Taking Aim

TAKING AIM

AIM Sports lap-timers

Lap times are an important part of any sportbike comparison, but no one wants to stand trackside with a hand-held stopwatch while someone else has all the fun. So to make compiling lap-time data for this test as simple as possible, we equipped each of our six middleweights with a MyChron Light TG lap-timer from AiM Sports (www.aimsports.com). This $239 optical system includes an easy-to-read digital display and a start/stop beacon, and if you add split-time beacons ($65 apiece, up to a maximum of five), you can divide the track into sections as well.

It’s a good thing the Light TG is linkable to a computer via a USB port ($55 adapter sold separately), because with its 1200-lap memory-tagging each with the time, date, rider name and track name-plus space for setup notes and weather information, that’s a lot of data.

As an interesting aside, we divided Willow Springs International Raceway into three sectors. We placed the

start/stop beacon at the start/finish line, the first split beacon in the braking zone entering Turn 3 and a second split beacon on the downhill run from Turn 6 to 7.

The Suzuki GSX-R600 turned the quickest lap of the day, but looking at the sector times tells us how that was achieved. The Honda CBR600RR was fastest through the first sector with a 29.32-second split, but the GSX-R was just .2 of a second slower, indicating that it can rail through Turn 2 and brake for Turns 1 and 3 with confidence. The Suzuki was quickest through the second sector, its 26.77-second time a quarter of a second quicker than the Yamaha YZF-R6. This tells us the GSX-R has ample midrange drive, good feedback through the slow and bumpy Turn 4/5 complex and superb stability over crowned Turn 6. And while the Kawasaki ZX-6R owned the third sector with a time of 30.69 seconds, the Suzuki was again just .2 of a second off the pace, demonstrating greater stability through Turns 8 and 9, though failing to match the ZX-6R down the two long straights.

Lap-timer systems such as the excellent AiM Sports units allow not only comparative testing of different motorcycles-as we used them-but also allow racers and track-day junkies to analyze and possibly improve their performance or that of their motorcycle.

Did that line change or suspension tweak really work? For relatively little money, you’ll have a much better idea.

-Calvin Kim