Bones
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Posts posted by Bones
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Firstly, I'm not familiar with Cadwell so the advise maybe incorrect for your situation, but .....
One way to stop the front wheel from lifting over a crest under acceleration (without checking or rolling off the throttle), is to use the rear brake.
Cheers
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Having some fun with the photographer
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Slightly OT
On the first few laps, tyre warmers can give you something you cannot buy.
Confidence!
Cheers
Moving into OVER TIME!
Bones sets up, shoots.... and scores!!!
You are so right. That confidence is worth every penny! $$$$
And it also gives you more attention for your $10 on your riding, rather than "Are my tyres ok?".
Cheers
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Slightly OT
On the first few laps, tyre warmers can give you something you cannot buy.
Confidence!
Cheers
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If your looking for an accurate pressure reading, you need to take into account the temperature of the tyre (tire).
Ideally, you'd measure the pressure when the tyre is at its working temperature. ie: After you have ridden for sometime. Check the pressure again once the tyre has cooled, to get an ambient reading. This does give you a general base line value to start/check from before you ride. But, this would change (+/-) based on the ambient temperature.
I have a base ambient value, and a tyre warmer check value (rims are heated) this is constant and accurate. These values are usually tweaked based on track conditions and anticipated track temperature. Having a chat to the tyre tech/rep will give you an indication of what the track is doing).
Unless, you're using an inert gas, the pressure of the tyre will change depending on the temperature of the tyre.
Cheers
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Confidence is the key to going fast.
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Either do a Level 2 of the School, or get reading TOTW books :-
What you looking for is Vanishing Points and Wide Screen. More so Wide Screen.
They say you go where you look. Ever seen a video of a kid on a bike, sees the only tree in sight, and and that is what he hits!
Stop looking at the guy in front. Look where you want to go!
Cheers
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Everyone here knows about the $10 concept. We also know that once we get better at an activity, the same activity costs less.
If we do something consistently and it begins to cost less how do we know that we are getting better versus getting lazy?
I'd say that if you (I) was getting lazy (rather than better) you'd find that your results deteriate and the bike harder to ride, and in some cases, survival reactions would be pinging occassially when it wasn't happening before.
Two things I find that I get lazy on, are Quick Steer (and I mean QUICK), and the Hook Turn (unless there is photographer on the corner
).Cheers
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On your first track day, I would tape up the speedo. There is too much fun to be had on your first track day to be worrying about how fast your going.
Later on I wouldn't worry about it. You can even use the speedo to quantify cornering improvement. Being, that typically the result you want from the exit of most corners (other than being upright) is exit velocity. If time and space permits, you can check the speedo at the exit of the corner (ie: end of a ripple strip) to determine your exit speed. Remember; that improved speed is carried to the next corner. The longer the distance to the next corner, the greater the impact.
And yes, you can use your tacho instead of the speedo for the same metrics (I do on my racebike).
Cheers
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Totally agree with fire337.
Go to the CSS School as a student. Pay attention in the classroom; understand what the drill is. Apply it to your riding during the track session.
The only stupid question, is the one you didn't ask. Chances are, there are others thinking the same question.
As you would want to expect. This isn't an expensive trackday. It's a school. So don't cut laps. Take the opportunity with both hands, and work on the drill and your riding every lap. Ask questions.
And don't forget to relax and enjoy!
Cheers
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Hopefully we will get things sorted out. The old skin wasn't compatible with this version of the forum which caused us some issues. Feedback is appreciated as we layer in the customization we had in the previous version.
Firstly, I appreciate the effort and time put into this forum by the CSS cast and crew, as I'm sure there are thousands of other forum participants nodding in agreement. Thanks.
I can only suggest that the contrast on
(see above) could be tweaked for ease of reading.Cheers
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There are only so many types of corners. True, the flow of a track changes, but you only have:
Radii changes
Elevation Changes
Camber Changes
And that it!!!!
Correct; there are only Radius, Elevation and Camber changes on any track (or road). But, what happens when you put several of these into the one corner? One of the characteristics of a race track that is different compared to a normal road, is that the track is designed to be challenging, usually the public road is designed to be safe.
The flaw in the public roads safety design is the fact they let cars on them!
True ... but you can use them as a mobile chicanes . . .
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I need a yes/no option on the poll so I didn't vote
I'm modified the Poll to allow multi-choice. You can now select 'Yes' and 'No'.
Cheers
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Did you make the turn while paying attention to RP's, Jaybird? I would think that you would be able to pick up on them quickly whether consciously used or not.
Not conscious of using them. But I do know where I want to be to set up for the 90deg right.
To be conscious (aware) of the RPs, gives you control, thus you can change it if you want or need to.
I find that by being aware of my RPs gives me more attention. I don't have that 'hunting' 'searching' feeling. Or waiting for the Survival Reactions (SR) to kick in. Typically when the SRs kick in, you'll over/under react (turn in too early, break too hard, not turn as hard, not get on the gas as hard etc....), or not perform consistently.
Cheers
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As a casual observation. I have noticed that not all riders at the race track, use earplugs.
Can earplugs make much of a difference? For me? Yes. Why? I'll try to explain why it works for me.
Firstly, when I'm driving my car and looking for a street address; Why is it that I turn down the radio? Turning the sound down doesn't make my sight any better, does it? But it does. Well, my perception is that it does. And my perception is my reality.
By turning down the radio, it would seem to give me more attention, by removing the unrelated noise to the task at hand. I get more out of my $10.
My internal dialog when I'm wearing earplugs, is clearer and I have more attention to spare ($10).
Cheers
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Bones, I love the working it backwards idea. I have always worked it the other way but backwards seems like an easy way to figure out what you want with what you need to do to produce it.
Also works well with 'symptom' and 'cause'. Typically, when I've made a riding error, it is the 'symptom' that I notice (awareness). The 'cause' of the error is some decision or action I took before, I noticed the 'symptom'.
Symptom : Going wide on the exit
Cause : Turning in too early.
I'm working my plan for a corner backwards, to help correct errors in my riding.
Cheers
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There are only so many types of corners. True, the flow of a track changes, but you only have:
Radii changes
Elevation Changes
Camber Changes
And that it!!!!
Correct; there are only Radius, Elevation and Camber changes on any track (or road). But, what happens when you put several of these into the one corner? One of the characteristics of a race track that is different compared to a normal road, is that the track is designed to be challenging, usually the public road is designed to be safe.
Take Southern Loop (Turn 2) at Phillip Island. There are technically 3 radius changes and two elevation changes (which inherently gives us chamber changes). You could also add weather conditions to the equation, as this corner is exposed to the elements. Then you can add 38 other adrenalin crazed racers that want the same bit of tarmac as you for some excitement. Also at Phillip Island, several corners have a different camber depending on how wide you are on the corner. Turn 1, the closer to the ripple strip, the better the camber (and less bumps). Also on Lukey Heights (Turn 9), the wider you are, the more off camber the corner becomes. Why do you want to be wider? Because that is how you can set yourself up for a passing move on the next corner, which is the last opportunity before the finish line (unless your confident of a slip stream pass).
So yes, we can have multiple Radius, Elevation and Camber changes in a single corner, but also add velocity and direction changes (angle you approach the corner), and you now have the reason I get up at stupid times of the morning to go to a race track.
Cheers
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To answer your question on throttle control (TC), it would depend on what result you wanted from the exit of the chicane (the last 90 degree right).
The key question to ask yourself is: What is the result I want from the corner, or series of corners (in the case of a chicane). It is from here that you work your way backwards.
Working backwards. What is the result I want from the exit? What location, speed and direction do I need at the turn point between the two turns (left and right), that will give me the result I want at the exit? Then what location, speed and direction do I need at the entry to the chicane (90 degree left), will give me the result I want at the turn point (90 degree right) to then get the result from the corner at the exit.
It's a chain reaction of cause-and-effect. What actions (causes) do I need to do, to get the results (effects) I want?
BTW : At Winton Raceway there is a 90 degree left / 90 degree right chicane which leads to the front straight and the start/finish line. For this particular chicane I :- Turn left and apply the TC (rule 1), check the throttle, flick right and back on the gas (TC Rule 1). This is a tight chicane. I can see that on a larger chicane you may even need to brake in-between the turns (Brno).
Cheers
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Learning point. What is a quick turn? I've never heard of that.
As far as hand positioning, I was taught to adjust my levers so that going into a turn, braking and shifting, my wrists were straight for better control in a turn. I have 0 play in my throttle. It's comfortable for me that way.
A quick turn throttle, allows you to get to 100% throttle opening with less wrist movement than with the standard throttle. ie : On your standard throttle, if it takes 110 degrees to turn your standard throttle from 0% to 100% It will only take maybe 80% on a quick turn throttle.
When we fitted one to another bike, we had to remove one of the return springs, because it was too hard to turn otherwise. The carbies had double return springs, so it was an easy fix.
Personally, I prefer the standard throttle my bike came with, 0 play, plus I've set my idle revs from 1,500 to just under 3,000rpm.
Cheers
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I rode a friends bike, who had the problem of having getting 100% throttle with re-gripping (I didn't know at the time I rode the bike).
Sure enough, I had the same problem of getting 100% throttle opening.
The problem was the brake lever. It was positioned too high, so that when you got off the brake, you physically couldn't roll the throttle to fully open.
We adjusted the brake lever height correctly. Problem solved. It is amazing how much difference it made. For a start, the bugger was harder to keep up with on the exit of the corners <smirk>
Cheers
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We went looking for cars today (mine is on the fritz AGAIN) and my wife had her first ride in below 40 degree weather. I always get it at work about riding in this weather, and my wife can vouch for me now. It's nothing. She did have a 6'2 windscreen, but she was a lot more worried about it than she had to be. I'm just waiting for January 24th for our local racing to resume, and March 1 for Phillip Island. I would LOVE to ride that track..... if they could keep the birds away.
Phillip Island--yeah, a bird at 180 wouldn't be good. Beautiful view in some of the turns of the ocean, stunning!
At Phillip Island, I wouldn't be so worried about the birds, there are a varied amount of wildlife that I've encountered. Seagulls, Waterfowl, Geese, Ducks, Wallabies (small kangaroos), Hares (large rabbits) and a cat (very upset over the crest at Southern Loop).
Hope that when you ride the Island, that you're blessed with great weather.
As for mid-winter boredom, if you have a PS2, get an old copy of MotoGP-4 by Namco (could find it on eBay?). It has one of the better simulations of Phillip Island (and Sepang). And you can race against your mates. Hours and hours of fun (nearly divorce material).
Please do not get MotoGP-07 by Capcom, I really wish I hadn't.
Cheers
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Absolutely can. There is no consistency though. It would be a continuous weak corner on the track, and riding at a high percentile pace would be potentially disasterous.
Here's a point on this: how can one go through a turn (and not run off the track) without some kind of reference?
The short answer could be : "Experience". The rider would use their previous experience as a reference.
Cheers
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How do I know that I don't have a Reference Point? I experience a waiting-for-something-to-happen feeling, or I get a searching-hunting-apprehension feeling and I don't get much change (if anything) from my $10 of attention.
The only bad Reference Point, is none at all! Any Reference Point is better than none.
Great information. Even if I have a bad RP I can get around a corner consistently, even if it's slower. It took 8 months riding a certain track before I realized I didn't have an RP for one corner. Once I realized this I found an RP, have since tweeked it, and have even found that this is a MUCH faster and shorter corner.
And when I have no RP, I am choppy, sloppy, and inconsistent through that particular corner.
Thanks for adding some needed clarity to my rambling. I believe that consistency is a key to confidence.
If only I could bottle "confidence" and sell it on the internet
Cheers
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Cadwell Mountain , Throttle Control
in Cornering and Techniques
Posted
After seeing the pictures and video, I have amended my advise above accordingly
Cheers!