lukem

Women riders can be competitive! There have been a couple this year in WSS. Reason you don't see a lot of women in racing is purely down to the number of women riding bikes in the first place. If you look at the ratio of male to female riders in the world, then I would say it is largely male dominated. I hate to guess, but for arguments sake let's say 90% male, 10% female. Of the entire motorcycle population, how many club race? Maybe 5% if that? Of that number, what % race nationally? Maybe 10% And of the national racers what % make it to world level? 5% again - probably less!? So given the small % of female riders (in comparsion to male) you start with, on a purely maths point of view, the chance of female riders reaching world level is incredibly small. Nothing to do with ability or competitiveness. If 90% of bike riders were females, then I would imagine we would have grids largely dominated by the fairer sex and the guys would be holding the umbrellas! EDIT: - Woah, blast from the past thread!

Hey Bullet Thanks for all your help. Also, you must have done something right as it made me want to come back for levels 2,3 and 4! Round 4 is in a weeks time so I'll make a plan and let you know how it goes. If it doesn't look like anything to be ashamed of then I'll post a vid or 2 here so you can have a look. Some sunshine would be good though. I don't mind racing in the wet either. What I hate is when it rains, then starts drying, then starts raining again (which has been the case for my last 2 meetings) Thanks Luke

You know, I actually think you were my level1 instructor back in the UK! Ok, few observations.... At the corner exit you are no way as wide as a lot of the other riders. In fact, you have better drive and catch them on the corner exit. You seem to be turning later and quicker which is squaring off the corner helping that drive. Most important bit has to be corner exit speed and drive off the corner (especially at my home track where 3 corners lead onto straights) Luke Oh - Are you sure that is the UK? There is a big bright round thing in the sky which comes into frame every now and again!

Ok, I have been giving this a lot of thought today and this is my thought process. If I want to increase my corner speed into and mid turn then I can't just go faster, while keeping all other parts of the corner the same. Here are some ideas - I will need to turn the bike quicker, as turning it at the same rate before will not allow me to stay on line. - I might have to set a steeper lean angle with the initial steering action to maintain the line with the increase in speed. - I "think" I am spending too much attention on riders in front and, losing focus of my RP's so start to turn in too early. Got to run out the door now, but will finish this post later! Cheers Luke

Hi guys, Thanks for your replies! What I mean by charging the turns is: I'm increasing my corner entry speed, whilst retaining the same brake point and turn-point. This increase in speed delays the point at which I get on the gas (compared to previous slower corner entry) because if I do at the same point, it sends me wide on the exit. I can feel myself hesitant on the throttle and I want to roll on, but if I try, I end up wide. Note, this is most noticable in the 3 medium/fast turns on the track (we race at the same track most rounds) I have turn points and brake markers for all corners but admittedly I haven't re-addressed them as my pace has increased. When I want to push, I try and carry more speed into the corner, through mid corner, but this is hampering my roll-on as described above! I know I can go quicker because I see the riders in front carry that much speed and then pull a few bike lengths as they get on the gas. The only thing I could change is to increase lean angle (as I'm not at max lean through some of these corners) However, adding lean angle to maintain a line, while getting on the gas spells recipe for disaster in my mind, so I'm very reluctant that is a solution! Any thoughts? Thanks Luke

Hi all, First post here so a small bit of background - Currently racing 600s at club level in New Zealand since last year having been doing trackdays in UK and Aus for the past 4 years. I have completed levels 1+2 at the school and have 3+4 booked at the new NZ school in a few months time. In my racing, I have recently jumped up from the novice class to the main supersport class. My laptimes have remained pretty much the same, only now I have gone from the front of the field to the back! This is a great learning curve but I have found that running in the faster class, I find myself starting to charge turns as I get sucked into corners quicker than before following faster riders and end up late getting back on the gas. Problem is, for the riders in front, they aren't charging - just carrying higher corner speed which is ultimately what I want to be doing. I guess the question is how do you up the pace, yet not fire off all your SR's in doing so!? I record video of my racing and watching them back, it is easy to point to certain corners and say, "should get on the gas early here" or "coasting too much here" etc. but when I get back on the bike it is much harder to do. I can slow the pace down and then things click into place, but when I start to pick it up again, I end up back to square one. Any advice would be much appreciated or is it just a case of patience and practice and taking small steps at a time? Thanks Luke