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Race weekend
Beyond my amateur musician status and martial arts instructor, I’m also a recreational (again “amateur”) motorcycle racer. I’ve been running my Honda RC51 on the racetrack since 2014 and have been a licensed racer since 2017. I had to miss the first race weekend due to the timing of my late Mother-In-Law’s celebration of life but got back into the swing of things last weekend (July 13-16).
I don’t race for standings or trophies, only for the sheer enjoyment of competing with my track family of friends and the thrill of being able to ride a powerful race inspired bike in the way it was designed to be ridden. And while what we do (admittedly) has an element of risk, it’s actually statistically safer than riding on the street. No drunks, no people on their phones, and only “one way” traffic. High speed oops’s notwithstanding of course, but there are no tickets or fines to be dealt with either haha.Here’s a couple shots of the action from the weekend
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6 Replies
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Hiya Daryl, Thanks for sharing, this brings back happy memories of my late Dad and his love of car racing …. He loved local stock car racing, Super Modifieds, Indy, Nascar, etc 🏁🏎🚥🚦⛽️
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Hi Daryl
That looks thrilling and fun! Just seeing the photos it looks like you were moving. Just curious, on the straightaways how fast can you get up to before you have to slow down for the curve? I love watching races whether bikes, cars or trucks.
I use to follow NASCAR very closely in the 90s, and I recall one season Rusty Wallace and Dale Earnhardt Senior were neck and neck for the Winston Cup Championship and I must have followed every single race. There were some amazing race moments that season. My favourite track was the short half mile oval track, Bristol, and it was so fun to watch as the course was so short, these powerful stock cars barely hit a hundred MPH in the short straight away before they would hit the curve and had to slow down. It was quite strategic often the race was won by who could brake the most skillfully and swing past the car in front as they slowed down into the curve.
Later on, I got a NASCAR racing SIM with force feedback steering wheels and pedals, and I experienced racing in Bristol, boy was it fun.
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Jung…lol.. well…that’s something else we have in common besides being Canadian, MLT…Luv of Nascar /Car Racing…if you read my reply to Daryl, I explained my love & Happy Memories of Dad and His Love of Car Racing ….🏁🏎🚥🚦⛽️🏍
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Hi Jacki
Yeah I remember a while ago you mentioned your father and NASCAR. I haven’t been a live NASCAR event, would love to see one, one day. The NASCAR circuit doesn’t have a track in the Pacific North West I’m aware of, but got a time it right with one of my trips cross border in the future.
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Hi Daryl,
looks impressive. What is your favorite race track? Have you ever raced on tracks outside of Canada and the US?
It’s amazing how the technology in this area has developed. There is a nice 5 part series on the evolution of motorcycle racing (the first part is shown below). My father and his older brother owned a NSU, respectively Zündapp.
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Jung, the fastest I can say I’ve “seen” on the speedo on track is a tad over 220 kph. I dont usually spend much time looking at anything but the tach and not very often at that. The two tracks in the Edmonton area have braking markers on our race days and I gauge my braking zones by them and the other bikes and riders I’m racing with. Braking zones on many tracks are often a good passing opportunity.
Jurgen, I’ve never ridden anything but our western Canadian tracks, although I would love to experience some of the famous circuits like Silverstone, Motegi, Philip Island and of course Valencia or any continental Europe GP sites. RMM just north of Calgary is an excellent new venue thay I ran 4 times last season, and Area 27 out in south central BC is an amazing track designed by Jacques Villeneuve of F1 fame. I also have a friend that is an editor of a Canadian motorcycle publication that has been fortunate enough to hit a couple circuits across the pond during bike tests for his articles. Lots of our club members have raced at Laguna Seca, COTA, Vegas, Utah and Chuckwalla. I had to miss a trip to Chuckwalla CA a few years back, sonething I still want to do. I would very happy to get a day or two at Shannonville or CT in Ontario. Two of our local racers are in the CSBK this season and are doing quite well down there. Much better/faster racers than this auld fart is haha. I’m just hoping I can get a few more years in with EMRA, I turn 66 in October and that window is getting a bit narrower every year. 😉
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