Biking Techniques (Part 23)

The Track

Corners and Straights

Everybody talks about corners, but they're only part of the track

In fact, despite what you hear, races are won on the straights, not the corners. You spend so much more time on a straight than in a corner that the straights are actually more important.
The catch is that your speed on the straight depends on how you come out of the corner before it. The faster you exit that corner, and the sooner you get on the gas, the faster you'll start the straight -- so the faster you'll be all the way down it.

What is a straight?

That's an important question, but actually it's asked backwards. So we'll address it from the other end.
What do you do on a straight? You stay wide open throttle, changing up when you need to do so. You accelerate all the way down it. (We consider the braking at the end to be part of the next corner, not the straight.)

So in effect, a straight in terms of a racetrack is anywhere you can stay at wide open throttle, without turning significantly. In other words, anywhere that acceleration is the only significant part of the traction circle that you're using.

What is a corner?

Corners connect straights. Sometimes it's not one corner that connects straights, but a sequence of corners. So a corner is anywhere you can't stay full on the gas, or where you have to turn significantly. That means that anywhere you come off the part of the traction circle that's full acceleration, you're doing a corner.

How to fit them together

Look at the track, pick out the straights, and connect them with the corners. Then see how to classify each corner, and the correct line follows naturally from that.


From TrackDoD Novice Group Orientation