VOLUME 56 ISSUE 29 JULY 23, 2019 P89
(Above) Rennie during
the race on the run up
to Elk Park, the scene
of his lucky escape
in 2016. (Right) Team
manager Shane
Pacillo (left) and Mark
Cochran try to stay
warm on top of the
mountain. Easier said
than done.
Tuning for the Mountain
As anyone who has done so
will attest, taking a production
bike and turning it into a racer
is no easy task.
We were running in the
Heavyweight division, which is
labeled as for production mo-
torcycles that come standard
with a one-piece handlebar
(i.e. naked bikes). As such, we
chose the Aprilia Tuono 1100
Factory rather than run an
Aprilia RSV4 1100 Factory in
the Exhibition category, like Ducati.
The objective I wanted in the build
was to have a bike with superb bal-
ance. Most of my bikes have been
likely too stiff at Pikes, so this year we
ran with a much softer setting. This
included running a standard RSV4 1100
Factory fork with standard 1.0 springs
(although revalved damping), and an
Ohlins TTX36 shock with 0.95 springs.
Both front and rear would likely be too
soft for a "normal" racetrack, but for
Pikes it was the right way to go.
"I bet we had the most balanced
bike up there," says my Crew Chief,
Jeremy Toye. "I would have liked to get
a little more power out of the motor (we
all want more power), but that takes
time and money, something we didn't
have.
"My biggest fear (or low) was
information and adjustability in the
standard ECU, which turned into a high
with Aprilia sending over Nicola, with a
programmable ECU and logger."
Nicola's arrival on Day Three of practice
week signaled a turning point in the
project. I wanted the power to come
in harder, more aggressively, so Nicola
created a new throttle map to suit. The
result was instant: the Aprilia now gave
me everything I asked for, and sud-
denly we were right back in the fight
against Vahsholtz and the Multistrada.
On day four, we also created a new
engine braking map that allowed more
freewheel from 12,500 rpm to 9000
rpm, then ramping up from 9000 rpm to
4000 rpm to help pull me into the apex
faster. This was the biggest change
to get used to, as it was a dramatic
increase in overall engine braking.
Gearing was one of the big issues
we faced this year. We ended up run-
ning with 15/54, more like what Aaron
Colton would run during a stunt show
than what you'd race with up a moun-
tain. The shorter gearing made the
first three gears flash by in an instant,
so I spent most of my time in fourth,
fifth and sixth gears—except for when
negotiating the hairpins, which was
always in first gear.
