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All that time testing, all that time prepping, all that time getting excited. It all came to a head on Saturday.
First and foremost, it was a great experience overall and I have learned SOOOOOO much just from running my two races. Here's how it all broke down:
I knew I was in trouble as soon as we pulled into the parking area. Big trailers, lots of sponsorship, some big iron! I'm running stock 600 and stock 800 so I figure not much to worry about, these guys are out of my class anyway, but I don't see too many stock sleds. Tech inspection was interesting. I really expected it to be pretty thorough, but basically it was open your hood, let me see and listen to you motor, a look at the skid and a test of the tether. Not very scientific and basically leaves the door wide open for anyone who wants to cheat. They did not use a light beam or laser at the start line either. You were lined up by a starter. If you took your butt off the seat before the light changed, you were flagged. If you jumped the light, you were flagged, but this was decided by the person standing behind you. Again, not very scientific.
Had a chance to run both the Crossfire 600 and ZR 800 down the test and tune lane. It was almost pure ice at the starting line. No traction whatsoever. Really left me wondering how I was gong to manage the start fo the races themsleves. Spoke with a gentlemen by the name of Glen who runs his Yamaha at all these races. He usually cleans up. He was probably the only guy that somehow managed to have his sled hook up the best. Everyone else was spinning and somehow his nose heavy Yamaha was getting excellent hook up!!?? Everyone else was spinning quite a bit. He did say that on a day like that, with the conditions the way they were that the Firecats would show well. That they did.
So my first race comes up and I'm pretty excited. I was first to the staging area, of course, since I didn't want to miss it. Look behind me and it's all Revs! Not one Poo 600, not one F6. I was a little disappointed since I was hoping for good variety. So how did the race go....well I was too busy thinking about how I was going to start that I missed the light by about a second bang your head . A couple of the Revs had a good start and did fairly well. I lost of course, but the interesting thing is that by about 300 feet I was starting to gain on all of them, and pretty quick too. With the track only 550 feet though, I didn't have a chance. Was it high engagement or really low gearing, that got those Revs moving? I figured it might have been gearing since I was gaining. I figured they ran out of gear at about 300 feet, but can't be sure. Like I said, learned a lot that day. I know what I would do differently with the CF6 next time, besides keeping my eyes on the light, and that takes us back to my earlier post about tighter belt clearances and reducing the spider sheave spacer. That would have put the roller on the weight a little further back and brought engagment up. Would have hit harder once the weight started moving. I knew this from previous testing but thought my setup was good, and it was, but not perfect. I was only coming in at 3900 and noticed that a lot of people were coming in MUCH higher. Night before the race I contemplated changing, but decided to leave it. Doh!!! Overall the sled did really well though. At the very least I know I have an awesome trail setup and learned a little something both about the sled and racing.
Next it was time for the ZR to show it's prowess. I knew this sled was setup well and the night before I changed to a higher engagement spring and reduced the Injector Perfector a jet. Again at the staging area I looked behind to see what I was up against. All I see is Firecats!! Great.... Turns out there was a Doo at the back of the group. I hit the light well but had some traction issues and ended up going squirelly a few feet down the lane. Lost a second or two there. What I did notice was that the ZR did not lose any ground to the Firecats after that. I would absolutely love to run that race again. I really think that despite the weight disadvantage for the ZR, it is running so well that it could keeps it's own against the Firecats. Time to start talking smack!!!! Defintitley race the ZR again as it sits. Hope to hunt down a few Firecats over the remainder of the winter and see what happens!!! Very, very happy with that sled.
There were only a couple Crossfire 7's and a 1000. Didn't see those races and have not seen the results yet. None of the new F's were there...that I saw anyway.
When I came home that night of course I was dissapointed....and dead tired. More I think about what I would have done different and what I learned, the more I am realizing that I have been bit by the bug. Now I want to race again....real bad!!!
It was a great experience and I had a heap load of fun!!!
[attachment=61534:Wetaskiw...rags_003.jpg][attachment=61535:Wetaskiw...rags_005.
jpg][attachment=61539:00290004.JPG]
First and foremost, it was a great experience overall and I have learned SOOOOOO much just from running my two races. Here's how it all broke down:
I knew I was in trouble as soon as we pulled into the parking area. Big trailers, lots of sponsorship, some big iron! I'm running stock 600 and stock 800 so I figure not much to worry about, these guys are out of my class anyway, but I don't see too many stock sleds. Tech inspection was interesting. I really expected it to be pretty thorough, but basically it was open your hood, let me see and listen to you motor, a look at the skid and a test of the tether. Not very scientific and basically leaves the door wide open for anyone who wants to cheat. They did not use a light beam or laser at the start line either. You were lined up by a starter. If you took your butt off the seat before the light changed, you were flagged. If you jumped the light, you were flagged, but this was decided by the person standing behind you. Again, not very scientific.
Had a chance to run both the Crossfire 600 and ZR 800 down the test and tune lane. It was almost pure ice at the starting line. No traction whatsoever. Really left me wondering how I was gong to manage the start fo the races themsleves. Spoke with a gentlemen by the name of Glen who runs his Yamaha at all these races. He usually cleans up. He was probably the only guy that somehow managed to have his sled hook up the best. Everyone else was spinning and somehow his nose heavy Yamaha was getting excellent hook up!!?? Everyone else was spinning quite a bit. He did say that on a day like that, with the conditions the way they were that the Firecats would show well. That they did.
So my first race comes up and I'm pretty excited. I was first to the staging area, of course, since I didn't want to miss it. Look behind me and it's all Revs! Not one Poo 600, not one F6. I was a little disappointed since I was hoping for good variety. So how did the race go....well I was too busy thinking about how I was going to start that I missed the light by about a second bang your head . A couple of the Revs had a good start and did fairly well. I lost of course, but the interesting thing is that by about 300 feet I was starting to gain on all of them, and pretty quick too. With the track only 550 feet though, I didn't have a chance. Was it high engagement or really low gearing, that got those Revs moving? I figured it might have been gearing since I was gaining. I figured they ran out of gear at about 300 feet, but can't be sure. Like I said, learned a lot that day. I know what I would do differently with the CF6 next time, besides keeping my eyes on the light, and that takes us back to my earlier post about tighter belt clearances and reducing the spider sheave spacer. That would have put the roller on the weight a little further back and brought engagment up. Would have hit harder once the weight started moving. I knew this from previous testing but thought my setup was good, and it was, but not perfect. I was only coming in at 3900 and noticed that a lot of people were coming in MUCH higher. Night before the race I contemplated changing, but decided to leave it. Doh!!! Overall the sled did really well though. At the very least I know I have an awesome trail setup and learned a little something both about the sled and racing.
Next it was time for the ZR to show it's prowess. I knew this sled was setup well and the night before I changed to a higher engagement spring and reduced the Injector Perfector a jet. Again at the staging area I looked behind to see what I was up against. All I see is Firecats!! Great.... Turns out there was a Doo at the back of the group. I hit the light well but had some traction issues and ended up going squirelly a few feet down the lane. Lost a second or two there. What I did notice was that the ZR did not lose any ground to the Firecats after that. I would absolutely love to run that race again. I really think that despite the weight disadvantage for the ZR, it is running so well that it could keeps it's own against the Firecats. Time to start talking smack!!!! Defintitley race the ZR again as it sits. Hope to hunt down a few Firecats over the remainder of the winter and see what happens!!! Very, very happy with that sled.
There were only a couple Crossfire 7's and a 1000. Didn't see those races and have not seen the results yet. None of the new F's were there...that I saw anyway.
When I came home that night of course I was dissapointed....and dead tired. More I think about what I would have done different and what I learned, the more I am realizing that I have been bit by the bug. Now I want to race again....real bad!!!
It was a great experience and I had a heap load of fun!!!
[attachment=61534:Wetaskiw...rags_003.jpg][attachment=61535:Wetaskiw...rags_005.
jpg][attachment=61539:00290004.JPG]
