Need lots of help (long)

[MadXX]

I never really drove on this track before and would like some feedback on what I was doing.  If you have the time to read this and give me some advice please do.  

What I have found after thinking long and hard about my accomplishments and my failures this weekend I have found that lean angle is not a problem for me, but I seem to be working too hard in the corners and my braking and downshifting is not consistent.  I seem to either brake to early and wait for the corner or brake too late and get into trouble.  I also have blown a couple of corners by not downshifting fast enough.  As a note I shift by counting clicks up or down which is easier than remembering gears.  

So hear it goes:

Turn 1: I usually ended up taking this in third gear with a late apex, going under the patch but apexing about 3/4 around the curbing.  Even when I finished braking early I naturally wanted to turn in late.  Is this a good thing or am I screwing this corner up?

Turn 2:  After 1, I would accelerate and up shift into 4th through 2 and then brake and downshift to 3rd for the carousel.

Turn 3:  The carousel seems to be a double apex with increasing acceleration after the first apex.  I would always keep it in third for this one and then bank left hard between the curbings and downshift to 2nd for turn 3a.

Turn 3a: I would take this one with a late apex again, accelerating and up shifting to third before turning into 4.

Turn 4:  I would take this in third at the beginning of the powerband and accelerate through the corner with a midpoint apex.

Turn 5:  I think I figured this one out at the end of race 7 before I crashed into 6.  As you accelerate out of 4 you go a bit upright and can shift into 4th.  4th pulled me through nicely and I could go to 5th for the short straight before turn 6.  That's what got me into trouble. I took 6 in 4th instead of 3rd and came in way too hot.

Turn 6.  I would start this in 3rd through the first apex, accelerate to the gate entrance, and keep accelerating through the second apex, shifting up as I exit the corner.

Turn 7:  I could never figure this one out.  After blowing the corner too many times I just started slowing down before the kink.  How the heck do you do this corner???.

Another general thing I am not comfortable with is passing.  I probably had a hundred opportunities to pass others and did not do it because I didn't want to either stuff them, hit them, or try to pass them over my head.  The one time I know I had a problem is when I was going to make an outside pass and I hit an extra downshift and started dragging the rear wheel.  I just rode easy for a lap or two after that one.  
  
My plan for fixing some of my known issues involves slowing down my braking and downshifting to develop it into a habit.  I spent too much time thinking about shifting and blipping and braking and not enough time thinking about turning in and making a good turn.  Can anyone else offer any advice from either being on the track with me or with this info?  Any help or advice would be appreciated.

[duc995@aol.com]

The answer is "practice, practice, practice!"

By the way, I don't think you mentioned the race track you were refering to.

[MadXX]

sorry.  I was talking about Blackhawk farms.  

I understand that I need lots of practice.  However the more information I have before going onto the track the smarter I can practice.  I am just looking to prevent the fumbling around that I did last weekend.

[tzracer]

LCR will be having an advanced riders school on May 31st.

Remember what you learned in riders school, take your time, try different things, remember what worked and what didn't. Any time you are at a new track, feel free to join us (LCR) during our track walk (Road America is the only track we do not do a track walk).

This was your 1st time at Blackhawk? Are you going to be at St. Louis this weekend (saturday)? If you are stop by saturday at the end of the day, we can talk about Blackhawk.

[MadXX]

Thanks for the offer of help Brian.  I am not going to St. Louis.  I will however see what I can do about going to the monday school.  I have to see what I can do though as my money situation just tightened up on me a bit this week.

[Super Dave]

And my answer is: set up, set up, attitude.

Your choice on what you want to do.

I can tell you a lot of reasons why things are, and why you're uncomfortable.  To me, it all makes sense...but that's what I do in my schools and in my on going work with my students.

I think that the July Visionsports' Racer University might be full now, but there still is an opportunity for the August one...or buy me for a day someplace.

Ball's in your court.

[MadXX]

July is full? Darnit. I was gonna do that one but had to pay some bills before I had the money available.

I'll try for august then.  

[Steviebee]

I'd offer advice about where to shift and stuff, but I think your an an SV  so i cant help ya.

Like Duc said,  Practice.

Sometimes, its a little bit overwhelming to learn everything in one weekend.

You can try to focus on one corner or section during each session, work on one section at a time, and take it easy throu the rest so you can think about what to try next.

Take the race schools, work with the instructors, make sure you get to follow them.  Seems like a good instructor will always keep just a little ahead of you, it makes you work hard to stay with them.

When your new, every time you go out on the track you should have a plan.  Something you want to accomplish, not lowering lap times, or beating some guy, work on lines and reference points.

[xseal]

I recently read a chapter in Code's "Soft Science of Road Racing" that helped. Key is not where you start braking as much as where you stop. What you care about is your entry speed and turn point. So, don't focus on the last second braking, focus on getting your speed (gear) right going into the turn for a good drive out. That is just a long way of saying that in addition to practice/seat time, you need to have a plan of what it is you're trying to accomplish in practice. Buy Code's book (or get instruction) and go out there and work on one thing (or one set of turns) at a time. Break it down into bit sized elements.

[Super Dave]

If that were really true for actual competition, Rossi, Oliver, Mladin, Rosno, Thornton, and a lot of other racers from top to bottom, as illustrated, would not be breaking into a corner.

Although I've argued with Code and his people that they teach letting off the brakes before cornering, Code claims that he endorces trail braking while his people say you can't to it...interesting thread on another board.

But Code has written a commonly available book.  So, that's available to some, but it certainly isn't necessarily a good guide book for those who want to go faster in racing.

[xseal]

I agree SD, but for a relative beginner, I think it helps consistency to work on entry speed rather than the initial brake point. I agree Code doesn't do a good job teaching trail braking, but this drill actually helped me start to consistently trail brake, b/c I was smoother on the brakes and my entry speeds were higher.

Also, I guess my real point is what I learned when I was shooting for a living: "Practice doesn't make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect." So, when you go out to practice, have a plan and work on the weak points, using good form and being smooth. The Code books are valuable mostly to me for getting ideas on things to try/work on for those areas I'm having trouble, and for giving me ideas on developing a practice plan when I get a track day.  

[Super Dave]

I agree SD, but for a relative beginner, I think it helps consistency to work on entry speed rather than the initial brake point.

Also, I guess my real point is what I learned when I was shooting for a living: "Practice doesn't make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect."  

I'll just go so far as to say that often how an individual will translate from a book can be far from reality.  Mid corner speed is only important in relationship to everything else.  Often, the mid corner is screwed up and sacrifices the entry and exit...which still constitue more time and distance than the mid corner.

As for perfect practice...yeah, that's correct.  Lots of times riders practice the same thing over and over...or they try doing things that the bike will never allow.  You've got to have feel, and that's back to the set up.  Even for "slow" riders, reasonable changes to a bike can offer HUGE rewards.  

A newer rider needs a greater margin of safety in their equipment when compared to an experienced rider.  The experienced rider, by the nature of being experienced, is more able to recognize certain elements that the new rider does not.  I could go on and on and on...  

Anyway, books...  Well, it ain't no race track.  I'd be happy to learn knitting from a book, but reading all those books didn't do much for me.  Hands on knowledge passed from my mentors to me even in the span of a few minutes was far more rewarding than reading and hi-lighting a book.

The experiences that riders can have on a race track aren't new.  So, a new rider isn't breaking new ground that no one knows about.  I haven't seen many riders that completely blew my mind with any new techniques yet either.  

Anyway, it all goes back to the individual riders to make decisions.  I'm here to help, if the rider makes that decision.