acebobby

By punching the bars do you mean this literally? like removing your hand from the bar then hitting it with the palm of your hand unsettling the bike. The way I practice quick turns is to approach the turn point then firmly push the inside bar and relax immediately, I find that doing the 2 step drill stops me from turning too much, though I still feel that I should be steering even quicker! Im always practicing!

I do agree with the dangers involved in riding the ring, I have seen cars blow thier engines and leave a trail of oil for about half a mile. It can be a scary place to ride a motorcycle!The first time I ever went there was with the intention of riding 1 lap of the notorious gp track the green hell just to have done it, I watched old races there and could not believe that it was open to the public! After I had done my lap I was hooked and I had to go back, however I dont treat it like a track day but more a spirited road ride due to the lack of run off, I knowthe risks and probably make all the excuses to justify them! One questionfor you! You have been there kwh, would you not do it again?

Welcome to the forum,

I agree 100% that it is very dangerous there and I also have seen them close the track for fatalities and other bad crashes, this will be my 5th year going there and over the years I have learned some ways to reduce the risks involved with riding the Nurburgring! First of all I never ride it on a Sunday as it is crazy, loads of tourists from all over Europe go for weekend breaks and It gets very busy with no room for error also the tour coaches and ring taxis run on Sundays! On week nights the track is open for 2 hrs and It is so much quieter then with mostly locals that know the track just out for a bit of fun so thats when I go on, I have done complete laps on a week night before without seeing any other traffic. I also never time my laps I do it for fun and speed up at the sections I like and know well, If someone is in front of me I dont try to beat them round the corner, I sit back untill they finish thier corner then pass them on the straights. The utube videos are horrible, I normaly try to aviod watching things like that. That is a bit ignorant I know but I can only focus on what I am doing to the best of my abilities . When you say its the type of fun where you really want to put your affairs in order before you participate, that thought just sends a shiver down my spine. Bobby

My mistake on the punch, edited my post, it was in the stairwell to the podium at Catalunia 2002 where he got in a fight with Max Biaggi, in the press conference Max was asked what happened to his face and he said a mosquito bit him! can be seen in the documentry Faster!

Heh. I missed Rossi hitting Gibernau! (Uh-oh!) When was that? That was a great rivalry, Qatar 2004 Rossi got moved to the back of the grid because someone reported to race conrol that Rossi`s crew were doing burnouts on his starting position with a scooter the night before the race to help give an advantage at the start, ( Max Biaggi got moved to the back for the same thing that weekend)! Without evidence Valentino put blame on Sete Gibernau for reporting him, in the race Valentino fought from last place to 4th before crashing out, Sete won that race and was now leading the championship with 3 races to go, in a press conference later Vale allegedly cursed Sete and said you will never win another race, Sete never won another race for the rest of his moto gp career (eerie)! Or maybe 2bigalow was reffering to the last lap battle on the first race of 2005 http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=yFy3rqE_pqk&...feature=related Although I am not a big fan of Casey Stoner (meaning he's not who I cheer for) I do respect all racers at all levels and he is the world champion and getting into a rivalry with someone like Rossi will go down in history, in my opinion all the best racers had a great rival! (the list is endless) It is rumoured that Sete will be back this season on Melandri`s bike, so dont you think the Stoner PR machine has to get rolling before Rossi`s last great rival returns on the World championship winning machine!

This is the problem I face, there are alot of chalenging corners on this track, 73 in total but this one has bothered me for years, every time I come up towards it I see it, I know I have to go round the concrete area and it always looks alot more extreme than it really is, I know thats the fastest way round but also on the public session it has been known for cars to take it to fast, pop out the concrete banked area and rip there sump plugs off meaning there can be oil on the top area, so on the bike it is always better to go low, I always end up nursing my bike round it and this year I just want to do it well and get over it, due to time and cost this year I will probably only get 4 laps so I have picked a few corners that I want to work on and get right but this is my main one! I think that I will be sticking to the throttle control rule as it has worked so well for me in other situations now but will be entering slowly and rolling on very gently to get a feel for it! Thats my plan for this turn, Thanks for all of your opinions and research on the track guys you have been a great help! Bobby

I find that using a no brake strategy even on the road can help to set your turn in speed. (Use brakes if you have to!)

I have to agree with Kevin , take a race situation where 2 racers in 1st and 2nd have a good lead over the racer in 3rd then they both start a battle for 1st place, in most cases the racer in 3rd starts lapping faster than the 2 battling for 1st (Nicky Hayden lap 3 Laguna Seca when Rossi and Stoner were battling out for 1st) this shows that the racer in 3rd has a clear track and can ride his best line, in another way that can make a race seem a bit boring is when the guy in first gets a clear track and both the guys in 2nd and 3rd begin to battle for 2nd and let the leader gap them ( note only boring when the camera is always on the leader!). So as Kevin says, the guys at the school will know the best way around the track, I would definately trust them on that! I know how surprised I was when I came out to do my 2nd session in level 1 as to how wrong the line I was taking was, I started riding the lines that the guys had marked out for us and I instantly felt like I had so much more space and could feel I was lapping faster without much more effort!

everyone watching the BBC saw it with there own eyes, and he definately did refuse to shake Vales hand!

I like Ithat racer, stop procastinating but doesn't everyone procastinate on a daily basis about something or other? so then you can get what you want, a discussion on every ones take on the contents of the books! thats a great idea and will be of great help to me while learning the art of cornering , so since we are in the pivot steering thread then what better place to begin! I have 2 questions for you! 1 Where does a boxers punch begin? 2 What is your interpretation of chapter 19 of TOTW2 and how do you put it into practice? atb Bobby

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/sport/sp...mp;R=EPI-101872 here is a link to motorcycle news regarding what went on between Stoner and Rossi!

Oh sorry must be called something different in America! It is the area where after the race the top 3 bikes line up and all 3 riders get interviewed by all the tv companies it is immediately after the race before the podiums, I wonder if maybe your tv company goes to commercial break at this piont!

he did shake his hand on the podium but refused in parc feme after the race! it is big news in our weekly motorcycle news, It has Stoner saying Ive lost respect for one of the greatest riders in history!

thanks kwh that is an excelent picture!

it was amazin, shame that dani was unable to race as the 3 of them have raised the bar so high! I think that Stoner has lost alot of respect from everyone now by refusing to shake Valentinos hand and accusing him of being dangerous! His job is to win races and he did his job to the max on Sunday! Stoner crashed out of 2nd and still finished 2nd 13 seconds in front of Vermulen that is amazing its self! I hope Nicky Hayden has a better season after the summer break, it is rumoured that he wont be with repsol Honda next year but probability Ducati, I think his riding style will suit that bike!

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=e...003304&z=18 Racer it is actually the hair pin turn just before 14 km in your picture, they seem to have put the name next to the wrong turn! There has been racing on it every year I have been, 6 hr endurance race with cars that is amazing to watch! also BMW use it for driver training and you can hire a seat in a BMW M5 ring taxi driven by a pro race driver for a lap with traction control swiched off, I did that last year and it was the craziest thing ever, we were passing ferraris and all sorts of super cars sideways! cant seem to get pics uploaded hopefully this link to google maps will work and there are some pics there too! What about this turn makes you think you can't---too fast at the end? Is there a drawing of this turn we could get up here? you have to take the turn low on the slabbed area, roughly about a car width all the way round, the radius is quite constant and it can be slippy especially when wet, not sure what the banking angle is but it looks really steep when you are aproaching it! I do think that due to the distance traveled around this corner that by using the throttle control rule you could be going very fast at exit! I have a DVD where Kenny Roberts wins the championship there in 1978 and 1980 and on one lap in the 1980 race he must go into it too fast and pops out of the banked area and goes around the top, on every other lap he drives round fast and always wheelies at the exit, I guess this maybe answers my question, the throttle rule does come into play at this corner, for Kenny Roberts anyway!

I have recently been working on my throttle control and am getting quite good at following the rule ( once the throttle is cracked on, it is rolled evenly, smoothly, and constantly throughout the remainder of the turn) doing this makes my bike feel great! I have been thinking about the exceptions to this rule and what to do then as next month I am going to the nurburgring nordshlief for our annual bike trip, I dont know if anyone on here is familiar with the track but the carousel is 180 degree banked turn and wondered, would this be one of the exceptions to the rule and if so what should be done? Also what other exceptions do people encounter and how do you deal with them without upsetting the bike?

and in Australia they use suzukii!

according to the American website over 70% return within 18 months dont know the full stats though! check here http://www.superbikeschool.com/curriculum/welcome-back.php

I have always been better at lefts than rights, you could see from my tyre wear that I was leaning the bike further to the left which was a pain as my local track (knockhill) only has 1 left and all the rest are rights! I have recently learned that relaxing is the key to fixing this problem, I now take roundabouts with confidence and cant wait to get back on the track! Try this, go out on your bike and ride as normal, take a mental note of what you are doing different from left to right, I bet that you find you are quite relaxed going left and on rights you are gripping the bars a bit tighter maybe you will feel tension in your upper body muscles, you may even find that you are unconsciously holding your breath until the exit is in sight so make sure you are breathing! there is an article in Keiths corner on this subject, have a look at that and as Rick says get the TOTW books and try to go to a school,

Hi Rick I bought some stomp grip when I was down at the school, stuck it on yesterday so not tried it out yet, I dont own a hair dryer so never really heated it up before sticking it on so I hope it stays stuck, will get out on bike and see what I think of it tomorrow!

pull in the clutch 2 fingers on brake lever 2 left on throttle, blip open between gears engaging every gear as you go! (try utube for videos) you have said that you are a new rider, I wonder if you are spending to much atention on this! first of all is your back wheel actually locking and hoping when you are approaching turn in as this if your inexperienced will fire up every SR in the book, it sounds like your charging the cornerI would suggest slowing down earlier on the approach to the corner and actually work on the corners themselfs, as a first time trackdayer and a new rider you will go alot faster doing this than any time you make on the brakes. its also alot more fun than frantically grabing at brakes and bliping throttle then ending up going to slow at turn in, I know this as its something I used to do myself, for your first trackday try setting your entry speed with little or no brakes and work on the corners themselfs, learn the track, even just use 2 or 3 gears aviod trying to go flat out up the straightaway, anyone can go fast in a straight line. its the guys that can go fast in the turns that can make a living doing it. sorry for going a little of subject here but I feel that there are alot of other things you will benefit from mastering before this! I am not an expert or a racer Iride for fun mostly on road with a few trackdays throughout the year this is only my opinion as I have been guilty of charging turns in the past. hopefully someone with more experience can give you the advice you need. oh yeah and welcome to the forum!

I think its a polite forum too but thats good as we are all sharing the same interests, Its great that we can get the opinions and views of other like minded people worldwide, infact it is amazing! The regular posters have some interesting as sometimes funny discusions, always worth reading! As having just done level 1 I also like how other css students and even instructors are happy to answer questions about anything anyone seems to be struggling with relating to what is taught at the school or their interpritaition of what is contained in the TOTW books, it can be very helpfull sometimes! Keith's Corner is brilliant, I refer to that as much as I do to the books whenever I`m working on a specific area of my riding! (which is every time I go out on my bike)!

ok this is just a thought, I really dont know but like the discussion! I was just reading TOTW2 and reading chapter 19 I started to wonder, could this be a form of pivot steering the moto gp guys are doing? Going into a left hand turn push almost all their weight onto the right hand foot rest and nothing on the left then pushing the left hand bar and quick steering the bike then setting the left foot on the footrest all in one smooth motion! maybe the same thing cant be done on right hand turns as if the right hand side of the body was even a little bit unstable (foot not on the footrest) then that may affect their throttle control. just an idea though I dont know!