GregGorman

And that's the information I'd like to see posted. Data - objective stuff. Not objective stuff. I'd like to, for once, hear it from the real tire guys what a heat cycle is to them. Does that term vary from company to company. Recommended wamer timer. Recommended wamer temperature. Operating temperature range. Etc... Real data from the guys who should know it. Making something like that happen would bring a whole new wealth of information and resources to this board. After you accomplish that, Cobie, start an oil section and get the oil guys to chime in. Then fuel, etc...

It'd be great to get the various tire reps to post information specific to their tires.

No, we don't take total newbies. You need to be able to concentrate on the drill that you're working on out in the track without being totally engrossed in figuring out what control to use. Making an analogy with your study in martail arts, it'd be like taking a newbie fresh off the street, teaching them 10 or more moves and then sparring with them. They'd just be reacting with no real idea of what they were doing, when or why.

So, you've spent the last 52 years not riding motorcycles? Well, now it's time to LIVE! Mid-life crisis or not being competent at something is the only way to do it. My favorite student was 74 and had started riding 4 months earlier. So, you're not too late. You're not too early. Come on and PLAY!

My experience from racing a ZX-10, regardless of BP, the front wheel is going to get light. It's going to bounce on the bumps and get real twitchy when it's light. One way to stop it is more throttle to get the front wheel in the air. Really, this is the precise reason these bikes need steering dampers. What can you do as a rider that will provide a damping effect on this? Have you done level 1 at the school?

Hmm, interesting. Of course you need skill but we, being people who like speed, pretty much define skill as fast. Technique, form, seems to have some pretty dramatic variations amongst fast riders but we wouldn't deny their riding ability if they're going fast and winning. But, to get to that level... ah that takes courage.

Please define "feather the throttle" for me. My definition is along the lines of: lightly touch or modulate off and on gently to find the right amount; to control with great feel. If that's basically what your definition is then this is something only Cobie or Tim could clear up. Oh, were they talking about a fast turn like maybe the front "straight" turn at VIR, or some other turn you felt you didn't have to roll off for?

Taking two seconds off your time is something to brag about in my book. Congratulations!

It is possible to be hanging off in a way that makes it harder to get the knee down. Are you right up against the gas tank and sorta rotating around it to get in your hang off position?

Why are you so focused on the turn-in point?

Welcome aboard! Sounds like Steve's crew is doing a bang up job down under!

Cool shot!

There's another skill that's required for braking too, sense of speed. Will your breaking point always be the same?

Thanks, I am really pleased. I see that I'm continuing to improve and it's not machinery related - same bike, same setup. I've in earnest started a weight loss program. I'm thinking that October Daytona will have a lot of really fast name racers there and I gotta be ready for that. Maybe I'll get something done to the bike too, like change the spark plugs.

Here's the only race I successfully recorded. The camera was having problems. Racing for 3rd in Unlimited SuperSport: I got a good launch but I backed off a bit early in the start and was in 6th at turn 1. By turn 4 I was 2 seconds back from the leaders and I couldn't close the gap after I got up to 3rd.

Being honest, I slow down because I give up. Here's the factors involved for me. After the first 3 laps, I can see whether or not I'm gaining ground on the guys in front of me. I can also see if I have a gap to the rider behind me. If I'm not gaining ground, and I have a good gap, I'm not going to continue to ride at my limit. I'm going to slow down a bit. I've got one bike, limited spares, and well used tires sliding around, I'm gonna bring it home and race another day. If I'm battling someone, my lap times don't drop off and there is no thought of the last corner I went through, there's no time for it.

Yep, that applies to Dunlop tires. I have seen that other manufacturers have different recommendations.

Short story, it's late and I gotta get to work tomorrow. Florida in August is the same as saying HOT and HUMID. But the rain stayed away. AMA Pro Michael Barnes came to get some money and found Sean Dwyer. Sean is the new lap record holder at PBIR with a 1:16.699 to hold off a hard charging Michael Barnes and win the Unlimited GP race. Me, I had my best weekend results wise so far with a 7th in GTO, 3rd in Unlimited SuperSport, 3rd in Unlimited Superbike, and a 6th in Unlimited GP. I also got a few laps in the 19s but I wasn't able to hold that pace yet. Here's some links to some video: Jeff Lampe crashing in practice after hitting a false neutral going into turn 4: Two laps following Sean Dwyer in practice: Thanks to Ray and Jon for helping me out. And to Randy and his son Tyler for stopping by on Saturday! Oct 3-4 at PBIR and then Oct 15-18 at Daytona!

Not an expert in this. It sounds like your one temperature setting is too high. I would reduce the time I have them turned on. I would suggest a procedure like this: Pit, put tire warmers on but off. At the start of the session prior to yours, turn the tire warmers on. That'll give you about 20 minutes on the warmer. I have chicken hawk warmers with three temperature settings. I run the medium setting for 40 minutes like you're saying, that keeps the tires at ~150 degrees. The High temp is ~170 and the low is 130 something. The reason why it's recommended that the rim get warm too is to retain heat longer when the bikes are gridding up for a race.

Answers here: http://dunlopracing.com/fitment-2009.html

Yeah, that's it. Well don't do that. Riders, including me, second guess themselves all the time. You'd be better off calling us artist, perfectionist at that, than riders. We strive for the perfect line around the curve or just the right body position in the photo. The bike slides and we didn't feel it coming so we say we have no feel for it. But that's just emphasizing the negative. The truth is we've entered hundreds, thousands, of turns and we KNOW that we're not going to slide on the brakes, we're not going to slide turning in, there'll be no slide mid-corner and the exit will be slide free. But the 2 or 3 times we get a slide and we didn't think we're going fast, aw hell we have no feeling for traction. That thought process doesn't make sense to me. And, as I said before, I've made damn sure I've go the basics in - as taught at the school. A lot of times slower riders will get slides when they shouldn't because they're running wide exiting a corner and they lean the bike in more to correct for it while they're rolling on the throttle. That's a recipe for disaster. What got me on this was a little discovery of my own riding in which I was thinking about sliding because I wanted to use it as a tool in my racing. I asked myself - because it's so much fun to talk to yourself - "How do they do that?" They being pro riders that slide of course. Then I realized they don't wait for a slide to happen, they plan it - as is mentioned in the Twist books. I then I realized that if I was going to slide I had to plan it and that meant I had to intend to slide - something I'd never really done before. A stupid little realization that just happens to be at the base of how to slide. I just thought I'd mention it again because you know, no one really reads Keith's books. Did I mention it's in there?

Yes, good ideas there NavyDude. My previous post covered many ideas. Regarding sliding, it's about control. Control is start, change, stop. If the bike slides and you didn't initiate it, by definition, you're not controlling it. What I frequently struggle with and what I hear from other riders asking is, "How do I control slides?" In my own search for answers I realized I was waiting for the bike to slide instead of initiating the slide. To initiate the slide, you have to first intend to slide the bike. You have to know where, when, and why. So to control sliding, to be at some little cause over it, I realized I needed to change my ideas.

The drawing is correct enough for demonstration purposes, but there's one basic assumption that's faulty; that a rider's speed is constant throughout the turn. With that idea, he's technically correct that that it'd be extremely difficult if not impossible to maintain a constant speed of 35mph around that turn. He's also correct that the rider he's talking about had a faulty idea as well - using 35mph as an entry speed is one thing, using it as a minimum speed is something else entirely. Now, going through that turn with an AVERAGE speed > 23mph is entirely possible. Just ask any Irish Road Racer, some of the roads they race on are only 12 feet wide. I say the drawing is correct enough because the assumption is a city intersection which means curbs. A riders line would have to take those into account for ground clearance reasons so a radius of 40 feet is a perfectly fine assumption. I haven't taken time to verify the math.

Cool. Glad to be of help. Let me know if it works for you. Exactly, you controlling the bike. No, I don't recommend it until you really have other techniques at a high level of competency and know from study of those who do slide where the slide should be done, what lean angle, know how to and do the pickup drill, have very good throttle control.

In this month's Road Racing World, Rossi says, in a description of going into a right hand turn, he feels like he can brake harder when he takes his foot off the peg. He also says he locks his arms during braking and that he relies on electronics a lot now.