Motorcycle Track Days - Finished Project

Here are photos of the finished track bike project. I'm in Decatur, TX as I type this and I'll be on the race track all day tomorrow. :-)

Here is the bike with the street setup...

Here is the bike with the track setup...

Motorcycle Track Days - Prepping the Bike (continued)

After painting and installing everything on the bike, I just really didn't like the way the OEM half fairings look (no offense to those that like the half fairings on the newer Supersport bikes, they just don't look as good as the pre-1999 half fairings in my opinion). I kinda like the way the newer Supersports look with only the upper headlight fairings, but from the side it looks like something is missing and the bottom of the upper fairings sit several inches higher than the bottom of the tail fairings, which doesn't look aesthetically pleasing to me. I decided to fabricate some small fairing "winglets" that would install at the bottom of the upper fairings to give it a finished look and they would sit slightly lower than the bottom of the tail fairings when viewed from the side. I made a paper template of the shape I wanted and transferred the pattern to some 1/8 inch thick ABS plastic sheet that I ordered from Parts Express for only $8. Once I got two winglets cut out, I used a heat gun to form curves on both ends so that they would match the contour of the upper fairings. When installed they look similar to the Ducati Kamna super small race half-fairing, but at a fraction of the cost.

With the new custom half-naked look, I still felt like something was missing and I've never seen a full belly pan on a half-naked Supersport, so I ordered one from AirTech Streamling. When the belly pan came in, I trimmed it to fit the bike, fabricated some brackets to secure it to the bottom of the engine, and painted it once it was completely mocked up.

Here are the brackets I made along with close-ups of the belly pan mounted to the bike...

Motorcycle Track Days - Prepping the Bike

I've been steadily prepping the 2001 Ducati 900 Supersport for the track and I have a few updates...

Since the headlight and taillight aren't used at the track, I removed them from the bike and fabricated a headlight blank out of some thin aluminum sheet that I picked up from a local hardware store to cover the headlight opening and fabricated a bracket to hold my old unused OEM taillight lens in place in the tail. I covered both pieces with black vinyl tape rather than the typical blue painter's tape so they would blend in with the paint. I can easily remove the blanks and reinstall the headlight and taillight to legally ride the bike on the street if I need to sort out any mechanical or electrical issues without having to change everything back to the street fairings.

I want to use my GoPro HD camera at the track, so I fabricated a simple gas tank mount for it out of 2mm thick aluminum plate. The mount uses three of the gas cap bolt holes and positions the camera in a great spot for capturing on-bike video without getting in my way when I'm riding. There is also a small tether line in case the 3M adhesive pad fails.

Here is the view from the camera on the gas tank mount...

Stay tuned for more updates...

Motorcycle Track Days for 2012

With the lack of any autocross venues in my area and having recently acquired a 2002 Ducati Superbike 748s, I decided to convert my 2001 Ducati 900 Supersport into a part-time track bike so I could do some motorcycle track days to get my "racing" fix.

I still enjoy riding this bike on the street, so I didn't want to make it a dedicated track bike. The bike also has some custom bodywork and a custom gloss black paint job that I didn't want to risk damaging if I had an accident at the track (I've never done a track day before), so I've been slowly acquiring some used OEM fairing pieces (half fairings, front fender, rear grab handle, and tail sides), a used seat, and a used gas tank from eBay to use for the track. You may wonder why I didn't just buy some Sharkskinz track fairings, but its because the used OEM fairing pieces were much cheaper and I already had my OEM upper headlight fairings that weren't being used since I installed a custom HID projector headlight. The OEM fairings also break down into smaller pieces for less storage space when they're not installed on the bike. I went with half fairings to give the bike a different look and to potentially allow the engine to get more air and not overheat at the track. I'm also going to use my old cored OEM exhaust mufflers to preserve my beautiful carbon high-mount Termignoni slip-ons that are apparently no longer available.

I've also acquired all the necessary riding gear that is required for track days: one-piece leather race 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...

A New Bike In The Stable - 2002 Ducati 748s

I've always loved the 2002 Ducati Superbike 748s with the titanium grey fairings and bright red wheels. In my opinion, this is the most gorgeous bike that Ducati has ever produced to date 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 it had an aftermarket exhaust system, $2,000 worth of carbon fiber accessories already 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 don't have any modifications or upgrades planned for the bike since its almost perfect as is, but I may consider transplanting a 1098 engine into it in the future to give it more reliable horsepower.

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

2011 Autocrossing Season Review

The 2011 autocrossing 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 you couldn't even shift 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 are 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!!! :-)

Autocrossing again in 2011

I will be autocrossing 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 autocrossing this season. It's been too long.