Is anyone going to ECR this weekend?

[co2]

I'm thinking of doing a trackday on Sunday.

[shilka99]

I'll be there. Not sure yet if I'll be instructing or not. I'll look for you when I get there - what will you be driving? Look for my gray Ford Ranger with the #27 sticker on the back window and an SV650 in the back.
What level will you be doing? Have you done many track days?

Shaun.

[shilka99]

Well it was a great day at ECR. It was hot, but a bottle of water over the head before each session was the perfect cure. It cooled me down instantly and I didnt notice the heat at all while riding. The biggest problem of the day was the grasshoppers! Paul warned us before the round robin, saying that the crazy little kamikazi's would leap out of the grass and attack just as you got close. He wasnt kidding. I got hit in the chest at speed so many times I installed the chest protector in my suit. Then of course they kept hitting me in the legs. My suit was clean before yesterday... And of course when there are a lot of grasshoppers around, there are also a lot of frogs. And they were enormous. The only reason I could see them though was that someone had been doing a little frog hunting. There were huge dead frogs all around the pits. Kinda gross.

I was teaching in a limited capacity this time. I did the body positioning demo with Paul. It was all caught on tape so I hope Dave puts it on YouTube soon.

The day went well for most but I was in the Bermuda triangle for mechanical problems. Before the round robin the guy pitted next to me had carburettor issues on his 2000 R6 so spent the day wrenching. Before the next session the guy on my other side had fairing issues (they came from nicecycle.com) with his '08 CBR1000. I didnt hear the full story but after borrowing a bunch of tools he gave up trying to fix them and left.
Then there was the guy right across from us, riding an SV650 (with a frisbee for a number plate). I was chatting with his buddy shortly before lunch and then saw the bike trailered in with some pretty major damage.
Then there was the Aprilia RSV4 that had issues next to the guy with the R6 so he left before lunch, then the guy parked right across from us on the Bimota SB6 (yes, thats right - SB6), had issues too and parked his bike all day. When I first saw this bike I couldnt believe it. I went up for a closer look but the rider was in Level 1 class so I couldnt talk to him. Sadly the bike was pretty beat up. Original carbon fairings were beat up (but not from crash damage), scratched up frame (not just from leaning the bike against walls). But what a machine. I usually dont like Bimota styling but this thing is drop-dead gorgeous. And light, and massively powerful. Just amazing.

Anyway, sure enough, I was in the mechanical dead-zone and was also cursed. I heard an odd noise as I came up to a slower rider near turn 10 before lunch. At first I thought the other bike was making the noise but it didnt go away when I got past. Then the checkered flag came out so I headed in. The noise suddenly stopped as I took the pit entry. I knew this was either good news, or really bad...
Well the news wasnt good. One of the studs holding on the sprocket had backed out and started to rub (grind?) on the swingarm, just like the picture I posted last week! (weird karma there). It didnt take long to do the damage, and it was only one stud, but it was enough to bring my day to an early end. Lucky for me, I've already found a replacement for $69 + $20 in shipping. It should be here in a week!

In other news, my linear sensor worked perfectly. All the slide pots I found online turned out to have totally no-linear outputs. That meant I had to either shell out $600 for the cheapest one I could find, or make my own. After a few attempts at converting linear motion to rotary with rack/pinion mechanisms and spring loaded reels, I hit upon the perfect solution - a screw! I found the perfect material at the local hardware store, then made my own screws calibrated to the leverage ratio of front vs. rear suspension (so I would be able to mount the rear sensor close to the swingarm pivot and not vertically above the axle)
Heres the finished item fitted to the bike:


And here's the brake lever pressure sensor fitted in such a way that it can be easily removed from one students bike then fitted to another:


And here is the readout from the logger for one complete session:


And heres a closeup of the same data:


I can increase the sensitivity of my sensor, now that I know its needed. There are a few too many straight lines in the closeup of the wheel travel trace. I fitted my gps sensor also but I think it got wet last week during testing when we had a brief shower because now it doesnt work at all. No matter, I ordered a high freq sensor last week. Data from this can be imported into google earth. That will make for some interesting viewing.
I'll have all this ready to go for TWS at the end of September.
Fun Stuff.

[2track]

Good write up man, Glad you had fun at the track I was there on Saturday doin corner work ,sorry I missed you.

[shilka99]

Hey Rich,
interested in joining us at TWS next month? Full weekend riding, its going to be a blast.

[2track]

If the Boss lets me I will. Trust me I will try.

[co2]

Unfortunately I'm out for TWS, Uncle Sam has me for the weekend. Great write-up! I appreciated it.

[shilka99]

Hey Guys,
Here is the result of all my efforts with the data logger and camera setup.
I've integrated the data logger with HD video from the GoPro and came up with this. Its just a screenshot of a Flash movie I made showing a students bike at ECR. The plan will be to fit the data logger and sensors to the students bike then follow them with the camera. Then once the video is created with all the elements, they can see what they are doing on the track and also see exactly where they are braking, and how much.



If you look closely you can see a red line around the 220 second mark. This moves across the screen correlating with whats happening in the video.
Next up is a throttle sensor so we will be able to see where the student starts accelerating out of a corner and how much time he/she spends coasting.

Shaun.

[Firewa11]

Very nice man!

[2track]

Very cool man.