So mosport today was an inverted ***** sandwich. During mosport week there's always 1 day of rain an this was it. Forecast was looking ugly, but you never know what happens, so we went. I met up with a CSBK friend and pitted with him. It was light drizzle all morning. Riders meeting was punctual which was nice they've been doing that the last couple years. The groups were yesturday's red was today's green. Todays green was last years black, and green from yesterday is now yellow, but no regular green. Red is still kind of red, unless your faster then you're green.
On the plus side registration was quick on the 2nd day, but zero rain tires for sale. They ran out at Shubie and the new ones are stuck in customs. great.
I went out for the 2nd session on Q3's in the drizzle to see what the track was like. It was a little risky, but dial up the TC/SC and dial down the power mode and see how it goes. The grip was extremely variable. I'm guessing they haven't had rain in a while so the track was as slick as Katatonic getting VIP status at a Chip 'N Dales. Things were going well until going lap 2 into turn 4 at modest speed. Then it happens, a full lock drift, dirt bike style from the approach to half way down the hill. I was pretty intense and was sure this was it, were going to f up the R1. Somehow she would survive, stayed balance and was able to ride out of it. I guess we can mark "backing it into 4" off the list. I'm sure the electronics had more to do with it than I did.
Several racers on rains went out in the morning, and a good handful of them came back on the cart. One kawi was particularly Picaso like in addition to RSV4 that had parts strewn all over turn 2. There were a couple multibike crashes during the day and EMS was busy considering how few riders went out in the rain.
On the plus side, after lunch track was 50% dry, by 1pm it was fully dry. Green track and turn 10 had the usual perspiration seeping out of the seams. Red was fairly clean riding until my partner in crime wrote off his Honda in 10. No injuries in that crash, but the bike is a mess, broken frame. 10 caught a number of people out on near and actual high sides.
On the R1 the stability control system worked over time in the dry, but kept it in one piece. Looks like the rear wheel speed sensor failed last session which means the ECU disables all of the electronics. Full manual mode for 10 laps, but it did make us a bit closer
The gearing is still not 100% and its a totally different riding line setup, but it was a good learning day.