Bira 3rd Run

[Bard]

Weekend is coming up and me, Trent hopefully Simon and anyone else who want to join can have lot of fun on Bira in the weekend. I can help out by providing phone number to very good rooms in secret soi in Rayong for 600 baht a night including breakfast, I am not getting one single baht from this, it's just a biker friendly place. If we do get some kickback it will go to the beer pot after the track.

Cheers Bard

[thaicbr]

What day Bard, i'm presuming Saturday at Bira or is it Sunday on the track.

Allan

[nakedAIR1300]

Saturday i will make my way to Rayong early in the morning to beat traffic and then unload the bike for weekends events and head to meet Bard. Probably have a relaxing Saturday, BBQ, beers and some fun at secret soi. Early night (as opposed to last weeks 3am attempt) and early start in the morning. I think it would be good to really be prepared this week and be at the track early to go over corners and mentally prepare ourselves for the day.

Last week i couldnt beleive how quick the track time went, without even knowing it i did 165 km and my tank was empty. I had to crawl to the nearest petrol station to refuel.

After the track we will probably just chill out for the afternoon and then head back into Bangkok whenever.

[Travelmate]

Should not really drink before a trackday. You need a clear head and need to focus. Remember there are others on track at the same time.

Are you guys riding the bike to track?

I usually send mine in a pickup. As after track I am totally shattered and no energy to do anything let alone ride a bike.

[Bard]

Yepp riding to and from the track, I'm only 15 minutes away from home so no worries for me, but a Bira-Bangkok run can be hard I could imagine. I will hold back on the beers until after the track, just have some positive time and show Trent the soi on Saturday maybe have some Trent water (TW), early bed and a big blast on Sunday. There will definitely be more people around as well and I hope to pick up more knowledge and try it out on the track.

Travelmate the first corner I saw most of the experienced riders was going in the middle deep, then turned and they told me they aimed for the tree, tried it out and it worked out pretty good, now the second corner is the remaining beast to get a good line in, some did it wide, some narrow and all bitched over it was not really a good answer for the curve. You have any input for the newbies?

Cheers Bard

[Travelmate]

First corner aim for the tree is good. Watch out for the faster riders taking you on the inside. I usually go wide and deep for first corner as that enable me to get on the gas earlier but requires fast turning action and minimizes the time leaned over.

Second corner (hairpin) got a nasty bump in the middle of the corner. So best to take that tight on the apex. Enter corner from far left side go wide. And aim to clip apex and try to get on the power soon as you can. Most get overtaken on the exit going downhill approaching maximus corner! Watch the throttle as this corner requires most from tyre grip. Take it on a cracked throttle and never ever back off. Keep the load on the rear tyre. Roll on the throttle gently until you start to pick bike up and add some more power. Dependent on how big your balls are!

This is the first corner.

This is the hairpin.

Enjoy yourself lads. And practice, as I will be on your ass this coming Feb!!

[Bard]

Good advice and great photos thanks travelmate it will be on my mind when I hit the track. Will be fun to have you joining in Feb, we'll do our best to make it hard for you

Cheers Bard

[Zzinged]

How to Bira organise their track days anyway? Is it free for all on the weekends or something?

[Bard]

The cost is 1000 Baht for 1/2 a day any day of the week except race days, and honestly it's worth every baht. It's fun as hel_l to ride to the max of your limit and push it with your bike, you learn a lot from it only thing is you get addicted it's that much fun, and the people on the track are real good fun to be with as well, quality time.

The 18th is an open day btw.

Cheers Bard

[Zzinged]

I've only ridden at the track behind seacon and Thailand Circuit. Is Bira better than the Thailand Circuit at Nakhonchaisri?

[Travelmate]

Those tracks you mention are way too small for your Ducati. Mostly 1st and 2nd gear corners. Bira you get to ride proper click thru up to 4th gear. Maximus corner for example taken flatout in 4th gear. At the end of the straight I hit the limiter in 5th gear! (Bike geared for track use).

[JimsKnight]

18th Jan?

Sounds pretty bitchin', me CBR will be ready by then but as it's on the other side of the Gulf I'll be in Hua Hin then for the ride onward and down to Pranburi.

It's a shame as the dates clash with biker week there.

Edited January 8, 2009 by JimsKnight

[Bard]

That's to bad JimsKnight, Bira is a real treat.

Zinged we will meet up on Sunday morning, you're more than welcome to have fun at Bira with the rest of us.

Cheers Bard

[Zzinged]

Thanks Bard, but I can't do anything at the moment. I've got some work to do every day till next Friday pretty much, so I'll have to catch the Feb trip I suspect. I might be riding my XJR1300 by then though, not my current NC30. Trying to sell the NC30, and the tyres are due for a change. I don't want to change the tyres, in case the buyer doesn't like the ones I picked.

[nakedAIR1300]

Maximus corner for example taken flatout in 4th gear. At the end of the straight I hit the limiter in 5th gear! (Bike geared for track use).

flatout in 4th gear...r u crazy ?? what speed are you entering this corner ?

[Travelmate]

Maximus corner for example taken flatout in 4th gear. At the end of the straight I hit the limiter in 5th gear! (Bike geared for track use).

flatout in 4th gear...r u crazy ?? what speed are you entering this corner ?

Don't know the speed as I have no time to look at it on track. Hairpin corner before maximus. Is taken in 2nd gear, coming out of it change into 3rd and before I enter maximus corner I am in 4th gear. As you are banked over(knee on the deck ) thru out the entire turn. Throttle is rolled on continously by the second apex of maximus throttle is pinned against the stop. Shiftlight comes on before chicane begging me to change into fifth gear. Which I don't as a I need to drop a gear for the chicane taken in 3rd.

Brilliant fun

[nakedAIR1300]

Maximus corner for example taken flatout in 4th gear. At the end of the straight I hit the limiter in 5th gear! (Bike geared for track use).

flatout in 4th gear...r u crazy ?? what speed are you entering this corner ?

Don't know the speed as I have no time to look at it on track. Hairpin corner before maximus. Is taken in 2nd gear, coming out of it change into 3rd and before I enter maximus corner I am in 4th gear. As you are banked over(knee on the deck ) thru out the entire turn. Throttle is rolled on continously by the second apex of maximus throttle is pinned against the stop. Shiftlight comes on before chicane begging me to change into fifth gear. Which I don't as a I need to drop a gear for the chicane taken in 3rd.

Brilliant fun

cheers travelmate, will keep those gear changes in mind for this weekends track practice

[Travelmate]

No worries.

Any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

And for physical favours please consider AntR1.

[nakedAIR1300]

No worries.

Any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

And for physical favours please consider AntR1.

i think secretly you have a thing for AntR1 ...

[Bard]

OK just got confirmed from Bira they're open for all bikers on Sunday from 08:00 to 12:00, so we're def on.

[MarcoH]

No worries.

Any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

And for physical favours please consider AntR1.

i think secretly you have a thing for AntR1 ...

Trnt

Come out in 1 piece...

what ya doing in KK mid Jan?

[nakedAIR1300]

No worries.

Any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

And for physical favours please consider AntR1.

i think secretly you have a thing for AntR1 ...

Trnt

Come out in 1 piece...

what ya doing in KK mid Jan?

Fishing

[Bard]

Here is the results from Bira my version;

Trent and Allan meet up at my house Saturday morning, Trent rode his fridge, Allan had his CBR on the back of a truck. On the way down Allan got a 500 baht ticket for driving with the bike at the back, else pretty uneventful.

The CBR was unloaded from the truck and Trent tried to have a go on it, he came 30 meters and the throttle cable broke so then we had to load it up again and try to get it repaired. Could not find a fit for it so then it was no way that could hit the track.

Trent was the grillmeister and a go at my bbq, where after a lot of intelligent talk and tinkering we came up with the idea that Allan was to race Trent with my wife's Fino on the track, so with that in mind we went to bed.

Up as first man in the morning I made breakfast and pulled the two lazy guys out of bed, and we headed off to bira, me on my Ninja, Trent on his fridge and Allan on my wife's Fino. Due to the incredible top speed of a Fino the trip took forever, anyway we made it at the end and meet up with Simon and the guys practicing there.

We had a lot of fun riding and taking times etc on the track, I was slowest of the 3 bikes, not including the red Fino which I am fine with got better lines and got lower in the curves which was a lot of good fun.

The highlight of the day came up with the race of 115 cc Fino vs 1300 cc fridge, and we timed Trent who did pretty good best times so far well done mate. The Allan went for it with the Fino and he looked pretty good until the last curve where he skidded and smashed the Fino and himself, luckily he was only bruised so his time was a joke after that.

When we were all done for the day, we went to the Soi which now is renamed Soi Trent and I shall not go in details of all the stuff we had going there, but within minutes we had all the girls topless and it just went ballistic after that. Came home late extremely drunk and today has been a horrible day due to that.

Anyways we had a heck of a time all of us and it's to good to stop doing this stuff now, put in some pictures just for fun as well.

Here is Allan (The Fino Killer) in the first curve on my Ninja.

Here is Simon in the first curve.

Trent (The CBR Killer) in the first curve

Here is a cool kid in the first curve.

Someone who knew much better than us in the first curve.

Trent in the first S

Simon in the first S

That cool kid again, in the first S

Cheers Bard

[thaicbr]

And now I'm just gonna wait for Trent's pictures. which if i remember were all of the damage to the fino and me. look carefully boys and girls.

cos I was wearing CE approved Knox armour in the jacket and was going at maybe 50kmh max.

Anyway sorry again Bard

Soi Trent was a blast but the drive home was not so good as i couldnt go by the express way cos of the stupid blood sucking BIB (no money after soi trent). left Bards at 10.45 got home in Samphran at 1.25. then up for work at 6.30.

i'm still knackered now

[Travelmate]

That cool kid is the son of an ex-racer from Germany.

I see you guys showed up, race scooter, crash it. Must have been the laughing stock in the paddock.

[Bard]

Yes that was the really funny part travelmate, best of all Trent has a picture of the kiddy teaching Allan how to ride a scooter afterwards. These guys are really nice, we all had a laugh at the pathetic scooter run, but it was in a friendly tone. Very good to get advices from these guys as well, this run was much better for most of us just due to advice and help from these guys. I can see a lot of time being spent on Bira in the future, I want to get 1;15 laptime then after that I can start working on chasing the tail of all of you guys there.

A lesson learned from the Track this time is; Mesh jackets are not good for slides or crashes, even on a Fino you can get hurt wearing them. So leather is the way to go without any doubt. Plus a 250 is no good to keep the same line as a 600, you don't have to power to get out of the curve. Finally a good tire pressure on the stock Ninja is 30 PSI rear tire and 32 PSI in the front.

Cheers Bard

[Travelmate]

1.15 lap time still require fair amount of practice to run it consistently.

If you are on the ninjette. Then your line will be completely different as you have to maintain cornering speed. Therefore your brake lever is your enemy. You need good tyres and suspension setup. And learn to enter corners without touching the brake. Also hangoff really low and inside the bike in a turn as a scooter boy would do.

Or simply ride it, like you stole it!!

[Bard]

1.15 lap time still require fair amount of practice to run it consistently.

If you are on the ninjette. Then your line will be completely different as you have to maintain cornering speed. Therefore your brake lever is your enemy. You need good tyres and suspension setup. And learn to enter corners without touching the brake. Also hangoff really low and inside the bike in a turn as a scooter boy would do.

Or simply ride it, like you stole it!!

Exactly, 1:15 is my goal within the end of the year, will upgrade my bike to a 600 or literbike btw, now I suck around 1:40 so wow yeah I have lot of practicing to do in the future I will ask Graham to setup the Ninja with tires and suspension. Right now my main problem is the curve after the S that's where I slid and I work with fear there and checking out the other riders I should easily shave off a lot of time there. Like you say the enemy is the brakes and the fear in that corner. But hey I like a challenge, so it's something to work on, big time.

Cheers Bard

[Travelmate]

I presume you are talking about Honda Corner.

That corner is known for lack of grip. I think it has some negative camber there.

It's a corner where lots have lost the rear end there.

Better taken really late in the corner. Flick bike in and back up before you know it.

On the ninjette you could pass the big boys by sticking to the inside line of the corner, since your bike is light.

Edited January 13, 2009 by Travelmate

[Bard]

That's the corner travelmate, same corner as our scooterboy crashed. Have to work on that corner big time. Good news is that Graham will fit up new tires on Friday, try to get the most out of the stock suspension and let me test out some leather suits to find my correct size. Then I shall drag my knee if it cost me a low slide I don't care it has to be done. He will also help me out by giving me a better idea of the Ninjette line, will take lap time to see if I can do an improvement.

I shall keep your advices in my mind out there.

Cheers Bard