April can mean unpredictable where here Northern California. Last weekend we had a deluge of rain. This weekend was a little different:

The work for this Sunday’s trip to Laguna Seca started in earnest on Thursday, with some upgrades to the Track Van.

First of was constructing a strong anchor system for the motorcycle wheel chock. Using a pair of E-Track 2×4 mounts, and a 36″ long section of 1.5″ angle iron, a secure, yet easily removable mounting system was created.

Another pair of E-Track anchors were added to the inventory, along with some more cargo straps for loading additional equipment (which came in handy as I’ll note later).

Along with updates to the truck came upgrades to the bike; principally a new set of proper track tires on Friday. The new hides are Pirelli SuperCorsa in medium compound rear, and soft compound front:

Out with the old:

In with the new:

Having done quite a few track days over the last year, I’ve come up with some items that I think are crucial to enjoying your day at the track. First of them is SHADE. Shade is very important here in California (I offer this to my friends in Seattle that I’m not sure have ever seen the sun). In the past I’ve been fortunate enough to have friends with nice easy-up awnings, but this outing was planned to be Solo, so I dropped $200 on a pretty heavy-duty setup at Costco. Although not as ‘easy-up’ as others (I have to remove the top each time to pack it) it’s big, and comes with side panels that were REALLY handy when the wind picks up at Laguna.

In the truck everything has a place, and everything is packed in it’s place; ready for the quick drive down the road to Laguna:

The next morning, it was a short walk to registration and tech inspection. Not sure why the app was showing 44F, it was low 60’s (you might notice people are wearing t-shrts) at 7:45 AM.

Once passed through tech, the generator was fired up so they would properly heat up the tires during the riders meeting, leaving the bike ready to go for the first session.

With the generator and tire warmer setup on loan from CT Racing, it was a great day of riding!

By the last session, I was able to cut 6 seconds off my previous best lap times, clocking a 1:51.34 just before the bike ran out of gas entering turn 2.

A couple of the lessons I took away from this last outing:

• A good set of tires are essential
• Tire warmers are not hype, they not only keep your tires up to optimal temp they let them last longer and operating more consistently
• A lap time timer is mandatory if you’re trying to develop good consistent laps… what I found was laps that *felt* fast were often slow, and the ones where I was relaxed, taking it easy, were my fastest by far. If you want to know if you’re really getting quicker, you’re lying to yourself unless you use a lap timer
• Proper preparation for the day is important. I had a maintenance issue develop right before lunch and I had to scrounge up materials to build a brake bleeing setup, and get some tools loaned to me because the things I expected and brought tools for were not the ones that shut me down
• Laguan Seca is windy at night

I’ll be doing this all again, May 10th!