barrygrussell
Senior Member
Also published on my personal blog
Gary Johnson lists Kaeng Krachan in Thailand as one of his favourite tracks, so it was no surprise to find him there just five days after his last race of the season at the Macau Grand Prix and straight after the announcement that he will be riding for HM Plant Honda in British Superstock and the major international road races in 2012.
The undulating 2.9km circuit, originally a small airfield, is set in the otherwise peaceful Kaeng Krachan National Park, just north and east of the beach resort towns of Cha'am and Hua Hin. It is the longest race track in Thailand, the only one that runs anti-clockwise and was built mainly for private use by the owner. Indeed, with stone walls in places where bike racers would normally prefer gravel traps, it is perhaps best enjoyed without the pressure of competition.
Under clear blue skies and scorching sunshine Johnson went for a three day test on a borrowed Suzuki GSX-R750 accompanied by four race mechanics who had also extended their Macau Grand Prix trip, Thailand Superbike racers Benjamin Fortt, Hans Muehlebach and Colin Butler, 250 2-stroke racer Herbert Hoffmann and a party of riders led by Graham Knight of Highside Tours.
Because of a long dry spell and light use of the track, a fine layer of dust meant that the riders found the surface slippery as they made their first runs on Saturday morning. As the day progressed lap and grip improved, lap times came down and there were smiles all around as well as a few gasps as Johnson took his times into the 1:22s. Swiss veteran Muehlebach and Butler also attacked hard, while Ben Fortt, who had previously only made a brief visit to Kaeng Krachan, spent the time familiarising himself, bringing his times down steadily.
As there were no proper photographers present, I snapped on my long lens, originally intended to help with candid shots for my SIDE-TRACKED albums and did my best at becoming an action photographer. A few of the images were acceptable, though most of all the exercise deepened my respect for the professionals. It also tested the steadiness of my hand as I stood unprotected at the edge of the track at the bottom of a fast downhill left-hander that is taken at around 160km/h by the fast riders. Gary used it to drift the Suzuki towards me so I could get some dramatic shots and Colin too was out in the same session. I also captured them both for my Loose Clippings video from the weekend.
[VIDEO]http://youtu.be/EPpcw-AZD8c[/VIDEO]
Towards the end of the afternoon we got what we had all been hoping for when Hans handed his Suter over to Gary. The TT winner came in after a few laps declaring his love for the grand prix machine and with a new unofficial lap record of 1:20.80. He also took Colin Butler's Fireblade for a spin and made a few suggestions to make it as easy to ride as a Honda should be, as well as faster. Sure enough, as we rolled up at the track on Sunday, "The Flying Canadian" had made all the suggested adjustments and spent the day testing them and making a few further tweaks. Ben got to grips with the track and, with the additional benefits of tows from Colin and Gary brought his times down into the mid-1:26s.
With home and work calling I went back to Bangkok on Sunday evening, but the games carried on throughout Monday. Colin headlined as he brought his best time down to 1:24.5, while Gary continued to hone the GSX-R750, until he bent the front wheel and spent the rest of the day playing on Graham Knight's ER6s. Graham Knight came up with an interesting piece of Thailand Trackday Trivia: whatever times you are doing at Thailand Circuit, you will do the same at Kaeng Krachan. With the technical Nakhonchaisri circuit still under water from the flooding disaster, we stopped to wonder when we would see dry tarmac and enjoy the racing there again.
The work put in paid off at the Motorcycle Mag Rounds 4 and 5 held over the Christmas weekend at Bira International when Gary took his Gixer 750 to first and second places and Colin took a win (and was third on the road) in his first outing in the 'SB-2' rookie class and then a fifth in the 'SB-1' pro-class the following day. 17 year-old Ben took a fifth and a second place in SB-2 and carved two seconds of his best lap time at the Chonburi circuit. You can see my report of the event in a previous post.
Finally, treat yourself to Colin Butler's superb on-board video for some quick laps.
[VIDEO]http://youtu.be/pOiuNnkGMsw[/VIDEO]
Gary Johnson lists Kaeng Krachan in Thailand as one of his favourite tracks, so it was no surprise to find him there just five days after his last race of the season at the Macau Grand Prix and straight after the announcement that he will be riding for HM Plant Honda in British Superstock and the major international road races in 2012.
The undulating 2.9km circuit, originally a small airfield, is set in the otherwise peaceful Kaeng Krachan National Park, just north and east of the beach resort towns of Cha'am and Hua Hin. It is the longest race track in Thailand, the only one that runs anti-clockwise and was built mainly for private use by the owner. Indeed, with stone walls in places where bike racers would normally prefer gravel traps, it is perhaps best enjoyed without the pressure of competition.
Under clear blue skies and scorching sunshine Johnson went for a three day test on a borrowed Suzuki GSX-R750 accompanied by four race mechanics who had also extended their Macau Grand Prix trip, Thailand Superbike racers Benjamin Fortt, Hans Muehlebach and Colin Butler, 250 2-stroke racer Herbert Hoffmann and a party of riders led by Graham Knight of Highside Tours.
Because of a long dry spell and light use of the track, a fine layer of dust meant that the riders found the surface slippery as they made their first runs on Saturday morning. As the day progressed lap and grip improved, lap times came down and there were smiles all around as well as a few gasps as Johnson took his times into the 1:22s. Swiss veteran Muehlebach and Butler also attacked hard, while Ben Fortt, who had previously only made a brief visit to Kaeng Krachan, spent the time familiarising himself, bringing his times down steadily.
As there were no proper photographers present, I snapped on my long lens, originally intended to help with candid shots for my SIDE-TRACKED albums and did my best at becoming an action photographer. A few of the images were acceptable, though most of all the exercise deepened my respect for the professionals. It also tested the steadiness of my hand as I stood unprotected at the edge of the track at the bottom of a fast downhill left-hander that is taken at around 160km/h by the fast riders. Gary used it to drift the Suzuki towards me so I could get some dramatic shots and Colin too was out in the same session. I also captured them both for my Loose Clippings video from the weekend.
[VIDEO]http://youtu.be/EPpcw-AZD8c[/VIDEO]
Towards the end of the afternoon we got what we had all been hoping for when Hans handed his Suter over to Gary. The TT winner came in after a few laps declaring his love for the grand prix machine and with a new unofficial lap record of 1:20.80. He also took Colin Butler's Fireblade for a spin and made a few suggestions to make it as easy to ride as a Honda should be, as well as faster. Sure enough, as we rolled up at the track on Sunday, "The Flying Canadian" had made all the suggested adjustments and spent the day testing them and making a few further tweaks. Ben got to grips with the track and, with the additional benefits of tows from Colin and Gary brought his times down into the mid-1:26s.
With home and work calling I went back to Bangkok on Sunday evening, but the games carried on throughout Monday. Colin headlined as he brought his best time down to 1:24.5, while Gary continued to hone the GSX-R750, until he bent the front wheel and spent the rest of the day playing on Graham Knight's ER6s. Graham Knight came up with an interesting piece of Thailand Trackday Trivia: whatever times you are doing at Thailand Circuit, you will do the same at Kaeng Krachan. With the technical Nakhonchaisri circuit still under water from the flooding disaster, we stopped to wonder when we would see dry tarmac and enjoy the racing there again.
The work put in paid off at the Motorcycle Mag Rounds 4 and 5 held over the Christmas weekend at Bira International when Gary took his Gixer 750 to first and second places and Colin took a win (and was third on the road) in his first outing in the 'SB-2' rookie class and then a fifth in the 'SB-1' pro-class the following day. 17 year-old Ben took a fifth and a second place in SB-2 and carved two seconds of his best lap time at the Chonburi circuit. You can see my report of the event in a previous post.
Finally, treat yourself to Colin Butler's superb on-board video for some quick laps.
[VIDEO]http://youtu.be/pOiuNnkGMsw[/VIDEO]
