Hehe No they meet at a naval club in Hillingdon, and I think it is the 1st and 3rd Monday night, but it may be the 2nd and 4th !!! Like I said I’m still new and have been too busy to go to the last couple. I’ll get back about the exact details soon.
Tips… here’s my two bob’s worth:
Ever felt rushed into a corner… like you havent got time to do every thing that is required for the turn… Its because you are not looking in early enough… The earlier you look in the more time you give yourself or you appear to give yourself… and the slower it all feels…
I personally ride how I am feeling… If I am well up for a scrap and not worried then I’ll go banzai ( I can feel it in my blood)… other races when I am slightly negative or worried then I chill… When I am most relaxed and confident is when I get the best results… Here is the thing though… EVERY Pro racer has a plan… that they have pratised in qualifying, testing whatever… You go out there and work out yr ref points braking points bla bla… if you feel 1/2 way through a corner that your speed could have been faster then speed it up next time round a couple of mph… Play with it… work with it… later turning, quicker turning… less entry speed more exit speed / visa versa… Just dont get stuck going round lap after lap making the same mistakes… The race is the time when you go out there and put into practise the plan you have orchestrated… Yes its chaos and it will never be perfect but the fact you have one will make you consistant and less stressed and rushed as you fly round the track out of your skin… Pro racers I would say also ride at 90/95% most of the time… You can race at 99-100% for a few laps but very few people do it all race… But you can only ride at 100% if you have a plan to work from (dots to join up) otherwise its different every lap, inconsistant and if you are going banzai like that for every lap you will generally end up doing something the bike doesnt like and you’ll bin it not win it…
I also think in club racing that there is alot to be said for not falling off… Is a 5th / 6th worth going to hospital for…Yes the sport is (in my opinion) but I’d be pissed if I binned it while chasing someone down… In the beginning my ultimate plan before every race is to finish it… Crashes screw with your head space and confidence …let alone the bank balance… I have gone from running around in 20th - 15th in each race to now being inthe top 5 nearly in every race and that I believe has been done by finishing races and building confidence not pushing it…Now I wanna win: I have entered every race and had 1 DNF due to a false neutral going into charlies at Cadwell… I ran off track and instead of hitting tyre wall at 90+ mph head on and bending my forks I decided to put the back brake on whilst on the grass and just bring it down… So one sort of crash… Obviously I have been lucky too because you never know when you are gonna get caught up in a racing incident and it will happen but I think there is alot to be said for Mental Attitude… before and during a race…
Basically you need to have points… dots to join up… You have to have breaking marker… end of breaking marker… (more importantly), turn point, apex, and ref points to lead you out of corner and then repeat the above.
Also relax and stay loose on the bars… Too tight on the bars is the single biggest reason for bike handeling problems… The worst thing is you tense when you are scared which is normally the worst time to do it… also what we tend to do when we **** ourselves is stare at what we are scared of… And what happens when we stare at it… yup… we go there… LOOK AT WHERE YOU WANT TO GO AND NOT AT THE OBSTICAL…
People who think they get better everytime they ride are deluded… yes that will be the case for a bit but unless you really understand what it is you are trying to acheive for the bike when you ride it then all you will do is practise your mistakes… Sometimes what is actually the correct way feels wierd and alien because you’re so used to doing it yr way and not the ‘bikes way’. You have to re-teach yourself… Just keep chipping away at certain diciplines and sooner or later it will just be “the way you ride”… The bike is all capable… we are the weak link… you gotta do what the bike wants not what you think you should do coz it feels right.
When learning stuff ride at 75% of yr ability… anything above and you’ll be concentrating too hard to actually take anything in… Also think about this… If you cant do it slowly how the hell are you going to do it at speed??? Awnser… you are not…?
At lastly… Following peoples lines is utter crap… maybe … and I really do mean maybe it could work for that particular corner… BUT IT WONT MAKE YOU A BETTER NOR FASTER RIDER… You need to think about the track and where YOU want to be on it… I am doing this speed so if I turn here means I apex here and then exit there… okay that didnt work so I’ll try same speed but move my Turn point a foot to the right… yes that works… I find it incredible the amount of people on track days who just spend all day practising their ****e lines… so many dont try different things… You have to learn to think for yr self otherwise you’ll always going to be FOLLOWING and not Leading…
I am going to wide… ok so I’ll turn deeper and harder… the faster you can counter steer the higher your turn degree so the less lean angle you need which ultimatly means you can put the power on earlier… Learn to counter steer fast…
Dont get me started on throttle control… it is the single most important discipline in riding a bike… dont beleive me … Read up on it… you can even get rounbd dody suspension if you get it right… its about keeping a 40/60 weight ratio on bike f/r while it is cranked over… as soon as you’ve made the turn you need to load the rear asap…
Thats me kids… have a great weekend
Peace
Oli (BMCRC Nationwide Championships Supersport600 #20)
(Dont have a clue whaty I am talking about do I Veggie Dave)
is this any good ?
Also, top read & advice Oli, thanks