Two goals, neither really "new:"
1) Later roll off/faster entry/earlier on the throttle. I'm still entering too slow, coasting too much and getting on it too late.
2) Downshifting skills on corner entry.
There's this one corner complex at my favorite track that climbs steeply. Ideal entry is to carry speed off the straight as the track starts to climb (the fast guys are doing 100), bang a downshift as the bike slows and power up the hill.
Gravity is helping to slow the bike but with good entry velocity you need braking too.
For my modest pace, the bike wants to be in third gear as the track starts to rise, with a downshift to second once it's slowed enough for entry. I just can't seem to get it right and have blown that corner quite often attempting to make the shift properly. I've taken to just lugging it in third through there, which kills my momentum because I'm well below the bike's power band.
Answer: Either get faster overall so third gear works or sharpen up my downshifting skills to keep the bike settled.
Here's a video of one of the TTD instructors turning a fast lap. He runs in third through there but is fast enough for it to work. Like me, he rides an R6.
Start at about 40 seconds... entering the dog-leg straight leading up to the steep uphill right-hander I'm talking about. You can see the bike get squirrely as he downshifts.
It's hard to communicate how steep this thing is. From the bottom of the track (the apex cone at 0:40) to the top (passing the telephone pole at 1:50) it climbs over 250 feet. The bike really wants to be up in the revs to maintain velocity.
For reference if you zip forward to the end of the video, he's on his in-lap and probably going at about my normal pace. I'm at least 15-20 seconds a lap slower than he is.
Link to original page on YouTube.