What makes Marc Marquez so special?

[faffi]

In your opinion, what is it that set him so far ahead of the competition?

 

It has probably never been harder to be clearly the best that now, considering the quality of the machinery and the CV of the competitors, yet MM is demonstrably faster more often than not. 

[Cobie Fair]

Yes, he is faster, and has upped the bar.  I think that one thing he does incredibly well is relax on the bars after steering.  Seeing him recover from slides/crashes---simply stunning.  Maybe someone will get a link up here to his latest crazy save?

[faffi]

So you think that his saves is helped a lot by him managing to stay relaxed on the bars despite using great lower body effort to support the bike - did I understand that correctly? If so, a very interesting observation!

[Cobie Fair]

Yeah, just take a look at what he allows the front to do, after he  "looses it."  Let us know what you see.

[faffi]

 

 

 

 

[faffi]

 

 

 

[faffi]

 

 

[yakaru]

I can't find the source but I remember reading something that seemed quite reasonable to help explain at least some of it:

1. The spanish 'program' for young racers is much more competitive than the others. This gives the drive early to develop the skills et al at a level most other locales don't. I remember mentioning the way Marquez tends to 'run away' with races and never backing off even with a comfortable lead in first as a sign of this because in that program you could never give an inch.

2. his ability to 'read' his tires is apparently beyond that of most other GP riders. I remember hearing that other riders would report in kind of vague 'better' 'worse' feedback while he would be able to describe the behavior and limits in very nuanced ways. I actually find this part fascinating, as I have the opposite problem (I hear many track riders/racers with concerns about their tire grip, and while I've had incidents with a few slides (and thanks to relax and other drills, always let the bike sort them out and came out fine), I've never really had a read on how much I'm pushing the tire/what it's doing.

[Cobie Fair]

Thanks for posting the saves Faffi.  Looks like when he puts the weight on his knee or elbow, he doesn't transfer tension into his arms, but takes if off.  In one left hand save, I wish there had been real good slo-mo, as it look like he let go of the bar for a moment.

[WHR]

On 1/16/2020 at 4:02 PM, Cobie Fair said:

Thanks for posting the saves Faffi.  Looks like when he puts the weight on his knee or elbow, he doesn't transfer tension into his arms, but takes if off.  In one left hand save, I wish there had been real good slo-mo, as it look like he let go of the bar for a moment.

Yep, he supports the bike with his knee and lets the bike straighten itself. Then deftly lifts the bike by pushing on the outside grip. Of course he's mastered the "Zen" of riding in the moment without fear.

[Cianciotta]

I think what you will notice on a lot of his saves - Is that he plows the front (turns it inward) and opens the throttle, which helps stand the bike up.  That being said, its not a tactic I would be overly confident with given how wrong this could go.

[Hotfoot]

36 minutes ago, Cianciotta said:

I think what you will notice on a lot of his saves - Is that he plows the front (turns it inward) and opens the throttle, which helps stand the bike up.  That being said, its not a tactic I would be overly confident with given how wrong this could go.

I agree on opening the throttle, which takes some pressure off the front tire, but I am not at all convinced he is turning the front inward - when riders lose the front, they describe the front wheel turning inwards as it happens. I think that is just the result of the loss of traction - one of resident physics experts can probably give you a great description of why exactly that happens - and I do know that any effort on the rider's part to force the front wheel in any direction during a slide is generally counterproductive, just adding more load on it when it is already beyond traction limits. I think it more likely that he just stays loose on the bars, opens the throttle, and lets it correct itself as the tire (hopefully) regains traction.  

[Cianciotta]

I'm not really disagreeing with your comments - when we loose the front (I'm sure we both have) the tire turns into the turn, what I mean is he doesn't seem to try to counter steer - he lets it plow. I would suggest counter steering would further drive the bike to the ground, but holding the front into the turn would aid in standing the bike up. Two wheeled vehicle - at speed turning the bars into the turn would cause the bike to stand or roll over the center point.