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First time with WERA, first time endurance racing

Discussion in 'Information For New Racers' started by sbk1198, May 30, 2018.

  1. sbk1198

    sbk1198 Well-Known Member

    I plan on doing the 2-hour ultralight endurance with WERA at VIR in August. It will be my first time racing with WERA and first time doing an endurance race. It'll be just me and one other rider on the team. Do you guys think it'd be a good idea to have a pit board or is it not really necessary? The only thing I can think of that I'd need something is to get an idea for time (like get some sort of message at every 15 minutes or something like that), but I have a data logger that I can look at as well, which will tell me how many laps I've done.

    Aside from getting a WERA license, and prepping the bike per the WERA rulebook, is there anything else that I should know or do in preparation for this? Anything in particular for the endurance aspect that would be good to have? Being on an R3, and not being anywhere near pace of the front runners, I'm not worried about quick-change tire setups. I'll put brand new tires on before the race and they'll last the whole race no problem. I'm sure a bigger tank with a quick-fill setup would be beneficial, but not really in the budget and not something I want to get just for this one event.
     
  2. ineedanap

    ineedanap Well-Known Member

    We didn't have one last year or the year before, and everything worked fine. The guy on the wall signaled 1 hour with an arm gesture, and the rider just signaled by tapping his leg before he was going to come in.

    This year we actually do have a nice pit board, though.
     
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  3. sbk1198

    sbk1198 Well-Known Member

    That might be tough to do since the pit wall is on the right side at VIR. I'm gonna need my hand on the throttle lol But that's a good idea with the signals. I suppose we could come up with something.
     
  4. ineedanap

    ineedanap Well-Known Member

    We did VIR last year too. Tap the tail of the bike.
     
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  5. sbk1198

    sbk1198 Well-Known Member

    Did you do the 2-hour UL endurance or a different class? Any idea how many laps it ends up being for the 2-hour, assuming no unexpected red flags? I'm guessing they're running the North course?
     
  6. ineedanap

    ineedanap Well-Known Member

    We ran the 4
     
  7. Thunderace

    Thunderace Well-Known Member

    Last year at Pitt-Race, the UL race could be completed with one stop at hour 1 for fuel. Myself and two others will be running the 4-hour race in a couple weeks. I think the pit board will be more necessary for our race, so I made one. I had some 1/4 inch plexiglass in the garage, cut some hand holds on the side, cut some other holes to lighten it some and finished it with some decals. I have my own vinyl cutter, so making some decals is easy. Cost, less than $20, mostly because of the vinyl. Our plan is to use it just to let the rider know how long he's been on the bike. We'll show it at 10, 20, 30, 40, 45 & 50 minutes. I think that will be the most we'll be able to ride for a stock tank.

    20180528_180800.jpg
     
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  8. jschuster2

    jschuster2 Well-Known Member

    We did the 2 hr. last year at NJMP on a 250 without refuelling. Another rider on a R3 did it solo, no stops. But it was raining the whole race.
    Maybe velcro a digital timer on the bike.
    Like ineedanap said hand signals should be fine. Rider taps his head = he's coming in to pit .
     
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  9. sbk1198

    sbk1198 Well-Known Member

    Cool. I'm convinced now. But I'm amazed that you and the R3 guy were able to do it without refueling. I know these bikes don't go through that much gas but they also have small tanks. Guessing the rain probably helped with that. Crazy that guy was able to run the whole thing on his own. I've never raced longer than like 20 minutes. I think the most I've done was maybe 25 minutes once but it was during a track day session and the pace was pretty slow because I was on someone else's bike. This will definitely be a challenge for me I'm sure, but I'm excited to try it out!
     
  10. Wheel Bearing

    Wheel Bearing Professional low sider

    What we found works best is a 30, 45, and 60 sign. I know your tank won't allow you to hit 60, so maybe adjust and do a 30, 40, 50. No need for the 10 or 20 sign...party is still just getting started at that point. :D
     
  11. Mongo

    Mongo Administrator

    As they've all said, pit board is nice but not necessary, just work out some hand signals and stay consistent with them. Also make sure you're all in the habit of glancing at the pit wall every lap even if no one is out there. Seen a lot of issues over the years when a rider gets zoned out and never looks over (actually one of the best reasons for a pit board is something for them to look at).
     
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  12. sbk1198

    sbk1198 Well-Known Member

    Good point, thanks! I know it's too early for the weekend schedule but any rough idea on what I should expect? I see it's Friday-Sunday. Is Friday a practice day? When is the UL endurance race? Saturday or Sunday?
     
  13. jschuster2

    jschuster2 Well-Known Member

    You can check the schedule for Pitt Race weekend of June 15. I assume the VIR round will be similar. Friday is a practice/ track day with N2. You can do that as a team with one bike. Saturday morning is practice. Then the 4 hour. Then ULWT finishes the day. Sunday is WERA sprints.
     
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  14. Mongo

    Mongo Administrator

    Schedule is up on the schedules page - http://www.wera.com/pdfs/eventschedule/pirc061718.pdf

    Friday is a track day through N2, Saturday endurance, Sunday sprints.
     
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  15. sbk1198

    sbk1198 Well-Known Member

    Thanks!
     
  16. tawzx12r

    tawzx12r Influencer to none

    @ sbk1198
    Get it together and come out to PittRace... You'll be happy you did...
     
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  17. sbk1198

    sbk1198 Well-Known Member

    It'd like to but I can't. Work travel.
     
  18. No Brakes

    No Brakes Well-Known Member

    How many UL bikes were 250s? Considering this year on my 250
     
  19. r6boater

    r6boater Logged out

    We did the Pitt and VIR 2hrs last year on a KTM.

    Be doing them on an R3 this year.

    I wouldn't plan to go too much over 1 hr on the R3. As long as we make it 60 min, we will pit and refuel. We did a 6hr at Hallet a few weeks ago and the bike took about 2.5 gal at each 1hr stint stop.

    Draik did both of the WERA/N2 races last year, solo and plans to do the same this year. We signal for pitstops by tapping on top of head or helmet, whomever is signaling.
     
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  20. jschuster2

    jschuster2 Well-Known Member

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