Two tracks CMRA race: Oak Hill (past) and Hallett were both harder for me to learn than COTA. The track wasn’t as hard to learn as I thought, I had it pretty well figured out on the afternoon of day 1. Muscling the big Aprilia through one of the hairpins and rolling on the gas: Ted and I rode together much of the weekend until he sorted out some setup issues on the V4 (then he was gone).
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Full tuck, full throttle down the main straight and you feel like MotoGp star. T19 is one downshift and pretty simple, T20 (last turn) is tight and pretty straightforward. At one point all the painted stripes open up and you see a sliver of black tarmac to aim for, it reminded me the threading the needle, I was smooth and very fast through there, a lot of riders struggled, getting on/off the gas, and uncertain. It forces the rider to look up into the turn as far as possible. T16 thru 18 is a huge, triple apex right hander. Reminded me a little of some of the turns on tracks we race in the CMRA. T13 thru 15 are a really fun section, not fast (2nd gear) and not hard to figure out. Actually T1, T11 and T12 are almost identical hairpin turns. I ended up figuring out my maximum break point: heavy braking and 4 downshifts going into T12, another slow hairpin. Back straight is very long as everyone knows. The track is very wide there, probably for the F1 cars to overtake, but there is really only one fast racing line through there. T11 is the tight hairpin before the back straightaway. T10 is very fast and blind so a little scary although I ended up understanding it pretty well. In the later sessions when I was tired I found this section the most difficult. Elevation changes in addition to the switchbacks made it a little hard to learn and physically demanding.
T6 thru 10 is the hardest part of the track. That’s where all the dramatic RWB painted stripes are. T3 thru 5 (esses) are really fun, not as big and fast as I expected. Later sessions I learned exactly where to be but that didn’t keep me from having sphincter moment almost every time through. For me it is the scariest turn on the track because of the speed and the fact it’s blind. T3 is a blind lefthander under the bridge. It’s one of my favorite turns, knee down, wide open, very exhilarating. T2 is a very fast right-hander coming down a major downhill. Like the other two tight hairpins, set up wide right then aim for the curbing on the inside and get on the gas. I started braking just as the uphill starts heavy braking and four quick downshifts later, the hill definitely helps scrub speed. But on pace the it’s a bit less dramatic, I think because of the speed carrying off the main straight, things get very busy and blurry running up there. When leaving pit lane and running up there you experience a “glory” moment for sure. T1 is one of the most visually dramatic sights at COTA. Sunset at COTA (pics cannot do it justice): I can only hope for an opportunity to race there before I hang up the leathers. The track is extremely wide and perfectly smooth everywhere, unlike the tracks I’m used to. It is surreal, the first night I almost thought I was dreaming.
Sunsets at COTA illuminate the Pirelli signage up in T1. We did a full two-day weekend and I wanted to write my thoughts before too much time slipped away. It was a great experience, the place is fantastic. A few pics on track at COTA, also a few notes about riding a racebike at the finest racetrack in this part of the world.