Hotfoot

I usually roll on, roll off, roll on again, but if I am going as fast as I can go and traction is good, I come in faster, and I'm slowing down all the way to mid-corner, and I don't open the throttle at all until I am pointed at the second apex. I can carry in a lot more speed that way, but it is hard to stay relaxed on the bars, I only ride it that way when I know I can be relaxed and confident and I really trust the traction. Overall I feel safer using roll on/roll off/roll on in that corner, especially if my tires are not fully warmed up or traction is not good (when the track is wet, for example).

What do you mean by this? Do you mean you enter at mid-track? Or farther to the inside than that? I find that if enter that turn on the inside I either have to slow way down, or I end up wide on the exit and that messes up the entry to 5.

I can't play the video, it says it is blocked.

It definitely can be done (sliding an S1000rr in a controlled fashion) and you can watch high level racing and see it happen. The school also has an off-track tool called the Slide Bike that can be used by more advanced riders to find our what it feels like to slide the rear tire. (And, for that matter, there is the Brake Bike that can be used to find out how it feels to slide and recover the front, in a straight line on the brakes.) One thing to consider is that the tires are ALWAYS sliding, to some degree, it is a built in part of how they work. In any corner the tires are always scrubbing off some rubber. Yes Q3s will slide and it can be controlled, but technique must be good. What is tough to recover is a very sudden, abrupt slide, where the tires move sideways fast and then when they regain grip the slide is halted abruptly - such as a situation where there is a patch of oil on the road (in a corner) and the tires slide fast and then catch abruptly on good pavement on the other side. Another example would be a rider that leans the bike way over into a corner, then whacks the throttle on abruptly, delivering way too much power to the rear tire and initiating a slide at a steep lean angle, THEN gets scared and shuts the throttle off abruptly. The rear tire suddenly regains traction which stops the slide and the sideways momentum can make the bike rotate over into a highside. (Traction control on newer bikes helps prevent some of those too-much-throttle situations, delivering less power to the rear wheel at steep lean angles.) Those types of highsides are probably what the "slip, grip, and flip" comments are referring to, but those can be prevented with good throttle control and knowledge of how to manage rear tire grip, and we have a variety of classroom sessions and drills at the school that cover those topics.

Yes for me, I have done a few of the schools that are done on small dirt bikes that aim to increase comfort level with sliding around. Those schools did a lot of improve my dirt riding skills, and probably would help me a lot of I ever had to do an "off-track excursion" on a sportbike. It did help me a little in getting comfortable with rear tire sliding on a sportbike but I am still not very brave in that area, I much prefer for the bike to feel planted under me. I'd like to do more dirt bike riding and sliding, I am sure it helps to gain more understanding of how to handle a bike overall. For SURE it would help with condition, it is quite a workout!!

There were two parts to "when" to start your roll-on. One part is getting the bike to the desired lean, and the other is getting pointed towards the exit of the turn. If you think of a longer turn that hooks around, or decreasing radius turn, you can probably picture that you can get to your desired lean very quickly, but might have to wait a bit longer for the bike to come around before you are pointed the direction you want to go. Turns with a fast entry that tighten up at the end are well suited for trailing the brakes in, and for most of those you would have to wait to get pointed to a late apex before rolling on to stabilize the line. Contrast this to a turn like Turn 10 at Streets, where it is VERY advantageous to get the bike turned quickly and get right back to the gas to minimize the effects of the bumps.

A double apex corner typically does require either going flat on the throttle or some roll off. How MUCH you'd have to roll off would depend on the shape of the corner (how much it tightens up) but ALSO on your entry speed and how much you rolled ON in the first part of the corner. If your roll-on in the first part of the corner was very gentle or your entry speed was low, you might not need to roll off in the middle to make it to the second apex. If you entered a double apex corner, rolled on the throttle continuously throughout the corner but ended up running wide later in the corner and unable to make the second apex, what would you want to do with the throttle in the middle of the corner (on the next lap) to correct that line?

I can't answer all of this (local counties and states and cities are changing things every day) but I CAN tell you the gear is disinfected every day, and that the disinfectant used does kill viruses.

Nice post Foxxy! Look forward to seeing you at Streets... tomorrow! Dress warm, especially for in the morning before you start riding, looks like the mornings will be chilly.

I agree on opening the throttle, which takes some pressure off the front tire, but I am not at all convinced he is turning the front inward - when riders lose the front, they describe the front wheel turning inwards as it happens. I think that is just the result of the loss of traction - one of resident physics experts can probably give you a great description of why exactly that happens - and I do know that any effort on the rider's part to force the front wheel in any direction during a slide is generally counterproductive, just adding more load on it when it is already beyond traction limits. I think it more likely that he just stays loose on the bars, opens the throttle, and lets it correct itself as the tire (hopefully) regains traction.

Probably, yes. Most trackday organizations require first time track riders to go through some sort of school or orientation to cover track etiquette - how to enter and exit the track, what the flags mean, etc. If they do not have a new rider school of some sort, then yes getting some instruction is probably a good idea, to help you find your way around the track, get a sense of the lines and appropriate entry speeds for corners.

Keith asked me to add a little more info about grip: The point on max grip is another many faceted process. Due to the slip angle tires never do have 100% mechanical grip, they actually are sliding. That is a prophylactic process as it cleans the spent rubber off the tire's surface but is ALWAYS happening, in every corner. It's sometimes overlooked in the traction arguments. In the end it's more to less, less to more SLIDE rather than more to less, less to more traction. Maybe that's just another way of looking at the same issue.

I should also add that no amount of suspension adjustment will overcome bad technique. However, good technical knowledge will help a rider make the most of any bike. For example, we have had lots of riders (Joe Roberts included) come out to CodeRACE and run incredibly fast laptimes on the standard settings on the school bikes. And, when Keith Code decides to ride, he just jumps on whatever school bike happens to be available and shows us ALL how it's done.

The BMW S1000rr has electronic suspension and performs extremely well under a variety of conditions with many different sizes of riders, adapting constantly to the surface and various forces or acceleration, braking and cornering. It is not practical to set sag on every school day for every rider, and a school bike is shared by two or three riders in a day (depending on whether it is a camp or a single day school) so changing sag not only between schools but between riders would not be possible. We can, and do, change ride modes based on the rider and their pace and preference, as this can be done at the grid, there are softer or stiffer settings (which also change the damping response) available electronically through that method, if desired. If you bring your own bike to school and schedule with the mechanic, setting is sag is something that could be done at the school, however it is usually more practical to do it beforehand at a shop or with a suspension person (or with a buddy at home, actually - it is not hard to do) because school days are busy, and setting sag does require the rider to be there to sit on the bike while adjustments are made.

The school would not have any problem with you walking the track, and at VIR, this would be easier if you were actually staying at the track hotel so you were already on site. With some tracks you could potentially have difficulty getting in past the security or guard shack the day before your school; I'm not sure if this would be a problem at VIR but staying on site would probably handle that as you would already be signed in and on the property. You could take a look at the track but it is difficult to try to judge traction of an asphalt surface by looking at it. Sometimes the grittiest is not the best traction and sometimes what looks smooth is; the only true test is riding on it.