Valentino Rossi On Cornering

[JTNYC]

I got Valentino Rossi's autobiography What if I had never tried it for Christmas and read it over the holidays.

 

There's a lot of interesting things in the book, but one comment (quoted below) on cornering is particularly interesting (and baffling) to me. Maybe it's because I don't fully understand what he's saying, but what do you guys think?

 

A motorcyclist at the beginning struggles to understand that you shouldn't brake before a turn and then go in. You need to break once you're "in" the turn. You've got to come in on a full throttle and then slam hard on the brake, going into the turn at a high speed. That's the only way you can do it properly.

 

This is taken from page 268 of the book.

[khp]

I got Valentino Rossi's autobiography What if I had never tried it for Christmas and read it over the holidays.

 

There's a lot of interesting things in the book, but one comment (quoted below) on cornering is particularly interesting (and baffling) to me. Maybe it's because I don't fully understand what he's saying, but what do you guys think?

 

A motorcyclist at the beginning struggles to understand that you shouldn't brake before a turn and then go in. You need to break once you're "in" the turn. You've got to come in on a full throttle and then slam hard on the brake, going into the turn at a high speed. That's the only way you can do it properly.

 

This is taken from page 268 of the book.

I picked my copy down from the shelf and reread it, and I think you have gotten it mixed up: that chapter (15) is about Rossi's Ferrari F1-test at Ferrari's private test track Fiorano and as I read it, what Rossi is explaining is how to take a turn in an F1 car - not on a bike. An F1 car needs the downforce from the winglets in order to go quickly through the turns and thus, a high speed into the turns.

[JTNYC]

khp,

 

I just reread that paragraph and I think you're right. I must have read it wrong the first time since it was the end of a reading marathon (finished the book in an afternoon)... and also because it reminded me something he mentioned earlier in the book about the 500...

 

on page 180

On the 500cc the trick is to come in very fast and then brake as much as possible inside the turn...

 

Anyway, what a fascinating book!

[Jaybird180]

Perhaps this is Rossi's advice to the likes of Casey Stoner (ha ha ha ha)....the Master of head games at work.

[Jasonzilla]

Perhaps this is Rossi's advice to the likes of Casey Stoner (ha ha ha ha)....the Master of head games at work.

 

Funny. I've been wanting to get the book, though. I've got too much going on, and I promised myself I'd learn suspension this year, so that's my next goal.

[Jaybird180]

Feel ya bro

[Hotfoot]

Funny. I've been wanting to get the book, though. I've got too much going on, and I promised myself I'd learn suspension this year, so that's my next goal.

 

 

Wow, good luck with that. I'm starting to think it takes a lot more than a year to learn suspension! It's like pulling a thread on a sweater, you just keep finding out there is more to it, and more to it, and more to it...

[Jasonzilla]

Funny. I've been wanting to get the book, though. I've got too much going on, and I promised myself I'd learn suspension this year, so that's my next goal.

 

 

Wow, good luck with that. I'm starting to think it takes a lot more than a year to learn suspension! It's like pulling a thread on a sweater, you just keep finding out there is more to it, and more to it, and more to it...

 

I've got three things going for me; books, a video, and you guys. I think I can do it. It's on the back-burner because I have to fix some stuff at work, but I can squeeze in some studying here and there.