Skills to go fast + not going fast = greater margin of safety.
WIN
I was thinking about your scenario a bit further. Downhill, off-camber, sharp turn... sounds a lot like Turn 4 at Thompson.
That happens to be the turn where I discovered what trail braking actually does for you.
Here's how I approach that particular corner:
- Blast up the straight, on throttle
- Off throttle and on brake hard-ish (no coasting), downshift to 2nd gear while this happens. Always on the brake. Let out the clutch smoothly - no jerks. Bike is already in gear before the turn, and already slowed.
- Tip in, looking for very late apex. Still on the front brake but just a little bit... just dragging, not trying to slow down. That's trail braking. What this does is settle the chassis... makes it feel a LOT more stable.
- Feed in throttle very slowly as the brake comes off. Slowly because it's downhill and gravity is helping you. At the apex with the bike standing back up, roll on more aggressively.
What's happening with the throttle is something called "maintenance throttle." It's just a little bit, to keep the bike from "falling over" as you tip it in. If you've ever had that feeling of the bike wanting to fall out from under you going around a slow corner, it's because you weren't on the power at all.
When you lean a tire over, its effective circumference is less. It's like you're suddenly riding on 14 inch wheels instead of 17 inch wheels. The bike will slow all by itself simply because of this. Maintenance throttle counteracts this effect and keeps the bike from wanting to fall further.
In practice, what you're doing is cracking the throttle open and increasing it very, very slowly... that's the maintenance part... then when you can, you roll on faster. But never whack hard. Always smooooooooth....