he has a butt cheek off, tittie over tank, head down n towards the mirror. I have they all seem to pull their knees in against the fairing n still be draggin knee, elbows, shoulders, toes lol. I wouldnt suggest trying that on a street bike tho, for one, their bikes are purpose build just for racing (MotoGP, AMA not so much) 2 their rear sets are set alot higher n further back than a reg street bikes are, and 3 they have more riding talent in their lil pinky toes than all of us put together lol.

 

Exactly right. Street bikes aren't capable of the ~60 deg lean angles of a motogp bike, so we're compensating by hanging off farther to get our center of gravity low without major hard parts dragging. As for motogp talent, I'd be giddy to be able to ride as well as the last place qualifier or even some who couldn't qualify. Motogp riders are just crazy skilled. Their knee touches and the bike just keeps coming over farther, pushing their knee in toward the bike. I get mesmerized watching motogp when they show the info on the screen from their data acquisition system.....how much throttle, brake, lean angle, gear selection, shifting at 18,000 rpm, holy crap!!!

 

Agreed...When Im at the track sometimes I think Im leaning WAAY over but Im really not.
Its not until I start scraping toe sliders that Im actually leaned over pretty far and that about the limit.
I really dont care about dragging a knee anymore (did when I first started doing trackdays) and just use it as a gauge on my lean angle.

 

1:30s at Jennings are pretty quick. Doubt if I can do 1:30s.

Get yourself a copy of Lee Parks's Total Control and compare your body position to the ideal body position for peak performance.

Looking at your photos, I can see you've got it right sometimes, but not right other times. Your head should be well inside the bike and the turn, looking downrange, with the throttle arm more or less hanging over the tank. In some of the photos, your head is more centered up.

I'm no expert at this, by any means, but I'll bet if you got some coaching on it, you'd shave another couple of seconds off your already impressive times.

--Paul

 

yup a good rider on a 250 even can turn .30's @ jennings to tho

 

Truth! I followed a guy towards the end of the day that was running lap for lap with me on a race prepped 250. The only reason I kept up with him was because of the back straight and I flew up on him. The entire rest of the course he would pull away from me and then once on the back straight I would catch back up right before turn 3. Haha, he showed me up for sure. I did check out his tires later and he was running full slicks in some of my defense.

And to those critiquing my form. Yes, I know i need work. I'm definitely not consistent yet on my form on every corner. Coming from car track days one thing about the bike days is they are ridiculously tiring. Trying to run hard lap after lap is exhausting. Sometimes I just give up on certain laps because I don't feel like pushing it anymore but still want to be out there.

 

Let's not miss the main point of track days. Be smooth and have FUN.

 

Awesome. I need to do a track day some time.

 

Wow just came across this thread and damn you guys are good!! im scared to take tight turns on the street lol ever since my last lowside . for some reason i feel like the bike just wants to fall over so i have to reduce speeds and it turns easier, but then its like im turning like a granny

any tips for getting over that "fear" of lowsiding again?? and for the turning, do you think i should try increasing the speed and lean more?? i believe the lowside was caused by me going too slow and leaning too much, and now im scared to lean alot

 

If you are not comfortable, then I will not advise going faster.

My favourite exercise in the spring is to find a road I know. Put the bike in a gear, and practice riding in ONLY that gear through the twisty road using ONLY throttle position.

The object is NOT seeing how fast you can go on the straight, but how smoothly you can control the throttle through the corners.

My advice is to focus all energy on being smooth, being relaxed, and being in complete throttle control.

As you get more comfortable after a few runs then increase the corner speed slowly and minimally - but - keep the straight away speed down. This is not a braking exercise, but a smoothness exercise.

Folks who try to go fast often try to go faster on the straights, brake too hard or erratically before corners, and then wobble through the corner. That will only slow you down in the long run.

The goal of this exercise is to have a controlled entry, and gradual acceleration out of the corner. This means the bike is setup properly, and you can as you practice accelerate out of the corners by gently easing onto the throttle.

When you start going to the track - this is a technique you'll use every corner (the throttle hand anyhow).

As for body position at this stage? Try to stay still... don't focus on getting body position and smoothness done in one day. After awhile you can dip the shoulder a bit... and eventually start rotating the body down/forward/to the side and swinging the knee out.

Small steps - build confidence - don't rush.