Erzberg 2008 - food for thought

[Lord Vader]

1. Whatever your riding skill, YOU CAN do the Erzberg! Are you reading Nick and Lord Vader?
2. It will not ruin your machine (if you stay upright! )

1: How dare you doubt my riding skills
2: I knew there was a catch
My biggest problem would be getting the time offIf i get the time i would be coming down

[McFly]

This sounds like sooo much fun! I`d love to get involved, when do entries have to be in by and what are the costs? I`d like to here more about the actual race and the terrain raced over?

[Lord Vader]

This sounds like sooo much fun! I`d love to get involved, when do entries have to be in by and what are the costs? I`d like to here more about the actual race and the terrain raced over?

just have a look at youtube.type in erzberg and you will see the "terrain"

[McFly]

I know about the real rough race, the one that 'Knighter' kick ass in but the qualifying race is the one we`d be interested in. Is this just big fast fireroad type stuff or does it get more technical? Basicly how modded would an @ need to be to take part?

[Annette]

Well, it looks like Stormforce8 and I are in. Stormforce8 is going to have a chat with Enzo next week about the event and what needs to be done. If we need to enter a "team" I'm quite happy to do the organising stuff.

As soon as Stormforce8 has more details we can go from there.

[Breeze]

1: How dare you doubt my riding skills

Ooooppsss, sorry!!

I forgot to mention this before, no racing licence is needed, only a valid driving licence.

McFly, the course is a relatively smooth and wide track, but it is not soft terrain.
You will find a few rocks scattered here and there, but no real problem to avoid them.
With an Africa Twin you should reach speeds slightly over 135 km/h in a few places (there are also some tight turns, so average speed is not high).
The fast sweeping corners are outstanding and the best part in my opinion: up on the pegs, weight forward and throttle open (as much as you dare!).
Watching top class riders do this perfectly brings you down to earth if you think you can ride well!!
Top speed depends also on the gearing, I had std ratios but I suggest 2 teeth more on the back, stock 5th gear is really too tall when you are climbing.
This sort of speed might sound a bit scary offroad, but the track is so wide that it feels much easier when you're racing... plus the adrenalin pump works for you!

We signed up for this year's race around March if I remember well, so we still have plenty of time (registration and entrance fee via internet).
The two Konigsklasse races were 45 euro total, or something like that.
Some of us slept in the vans, others in tents.
You can eat there, but we brought most of our food (as Italians always do! ) and had dinner all together in our camp and spent the evening bragging about our day's racing and listening to Boano's Paris-Dakar stories!

As Annette mentioned, I'll talk to SF8 shortly about other details.

One last thing, a perfectly standard AT will be enough, but I strongly suggest proper offroad tires.
A medium prep would be stiffer spings in the forks and a good rear shock, plus tank guards if you want to protect your bike.
Finally, you could stick on the popular Marzocchi/Ohlins combination and pretend you're good enough to justify all the money spent on these goodies (like myself!).
This year, one of us was riding a perfectly standard Rd04 and posted one of the best times... so much for upside down forks and Swedish rear suspension!

[Breeze]

Nice video to give you an idea... we would only do the flat and fast bits, no extreme stuff!

http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=2tc1qYR7Oyw

[McFly]

Thanks for the excellent reply Breeze, dangerously informative and tempting!

[Rubberchicken]

[Jenna]

now that is one hell of a pic!!!.. new desktop time i think!