That’s Big Willow to you, sir.
Everything moved like clockwork. Got up, attached the pre-loaded trailer to the truck and off I went to Rosamond. Skies we perfectly clear and zero wind. Temperature peaked in the low 80’s which made for perfect track conditions. I got there before the crowd and tech’d the bike in 2 minutes. TrackDaz were the hosts.
I watched a couple of YouTube videos of Willow Springs to memorize the track and lines better but what I didn’t anticipate was Turn 6. Holy cow. It felt like you were racing down a steep diagonal – while leaning hard – while short shifting up – at full throttle – all while the outside of the turn looks like an infinity pool! If you’re not focused, you are going off the track and into an event horizon.
Then there was Turn 8 and Turn 9, collectively called The Sweeper. You were wondering if it was ever going to end.
We did encounter many delays because people were crashing out a lot. The two ambulances could not keep up with taking people to the hospital. (yikes) All of the crashes were occurring within the first 1/2 lap of a given session. This means that the yahoos didn’t allow the tires to warm up, thus crashing out. (tisk tisk)
After Darwin weeded out the hooligans in the morning, we were able to enjoy an uninterrupted track day all the way ’till 5pm.
I was also able to finally track-test my Brembo Goldline front caliper conversion with sintered EBC pads. They performed beautifully. Excellent braking.
I’ve got tons of photos from a photographer friend (Ron Sinoy) and from the track’s CaliPhotography.
Willow Springs is very different from many other tracks. It’s layout facilitates very high speeds where others have many turns and odd corners.
It is definitely deserves the title of the “Fastest Road in the West“.
That – was – fun.