tmckeen

You can expect the track to go hot at around 9:00 and the day will run till 4:30-5:00

I think for me I would have to ask " how much of it was you, and how much of it was the machine ?? "

For me the most obvious flag to a riders lack of experience on a motorcycle is they way the control it as slow residential speeds, turning left or right at stop signs and stoplights, slow speed 90 degree turns etc. New riders tend to tiptoe through and keep the bike as upright as possible as they are not confident enough to lean the bike over at slow speeds whilst more experienced riders are comfortable leaning the bike over at slow speeds. These riders usually just emit a very timid feel on the motorcycle as they just don't trust the bike or themselves and are unsure of what the bike may or may not do next. Good riders IMO are the smoothest riders, the ones who actually look kind of slow while somehow going a few seconds faster than everyone else. Getting a feel for ones ability while lane spliting down the freeway is kind of tricky so I have to defer to me experience as a Corner worker for this one. I see lots of riders who come in to fast and hard on the brakes, make about 37 steering inputs to get through the corner and gas it hard on exit, or just come in so hot I'm amazed when they make it through the corner without crashing. Then I see for example, Cobie who looks almost lazy and slow as he glides through the corner and easily breezes past the other rider. Tyler

The setup at Streets is pretty minimal, there is the classroom, which has AC !!!! , and the canopy on the side of the Student Services Trailer. as a student you're going to be pretty busy all day between classroom and track sessions. and you will be parking your bike in a designated area based on your group color. there is definitely lots of room in the parking lot to set up a canopy next to your trailer, but make sure you have the means to strap it down SECURELY as it can get very windy out there in the afternoon. Long story short if you want to bring a canopy and set up your own "pit area" theres lots of room, if you don't you're not going to be stuck roasting in the sun all day. Tyler

Hands down the best race I've seen all season of any class was the Rookies Cup Round 11 from Silverstone this past weekend, http://live.redbull.tv/events/230/red-bull-rookies-cup-2013-silverstone-r11/

I've heard stories from the "muscle car" era that all you needed was a switch on the dash and a extra spark plug in the tail pipe to turn your car into a flame thrower, not sure how much truth there is in that however

Only 1 round at Brno, side note, Little info about what Keiths been up to here http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/czech-translation-of-keith-codes-a-twist-of-the-wrist-ii-atracts-large-crowd-to-book-signing-at-brno-motogp-event/

thats Alt+0176 , but i normally cheat and just use the character map for all my odd characters side note, if you click the advanced view check box at the bottom there is a search function so finding the symbol your looking for is much easier and uh, they are facing apart from centerline, or away from each other like I said, the intake has just closed and the exhaust is about to open

The cam's are not identical, so in a way they are marked, the Exhaust Cam has a extra spline?? with a notch in it, when the timing marks on the Cam Gears are lined up with the top of the head the lobes for #1 are facing away from each other at ~45°'s, I've checked the service manual many many times to ensure that I didn't have em reversed.

Race available from Red Bull here http://live.redbull.tv/events/228/red-bull-rookies-cup-2013-brno-r9/

I lack the degree wheel or top dead center indicator and other various tool bits for playing with the cam timing which is why I'd rather not mess with slotted cam gears just yet. the chain tensioner is fully installed, it doesn't have any oil pressure, but the chain is under plenty of tension, I've rotated the engine by hand many times so I know there isn't a clearance issue with the valves and pistons, If I do end up having to leave the timing mark off a few degrees is it better to have it retarded or advanced ?

all the caps on the cam's are snugged down tight, not final torque'd but all snugged down, hopefully a new cam chain fixes it, would you recommend replacing the chain guides along with the chain, or only replace if they are worn or damaged ? thanks Tyler

So I'm finally getting to reassemble the engine for my R6 and I can't for the life of me get all three of the timing marks to line up, both the marks on the Cam gears are lined up dead perfect with the top of the head, but the ignition mark refuses to line up with the case split, I've taken it apart and put it back together a dozen times, adjusted the cam chain back and forth one tooth on the cam gears and one tooth on the crankshaft gear, and I simply can't get the mark any closer than this. If i shift it one tooth it ends up exactly the same amount off, only slightly before the case split.

they even managed to sneak a little motocross action in there, as much as I hate Fox for killing off all of my other motorcycle racing action, their coverage of Indy this past weekend was quite impressive, but the real test will be how they cover the rounds not taking place on american soil

I do believe those mesh liners are removable for the purpose of washing them so they no longer smell like a used gym bag, but when in use I'd definitely leave it in

after having gotten used to having stomp grips on my track bike its now the first mod I would make to any new motorcycle, I personally would start with modifying the bike to get more comfortable on it, such as rearsets, clip ons, levers etc. etc. Tyler

Anyone know if the School has these for sale yet ?

Joe is on FIRE this weekend !!!!

While I can't tell you what they are "actually" doing with you torque wrenches, I can tell you what they are supposed to be doing, They should be testing them with either a torque transducer or a mechanical loading system with a accuracy of at least 1%, but preferably one of 0.25%. They start by setting your wrench to its maximum setting and "exercising" the wrench several times, and then test it at 20, 60 and 100% of its full range, if its a snap action wrench they should take at least 4 readings at each point and average them. The standard accuracy for a torque wrench in a clockwise direction is 4% of its Indicated value, should any of the readings fall outside of that it would require adjustment or repair. Adjusting snap action wrenches differs a bit between brands and wrench designs but for the most part its a matter of removing the end cap on the handle, loosening the lock nut and adjusting a hex screw. Adjusting a Deflecting Beam style torque wrench is virtually impossible, but can be done by heating the bar with a torch to weaken it or tempering it, its much more economical to replace them however. For Dial Indicating wrenches, which also operate on a deflecting beam principle, you have to adjust the dial mechanism inside the wrench. If one of your wrenches is adjusted they should give you "as found/as left" data, if you are truly suspect of the Lab testing your wrenches you can ask them for the data from the test points, though they will most likely charge you more for this. If the lab you take them to is local you can simply ask see them test the wrench as its a fairly simple process, any Calibration Lab that refuses to let you observe them testing your wrench is HIGHLY suspect. Tyler

Also Foremost has been the primary Sponsor for Larry Pegrams AMA Superbike team for quite some time, so they are definitely understand the motorcycle segment

On the subject of torque wrenches, using one is good, but just like tire pressure gages unless you have it calibrated at regular intervals and store them properly they only give you a rough estimate, not a precise measurement. Asking your mechanic if he uses one is good, asking him when he last had it calibrated is better. I'm constantly amazed at how many people are unaware of the most important rule of torque wrench care, ALWAYS back the wrench off to its lowest setting when not in use, that and don't use it as a hammer Tyler

I see Joe is on the front row for the race at Laguna today, hopefully they will stream it over amapro live again, I don't see any footage from the previous round on their DVR page so perhaps they lost the sponsor for the live stream of the SS races, also live.redbull.tv has tons of past content on it so you can go back and watch the redbull rookies race at any of the previous rounds, even 2012 rounds

In that sequence you can actually complete the clutchless downshift as part of the initial roll off, its not really a track technique but for street riding I do 95% of my shifting clutchless and about 2/3's of my downshifts are with a roll off instead of a blip Tyler

Just a little update, I finally got my Head back from the machine shop today and it looks fantastic unfortunately they said all 8 exhaust valves were pretty damaged and unusable, and it turns out titanium valves are not cheap parts to replace and while cleaning the engine up getting ready to reassemble it I happened across this leftover present from the previous owner So the engine is now at a welding shop to have that patched up before I reassemble it all, In the meantime I have managed to test the fuel pressure coming from the fuel pump, although not with the bike running at WO, I also checked the thermostat and coolant temp sensor which were both good. Hopefully I will have the engine back together next weekend

hehehehe OR you can hit the button on the page that says "Watch Again On Demand" I have no idea how long they keep the videos up for, I've done some digging around the site but can't seem to find coverage of any of the previous rounds of the Rookies Cup, but you can totally wait till a more reasonable hour to watch the races