I love doing track days and I’d like to get fast enough to be competitive. Getting fast isn’t just a matter of twisting the right grip more. Too bad. You can read a bunch of books and they help, but at some point you have to get on the track and actually apply it. You can also attend schools like CSS, but schools are expensive and do not always occur when you have time. You need something to use between schools so you can keep improving.
What are the goals of an improvement procedure? I believe the goal is to bring average lap time down. The reason for average lap times is that it does not matter if you can do one fast lap if the next lap is 10 seconds slower. For example, the lap record around MSR’s 1.7-mile track is 1:13.899 which is fast. However, if the race pace is 1:18 (an average) and your averaging 1:19 then you are not going to win even if you call pull a 1:13 out of your ass. Lap averages are what we want to improve (obviously if you are averaging 1:13s then you are going to murder the field).
So the question is how do you improve your lap averages? Using a procedure is the answer, but what is the procedure? That is where the conversation starts.
The tools
Before building a procedure what do we need materially? A lap timer of some sort is an absolute must have. A human hitting a stopwatch is not accurate enough. Multiple timing gates would be great so we could have split times, but just an overall lap time will get things going. A notebook or journal would also be a good idea so you can record what you are doing. Have a map of the track, make copies of it so you can write on it, and mark reference points. Describe your riding plan, what you are changing, etc.
A coach of some sort will help. Somebody who is willing to follow you around the track, tell you what you did without judging. If that person can also provide practical advice when solicited so much the better, but otherwise you really do not want somebody instilling his or her beliefs in you while you are working. Pair up with a friend whose abilities are roughly equal to yours and work together. A video camera on the bikes would also be useful. Spend three laps each leading and following. Then spend the rest of the session just working on your own and then debrief each other. This does mean then that you have to have a little bit of memory so you do not debrief like this: “yeah – you looked good”. You need to provide specific information: “you kept the same path all three laps”, “you changed turn 2- you turned in later”, etc. Your coach will also need to know which corner you are working on and what you are changing.
I’m of course assuming that you are at least a competent rider, are able to stay on the track and do not put other riders in danger. If that is not the case then you do not need to read any further and should consider going to a school and working on the basics first. If you are not safe and you are putting other riders in danger, your coach should chew your ass out and tell you to get the F off the track. This obviously is not the case so no worries.
The procedure
Once you have a lap timer, notebook, and somebody has agreed to play coach we can get started. The procedure begins with being consistent. Do not worry about being fast. The pace is just a dream right now. You first want to get a very simple path around the track and be able to follow it so that all of our laps are within two second of each other. Throw away the first and last lap when calculating your average. During the first lap, you are warming up the tires and the last lap will probably be a partial. The important part during the first session is to have a nice small variance lap to lap.
So how do we get our lap variance down to plus or minus two seconds (or better yet one second)? Follow the same path from lap to lap; use the same end-braking marker every time. You will have to adjust your path to get around traffic, which may mean that you have to go faster because you have to travel further. However, the difference in speed should only be a few miles an hour.
How long will it take to get your time variances down? One session, one track day, an entire season of track days. It will depend upon you. However, to speed the process up: slow down. Slowing down is the easiest way to get consistent. You would not be doing this procedure if you were already fast (actually, you might). You want a foundation to build on, even if that foundation is spelled ‘s’, ‘l’, ‘o’, ‘w’. Ride at a speed that keeps you comfortable and confident. Stay on your path every lap; do everything the same repeatedly. The rest of the procedure i s about getting fast.
Now that you have consistent lap times with a nice tight variance, you have a foundation to build on. The next step is to pick one turn to work on. Examine how you are doing this turn:
1) Are faster riders somewhere else when they enter the turn?
2) Can you move the end brake marker back?
3) Could you do it with no brakes?
4) Can you move the apex further back?
5) Can you roll on the gas sooner?
6) Could you use a different gear (higher/lower)?
Pick just one and during the next session work on it. For instance if you decide you can move the end brake marker back three feet then every lap during session #2 you’ll let go of the brakes 3 feet later (obviously you’ll also wait a little longer to get on the brakes). What affect did it have on your times? Did your average go down, up, or stay the same? Keep changing just one thing session to session and checking your data. During the day, you should have one corner very clearly mapped out and you’ll be rocketing through it. At that point, you will need to move on to another corner and repeat the procedure. After a season, you should have all of the corners mapped out so that you are going through them at or near your limit or the bike’s limit.
What if you visit multiple tracks? The same procedure applies regardless. You start all over and begin building again.
By methodically reducing one corner down to its parts and working on them, you will start going faster. At the same time, you will also end up going faster in other places. Most tracks have one or two corners that control the entire track. If you can figure out which one and then figure out how to do it as fast as possible, (which may actually be slow) you will end up making the rest of the track faster. However, you work on one turn at a time. As you work on each corner, you will also find that the track is a series of segments. Turn one through turn two are one segment because the way you do turn one controls how you do turn two.
The procedure:
1) Get consistent by slowing down (ride at 75% of your ability)
2) Pick one turn and work on it until you are nearing your limit (90%)
3) Repeat 2 until all of the turns are done and then start over.
My intent in writing this is to start a conversation. Is this the correct approach? Is there a more efficient method to bring average lap times down? If so how does the procedure change?