Anyone going to Putnam with NESBA this weekend?

[tshort]

I've never ridden there before - usually at BHF or RA.  I hear it's a great track - looking forward to it.

T.
CCS 128
Duc 748 (Looking for a race-prepped SV)

[dave333]

I'm not this time, but I usually do.  Great track, lots of runoff except for T10 and the place eats tires.  It may not this weekend with temps a little lower than when I am usually there.  

btw, fwiw, imco, if you hit the brakes after T10 but before the bus stop, you ain't ridin'... :o

[KBOlsen]

I'll be there... Grey/blue/crunchy TLR.  Track looks fast - nice and swoopy.  I hope the weather cooperates!

[sdiver68]

Awesome track...hoping to make it Sunday :)

[dave333]

Watch out for #68 in T1...   :o

 ;D ;D ;D

Dave
CCS Am #357
"Steve's T1 Reference Point"

[sdiver68]

LOL Dave...I didn't make the connection until just now  :-[

[dave333]

Hey #68,
I figured you would get it...  ;D

Watch out for T10 at Putnam.  That armco is really close.  Don't ask me how I know...  ::)

[tshort]

Watch out for T10 at Putnam.  That armco is really close.  Don't ask me how I know...  ::)

Is it any scarier than the kink or turn 5 at RoadAmerica?

T748
CCS Am #128

[sdiver68]

It's not really scary, its just the only turn at the place where "runoff" is defined as a wall.... :o

[dave333]

It's really not a bad turn.  You just have to be sure to make it through there.  I tried something I shouldn't have at my 2nd track day in my life and wound up in the haybales gaurding the armco.  Like #68 said, the runoff just ain't there...

[tshort]

WOW!  What a track.  Apart from the temp being somewhat on the chilly side in the mornings, we had two beaut days, and lots of track time.

I put on a new set of Pirelli Supercorsa's Saturday morning, and they were shagged by lunch time on Sunday.  Big Fun...what a track.

(re Turn 10 - about the only thing I ever saw was the control tower somewhere down the straight - would've been hard to hit that  ;) )

Tshort
CCS Am#128

[sdiver68]

Well, I made it on Sunday.  While trying to figure out race pace in the last morning session, my front tire let loose on lap 3 in turn 4, maybe it wasn't up to temp yet (last time I tell myself its only a practice day and skip bringing the generator for tire warmers)....ending in a relatively uneventful 100 mph slide into the grass for me but my bike took a few spectacular flips as it dug into the grass....

So, I toasted some bodywork, bent the rear subframe, broke off a subframe mounting tab on the frame :(, bent the frame  >:( at the bodywork mounting point, toasted an ear on my GP tech bracket, and broke off the foot part of the shift lever.

With huge thanks to Mitch the tire guy who repaired my bodywork (duct tape and rivets :) ) and Rob AM #86 who has been my traveling partner all year, I got it back together and only missed 1 session :)  Of course, between concerns over my frame and the ghost of having already crashed, my near race pace laps were put away!

So, now my agonizing decision on whether or not to GMD Computrak this offseason has just been made easy for me .  And, I get to send 2 sets of bodywork to Plastic Doctor instead of 1 lol  Oh well, my final toll of 2 lowside practice crashes while trying to learn unfamiliar tracks at podium speeds is not terrible for a first year...

Despite the crash, it was still a fun day, at a great track that does eat tires.

[dave333]

Glad to hear y'all had a good time a Putnam.  So, even when cold the track eats tires. Hmmm...  

Yeah, that's gotta be it, strain for the control tower and T10 isn't even there!   ::)

[chainsaw]

Severe cold tearing is th eproblem I had before dismounting on Saturday afternoon.  Last year the R1 really chewed them up badly, but even the 600 ripped them pretty good.  I guess that's the price we pay for excellent grip.

Shawn
Moto-Optix.com

[tshort]

Shawn - What were you running for tires?  I had a set of Pirelli Supercorsa's on, new on Saturday, shredded by noon Sunday.  Cold-tearing, eh?  Matt or the other tire guys told me Putnam was hard on tires, and the cold weather made it worse.  Curious about others who had this problem, what kind of tires they were running, and how much time they got out of them.  

I'm thinking that I contributed to the problem by not being quite so smooth on the throttle, leading to a jumpy rearend in the corners, leading to shredding.