Where To Start?

[hoggyjay]

A little background –

The way working is going I might be able to get down to the CSS at Silverstone on the 19/20^th of July. I would have prefered my first track day could be with you guys but the dates aren't in my favour.

 

I will be tackling my first race school at Donington on the 15^th of this month, followed with my own bike at Knockhill, on the 18^th.

 

I have read Twist 1&2 watched the video and have been following the forum for a week or so. I’m offshore and obviously can’t ride at the moment. I have a week between hitting dry land and my first track day.

 

My head is a little cluttered with information from all the data I'm trying to process. What should I concentrate on first? I've decided to get a better position on the bike both when hanging off and under acceleration (I tend to sit too far forward and not give myself enough room to transfer weight from side to side, not locking in) and to practice better throttle control. Is adding counter steering to this list too much in one go?

 

All the best,

Iain

[YellowDuck]

A little background –

The way working is going I might be able to get down to the CSS at Silverstone on the 19/20^th of July. I would have prefered my first track day could be with you guys but the dates aren't in my favour.

 

I will be tackling my first race school at Donington on the 15^th of this month, followed with my own bike at Knockhill, on the 18^th.

 

I have read Twist 1&2 watched the video and have been following the forum for a week or so. I’m offshore and obviously can’t ride at the moment. I have a week between hitting dry land and my first track day.

 

My head is a little cluttered with information from all the data I'm trying to process. What should I concentrate on first? I've decided to get a better position on the bike both when hanging off and under acceleration (I tend to sit too far forward and not give myself enough room to transfer weight from side to side, not locking in) and to practice better throttle control. Is adding counter steering to this list too much in one go?

 

All the best,

Iain

 

You are already counter-steering - that is the only way you can turn a bike at all, practically.

 

I'll let the instructors on the site give you the advice you are looking for...but as a rider who experienced his first track day only a few years ago, I can offer a few things from my experience.

 

1. Don't get intimidated. Remember, there is nothing on earth preventing you from circulating the track at the same pace you would on any public road you had never ridden before. That's your fallback position - just ride around and get comfortable.

 

2. Have someone show you the lines. You can waste a lot of time figuring out a new track, time you could be spending working on your riding skills. On many tracks, the proper line is not immediately obvious. Don't be shy about asking - most track days have control riders who are more than happy to do this for you.

 

3. If you are not using warmers, allow yourself a lap or two every session to get some heat into the tires before trying to up your pace.

 

4. I found that, from the TOTW set of skills, early throttle application after turn in with consistent roll on and *never* rolling off in a corner was a good place for me to start. Next came proper sighting of apexes and exits, and then working on turning it in hard.

[Steve Rutter]

My advice would be to forget your body position for now, provided you're not horribly crossed up you'll be fine. Better to concentrate on things like good progressive throttle control and trying out things like the two-step first.

 

I presume with you saying that you're going to your first race school you mean the Haslam school. Be prepared to be told differing things at that and CSS, so don't arrive at CSS with a closed mind thinking that you've been told to do it one way and that must be the right way to do it.

 

Just relax and enjoy yourself really, at the trackday in-between, build up your speed gradually and take your time with everything.

 

To add a bit more clarification about the body position thing, you'll probably get taught some stuff on that at the Haslam school, but there's a reason it's not taught until level 3 of CSS, it's because getting the basics right first, followed by your vision skills is more important.

[ktk_ace]

IMHO these work well for me :

throttle control , turn in point and not triggering any SR's .

[hoggyjay]

Thanks for the advice.

 

I am expecting things to be different at the Haslam school and will be open to other methods of teaching afterwards. I have watched a number of onboard cameras form Knockhill during track days and was happy to notice the lean angles and speed (or lack of them). I will be in the beginners group and won't be upset if I'm the slowest out there.

 

Once pice of advice I was give that I can pass on -

 

"Never mix ambition and ability" - this can be applied to most things.

 

All the best,

Iain