Off-throttle High-side

[Jaybird180]

The October 09 issue of Sport Rider has an article about Lorenzo's assault on the MotoGP field. There is one interesting passage that reads on pp 96 "The older guard of American Grand Prix stars - Roberts, Lawson, Rainey, Schwantz - are amused by the "closed throttle highsides", the term given to the corner entry crashes. To them, the current riders are simply rolling into the corner with too much entry speed and too much faith in the bike's electronics."

 

I am curious as to HOW can you highside a bike off the gas? Doesn't seem to make sense. The article states that this has happened to Lorenzo at Laguna in '08, saying "the tire slid and then caught traction..."

 

Anyone?

[Cobie Fair]

The October 09 issue of Sport Rider has an article about Lorenzo's assault on the MotoGP field. There is one interesting passage that reads on pp 96 "The older guard of American Grand Prix stars - Roberts, Lawson, Rainey, Schwantz - are amused by the "closed throttle highsides", the term given to the corner entry crashes. To them, the current riders are simply rolling into the corner with too much entry speed and too much faith in the bike's electronics."

 

I am curious as to HOW can you highside a bike off the gas? Doesn't seem to make sense. The article states that this has happened to Lorenzo at Laguna in '08, saying "the tire slid and then caught traction..."

 

Anyone?

 

Lorenzo's highside this year at laguna was for sure faith in the electronics, but he was adding throttle at the same time as adding lean angle--the deadly combo. I'd like to have a look at that article, see how they are reporting this.

 

CF

[Sof]

I am curious as to HOW can you highside a bike off the gas? Doesn't seem to make sense. The article states that this has happened to Lorenzo at Laguna in '08, saying "the tire slid and then caught traction..."

 

Anyone?

 

I haven't read the article, but I did watch the interview with Jorge and Casey when the were asked about their 2009 Laguna crashes in the press conference after QP. They both said that they crashed "without throttle". If you have a subscription, you can view the video here: http://www.motogp.com/en/videos/2009/Loren...ress+conference . I would imagine that they would have already looked at the data gathered from their data loggers before they made those statements. However, what their idea of "without" throttle is could be our idea of too much acceleration! So it's hard to know what that means. At the extreme speeds and lean angles they're pushing, losing traction is like a hair away every corner! Also a vid of the crash if you have a subscription: http://www.motogp.com/en/videos/2009/Jorge...+in+Laguna+Seca . Pretty painful to watch.

[GregGorman]

I've come close to crashing from off-throttle slides a couple of times. If I chop the throttle at high RPM and flick the bike in simultaneously, the back will slide dirt track style. Or if I'm partially leaned over from going through a fast kink into a slower turn, already off the throttle and get on the front brakes hard enough, the back can start sliding.

[Cobie Fair]

I'll have to take a look at the video--what it looked like to me was that the he started to leave dark lines from the back tire, while adding lean angle--could be that their idea of off throtle is different than ours, as was suggested, but like to see that footage again.