Some track day prep questions

spooky said:

Stop it…

Pressure was very low in the front tire after the first session. Turns out the valve is loose… The dealer fitted the tire… Session missed FFS.

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oh сrap

panibadboy said:

oh сrap

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I’m just pleased that I noticed it.

That was a tiring weekend...

I was hoping to get under 2 minutes and eventually achieved it by about half a second. More aggressive use of the throttle and particularly getting onto maintenance throttle sooner will quite easily drop the time further.

I was getting 2-minute laps on day one (previously did 2:01). On the second day there were quite a few of zee Germans who were block passing and behaving as if they were in a race, which was making me run wide on at least two corners per lap, which was frustrating as I was still getting 2:01 to 2:03 with these issues. I managed 1:59.566 on the third day - I should have quite easily got a couple of seconds better but concentration was slipping by that point.

For some reason I was using less lean angle and didn't go beyond 50 degrees all weekend - usually 46-49 degrees. Obviously there's no shortage of grip and I've leaned the bike far more with what I think was a worse body position. I did notice myself not using my vision correctly and I suspect that not looking far enough ahead was making me more aware of the lean angle. Plenty of room to increase corner speed though with the amount of lean angle available. I've got to keep working on the basics such as vision, although it didn't help that I was waking up at 5am due to a lack of curtains in the hotel... I was tired before I started the day.

So, progress made and I know what to do to improve further (lots of stuff, but I have specific things to work on and order of priority).

I finally made a point of checking pressures regularly. I was coming in with slightly more pressure in the rear (1.7 or so) and slightly less in the front (about 2.2), so I adjusted accordingly through the day.

Brno again in a couple of weeks. Hopefully I can transfer some of the progress from Most to Brno.

Stop being white american Karen and man up. I bet ze Germans just did standard riding. Get used to it or move down in groups.

panibadboy said:

Stop being white american Karen and man up. I bet ze Germans just did standard riding. Get used to it or move down in groups.

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The organisers talked to them after others complained and they stopped doing it, so no, it wasn’t standard riding - it was block passing, which has no place in track days.

Getting ahead of someone on the brakes is fine – parking it on the inside of someone right at the entry point to the corner is not.

panibadboy said:

Stop being white american Karen and man up. I bet ze Germans just did standard riding. Get used to it or move down in groups.

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Lighten up Francis.

Ahhh Stripes.....thx for the inspiration to give that movie a rewatch.

Check pressures after every session.

Surprised the 17 mm MC didn’t get you easily down into the 55s

@Paul G Extremely basic stuff in that video and I found some of it a bit odd, like him talking about braking using your arms and gripping the tank with your legs without mentioning getting off the bike first, then talking about moving your bum further off the seat as you’re tipping the bike in... He also said he keeps on the balls of his feet all the time, but he doesn’t. Not a great video compared to what else is out there and I’m glad I’ve used tuition since I started rather than trying to do it based on videos like that one.

SuperDomestique said:

Surprised the 17 mm MC didn’t get you easily down into the 55s

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I’m not. It certainly does feel better though.

spooky said:

I’m not. It certainly does feel better though.

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What you using..,,

spooky said:

For some reason I was using less lean angle and didn't go beyond 50 degrees all weekend - usually 46-49 degrees.

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The less lean angle you can use while still also progressing is safer. It's better to use the meat of the tire than the edge

SuperDomestique said:

The less lean angle you can use while still also progressing is safer. It's better to use the meat of the tire than the edge

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I know.

andyb said:

What you using..,,

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The 17 RCS. I got the Corsa Corta because the local shop didn’t have the standard RCS but had a Corsa Corta.

spooky said:

@Paul G Extremely basic stuff in that video and I found some of it a bit odd, like him talking about braking using your arms and gripping the tank with your legs without mentioning getting off the bike first, then talking about moving your bum further off the seat as you’re tipping the bike in... He also said he keeps on the balls of his feet all the time, but he doesn’t. Not a great video compared to what else is out there and I’m glad I’ve used tuition since I started rather than trying to do it based on videos like that one.

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Jonny is fast, he is giving basic advice but riding fast and safely is all about the practicing the basics over and over again. Sometimes people get obsessed with stupid things like winning the trackday with lean angle or skimming elbows when what really matters as a trackday rider is the "feeling" and getting home in one piece.

Paul G said:

Jonny is fast, he is giving basic advice but riding fast and safely is all about the practicing the basics over and over again. Sometimes people get obsessed with stupid things like winning the trackday with lean angle or skimming elbows when what really matters as a trackday rider is the "feeling" and getting home in one piece.

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My main things to focus on at the moment are maintaining vision, trying to get the inside foot in a better position (physical limitation with the knees, particularly the right one from major damage in my youth), stopping bloody coasting while approaching the braking point (I reckon there's significant time lost there) and getting onto maintenance throttle quicker (I guess another form of coasting).

I believe JR still holds the lap record at Most - just under 1:31. I've no idea how that's possible, although there were a couple of guys at the last event putting in laps of 1:36. They had quite serious setups and were clearly not occasional trackway guys.

Three days at Brno with NoLimits.

The first day I improved by a couple of seconds but the day was one session per hour, seven sessions, no lunch break. At the end I was shattered. I've never done it like this and with no lunch break it was too much. I should have taken a lunch break and missed a session or two. They also used some stick-on pad for timing rather than using transponders and they were not at all accurate (quite a few people who had their own lap timers were saying the same thing).

The next day was very hot but with a cool breeze, so I made the classic mistake of not staying out of the sun. Mild sunstroke on top of being tired and probably dehydrated from the day before, so I was getting slower with every session.

The next day I was completely done. I tried a couple of sessions but called it a day very early.

Not the best experience, with lots of crashes, although the guys were great and all rode respectfully from what I saw. I much prefer the way that European organisers do things though.

did you get under 2.30.

andyb said:

did you get under 2.30.

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No I bloody didn't.

2:31 on the first day and instead of progressing from there it went downhill. I was absolutely knackered after the first day and I just got more and more tired as the second day progressed, tried to push on a bit but that just made me slower of course. Not at all relaxed and zero concentration. I was also trying to get my inside foot position better and open my body into the turns - my legs and hips are furious with me.

For some reason I'm not seeing the same improvement at Brno that I've made at Most. The same improvement would see me no worse than mid 2:20s and I don't quite get why it hasn't happened. Most is a much more technical circuit than Brno.

I'm back at Brno in a few weeks and will get some more tuition. After the improvement I made at Most I was really excited to get back to Brno - it was a marginal improvement but nowhere near what I expected.