It was a great race anyway. Rossi have made a mistake when he tried to overtake Casey Stoner and made him overshot. Although he drop to 3rd place because of that mistake, he manage to overtake back John Hopkins to snatch 2nd place. Casey Stoner won the race, with Valentino Rossi at 2nd and John Hopkins at third.
The Ducati was really strong for the circuits that have really long straights. The results will be update later.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Friday, May 4, 2007
A riding trip to Kuala Klawang (21st April)
This will be a slight of brief report about the ride.
We met at 'Gerai Makcik' (a food shop) about 9 am. There's only 6 people joined the ride.
We rode till the 'bridge', quite close to Titi Kong. Titi Kong means Titi Village.
Then, we headed up to Tekala's waterfall.
Met up a few bikers joining a charity event near to the waterfall.
Then, we took a dip into the waterfall. It is a nice place for outdoor activities.
Before we headed home, we went to the charity event to have our lunch, hahaha.
Then, we headed to Tesco Klang to have some teas.
After that, we headed home.
Thanks for those who were inviting me for the ride.
We met at 'Gerai Makcik' (a food shop) about 9 am. There's only 6 people joined the ride.
We rode till the 'bridge', quite close to Titi Kong. Titi Kong means Titi Village.
Then, we headed up to Tekala's waterfall.
Met up a few bikers joining a charity event near to the waterfall.
Then, we took a dip into the waterfall. It is a nice place for outdoor activities.
Before we headed home, we went to the charity event to have our lunch, hahaha.
Then, we headed to Tesco Klang to have some teas.
After that, we headed home.
Thanks for those who were inviting me for the ride.
MotoGP 2007 Championship in Istanbul Park, Turkey
I'm very sorry for the late updates, since last 2 weeks were my busiest week with a lot of projects, assignments, tests and quizes.
Anyway, I'm still will update the results in Turkey in this blog.
MotoGP
250
125
source from MotoGP.com
Anyway, I'm still will update the results in Turkey in this blog.
MotoGP
250
125
source from MotoGP.com
Biking Techniques (Part 37)
The VIR Spiral Revisited -- the REAL line!
The VIR South Course has one corner where almost every line modification reason has to be taken into account. It is of course the complex called the Spiral. I'm sure you all thought it looked interesting enough when we considered a flat racetrack back when we looked at Type III corners, but that doesn't even begin to describe it.
The first turn of the Spiral is right at the crest of a hill -- you'll be going over a crest in the turn, and it's off-camber as soon as you get over the crest. It then drops thirty feet into the Type III at the bottom, and from there rises uphill again, with the Type I slightly banked.
So first we have to take into account the Type II being on the crest of a hill. Since the traction will drop dramatically as the bike goes over the crest, and we'll have less ground clearance in the off-camber turn, we have to slow more than we would for a flat corner of this type. We also can't trail-brake as much into the corner because of the crest of the hill. Fortunately, the entry to the turn is quite steeply uphill, and we can use the extra traction there to brake later and harder before we turn in. Then we have a moment to get back on the gas, which will help plant the rear in the downhill off-camber section, then back on the brakes and trail-brake into the right-hander at the bottom of the hill.
Now let's look at the exit from the complex, the Type I. Since it's slightly uphill and banked, we can take advantage of the extra traction to brake more rapidly, turn in more rapidly, and get on the gas hard while we're still turning. We can go deeper, turn harder, and be full on the gas well before we reach the apex.
Now back to the right-hand Type III in the center of the complex... This corner is initially off-camber and downhill, so we have to trail-brake smoothly and gently, and turn in smoothly. We end up taking this turn as a sweeping curve, under power, exiting to the right side of the track into the braking zone for the final left-hander.
From TrackDoD Novice Group Orientation
The VIR South Course has one corner where almost every line modification reason has to be taken into account. It is of course the complex called the Spiral. I'm sure you all thought it looked interesting enough when we considered a flat racetrack back when we looked at Type III corners, but that doesn't even begin to describe it.
The first turn of the Spiral is right at the crest of a hill -- you'll be going over a crest in the turn, and it's off-camber as soon as you get over the crest. It then drops thirty feet into the Type III at the bottom, and from there rises uphill again, with the Type I slightly banked.
So first we have to take into account the Type II being on the crest of a hill. Since the traction will drop dramatically as the bike goes over the crest, and we'll have less ground clearance in the off-camber turn, we have to slow more than we would for a flat corner of this type. We also can't trail-brake as much into the corner because of the crest of the hill. Fortunately, the entry to the turn is quite steeply uphill, and we can use the extra traction there to brake later and harder before we turn in. Then we have a moment to get back on the gas, which will help plant the rear in the downhill off-camber section, then back on the brakes and trail-brake into the right-hander at the bottom of the hill.
Now let's look at the exit from the complex, the Type I. Since it's slightly uphill and banked, we can take advantage of the extra traction to brake more rapidly, turn in more rapidly, and get on the gas hard while we're still turning. We can go deeper, turn harder, and be full on the gas well before we reach the apex.
Now back to the right-hand Type III in the center of the complex... This corner is initially off-camber and downhill, so we have to trail-brake smoothly and gently, and turn in smoothly. We end up taking this turn as a sweeping curve, under power, exiting to the right side of the track into the braking zone for the final left-hander.
From TrackDoD Novice Group Orientation
Biking Techniques (Part 36)
Elevation and Camber
There is an added complication that has to be taken into account in the line -- changes in the slope of the track, whether uphill or downhill (elevation), or banked or sloped outwards (camber). This affects how much total traction you have available, and in some corners can change the line quite radically.
Traction
Simply put, whenever the bike is being pushed up by the road -- uphill, or a banked turn -- it's like you have extra weight on the tires, so you have more traction available. That lets you brake harder, turn harder, accelerate harder, and mix those more radically.
Whenever the road is dropping away from the bike, you have the opposite effect -- less traction. That means you can't brake as hard, turn as hard, accelerate as hard, or mix those as readily.
So you want to take advantage of uphill and banked sections to do most of your turning there, and try to keep fairly straight in downhill or off-camber sections.
Ground Clearance
Camber also affects how much ground clearance you have while cornering. You can use much more lean angle in a banked turn, and that emphasizes the need to make use of the banking to do most of your turning. On the other hand, in an off-camber turn, you can't use as much lean angle, and so you need to be more careful.
From TrackDoD Novice Group Orientation
There is an added complication that has to be taken into account in the line -- changes in the slope of the track, whether uphill or downhill (elevation), or banked or sloped outwards (camber). This affects how much total traction you have available, and in some corners can change the line quite radically.
Traction
Simply put, whenever the bike is being pushed up by the road -- uphill, or a banked turn -- it's like you have extra weight on the tires, so you have more traction available. That lets you brake harder, turn harder, accelerate harder, and mix those more radically.
Whenever the road is dropping away from the bike, you have the opposite effect -- less traction. That means you can't brake as hard, turn as hard, accelerate as hard, or mix those as readily.
So you want to take advantage of uphill and banked sections to do most of your turning there, and try to keep fairly straight in downhill or off-camber sections.
Ground Clearance
Camber also affects how much ground clearance you have while cornering. You can use much more lean angle in a banked turn, and that emphasizes the need to make use of the banking to do most of your turning. On the other hand, in an off-camber turn, you can't use as much lean angle, and so you need to be more careful.
From TrackDoD Novice Group Orientation
Biking Techniques (Part 35)
Did I Get It Right?
Exit speed is the only real measure of how good you are at a corner. If you want an objective measure of how well you did a corner, get yourself a site picture of the exit and pick a spot just after your track-out point. Your rpms, or speed, there is the measure of your corner. If it's a corner where you have to shift after it, see where you have to shift up -- the sooner you have to shift, the better the exit speed.
Another measure is that you should be riding the whole track. There should not be one point on the track where you're not working hard at it. If you find yourself cruising a section of the track, then you're not applying enough attention to it and need to think harder about that area.
Complete lap times mean nothing unless grid position is at stake. I'm not going to address the special needs of a qualifying session, except to say that they don't apply for any other type of session
So we don't need no steenkin' lap times. They mean nothing today. With the techniques I've outlined, you will know whether you got it right or not, for you and your bike on this day. Don't waste attention on worrying about lap times. Take each corner right, exit fast, and the lap time will come.
From TrackDoD Novice Group Orientation
Exit speed is the only real measure of how good you are at a corner. If you want an objective measure of how well you did a corner, get yourself a site picture of the exit and pick a spot just after your track-out point. Your rpms, or speed, there is the measure of your corner. If it's a corner where you have to shift after it, see where you have to shift up -- the sooner you have to shift, the better the exit speed.
Another measure is that you should be riding the whole track. There should not be one point on the track where you're not working hard at it. If you find yourself cruising a section of the track, then you're not applying enough attention to it and need to think harder about that area.
Complete lap times mean nothing unless grid position is at stake. I'm not going to address the special needs of a qualifying session, except to say that they don't apply for any other type of session
So we don't need no steenkin' lap times. They mean nothing today. With the techniques I've outlined, you will know whether you got it right or not, for you and your bike on this day. Don't waste attention on worrying about lap times. Take each corner right, exit fast, and the lap time will come.
From TrackDoD Novice Group Orientation
Biking Techniques (Part 34)
Is This One Corner or Two?
Some long turns -- generally 180 degrees or more -- give you a choice of lines. A good example is Courage on the VIR South Course, which connects the front straight and the infield straight leading to the Spiral.
With these corners, you can take it as a single Type I. You can turn in once, take a late apex, and exit it onto the next straight just like a textbook Type I.
You could also divide it into two corners, a Type II coming off the front straight and a Type I exiting onto the infield straight.
Which one do you use?
Which one works best for you depends on a lot of factors. Does your bike accelerate, brake, and turn rapidly, or do you have to take longer braking, have low power for acceleration, and take longer to turn? In the former case, you can dive into the Type II, snap it over, and launch out of the Type I. In the latter case, the tight turn in the middle takes too long and loses too much speed to be worth it, so a single long Type I will give you better exit speed.
As a general rule of thumb, if you can take it as a single corner, try that way first. It's not easy, because you have to turn very late and turn your head way around to look for the apex. In some ways it's more difficult that way, because hitting the apex so far around the corner is mentally hard to do -- it's easy to be a Sleazeball -- but it is the better initial line.
Are there exceptions? Sure there are. No matter what type of bike you have, if the corner is tight enough, you will have to slow down to a crawl in the middle of the corner. In that case, you'd just as well slow enough to take it as a Type II/I Combo, since you have to brake a lot and accelerate from a minimal speed.
Skills you have to master first
Taking a corner as a double II/I requires some technical bike-handling skills that are not easy to put together.
Look at the line above, and you'll see that there's a lot happening very quickly. You get on the brakes, turn in, get back on the gas, back on the brakes, flick the bike over very rapidly, and get back hard on the gas again. Mess up any one of those, and if you're not accustomed to how rapidly things are happening, you can be in trouble very quickly indeed. Also, in the case of Courage at VIR, you no longer have the option of the "escape road" if you miss your braking.
Like everything else on the track, slow down when you're working on this. Get the line and technique right, and as you get comfortable with it you can attack the transitions harder.
Using this on the street
Any of you who've seen me ride twisties in the mountains will immediate recognize one of the ways I go fast in the very tight stuff -- for me, every switchback is a II/I combo. It's very hard work, gets some very funny looks, but it is fast.
You have to be careful, however, not to over-ride your sight lines. If you can't clearly see the point where you'd transition between the Type II and the Type I, you can't safely take it that way. It works best in switchbacks, where you can see not only the whole corner but the straight following it too.
From TrackDoD Novice Group Orientation
Some long turns -- generally 180 degrees or more -- give you a choice of lines. A good example is Courage on the VIR South Course, which connects the front straight and the infield straight leading to the Spiral.
With these corners, you can take it as a single Type I. You can turn in once, take a late apex, and exit it onto the next straight just like a textbook Type I.
You could also divide it into two corners, a Type II coming off the front straight and a Type I exiting onto the infield straight.
Which one do you use?
Which one works best for you depends on a lot of factors. Does your bike accelerate, brake, and turn rapidly, or do you have to take longer braking, have low power for acceleration, and take longer to turn? In the former case, you can dive into the Type II, snap it over, and launch out of the Type I. In the latter case, the tight turn in the middle takes too long and loses too much speed to be worth it, so a single long Type I will give you better exit speed.
As a general rule of thumb, if you can take it as a single corner, try that way first. It's not easy, because you have to turn very late and turn your head way around to look for the apex. In some ways it's more difficult that way, because hitting the apex so far around the corner is mentally hard to do -- it's easy to be a Sleazeball -- but it is the better initial line.
Are there exceptions? Sure there are. No matter what type of bike you have, if the corner is tight enough, you will have to slow down to a crawl in the middle of the corner. In that case, you'd just as well slow enough to take it as a Type II/I Combo, since you have to brake a lot and accelerate from a minimal speed.
Skills you have to master first
Taking a corner as a double II/I requires some technical bike-handling skills that are not easy to put together.
Look at the line above, and you'll see that there's a lot happening very quickly. You get on the brakes, turn in, get back on the gas, back on the brakes, flick the bike over very rapidly, and get back hard on the gas again. Mess up any one of those, and if you're not accustomed to how rapidly things are happening, you can be in trouble very quickly indeed. Also, in the case of Courage at VIR, you no longer have the option of the "escape road" if you miss your braking.
Like everything else on the track, slow down when you're working on this. Get the line and technique right, and as you get comfortable with it you can attack the transitions harder.
Using this on the street
Any of you who've seen me ride twisties in the mountains will immediate recognize one of the ways I go fast in the very tight stuff -- for me, every switchback is a II/I combo. It's very hard work, gets some very funny looks, but it is fast.
You have to be careful, however, not to over-ride your sight lines. If you can't clearly see the point where you'd transition between the Type II and the Type I, you can't safely take it that way. It works best in switchbacks, where you can see not only the whole corner but the straight following it too.
From TrackDoD Novice Group Orientation
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