How To Do It?

[ekraft84]

Hey Keith,

 

While, this is my first post here, I've emailed with you a couple times and have read all the TOTW books numerous times.

 

I've been fortunate enough to do well this past year, racing with WERA, but I've got some stuff I need to work on for next year.

 

Getting out of turns faster. I know that at every track I've raced, I can get at least 2 more seconds out of my best lap times. It seems that this is all "in the corners".

 

My first inclination is that I need to get on the gas harder between the apex of the turn and the exit. Pretty basic.

 

My second thought is that I need to get into the turns better. I think sometimes I plan too much on setting up the turn, that I go into it slower than I should be, and am accelerating before the apex. In the theory of being smooth and "being on the gas as early as possible", I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing.

 

My last inclination is that I'm way off and there's something else I should be working on.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Thanks,

 

Eddie Kraft

[fastfreddie]

hey, eddie.

css teaches a technique known as the 'pick up' drill. essentially, upon exiting, you push the bike up away from you putting the tire on its 'meat'. at this point, twist it on!

[ekraft84]

Yeah, I've read how Valentino would be almost violently be picking the bike up out of a corner to get on the gas sooner.

 

I think it comes down to my needing more cornerspeed in one way or another ..

[Balistic]

The first thing I would be looking at is trying to get the gas earlier. the sooner you get it on the less you need to find the traction limit. once there hook turn and pick-up will give you some more traction to work with.

Will

[motorthings]

the one tip that made the most difference to me when i was racing (and re-learned this summer at the CSS schools) is that looking farther ahead on the track at the exit will give your brain a better chance of letting your throttle hand roll on more quickly. when i first put this into practice at putnam park i dropped a couple of seconds a lap and let me dice with the top riders in the class. if you keep your attention closer to your front wheel, you brain will have a harder time letting the throttle come on, and you will not get the drive you want.

[ekraft84]

Yes, I agree that looking further ahead mysteriously lets you get on the gas earlier.

 

These are all good points. There's just so many things to think of, I think I need to "KISS".

[RobZA]

css teaches a technique known as the 'pick up' drill. essentially, upon exiting, you push the bike up away from you putting the tire on its 'meat'. at this point, twist it on!

Interesting. I "developed' this technique about 5 years ago when I found myself racing on slicks in the rain. Just semed like the right thing to do to get drive in those conditions. Ended up going faster than most of the guys on treaded tyres. I've since always done this in the rain and always finished way better in the wet than in the dry, until for some reason I started doing it in the dry as well 6 months ago and instantly went from mediocre to fast. It's an excellent way of catching rear slides too.

[NetLore]

From my experience, I have found that picking the bike up sooner certainly helps you get out of the turns faster, but as someone else has stated, in order to be mentally prepared to pick-up the bike sooner, you really do need to be looking as far ahead as possible. Remember, it's good to work on one thing at a time. So try the pick-up first and then, once that is somewhat easy for you, start considering you corner entry speed.