Clarkie
February 14th, 2011, 05:14 PM
There are a lot of new or newish racers which is a great thing in the MRA, and as when I first started racing (yeah a long, long time ago) I was hungry for information and advice. One of the things I leaned very quickly was that something that worked for one of my friends didn't necessarily work for me. It could be gearing, tires, race lines, even body position.
We all have different backgrounds in motorcycles and mine was in Motocross and Supercross, I used to think road racing was stupid as there wasn't any sweet jumps to go off :D We should all be hungry to keep looking for advice, we don't know it all and even in my final year of racing in 2008 I was learning a lot every time I went on track. Complacency will just get you beaten, maybe even worse. People have different motivations for racing, some want to go as far as they can in the sport, for some it is a release from work/life, others just are out there having a blast and while they don't care if they win or not, everyone wants to improve.
I always rode elbows out and had my bars pretty far forward, that style came from Motocross and it worked well for me, other racers who keep their elbows closer to the tank found a position and riding style that works for them. Is one way better than the other? No, it's all about a racer being comfortable and confident of the bike.
The same is true with different types of body position, you will see some guys who drag their elbows and others who barely get off the bike. In the mid 90's riders didn't get off the bike as far as some do now, it doesn't mean they were slower comparatively, they did what just worked for them. Mick Doohan was all crossed up on the bike, but he was kind of fast. So if someone that isn't your racing coach, tells you that you HAVE to get off the bike further, remember it might work, it might not. I think riders should experiment with their riding style to see what works best for them. For me, the position of my head was important, but I also focused on keeping my spine straight, it's what worked for me. I used to think I had to keep my head behind the screen at all times, but get my butt off the seat and in the process my back was all twisted up. I looked, learned, and found my style. It was 'my' way, not the 'right' way.
I started off racing GP bikes in Aussie and then the 250 Aprilia Cup Series over here, when I raced Aprilia RSV1000's my riding style evolved a lot. I used to go through a set of knee sliders every weekend on the 250's but it got to the point where on my GSX-R1000 they would last half the year, racing in Arizona, Utah and Colorado which was something like 24 events. A different bike, a different style and that's not a bad thing.
With race lines, some riders have a point and shoot approach, others have a huge mid corner speed. One style may suit a certain track more than another, each approach has pro's and con's but once again, different riding styles may work for everyone differently. Gearing is another big one, you tend to sit around discussing things with your friends about the track or your bike. But remember, while we all know different bikes have different internal gear ratio's, every brand of tire is a different circumference and profile as well changing the final drive ratio to the ground not only in a straight line, but in a corner. The same is true when you go from a 180 tire to a 185, 190, 195 or 200 tire, it changes and a 180 in one brand may be different to a 180 in another brand. It comes back to riding style and corner approach, two riders on the same bikes, and same tires could go through a corner differently requiring the rpm to be different. When I used to race Shane Turpin, we were both on very similar bikes, both very close in speed and it was usually a coin toss as to who won. We used different brands of tires but we were sometimes 2 teeth different on the rear sprocket, the tire profile was pretty similar. Who had the 'right' gearing? We both did, we each used the best gearing that worked for the way we attacked the track.
While I don't think there is a 'right' way or 'wrong' way to do anything on a race track, I think everyone should be open minded enough that they try different things until they find something that works well for them on the bike they are riding. You might see some racers just do a ton of laps in practice, but usually the smart riders are working through a process of changing things while they ride. It can be as simple as targeting a corner, or a sector of the track until they nail it then move on to a different section of they track. I used to also be in and out of the pits changing my suspension until it was right. Something to remember, is very seldom do you get the entire track spot on. I usually set my bike up so it was awesome through 90% of the track and I always had one or two corners it was just 'ok' through. Not bad, but just not as good as it could be. It's about give and take, and I would rather have 90% of the track as good as I could get it and 10% just ok, than have 50/50.
I have worked with a few people and during a practice session asked them how hard they were pushing, if the answer is anything less than 80% I tell them to go out and push at 95%. Why? The bike will react differently at race pace than trackday pace, the tires, the suspension, even the gearing is different at race pace. If you are just doing lap after lap at 60% all you are doing is burning fuel and using up your tires. People say they are just learning the track at 60%, well things happen differently at higher speeds and it also gets your brain up to speed quicker. Our brains process things differently at different speeds and if you get your brain used to working at 'race pace' faster, the easier is becomes to slow things down mentally at speed, but that is another subject, sort of like rpm management :wink:
For years people used the excuse of "They just have more power than me" when they were beaten by another rider, maybe the other rider just worked on their program better than you did. Maybe while you were shooting the shit with your friends they were taking notes, making plans, changing things on their bikes. 10 years ago the power a bike made was a huge advantage, now the all make good power and they all handle really well out of the box which means it comes down to the rider more. Think, change things, come up with a game plan, don't just do laps.
We all have different backgrounds in motorcycles and mine was in Motocross and Supercross, I used to think road racing was stupid as there wasn't any sweet jumps to go off :D We should all be hungry to keep looking for advice, we don't know it all and even in my final year of racing in 2008 I was learning a lot every time I went on track. Complacency will just get you beaten, maybe even worse. People have different motivations for racing, some want to go as far as they can in the sport, for some it is a release from work/life, others just are out there having a blast and while they don't care if they win or not, everyone wants to improve.
I always rode elbows out and had my bars pretty far forward, that style came from Motocross and it worked well for me, other racers who keep their elbows closer to the tank found a position and riding style that works for them. Is one way better than the other? No, it's all about a racer being comfortable and confident of the bike.
The same is true with different types of body position, you will see some guys who drag their elbows and others who barely get off the bike. In the mid 90's riders didn't get off the bike as far as some do now, it doesn't mean they were slower comparatively, they did what just worked for them. Mick Doohan was all crossed up on the bike, but he was kind of fast. So if someone that isn't your racing coach, tells you that you HAVE to get off the bike further, remember it might work, it might not. I think riders should experiment with their riding style to see what works best for them. For me, the position of my head was important, but I also focused on keeping my spine straight, it's what worked for me. I used to think I had to keep my head behind the screen at all times, but get my butt off the seat and in the process my back was all twisted up. I looked, learned, and found my style. It was 'my' way, not the 'right' way.
I started off racing GP bikes in Aussie and then the 250 Aprilia Cup Series over here, when I raced Aprilia RSV1000's my riding style evolved a lot. I used to go through a set of knee sliders every weekend on the 250's but it got to the point where on my GSX-R1000 they would last half the year, racing in Arizona, Utah and Colorado which was something like 24 events. A different bike, a different style and that's not a bad thing.
With race lines, some riders have a point and shoot approach, others have a huge mid corner speed. One style may suit a certain track more than another, each approach has pro's and con's but once again, different riding styles may work for everyone differently. Gearing is another big one, you tend to sit around discussing things with your friends about the track or your bike. But remember, while we all know different bikes have different internal gear ratio's, every brand of tire is a different circumference and profile as well changing the final drive ratio to the ground not only in a straight line, but in a corner. The same is true when you go from a 180 tire to a 185, 190, 195 or 200 tire, it changes and a 180 in one brand may be different to a 180 in another brand. It comes back to riding style and corner approach, two riders on the same bikes, and same tires could go through a corner differently requiring the rpm to be different. When I used to race Shane Turpin, we were both on very similar bikes, both very close in speed and it was usually a coin toss as to who won. We used different brands of tires but we were sometimes 2 teeth different on the rear sprocket, the tire profile was pretty similar. Who had the 'right' gearing? We both did, we each used the best gearing that worked for the way we attacked the track.
While I don't think there is a 'right' way or 'wrong' way to do anything on a race track, I think everyone should be open minded enough that they try different things until they find something that works well for them on the bike they are riding. You might see some racers just do a ton of laps in practice, but usually the smart riders are working through a process of changing things while they ride. It can be as simple as targeting a corner, or a sector of the track until they nail it then move on to a different section of they track. I used to also be in and out of the pits changing my suspension until it was right. Something to remember, is very seldom do you get the entire track spot on. I usually set my bike up so it was awesome through 90% of the track and I always had one or two corners it was just 'ok' through. Not bad, but just not as good as it could be. It's about give and take, and I would rather have 90% of the track as good as I could get it and 10% just ok, than have 50/50.
I have worked with a few people and during a practice session asked them how hard they were pushing, if the answer is anything less than 80% I tell them to go out and push at 95%. Why? The bike will react differently at race pace than trackday pace, the tires, the suspension, even the gearing is different at race pace. If you are just doing lap after lap at 60% all you are doing is burning fuel and using up your tires. People say they are just learning the track at 60%, well things happen differently at higher speeds and it also gets your brain up to speed quicker. Our brains process things differently at different speeds and if you get your brain used to working at 'race pace' faster, the easier is becomes to slow things down mentally at speed, but that is another subject, sort of like rpm management :wink:
For years people used the excuse of "They just have more power than me" when they were beaten by another rider, maybe the other rider just worked on their program better than you did. Maybe while you were shooting the shit with your friends they were taking notes, making plans, changing things on their bikes. 10 years ago the power a bike made was a huge advantage, now the all make good power and they all handle really well out of the box which means it comes down to the rider more. Think, change things, come up with a game plan, don't just do laps.