STG.

If you had read the whole thread, you would have seen that the statements you quoted were withdrawn when the news story's error was realized. Kind of ironic that you're attacking me without getting the whole story, isn't it? If that's the case, then all of my previous statements are withdrawn - except the part about not riding at night. Whether it's the rider's fault or someone else's, I think riding at night is a risky move at best.

Is STG a site sponsor? They also have a good selection of Bell Helmets at very good prices. Mine (Bell Vortex) was delivered this afternoon while I was at the track. May of 2010 is the build date, and it's got the M2010 sticker on the back as well.

too late now, but would it bump-start? Sounds like a battery, but if you say that's good, I would guess starter motor. you sure it's not in gear or something silly like that? ORDN was quite well represented, and most of us managed to pit near each other. Matt (Imprez55) and I pulled in behind Brian, so we grabbed a spot and had him park next to us. by pure coincidence, we were right across from Craig, Nick, and Steve's trucks, and Tyler parked right next to us a few minutes later.

"i try to pull my pant-leg down so i'm not flashing sexy ankle to anyone." so much win.

this would never have happened to me as a child. I would have cried and made a scene.

ah - it's always semi obnoxious to encounter rich people who are too nice to hate. It's just frustrating to be out-dollar'd at the track; whether it's seat time, or equipment. Probably why I take more joy in passing bikes that are more expensive than mine.

I agree that "it's worth whatever someone will pay for it," but fair market value for those bikes is in the $3500 range. Profiting from a sale is one thing, and exploiting a first-time buyer is another. On the flip-side, I do think consumers should be responsible for educating themselves to avoid being ripped off, but that still doesn't make grossly over-charging someone a good business practice.