Virginia International Raceway - North Course
08.07.06: Coleman Power Sports
i discovered this track event a little less than a week before it took place. $150 for VIR North? no one in their right mind would pass this up, so i signed up for it. after a little lurking on the message boards i discovered that Brent and Kimmy were going to be there, so i asked if i could pit with them. In typical friendly fashion, they welcomed my company and everything was set.

arriving at the track after a quiet night at the Sleep Inn, something felt very wrong. first off there was no line at the gate. second of all, there was hardly anyone in the paddock. do i ahve the right date? is this the right place? it turned out that it was the right place and the right date. its just that only about 40 people signed up for the day. that means the organization, Coleman Power Sports, is losing a lot of money holding this event and it also means lots of open track. Open track can be a blessing or a curse. on the one hand the chances of getting held up in traffic is pretty slim. on the other hand, it is entirely possible to ride for most of the day and not see anyone else on the track.

since i like arriving early, i was there before Brent and Kimmy. SO i began to upload nad go through registration. They showed up soon after and we began preparing for the day. They had just come from Road Atlanta, a track i have yet to experience, so they were full of great stories of bridges, drop offs and curves. THey had travelled with a few other people, one of which i met and knew a few years before, Coleen. It turns out that is is invovled with another person i recognize, but not really know, Ben. And there were some other friends of theirs who i recognize but never really hung out with. that seems to be a trend of mine; i meet lots of people, but there is a good chance i wont see them for a while. so there are lots of people i recognize, but few that i really know. it also seems that people judge other people based on their riding ability. since i never had really ridden with these people before, they were naturally hesitant to open up, but by the end of the day, i feel that i made some new friends.

back to the track... i made it through tech and sat down to complete my breakfast of beef jerky, red bull, "balance" bar and gatorade as i hung out with my pit buddies. the riders meeting was finally called and it was pretty casual. a little too casual for me. i like structure in riders meeting and they seemed to have too many people talking and giving the instructions.

then we were off with the advanecd group riding first. i went out with Brent and it turns out that although we have attended the same events before, he and i have never ridden together. to both of our pleasures, we discovered that we are pretty evenly matched, although i was a bit slower. but for hte most part, he was faster 1-3 and i was faster from 4-6 and he was faster 14-17. not too bad though, he normally braked a little early, so i was able to also catch him in those places.

AS the day progressed he and i both gave each other pointers. he showed me a wonderful line from 2-4. You apex 2 so you end up on the right side of the track, stay on the gas through "no name turn" and as you head into 3, feather the brakes as you look at the apex-exit cones. this drifts the bike to the outside of 3 and enables the turn to be faster than you thought possible. even when i went through thinking "this is fast", i mad the turn without a problem. like many corners, the trick is where you look. if you look at the entrance cones, you will most likely run too wide and off the track. but if you look at the apex-exit cones, running off is not an issue.

Brent also showed me a line through 16-17. you run to the edge of the track approaching 16, then you turn in a little late for 16 having your body over the curbing in 16 and aim from the apex of 16 to the apex of 17. its down hill and feels a little hairy doing that. as you approach the apex of begin to turn. it turns out that there is a lot of room to turn after the apex of 17 but it doesnt seem like it. then from the apex of 17, drift all the way out to the exit cone and hold you line. this will bring you back to he apex of 17a, between the ripples the car made and the inside curbing. i only managed to get this line once or twice throughout the day so some more practice is in order.

but i wasnt totally useless. i showed him to make 5-6 a single decreasing radius tunr instead of two separate turns. i think that both of us, probably more for me, picked up some speed, not only with the pointer we shared, but also just because we were riding together. for me it makes it much more enjoyable and when more fun is being had, the faster i tend to get.

the riding was great, but the heat was taking its toll. i could only manage about 4-6 laps before the heat would tire me out and i would start making mistakes. i normally, ride every session, but sometimes i will pack up early and miss the last session. but on this day, i was getting a headache by lunch, and although i was drinking a lot of liquids, i only had to relieve myself once during the whole day. so with the heat, humidity and apparent onset of mild dehydration, i ended up sitting out session. instead of riding, i took a short nap in my chair as i draped a cold towel that was dunked in my cooler on my chest, head or where ever. i would think that i would be used to riding in that kind of heat, but for some reason, it really got to me that day.

now i am really excited to get back to VIR North. i think the next event in in late August. maybe i can convince David to go with me now that he lives only 2 hours from the track.