Chuck's Thoughts and Rants

Motorcycle Track Days for 2012

2012-02-19T18:55:00.000-08:00

With another bike recently added to the stable and a lack of autocrossing venues in the area, I've decided to give motorcycle track days a try.

I don't want to risk taking the newly acquired 2002 Ducati 748s since it's factory paint job is so exclusive, so I'm going to use my 2001 Ducati 900 Supersport. The 900SS has some custom bodywork and paint job, so I don't really want to risk damaging those fairings either. So, I decided to acquire some used slightly damaged OEM fairings and gas tank from eBay to use as cheap track fairings. I decided to use half fairings because they would be easier to store when they're not installed on the bike and should be easier to install/remove. I plan to repair any damage that exists on the fairings, and paint everything flat black (the different pieces that I've acquired are all different colors) . I've also fabricated a headlight blank to close up the factory headlight opening.

I've also acquired all the necessary riding gear that is required for track days: leather one-piece suit, back protector, riding boots, and gauntlet style gloves.

I still have to prep and paint the used fairings and replace the wood decking on my 5x8 trailer, but I'm hoping to be ready for the April 1st event with RideSmart Motorcycle School at Eagle's Canyon Raceway near Decatur, TX. I'll post some photos of the bike with the new fairings once I get it finished, and hopefully I will be able to capture some good on-track video with the GoPro HD camera.

Stay Tuned...

New Bike In The Stable

2012-02-19T18:20:00.000-08:00

I've always loved the 2002 Ducati Superbike 748s with the titanium grey body and bright red wheels. In my opinion, this is the most gorgeous bike that Ducati has ever produced and they only made 250 of them worldwide and only 200 were imported to the US.

I've seen them come up for sale on eBay and CycleTrader every so often, but I've never really had the money to buy one until recently, so I decided to pull the trigger. I found one on eBay in November 2011, and contacted the seller to strike a deal outside of eBay. The bike was priced a little bit more than I was expecting to pay, but the bike had an aftermarket exhaust system, $2000 worth of carbon fiber accessories installed that I would have wanted to add myself, and all of the stock parts that were taken off. I had the bike shipped from Wisconsin to Texas, and I've been riding and admiring the bike ever since. I'm very happy with it!

http://www.brazeauracing.com/ducati/748s/index.html

2011 Racing Season Review

2012-02-19T18:05:00.000-08:00

The 2011 racing season was pretty great! (I know this is a late update)

I used my new GoPro HD camera to capture some great in-car video which can be seen on my new YouTube page here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/BrazeauRacing

I didn't finish out the season because the track layouts at Kimbrough Stadium were getting smaller and tighter to the point that I couldn't get the car out of 1st gear. At the end of the day that's just not fun enough for me to spend $40 to stand out in the hot sun all day.

There is still no new venues for the West Texas Region SCCA, so I probably won't be autocrossing in 2012. However, I do have something new that I will be trying out... Motorcycle Track Days!!! :)

Racing again in 2011

2011-05-31T20:47:00.000-07:00

I will be racing again this season because of an offer from a fellow autocrosser in my Region to co-drive his Honda S2000 for the entire season. All of the West Texas Region SCCA events will be held at Kimbrough Stadium in Canyon, TX, and i typically don't attend these events due to the loose gravel surface. This venue is very hard on the tires and on the paint, but i'll definitely attend if i'm able to drive someone else's car.

I'm also going to attend a couple of events in Mineral Wells, TX in the M3 this coming weekend. Saturday's event is a National Street Tire Challenge that is sanctioned by the SCCA, and Sunday's event is a Texas Region SCCA event. I'm very excited about getting back to racing this season. It's been too long.

Sorry to inconvenience you, Dan Johnson

2011-05-09T12:47:00.000-07:00

Today, Dan sarcastically posted on his Facebook page "Thank you, Pathwayz Communications, for killing my pathway to my office phone and internet this morning!".

Well, Dan Johnson, of Johnson Asset Consulting (who is not a Pathwayz Communications customer, but rather a ComData Solutions customer, which is a rant for another time), I truely apologize that you were inconvenienced by a problem that we were having with our network this morning. From time to time, electronic equipment does fail, and from time to time, internet and phone service will be interupted. Yes, it's true. I worked my very hardest to get everything back online for the affected customers, only to come home and have my wife tell me that you posted that snotty ass comment on Facebook. So, for that, Dan Johnson... you can SUCK IT!!!

iPhone vs. HTC Inspire 4G (Android)

2011-04-24T14:22:00.000-07:00

I had been a loyal iPhone user for over two years. With its email, web, and remote desktop capabilities, it changed the way that I used a phone and freed me from the burden of taking a laptop with me on trips. The iPhone revolutionized the smartphone in so many ways. I thought I would be an iPhone user forever, but the iPhone does have it's limitations that users complain about all the time. My biggest complaint was the screen size and the lack of Windows keys on it's keyboard, because I use a remote desktop app frequently for work, and it can be very cumbersome on it's small screen and sometimes impossible without an ESC key.

A co-worker recently upgraded from his iPhone to an HTC Inspire 4G, and I spent 15 minutes playing around with it and quickly realized that it would do everything the iPhone could do, everything the iPhone couldn't do (like viewing Flash animation on websites), and it did all of it with a bigger and better screen and better keyboard! I went and got one that same day and couldn't be happier.

Now that I'm an Android user, I've realized how limiting and narrow minded Apple is. I'll give them props for coming up with the iPhone, but I'm disappointed that they didn't keep up with the demand or they simply ignored the complaints from their users.

Toyota TV Commercials (really???)

2010-12-01T16:37:00.000-08:00

Does Toyota really think that people are going to buy into their TV commercials that make ridiculous claims? Do they really think that I'm going to believe that they are spending one million dollars an HOUR on safety? Or that the safety software they invented is really going to prevent injuries in a football game? Really?

I've never been a big fan of Toyota cars or trucks, but this B.S. that they are trying to spread makes me completely anti-Toyota for life. The fact that they think (or hope) that consumers will belive this shit is insulting to me.

Sportbike Riding

2010-10-17T12:29:00.000-07:00

I consider myself a fairly good motorcycle rider on the street. But i've never had the confidence to go through sweeping corners very fast on my sportbike. I've always been too scared to lean the bike over very far because it always felt unatural and "squirmy" to me. It's really started to bother my lately, so i started paying attention to my body position while i'm going through a fast sweeping turn. I really didn't know if it was good or bad, so i started looking for sportbike riding technique videos on YouTube, and came across several VERY informative videos from RideSmart featuring Ty Howard and several other instructors (search for "sportbike body position"). The instruction that these guys give their students helped me realize that i was riding the bike WRONG. Over the last two days, i've been practicing the body positioning for cornering that they explain and it's helped me tremendously with the speed and stability that i can go through a fast sweeping corner. I'm still not as fast as i know i could be since i'm virtually a newbie of this new riding style, but i'm having so much more fun on my sportbike now that i'm not interested in just simply riding around town anymore (i'll save that for my cruiser bike). I'll ride around town for a few minutes to get the tires warmed up, but then i hit the clover-leaf style interstate exchange that gives me plently of opportunity to go through long fast sweeping "S" turns. I think i've spent more time going through the clover-leaf exchange over the last few days than i've spent riding the bike on the street in the last few weeks! It's amazing how proper form will make a night and day difference!

Harley riders...

2010-09-26T17:30:00.000-07:00

There was a "Toys for Tots" motorcycle rally today, so there were a lot of motorcycles out on the road... especially Harley riders. I don't understand why the typical Harley rider has to look exactly like the millions of other Harley riders: Ultra Classic bike, leather vest with patches, bandana on their head as an alternative to a helmet, antennas or american flag sticking up out of the back of their bike, same exact HD accessories bolted to the bike same as all the others. You can't even tell any of these bikes apart when they're going down the road except for the color. Plus, they all ride around with the attitude that THEIR bike is the coolest and most highly customized and unique bike on the road. There are obviously riders out there on Harleys that don't fit this profile, but it all makes me not want to ride a cruiser bike just so i won't get lumped into the same category as these people. Obviously, my cruiser looks absolutely nothing like their bikes, and i don't look anything like them when i'm riding it, but it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth sometimes.

Thanks for listening. :-)

Let's kick it one time for the homies...

2010-09-26T16:56:00.000-07:00

Everyone is on Facebook these days (including my wife), but i don't want to be bothered with the annoying friend requests and notifications just to have a place to post my random thoughts and rants. So, i've decided to create this blog for that purpose. I don't really know if anyone will bother reading it, or if anyone even cares, but it will be something for me to do when i'm bored or just want to document my thoughts for others to see.

I already have a website (brazeauracing.com) to showcase my racing efforts, car and motorcycle modifications, and pictures of all the cars, motorcycles, and family, but i don't get to update it much anymore because the racing scene in my area has become virtually non-existent due to a lack of suitable venues in the area.

Why not use Twitter, you ask? Cause it's gay. :-P