Attack Performance Racing (APR) and Steve Rapp showed up with a days-old, in-house-built and untested Claiming Rule Team (CRT) MotoGP racebike at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and came up just short of qualifying for the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix. But after debugging and refining their Kawasaki-powered APR during tests at Auto Club Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) Rapp reports that he is confident he can truly compete at this coming weekend’s Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix.
“It [August 11 test at IMS] went great,” Rapp told Roadracingworld.com. “We got a lot done. At the last test [August 4-5 at Auto Club Speedway] we got the electronics and stuff working, so we just took the bike there [IMS] and with everything working we could just make it better.
“We got to test on the Bridgestone, and that made the bike feel a lot better. The last test we had the Pirellis on there, and they were just too soft for that bike.
“Basically, now we’re going to start with a bike that’s ready to go as far as the gearing’s there, we changed some damping and stuff, we changed the ride height, we did all the basic stuff that you would waste the whole first session doing, normally.”
Rapp said the biggest issue he dealt with at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca was his positioning on the APR, but he and his team were able to recognize and correct that when they tested at Auto Club Speedway.
“The biggest help was when we lowered the seat at Fontana,” said Rapp. “It was the biggest issue we had, but I didn’t realize it until after Laguna. Remember when I tested Mat Mladin’s Superbike [for Roadracing World, February 2010]? I was so uncomfortable on his bike, and as soon as I took Richard’s [Stanboli, Attack Performance Racing Team Owner/Crew Chief] bike out [at Auto Club Speedway] it felt just like Mat’s bike did. Had we not gone to Fontana I don’t know if I would have noticed it.
“I was like, ‘Wow! This is just like Mladin’s bike. I think the seat’s too high.’ They changed it overnight, brought it back the next day and it was like a night-and-day difference. And now we’ve gone to Indy and the bike was even better there. I can ride the bike so much more aggressively now.”
Finally comfortable on the APR, Rapp was able to focus on learning more about the Bridgestone MotoGP tires and his carbon-carbon brakes and enjoying his 220-plus-horsepower World Superbike-spec ZX-10R engine.
“I’d say the biggest difference [between the APR and his AMA Pro Superbike] is the power. It’s so fast,” said Rapp. “Other than that, it’s the grip of the tires. The difference in grip is pretty significant, especially the front because we have the super-wide four-inch front tire. I don’t even know how far I can push it yet. I know I can push it pretty hard, harder than I can on my [AMA] Superbike, but I don’t know what the limit is yet because I have to be careful. We don’t have a lot of spares, so I don’t have the luxury of going out there and crashing it one or two times to find the limit. I have to perfect all the time, you know?
“I thought the carbon brakes would be difficult to adapt to. People kind of scared me from what I’ve heard about them. You’ve heard when they’re cold they don’t work, but they heat up in about a lap. If you’re used to them you can get them to work quicker, but for me after about a full lap they’re working. And once they’re warm they feel good. They don’t fade. That’s the biggest difference I’ve noticed from steel brakes. It’s not that there’s a whole bunch of bite. It’s just that they never fade. They’re always really solid. And there’s no rotor weight when you’re turning the bike from side-to-side.”
Rapp’s best lap time during the approximately 40 laps he did on a dirty track during the test at IMS was an unofficial 1:45.4, which puts him on the positive side of the 2011 Red Bull Indy GP qualifying cut-off time of 1:45.770. But after going through a difficult trial-by-fire first weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and then two productive tests, Rapp has his sights set beyond qualifying and is focused on being competitive in the race at Indy.
“My whole mindset is different,” said Rapp. “I feel really comfortable. The bike felt like I could ride it hard, which I didn’t feel like that at Laguna. The lap time that I did at the test Richard said would’ve put me P13 in the first practice session last year. In general, I feel a lot more confident. I feel like I can go in there and compete and not just ride.”