Spain trip | Page 6 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Spain trip

Brian P said:
I think Toprak has what it takes. It seems like the Kawasaki is at its limit, and the Yamaha is just a wee smidge less fussy about its tires. Of course, there are those who point out that the Kawasaki has the lowest rev limit in the field, a few hundred lower than the Yamaha. There are those who want someone other than JR to win. I have tremendous respect for all of them. It's hard to play favorites.
Click to expand...
I think both can be legit points. I was thrilled to see Kawasaki finally find some racing success, first with Sykes then with Rea. But a bit like Mladin and Yoshimura Suzuki dominating AMA, it's not good for the series when one rider takes over like that, even if it is deserved. I have to admit, I'm surprised it's Yamaha that's found something, as my impression is that BMW, Honda and Ducati have put a lot more money into both their bikes and the series.

Regardless, the racing this year has been much more competitive, and Toprak definitely has enough charm to be easy to cheer for. I haven't watched much, as I don't have the WSBK pass, but I will probably sign up for next year, regardless of who wins the title.

Apparently Rea is strong at the last two tracks, but it's hard to tell if that'll translate to this year. Should be fun either way...

Brian P said:
The next time I ride a motorcycle, it will be down pit lane at Catalunya. Provided that Renfe doesn't kick me off the train tomorrow for having too much luggage...
Click to expand...

What will you be riding? Toprak did a 1:41.49 on the revised layout, so there's your benchmark. Alvaro Diaz did a 1:55 on an R3, too...
 
Brian P said:
Stock S1000RR with DOT tires. It's a rental!

My name is definitely not Jonathan Rea... I was 20 seconds off race pace at Phillip Island. Let's see if Racing School Europe can teach an old dog new tricks.
Click to expand...
So you're saying the 1:55 may be attainable if you are having a good day :)
 
Brian P said:
Stock S1000RR with DOT tires. It's a rental!

My name is definitely not Jonathan Rea... I was 20 seconds off race pace at Phillip Island. Let's see if Racing School Europe can teach an old dog new tricks.
Click to expand...
Ah, there you go. Turns out Wikipedia is wrong, and Sykes did a 1:40.408 in quialifying on his S1000RR this year, so you have a bit of an advantage over that slowpoke Razgatlioglu fellow.

Joking aside, looks like a BMW set a fastest lap of 1:54.4 in an endurance race back in 2016, which only serves to highlight how frickin' quick the SSP300 kids are at 1:55. According to Troy Corser's race school, anything under 1:57 is fast...
 
I haven't updated this in a bit. Racing School Europe was a blast! And Troy Corser is awesome. I did not break 2 minutes but that's okay. (I was in the fastest third of the students.) In three days among 35 students and (I think) 12 instructors, there was only one crash (which appears to have been due to a mechanical failure) and a few run-offs. Very good group.

Troy is faster while carrying a passenger than I can ride solo.

I know some things that I need to work on.
 
Brian P said:
I haven't updated this in a bit. Racing School Europe was a blast! And Troy Corser is awesome. I did not break 2 minutes but that's okay. (I was in the fastest third of the students.) In three days among 35 students and (I think) 12 instructors, there was only one crash (which appears to have been due to a mechanical failure) and a few run-offs. Very good group.

Troy is faster while carrying a passenger than I can ride solo.

I know some things that I need to work on.
Click to expand...
Impressive stuff. Glad to hear you had fun, and sounds like you learned a lot to boot.

The lack of crashes brings to mind a recent post by @bigpoppa where he quoted Keith Code as talking about how the CSS crash rate has dropped dramatically since the introduction of various rider aids.

How did you like Catalunya? I know you've ridden a few of the big Euro tracks, curious how fun it is compared to Mugello, for example...
 
I think Catalunya is more technical than Mugello. I think it's more technical than Phillip Island, too. The high speeds involved are outside my usual range of experience. What messed with my mind even more are the huge changes in speed in the major braking zones. Easy to overcook the entrance (did that a few times) but even easier to slow down too much (i.e. most of the time). My own race bike isn't even capable of generating such huge speed differences, and none of the tracks that I ride on has such slow corners following such long straights. (And Mugello isn't like that, and Phillip Island isn't quite like that.)

Front straight is 6th gear 270-280 km/h to a 2nd-gear right-left at probably 80-ish km/h. Corner 3 is a long 3rd-gear right, you spend a long time leaned over, it's awesome. Then there's a short straight (up to 4th then down to 2nd) to blind entrance to hard-right corner 4, then 1st-gear hairpin left, corner 5. The next left kink can be straight-lined but then there's another hard left that they told us to take in 1st gear but I was never really happy in that section. Back straight leads to the new corner 10 which they told us to back-shift to 1st then shift to 2nd mid-corner ... another one I never really felt right about. There's a series of rights leading to the front straight, the first one 2nd gear and the next two 3rd, which are good fun.

I found it hard to find reference points. I'm used to pockmarked pavement with different colours and patches here and there, and no shortage of landmarks immediately adjacent to the track. This is one of the things I need to work on.

We've been riding around on the backroads between Barcelona and the south of France for the last couple of days. It's no wonder so many great riders are Spanish, because they're learning to ride in places like this.
 
All done except the farewell dinner in Barcelona and the flight home. Great time with a great group. All of the rental bikes were returned without incident. Scenery, great riding roads, great food, great hotels.
 
Be interesting to know if any of the riding roads here, match the Espana roads or is either a totally different experience?
 
Brian P said:
I think Catalunya is more technical than Mugello. I think it's more technical than Phillip Island, too. The high speeds involved are outside my usual range of experience. What messed with my mind even more are the huge changes in speed in the major braking zones. Easy to overcook the entrance (did that a few times) but even easier to slow down too much (i.e. most of the time). My own race bike isn't even capable of generating such huge speed differences, and none of the tracks that I ride on has such slow corners following such long straights. (And Mugello isn't like that, and Phillip Island isn't quite like that.)

Front straight is 6th gear 270-280 km/h to a 2nd-gear right-left at probably 80-ish km/h. Corner 3 is a long 3rd-gear right, you spend a long time leaned over, it's awesome. Then there's a short straight (up to 4th then down to 2nd) to blind entrance to hard-right corner 4, then 1st-gear hairpin left, corner 5. The next left kink can be straight-lined but then there's another hard left that they told us to take in 1st gear but I was never really happy in that section. Back straight leads to the new corner 10 which they told us to back-shift to 1st then shift to 2nd mid-corner ... another one I never really felt right about. There's a series of rights leading to the front straight, the first one 2nd gear and the next two 3rd, which are good fun.

I found it hard to find reference points. I'm used to pockmarked pavement with different colours and patches here and there, and no shortage of landmarks immediately adjacent to the track. This is one of the things I need to work on.

We've been riding around on the backroads between Barcelona and the south of France for the last couple of days. It's no wonder so many great riders are Spanish, because they're learning to ride in places like this.
Click to expand...
Surprised to hear the braking zones are scarier than Mugello, though I guess even the kink there gives you some warning and reference points. It's definitely less flowing as a layout, with a more modern stop-start quality, at least from what it appears from racing games and TV broadcasts. Definitely no Shannonville potholes to use as braking markers. Shifting mid-corner isn't such a big deal anymore with the slick quickshifters available, too...

Brian P said:
Nothing I have ever seen in North America comes close. Deals Gap 318 corners in 11 miles? Haha. Here's a map. Look around.
Falset, Tarragona
maps.app.goo.gl

Falset · 43730, Tarragona, Spain

43730, Tarragona, Spain
maps.app.goo.gl maps.app.goo.gl
Click to expand...
I love clicking around in Street View. There's always a bike sooner or later. Or a scooter:

1634080937397.jpeg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom