Thoughts on riding and Daytona

[Gino230]

I posted this on the Florida Trackdays forum, where I do a little coaching and try to share my thoughts on riding. It helps me to make sense of things by writing down my thoughts. Maybe it occasionally even helps others to organize their thoughts on riding. Hope it helps you or at least gives you something to read during commercials. For those of you who read all three forums (Jennings, SoFlaSportbikes, and CCS) sorry for the repetition    Enjoy!


As usual, after my return from this year's Race of Champions at Daytona, I've been giving a lot of thought to my riding, and why I didn't achieve the results I wanted.


I had a good weekend overall, never out of the top 5 and lost one race by .008 second at the line...sounds ok, but I am frustrated because I had the machines to win yet I was not able to get across the line first when it counted. Despite getting a lot of seat time on 3 different bikes, my times didn't improve as the weekend progressed. This can lead a rider into a black hole where you're questioning every variable- was it the Daytona tires? The track temperature? Is the bike slowing down? Conceivably you could be lost forever and never improve.


One thing I noticed is that in practice, I often run my fastest times in the first few sessions. The rest of the day, despite "trying harder", I am still slower. Sure, some of that time is spent trying various things- for example "the high line" into turn 1, or double apex "the barrel turn", or perhaps even a setup change...but surely this can't account for the 2 second difference. Usually I can't get back to my fast times until the green flag drops. So what gives?


After quite a bit of post race reflection I realized a few things. I'm a better follower than leader. When I'm behind another rider, of similar talent, I can often chase them down or at least match their pace. Heck if I was a better passer, I could pass most of them in a few corners. Yet when I do get in front, sometimes I find it hard to shake them...unless of course, there's someone ahead of us! Usually I have my best finishes when I'm chasing someone down, as in Saturday's LW SuperSport race. I ran down the leaders and came up short .008 at the line.  VS. Sunday's ASRA Thunderbike race when I lost touch with the lead group and rode around 5 seconds behind them at a pace that was 4 seconds per lap slower than I had run on Saturday's CCS Thunderbike race.


So it's come to my attention that I need to go back to basics. Reference points and the good old "look THROUGH the corner". Sounds simple, but it became obvious that when I'm riding alone, I'm looking too long at the apex- thus I keep on braking right to the apex before getting on the gas. Then I'm looking at the track out point, so I'm slow getting on the throttle. When a rider is a few bike lengths ahead, I'm looking ahead of THEIR bike, thus I release the brake earlier and allow the bike to roll through the corner faster, and open the throttle earlier and harder because my eyes (and thus my brain) are looking farther down the track.


The reason I do so well in the early practice sessions, is because I'm "taking it easy" and I look way ahead, don't try to brake too late or accelerate too sharply- but because I'm looking further ahead, I end up carrying more corner speed and thus the lap times are quicker.


I point this out here because I am not one of the "naturals", but rather one of the guys that has to work for every tenth of a second. If you lack the natural ability, you have to make up for it somehow- and in my case it's by trying to improve concentration so I can focus on the above. As always, the challenge is to use your track time as efficiently as possible. Work on specific items, instead of just "riding around trying to go faster". I reinforce this point because I spent 22 laps of the Team Challenge doing exactly that- "trying harder" got me nowhere- whereas if I had gone back to basics, I might have improved.


So on your next race or track day, make a list of what points you want to improve on, and when you come in, ask yourself...did I achieve my goals?

[vnvbandit]

Good read, thanks.

[SVbadguy]

It's called the draft.  It doesn't work when you're in front.   

[design-engine]

banking was a freeken trip.  < one of the 600 races in October