| Author | Message | ||
     Rex |
the lowers and the belly pan would good on my CR, without the top fairing and pod covers. How are you mounting? REX | ||
| 99buellx1 |
Thanks. Well, right now they only attach to the upper with the 6 faseners. The belly is actually held up/supported by the stock muffler. Hard to illustrate how it works, but the back of your muffler is concave and the belly sits in that area of the muffler to hold itself up. Pretty slick, but be sure to insulate the crap out of it as it is in contact with the muffler. | ||
| 99buellx1 |
It's done. All we need now are sponsor decals.  Did a track day on Saturday to get some of the setup dialed in. The weather was crap, it was low 50's and sprinkling off and on all day.   More pics are on our page: www.ifmracing.com First race is 2 weeks away. | ||
| 99buellx1 |
And one of our Team Challenge bike.  | ||
| Boomerm2 |
Too bad the weather was crappy, but we did learn a lot. I'd better finish my Firebolt so that I can feel comfortable parking it next to your 1125R. You really have that thing looking nice. | ||
| Daves |
I can't believe you haven't brought it down to La porte so I can RIDE it!  | ||
| 99buellx1 |
Haha. Dave, you would dig our TC bike! It's LOUD!!! | ||
| Daves |
How'd the race go last weekend? | ||
| Gearhead |
Hey Dave, Mike, Craig and I will compete in our first races of the season, May 22 & 23 at Blackhawk. The Team Challenge race is around noon on Sunday. We're having pitstop practice this Sunday so we don't end up looking like bumkens during the actual race! | ||
| Daves |
Good luck! When I get back from Africa I might need some help getting my bike ready for Homecoming. Need to borrow some stands. | ||
| 99buellx1 |
We got all kinds of stands......may not want to borrow Ralphs though.  | ||
| Daves |
Got any 03 drive belts laying around? That's the main thing I need. Gotta tighten up the neck bearings too. Oh and put my Lyndall brake pads on, change the oil and that should get me ready. Heck, with you guys helping me that should only take about 20 minutes huh? | ||
| Buell2001b |
whata re you doing in Africa | ||
| Daves |
Hunting of course! Wildebeest,warthog and Impala Can't wait! | ||
| Buell2001b |
dude, you know the World Cup is about to start | ||
| Daves |
yep, got my plane tickets waaay before the rush. Will be staying out in the bush country so it won't affect me at all. | ||
| Boomerm2 |
Hey, Dave, bring it up to IFM Racing's Central Headquarters. (aka Ralph's Garage) We'll get you fixed right up. | ||
| Daves |
Cool! Working on it with you guys will be fun. | ||
| 99buellx1 |
Completed my first race yesterday! After taking the Learning Curves license class on Saturday (and some confusion on what my race number would be), I got licensed with CCS. Races would commence on Sunday starting with Team Challenge at noon. At the start of the day, things didn't go quite as planned, went right away into registration and couldn't get the race number that I wanted....or so I thought. I took 628 and proceeded back to the bike to put some electrical tape numbers on it to get me through the day. Got the numbers made with the help of my very supportive gf Erin. We roll the bike down to tech, and right away they say, "those front numbers aren't going to pass". Grrr. Turns out a 6 and an 8 take up a lot of room, and my front number plate is pretty small, so back to the trailer it was. Erin took it upon herself to go to vendor row and see if she could source some real numbers as I started to pull the wheels off the bike to get some fresh rubber installed. Not too long and I had real numbers and nice smooth Pirelli race tires on. Back to tech, and just as I come around the corner the inspector smiles and yells "much better!" Whew, we'll get a sticker! Well, unfortunately while all this was hapening, so was my practice session, so no practice for me in the morning, but I wasn't too worried as I would get in plenty of laps during the Team Challenge. After lots of work and sourcing some parts for our TC bike, with some great help and insight from Mike Kirkpatrick, it was ready to go. We setup our pit, and were all ready to go. Troy was to run the first stint as he would be the only one riding that had any previous race experience. Race start, he's off and riding well for 6 laps, then the bike just didn't sound right coming down the front straight, our pit becomes a whirlwind of action as people are getting ready for him to come in the next time around......when he dosn't come around. Crap, now what? I run down the pit row to an official to ask what happened and where he is, found out that he was flagged off at turn 3, about as far away from where we are as you can get. Myself and a couple others take off running to see if we can help push or something, as we are just about there we see him getting a ride back on the crash truck. We get the bike back onto pit row and Mike K. and I start pulling the airbox to get to the coil, plug wires, etc. as Troy had said that it was running on one cylinder. Just as we pop the airbox cover Mike and I look right at each other and drop our arms in disgust......airbox is full of oil. Our first outing in TC lasted a whole 7 laps. What a dissapointment. Well, we sit in our pit for a while just kinda sulking and watching the other teams pit to learn as much as we can for possible future races, then pack up and head back to the trailer. Time for us to start focusing on our individual races. I was only going to run in race 11, Supertwins which is latter in the day, so I made sure the bike was all gassed up and ready so I could relax and get some fluids in since it was about 90deg out. Go to check grid position and my bike number is listed wrong, a check with the office and it turns out the number that I wanted wasn't taken, so I get to be #28. Back to the bike to peel off some 6's. We get out for our warm up lap, and i'm just trying to get a feel for the bike on the fresh rubber, and a feel for the track as I hadn't turned a lap yet for the day. Then it's time.....line up for the start. It's a two wave start, so the experts leave, then it's our turn, green flag and I learn that I need to practice my starts, but I'm where I wanted to be anyway, near the back just to be sure to take the safe path through turn 1. Unfortunately, I'm being a bit too cautious and the pack ahead of me are pulling away by turn 3, time to be calm and turn some good laps and just hope to catch someone. The laps are clicking off and the bike is working great, the tires are good, and I feel like I can put the bike wherever I want and know it's going to hold, so I'm progressively going faster and dipping it in harder every turn.....and I was reeling someone in. Now I have a goal! I noticed that I was able to gain quite a bit of ground under braking coming into turn 1, but he was gapping me again through turn 4. Then after 5-6 I would make up the distance lost during 4. Learned that I can take 4 much faster than I was letting myself, something that seat time and help from other riders gets me to notice. Here we are already, halfway point and I'm going to try to get under him on the brakes into turn 1. I get right beside, but was unable to make the pass and he gets a better drive out of the corner and I now have to make up some time, but he knows that I'm there. Through 3 I'm getting closer, and by 6 I'm right there with him. I hold back from passing through the kink on the back straight just for fear of not making a smart pass and possibly running too deep for turn 7 getting onto the front straight. New plan, square off the last turn to get a good jump on him, and it works, I'm past him about a quarter way down the front, now to stay there. Two laps to go and I need to ride smart to keep my position, I put my head down and focus. Drive hard. The lap feels good and there's the white flag. I remember the words from my instructor, Rick Breuer, "White flag means run the perfect lap". And that's what it feels like, knee down smooth turns and roll on the gas. I am determined to keep my position, though I have no idea where anyone is behind me. Last turn, drive hard, head down, white stripe and checkers! I've done it, finished my first race! What an amazing feeling. Back to the paddock, gear down to cool off, hugs and high fives all around! Turns out I finished in 5th! And the white flag lap was my best of the race. 1:28.6 1:25.0 1:24.1 1:24.7 1:23.8 1:23.9 1:23.1 One tenth from a 1:22, now I have a goal for the next race. Thanks to the people that make this happen. My Dad, Tracy and Haley for making the trip and the support. Erin for all her support and for putting up with my crap. Mike Boomer and Troy Walbaum for the tips and assistance in the paddock. Will be updating our page with pics a bit later on. www.ifmracing.com Can't wait to get back on the track! | ||
| Daves |
That's awesome Craig! Good for you. Too bad about the TC bike, what's wrong with it? | ||
| 99buellx1 |
Thanks! Well, until we get it tore down, we don't really know the extent of the damage. Right now we know there is a hole in the rear cylinder. | ||
| Boomerm2 |
Great report, Craig. What's funny was that I was thinking about Rick's comment about putting in that last great lap when I saw the white flag too. Well, I too took the Learning Curves class with Rick Breuer. (Thanks a lot Rick and Jason!) My first race was LW Supersport with a 7th place finish. I don't have my lap times with me, but I was pretty consistent with my fastest laps in the 25's. That was a 6 sec. improvement over my fastest on Sat. I had a great time and can't wait for Road America. | ||
| Daves |
I wish I could come watch you guys race at RA. | ||
| Smoke |
good job guys! had fun! sleep now/ report later-just got home to Louisiana! tim am 222 | ||
| Paint_shaker |
Sucks to hear about the TC!! Congratulations on your first race. Black Hawk is where I did my first track day. I would love to get back there to race. But alas racing, even at the crab-grassroots level, is expensive!!! On of the downsides (not that there are many)! | ||
| 99buellx1 |
A pic the SWMBO took. I thought the grass in the foreground was kinda cool.  | ||
| 99buellx1 |
Another good one that the GF took. (I have about 1000 to go through)  | ||
| Daves |
I think it needs a Double Lung sticker! | ||
| 99buellx1 |
I'm sure we can work something out!!  | ||
| Daves |
That would be cool! How much? Give me a call. |
