Carolina Motorsports Park (CMP) with STT this past weekend
 

Got the Sumo wheels friday at noon (nothing like a last second delivery) and slapped them on for my track day at CMP with Sportbike Track Time the next day.

Left the house at 3 and arrived a little before 6 to unload in the garage (best $50 ever spent at a track day!!! :rockwoot: )

http://www.troybaker.com/drwb/cmp06.jpg

My skinny buddy Travis was COLD so he hovered over the tent heater (48 degrees)


http://www.troybaker.com/drwb/cmp08.jpg


Set up for the morning (coffee maker and all)

http://www.troybaker.com/drwb/cmp04.jpg

Then I hopped in the back of the exploder with an electric heater and sacked out

http://www.troybaker.com/drwb/cmp05.jpg

Next day came early and so did the riders. We pretty much filled up the garage there

http://www.troybaker.com/drwb/cmp49.jpg


First lap was COLD....it was 41 degrees (up from the low of 36) at 9am and we were warned over and over about turn one being nasty because of all the sand drug in from the pits.

Our group (Intermediate) was first (I, then A, then N) and the VERY first rider on the VERY first turn binned it :skep:

This was the first lap, and my first time on the RMZ, and the first time EVER for me running slicks.....so I took it EASY for 4 laps.

But even that was too soon. The whole first session was a wash, as even when I felt like I MAY have some heat in the tires the whole bike slid into turn 10 :tremble:

So I eased up till the third session...when it heated up to about 60 right before lunch.

Session 4 was magical, and the sun was directly overhead with the temp up to 72. PERFECT weather....not hot, not cold, just right. 2 laps into session 4 the tires started to mush up and I was SET!!!

http://www.troybaker.com/drwb/cmp09.jpg
http://www.troybaker.com/drwb/cmp10.jpg
http://www.troybaker.com/drwb/cmp11.jpg

I was having a BLAST

http://www.troybaker.com/drwb/cmp34.jpg


And this bike is friggin STUPID!!!!

104mph with the gearing I have. CMP has too many long straights for me to really climb up, but session 4 I was able to pass 8 people and KEEP them behind me. Not bad for Intermediate level on a big(ish) track.

http://www.troybaker.com/drwb/cmp50.jpg


Still got waxed by the literbikes in the straights, but I could pull a few of em back in when it got tight. Passed several again, but they'd lay it to me on the front straight :lol:


The RMZ is pulling +/-54 hp at 220 pounds....and you can certainly feel that power/weight on the track...holy NUTS!!! 4th gear wheelies at will even with stupid tall gearing

http://www.troybaker.com/drwb/cmp43.jpg



All told though there were more that a dozen crashes......a few completely waxed bikes :tremble:

http://www.troybaker.com/drwb/cmp51.jpg


But most were just get-offs with plastics damage

http://www.troybaker.com/drwb/cmp48.jpg


I had a friggin BLAST!!!

Can't WAIT to do Barber in the spring on this thing

Should try comming north a bit and we could dice it up at summit or maybe NJMP ;)

I heard summit has a pretty good small track!

I love the main course but thats def for the bigger bikes. Shenendoah is technical but it also scares me, couple of walls in inopportune spots. Jefferson course is also kinda smallish but not a lot of orgs run it, prolly because I actualy like it :lol:

Looks like fun. Great pics.

:tremble: I've heard that as well......doesn't discourage me enough to NOT want to try it though.

I want to do Shenendoah, Patriot and Barber next year for SURE

Thanks....it was for sure!

I bought the narcassistic pics as well (track photog) :lol: so I'll put those up when he gets them posted on his site :nee:

Fun fun. :) I went last weekend with Turn1. I dropped some time over my previous run there, but still not enough to make me happy. I honestly think the frame might be tweaked a little bit as it seems the left hand turns are the ones giving me fits. We've gotta hook up at some point and hit the track together. :)

Absolutely!!!


What were your times?

My buddy Jason was running a 1:48

Typically I can ride at just below his level on a comperable bike...but on the motard I was a good 5-8 seconds slower per lap than him. I need to buy a timer :skep:

That looks like a wicked good time.

Great pics! :dthumb: