Downshift timing - high speed into Turn 1

[adouglas]

Just got back from my first track day of the season and tried a little thing I picked up by watching a video from Ken Condon. Worked great, so sharing FWIW.

When you're at full chat on the front straight and headed into Turn 1, you need to do several things in a very short period of time:

- Roll off
- Get into the proper gear for the corner
- Get your body set
- Brake

Not necessarily in that order.

When you're not that fast it's no big deal. But I've found that as speeds increase, getting the sequencing and timing down becomes more important. I've struggled a bit with it, either having to wait to let the clutch out because I downshifted too early, or coasting when I shouldn't have been, or....

In the video, which is of Thompson, Ken is in 6th gear and enters Turn 1 in 3rd. He prefers to slip the clutch rather than blip, to add stability (note his bike doesn't have a slipper clutch). He rolls off and starts braking lightly to load the front, and goes shift, shift....... shift, with the last one a couple of hundred feet before tip-in. Braking all the time, with the pressure increasing until tip-in, then he trails off to the apex.

I tried this on the same track yesterday, using the same markers and timing. The timing of those shifts really did the trick. Worked great. In the past that turn had been a bit tricky for me to get right.

Here's the video. Start at 7:30 and watch for a couple of minutes. On the second lap his voiceover doesn't coincide with the downshifts... he's talking about it after it happens.

I see him rolling off as he passes the building on the left, catching the first two shifts around the 5 marker, and the last one around the 3 or 2 marker.

Link to original page on YouTube.

[csmith12]

Cool stuff!

[adouglas]

Yeah, it was giving me fits at Mid-O, trying to manage markers, downshifts and braking all at the same time going down that back straight. Never did get it quite right. I now have the specific tools I need.

[csmith12]

If you knew at the time, you should have said something as hindsight is always 20/20 my friend. Sometimes adding a few extra reference points for shifting and such can make all the difference.

The general rule of thumb I follow for timing actions is, start with a basic set of markers at a slower pace, then build too many markers, move the markers to what feels right/good throttle control and line... then thin the herd (markers) as needed.

Maybe you are like me, it takes me a REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, long time to deeply & truly learn a track so I know where to do what and at the right times.

[adouglas]

I'm finding the narrated lap videos (in the track info post at the top of the thread) to be hugely useful, because you see what, specifically, is being done where. It's one thing to get solid but general advice, but quite another to see it in action in a way that relates directly to something you've experienced.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by csmith12

If you knew at the time, you should have said something as hindsight is always 20/20 my friend. Sometimes adding a few extra reference points for shifting and such can make all the difference.

The general rule of thumb I follow for timing actions is, start with a basic set of markers at a slower pace, then build too many markers, move the markers to what feels right/good throttle control and line... then thin the herd (markers) as needed.

Maybe you are like me, it takes me a REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, long time to deeply & truly learn a track so I know where to do what and at the right times.

That's what blows my mind about the world-class guys, who can show up at a track for the first time and be within a second or two of the track record within 10-15 laps.