Fast Track
FAST TRACK
A ZX-10R's eye view
Circuit de Catalunya is one of the world’s foremost race venues. The 13-year-old facility was immaculately manicured, having hosted the FIA Formula One car race a couple weeks prior to our visit and was soon to be invaded by the MotoGP circus after Master Bike was done. A lap around the 2.94-mile, 13-turn course aboard an on-the-boil Kawasaki ZX-10R is serious business.
You click into fifth as you cross the start/finish stripe on the long main straight, running it out to redline on the approach to Turn 1. Three quick downshifts while braking hard for the sharp right-left corner combination offer a practical appreciation for the ZX’s slipper clutch. Shortshifting to third sets you up for the long, fast right that follows. Up to fourth while banked over on the exit and feed in the throttle as you feel the rear tire squirm under acceleration. There’s no time to relax on the straight leading to Turn 4, where maximum braking and two downshifts set entry speed with the tach needle settling around 8000 rpm through the heart of the corner. Patience, patience...a late apex here allows a stronger drive out and helps keep wheelspin to a minimum. The tight left that follows is the slowest corner on the circuit, but also one of the hardest to nail. Formula cars have created washboard bumps in the braking zone and the corner lacks positive camber for the
tires to bite into. Again, a late apex pays dividends on the exit and generates more speed through a thirdgear dogleg leading into another second-gear left-right combo that runs uphill at the exit. Cutting across the apex curb on the exit is the fast line, but be prepared for the nervous Ninja to shake its head in protest. Up to third again, then a moment of braking before rolling it on through the blind-crested right leading onto the backstraight. Getting this corner correct-using all the road plus some curbing at the exit-will shave time down the fourth-gear straight. Maximum braking again to slow for the sharp left entry into Catalunya’s marquee “Stadium Section.” This is where I dropped the Ducati 749R in front of 20,000 empty seats. Uphill and increasing radius, this is the kind of corner that lends itself to dial-a-slide exits. But don’t get too carried away because another 180-degree right immediately follows. Enter tight or mid-track, either line works, as long as you can pull it back in to brush the apex curb when feeding in the power and floating the front tire over the humped exit. The final two rights are critical for a quick lap. Here, it proved best to lug third and allow the ZX to flex its midrange muscle. It’s also good form to run it out onto the rumble strips exiting the final corner, if for no other reason than letting the support crew hanging over pit wall know you’ve given it your all.
-Don Canet
