Brake Markers

[freedy]

hi guys i would like to know the best way to find my brake markers do i just keep picking a point until it lands me where i get to my turn point for the corner or is there a easier way , done all four levels and just thought it was something you guys could have added in the training as it is the start of a bend realy i stand to be corrected

[Bullet]

hi guys i would like to know the best way to find my brake markers do i just keep picking a point until it lands me where i get to my turn point for the corner or is there a easier way , done all four levels and just thought it was something you guys could have added in the training as it is the start of a bend realy i stand to be corrected

 

Well, we actually do have a drill for it, though it's not just specifically about braking markers, it also other points of importance and we call it "reference points".

 

I guess the question to you is, do you have braking markers for all your corners? What kind of things do you use? How do you decide they work or don't? Do you sometimes brake on judgement alone? If so, how do you find that works?

 

Let us know your thoughts.

 

Bullet

[636rider]

hi guys i would like to know the best way to find my brake markers do i just keep picking a point until it lands me where i get to my turn point for the corner or is there a easier way , done all four levels and just thought it was something you guys could have added in the training as it is the start of a bend realy i stand to be corrected

Hi Freedy,

Have you considered using the "END" of braking point too as Keith has suggested in the T of T page 64? That will allow seeing in advance where braking will be finished, adjusting the entry speed more easily. I find it is helpful and hope you do too.

[freedy]

well thinking about it maybe its just a matter of me putting more thought and time into it and picking my referance points to see what works best for me i suppose just lots of track time could do the trick

[dbtriple]

My experience on the track totally sums up the example in TOTW, in trying to improve lap times I'd dive in later and harder on the anchors, and become more unstable, spending all my 10 dollars of attention on the braking instead of thinking about increasing corner speed and spending my attention on that!

Once this is realised, if you can pick out a start of braking marker and finish of braking marker, with a view toward increasing corner speed, even if you start braking too early, if you carry more speed through the turn you'll be better off. 1mph faster average speed per lap equals 1 second in general, according to totw.

At first your lap times may increase as you experiment with your braking markers, but once you get your corner speed right and braking markers are set, the full benefit will become available.

 

Good luck!

 

db

[GregGorman]

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

[hubbard_28]

I start out using what's initially been given with the cones provided, or find a real comfortable brake point. Then once I'm really getting the corner before the brake point down, I'll start trying to move it in slowly. I'm usually at, or a little deeper than the coned brake point. But if I come out of the corner before that brake point poorly, I will usually use the deeper brake point because I'm not going that fast. But I'm talking on my weakest part of riding including entry speed, so I wouldn't listen to me.

[Bullet]

I start out using what's initially been given with the cones provided, or find a real comfortable brake point. Then once I'm really getting the corner before the brake point down, I'll start trying to move it in slowly. I'm usually at, or a little deeper than the coned brake point. But if I come out of the corner before that brake point poorly, I will usually use the deeper brake point because I'm not going that fast. But I'm talking on my weakest part of riding including entry speed, so I wouldn't listen to me.

 

I think your approach has some real merit Hubbard, and a fine way to start out improving your braking. Not all corners, or courses in my experience have cones though, so you can't rely on them always being there if they have before, so you'd need to check your exploration/warm up laps to see before charging down to a turn only to find they're not.

 

Bullet