Quote:
Originally Posted by Misti
Cool. Maybe use some of the track time to work on your visual skills and practicing trying to see the space available to pass instead of the space that is taken up by the rider. If you are able to get closer ahead of your "pass corner" then you will have more time and space available to get by without having to make it all up AND pass. A lot of this will depend on how much attention you put on the rider in front of you and where they are. When I approach a rider I try and see the amount of space around them and put as little attention on them as possible. With my peripheral vision I keep track of where they are and where they are going and try and choose passes where the door is opening as opposed to closing (during track days, not racing). Anytime you focus on the rider in front and allow your vision to close in on them, even for a split second, you have lost valuable time.
Let me know how it goes and have fun!!
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Thanks, @
Misti ! It is definitely still a work in progress, but I felt that there was some improvement. I caught myself tunnel visioning in on the rider in front a few times. However, whenever I did, I worked on keeping a wideview and looking past the rider for the next corner, while keeping tabs on them with my peripheral vision. A few times, I definitely felt the difference in increased visual cues and faster cornering speed while making passes by keeping the wideview rather than forgetting and focusing on the rider in front. Also, no questionable passes on my end this time.
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October 6-7
Thunderhill with Carter@TheTrack
Main take-away: Don't forget good arm/body positioning to help with a fast quickturn turn-in.
I went to Thunderhill to learn the track and see how my laptimes would look. I went with a particular eye towards trying to catch the last AFM round of the year. Local AFM 300 club racers said that consistent lines with laptimes below 2:30 would be safe for racing, so that was the baseline target for the weekend. The weather was nearly perfect, except a little bit windy. I was able to make steady improvement on Day 1 down to 2:28. I was focused on trying to learn the lines while keeping the turn-in area in mind. I still have to work on turn-in area, as it was brought to my attention on Day 2 that I was early apexing some corners when I should really be focused on getting a better drive out onto the main straight.
As a side note, the Carter@TheTrack folks were awesome. Coaches were highly visible and friendly. They also hosted a buffet dinner with beer on Saturday night. The dinner was a great chance to meet and talk with other riders, and chat with the organization staff.
On Day 2, Jason from Dunlop Tires mounted a set of Q3+, and I set about trying to build off day 1. I spent a few sessions riding with a 250 rider I had met the night before, and we both learned from each other in terms of the give and take in different sections of the track. I was able to get down to a 2:25 by lunch time. After lunch, I was able to get a tow and some lead-follow from one of the instructors, Frenchie, and he critiqued a few areas he saw I was particularly slow in. To make it a point, he passed me on the outside of T1 just to show me how much speed I was giving up. The coaching was definitely helpful as I immediately dropped 2 seconds and started running consistent 2:23 laptimes.
Based on Frenchie's feedback and some retrospective thinking about where I "felt slow," I definitely feel like there are a few spots for easy time gains next time out. The last session ended up being a slow session because of combined groups due to a red flag in the previous session, so I wasn't able to piece it all together. But since I was able to run 2:23s, I decided to take the plunge and signed up for the last AFM round. As Dylan Code says, the fastest way to get faster for racing is to just go racing.
Also, I had a nice chat with the suspension legend that is Dave Moss. I went to ask him about how to think about the balance between suspension upgrades and rider upgrades. I went primarily as I have uneven wearing with the stock suspension, and wanted to hear his thoughts on adjustable suspension versus a rider trying to learn to get the most out of the stock set up. His advice was to really focus on rider improvements until around 2:15 laptimes at Thunderhill. At that point, he thought I might start understanding where the suspension gains are to be had. So the new goal is now 2:15.
With the positive weekend, I will try my hand at the AFM round this weekend, and look forward to learning more from the other 250/300s riders. Based on the more recent races, it seems like I'll be at the tail of the pack, but that means there's only forward progress possible.
