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Old January 11th, 2018, 06:07 AM   #9
adouglas
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Name: Gort
Location: A secret lair which, being secret, has an undisclosed location
Join Date: May 2009

Motorcycle(s): Aprilia RS660

Posts: A lot.
Blog Entries: 6
MOTM - Jul '18, Nov '16, Aug '14, May '13
BTW, that 5th gear roll-on thing from TOTW II... very few corners I've encountered actually require such a thing, at least at the speeds I ride. If I'm cornering in 5th it's because the corner is really just a kink in a long straight. But I get that it's more for illustrative purposes, to highlight the relatively gentle nature of the acceleration that's called for.

One thing I have found is that taking some corners in a higher gear than seems right is a lot smoother. T1 at Palmer, for example. The cone chicane is right after it, so you'd think it's a second-gear corner. But if I take it in 3rd and use momentum to carry me through the cones, the bike is far more settled... the acceleration as I roll on is smoother. Net result: More confidence in getting it on.

BTW that vid I referred to above is Paul Duval at the same track. Count the gear changes... he's going through Turn 1 in 4th, downshifting to 3rd for the Turn 4/5 esses and staying in 3rd for the rest of the lap until the front straight. I confirmed this by asking him on FB. This parallels the strategy I've been using, but I'm one gear lower (and probably 30 seconds a lap slower!).

Link to original page on YouTube.

What I'm taking away from this video is that there really is a hell of a lot of grip to be had, if I can just get my reptilian brain to accept that fact.

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