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prand

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  • Have you attended a California Superbike School school?
    Not yet. Scheduled for 4/27/08.

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Cornering Enthusiast

Cornering Enthusiast (3/5)

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  1. I've heard of guys in the midwest who are so desperate for turns that they'll just keep going around the freeway cloverleafs. Man, that's desperate!
  2. Since this was a practice day, I didn't need to wait to slide over, but that's what I've done in the past because I'm usually braking pretty hard going into T1 and I was supporting my body with both hands. Should I slide over before braking? Paul
  3. Cobie, As requested, I'm reporting in after a practice day at the big track at Willow. First of all, let me say that I have spent way too much time just trying to go fast and getting by on guts and a "feel" for the track. I've also spent too many practice sessions trying to put up good lap times and not enough breaking down what I was doing out there. So this time I went out there, determined to slow down (that's not easy, you know) and pick my RPs, POTs, and turn-in points. Well, I did succeed in slowing down, but I'm not sure how much I succeeded at the rest of it. I had trouble locating RPs. Maybe it's just that track -- I don't know. On T1 I decided to turn in later, so I braked at the 4-cone, downshifted at the 3-cone, and slid over at the 2-cone. Previously I would tip it in at the 1-cone but I decided to count to "one" after the 1-cone then turn in. The first time I did this, I went wide and had to roll off. I hadn't turned in sharply enough to match the later turn-in point. On the next lap, it worked to perfection: brake > downshift > slide > 1-cone > count to 1 > turn in. Because I was carrying more speed, I had to pull on the outside of the tank pretty hard to keep the bike on line but it was beautiful. I didn't find an RP but I did find a POT -- the 1-cone followed by a count of 1. It was also very windy yesterday. At one point I was going down the end of the straight-away, about 6 feet from the right side of the track when a gust of wind blew me to about 2 feet from the edge. Sheeee-it. I also had to tilt the bike slightly to the left while going down the straight just to keep going in a straight line! Next came turn 3. Same problem. Lots of skid marks and none of them very useful. Again, I would brake, downshift, slide, and turn-in. I used the 1-cone again and waited until just after the cone to turn in. The point is that I had a specific reference to use as a baseline (the 1-cone) so I could make a SMALL adjustment. Turn 4A is really a straight shot up, then you swing wide and get ready to chop down through 4B, so I was looking for an RP to turn in for 4B. Coming out of 4A, there's a line due to a surface change that I like to cross to make sure I'm high enough before entering 4B but I still needed to know where to turn in. I saw what looked like a diagonal line that kind of points towards the apex and I kinda used that but didn't have too many chances to work on it late in the day. Turn 5 I tried taking as a double-apex for the first time. I would clip the rumble strip early, drift out a few feet, then turn in again so I can hold the exit to T5 tight. You need to do this so you can get your turning done as soon as possible for T6. T6 is a right-hander with a crest and you want to be as straight up as possible. Coming out of T5, the track goes uphill on the way up to the T6 crest, so I tried to get my turning done there to take advantage of the berm which acts like banking. T5 has a could of black lines (skid marks?) that criss-cross right about where I want to turn in, but I didn't get as specific as I wanted. T2 and T8, as far as I can tell don't really have turn-in points. I just pick the distance I want to be from the inside of the track and turn when the track turns, then steer with the throttle. T2 has a small apex on the exit, though, and T8 goes into T9 which can be gnarly. I once dragged my swing arm on the rumble strip going through T9 (Yamaha's have that lower piece of the swing arm that hangs down). By spending time looking for RPs, I was looking through the turns less. Normally this is bad, but I figure this is a part of FINDING RPs. Once I've found them, I can then spend much less attention on them, see them quickly, then get back to looking through the turn (as part of the two-step method). I also learned something about body position. Before, my inside thigh would get tired. This time I kept telling myself to be light on the bars, and when I did, I felt like I should be off the bike more. So I did. I felt the bike get more vertical right away, but I noticed something unexpected. Instead of holding my body weight up with my thigh muscles, it got easier because it was more like sitting on my heels like you do when you're squatting. I was using less muscle on the inside leg, pulling more with the outside leg, and hanging off more. One question for the coaches: I brake first then downshift while I'm braking. I've always done it this way. But in ToTW it says to downshift then brake. Seems to me that if you downshift first, you're rolling off the gas and slowing before you brake. Doesn't that take away a little speed you could otherwise maintain by staying on the gas a little longer and getting right onto the brakes? I feel I would be giving away a little speed by reversing the order. Thanks guys, Paul
  4. My understanding is that you want to get on the throttle as early as possible. This can be before the apex, but you want to crack it on gently and roll on smoothly. If you do this, you may have a small slide but not one big enough to cause you to have an SR and slam the throttle shut (THAT will cause you to high-side). Also, cracking on the throttle puts roughly 60% of the weight on the rear tire (that has a bigger contact patch) and 40% on the front (smaller patch), and it allows the forks to operate in the middle third of their movement range (ideal). If/when you slide, you should either hold the throttle right where it is or back off a tiny bit. The bike wants to correct itself -- your job is to not get in the way of this happening. Paul (I am not a coach - YET)
  5. I've heard the same -- great bang for your buck. But I heard (no personal experience here) that the front gets squirrely and moves around a little under heavy braking. How would you fix that? With a stiffer (billet) triple clamp? Paul
  6. It depends on the track and your suspension set-up. Basically, you want it set as low as possible, just high enough to avoid tank slappers. Dampers should not be used to mask suspension set-up problems. I turned mine up until there was no headshake -- 2 clicks above zero. If I had to turn it up any higher than that to get rid of headshake, I would assume something was wrong with my set-up. I have an R1 and I had serious headshake problems when I was running Dunlops (the rear tires grow in diameter at speed, at least they did a couple of years ago, maybe not now). Turning the damper all the way up didn't get rid of it, but once I switched to Pirelli's it almost completely disappeared. Don't get me wrong, Dunlops are great tires. They were fantastic on my ZX-9 but not on my R1. Paul
  7. Ditto. Under Armor slips and slides easier inside the leathers and prevents binding. Don't leave home without them.
  8. Advice is cheap -- that's why I'm willing to offer it. Seriously, all of us are nervous at times -- the key is to not let the nervousness stop you. You'll be glad later. Paul
  9. "Throttle control rule number two: in any fast entry turn, calculate the roll-off as carefully as you would a roll-on." (p.30) I have been focusing on turn in and will work on braking next time out. I had been worried about tucking the front so I was hesitant about trail braking into the corner. I watched the AMA races this weekend and paid close attention to the use of the brake in the turns. I can see to be fast, trail braking is a must. So I guess turn in and trail braking will be something I will have to work on. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought TC rule #2 applied to those sweepers where you don't need to get on the brakes. Just roll off a bit before rolling back on. No? Paul
  10. Yes, I raced a year in novice and a year in expert, but I took last year ('07) off after a couple of guys died in races (Sept '06 and April '07). Freaked me out a bit, and I've been doing track days and WSMC practices since. My best was a 1:31, but I'd bet I'm faster now. I'm going to "Streets" on April 27. Maybe I'll see you there? Paul
  11. Yes, when the rear starts to come around. Sorry, but I'm not aware of any method that does not involve the rear sliding a little (coaches, please speak up). I think the whole purpose of "standard throttle control" is to SLOWLY apply throttle on the exit so that you can experience a little slide while avoiding a big slide that will cause an SR (Holy sh*t I'm gonna die!) which will make you snap the throttle shut and high-side, pitching you into the weeds. In my limited experience, the Dunlops tend to hold tighter but break more quickly whereas Pirellis give me small slides that serve as a better warning. Paul
  12. I'm sorry to say that the technique that I worked on the most is "when in doubt, gas it", but what I NEED to work on is corner entry precision. Picking RPs so that I can nail my turn-in point, corner entry speed, lean angle, etc. It seems to me that if you nail the corner entry and execute standard throttle control, you will have yourself one heck of a great turn! Is that right? Did I leave something out? Paul
  13. 2big, Sounds like you know the drill. You a coach? Paul
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