Everyone's got different lines, and what works for some may not work for others--but one of the best tips i got on a line was for BW in riverside.

Riverside is a long high speed right handed sweeper (when going clockwise). Many people lose a huge amount of time through this corner because they do not know how much speed you can carry through it, all the way up to the entry to Lost Hills.



as you can see, it's mostly a constant radius sweeper, though it pinches down towards the end.

The previous corner, "bus stop" is a left handed kink that follows another complex of high speed sweeping turns. Many people feel the need to overbrake for the bus stop, as it is a narrow turn, but for the most part, you will downshift to 3rd lean it over, and enter riverside with as much speed as you can bear to carry. The exit of bus stop can be tricky, as there are some bumps to rider's left if you pinch off the apex too much, but you want to maintain your line at center of the surface as you head into riverside.

now here's the key: roll on to WOT and don't roll off. bang up to 4th and 5th (i short shift 4th). Even when the turn pinches down, stay WOT, the track is wide enough to do this. As you enter the straight that feeds lost hills stay WOT and clip the apex of the left-hander. Begin braking and drifting back to the outside to make the right over the hill (where you begin braking is up to you, I forget what reference point i use.) and get to WOT as soon as you're on the downhill portion of Lost Hills (and stay WOT all the way to star maz or the sweeper depending on config).

It seems like a simple trick, and something you may think you're already doing. But, you'll be surprised how many people go through riverside at neutral throttle or barely accelerating. Not only is riverside my fav. place to pass at BW, but it's also where the B-group rider will make up huge chunks of time. It's a triple digit corner--but it should be taken at 120 mph, not 100.

After my friend had told me this, I went from running 2:22's in config #13 CW to 2:13's. Granted, i'm sure i was making up time in other places, but pushing it to the limit in riverside was good for at least 3-5 seconds/lap.

 

My best line is at Auto Club Speedway. I usually get hammered on the straights, so I cut straight through the cones at Turn 1 and make up all that lost time.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by marmaladedad &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">My best line is at Auto Club Speedway. I usually get hammered on the straights, so I cut straight through the cones at Turn 1 and make up all that lost time. </TD></TR></TABLE>

haha, herb. strangely i still haven't ridden Fontucky yet. not sure when i ever will...maybe if fastrack wouldn't rape on price.

oh another one of my favorite lines is the "Motard Line" through the bowl at streets. A lot of people like to take the high line and cut across to hit the apex, and others like to double apex the bowl, but if you stay on the inside all the way to the apex you can usually collect 2 or 3 guys. I'm not sure how much time it saves you, but it's a good way to get through traffic.

 

i've tried cutting through the grass at putnam park, but i always seem to end up on the ground 10-20ft away from my bike. what am i doing wrong?

 

The kinks or fast chicance is where you can get away with that stuff... if you do it on one or two laps a race, you can actually make up several seconds on that lap and just blame it on trying to hard

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ragnaroek &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i've tried cutting through the grass at putnam park, but i always seem to end up on the ground 10-20ft away from my bike. what am i doing wrong?

</TD></TR></TABLE>

next time zip tie your feet to the pegs, it'll help keep you on the bike

 

turn in at 100 yards coming into thunder alley @ mid-ohio. the left before the sweeper.... FAV TURN EVER!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bad-monkey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">haha, herb. strangely i still haven't ridden Fontucky yet. not sure when i ever will...maybe if fastrack wouldn't rape on price.

oh another one of my favorite lines is the "Motard Line" through the bowl at streets. A lot of people like to take the high line and cut across to hit the apex, and others like to double apex the bowl, but if you stay on the inside all the way to the apex you can usually collect 2 or 3 guys. I'm not sure how much time it saves you, but it's a good way to get through traffic.</TD></TR></TABLE>
You're not missing much. Getting hammered on the straights is no fun. But I get to make up for it by hunting people down in the corners and ruining their photos. Mwahahahaa.

Streets is a great place to use different lines to pass people. Especially turn one, if the other rider/s let off.

Damn. All this track-talk about lines has me hard and sweaty. Is it February yet??

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by marmaladedad &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
...hard and sweaty...</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

I've only done Streets of Willow one time, but I learned a lot and took off chunks of time when the better lines were showed to me. At CLASS riding school, Reggie stressed the importance of 'smoothing out' your line. Riding more aggressively for some people ends up making them also ride more rigidly, wanting to cut off corners. Turn 11 at SOWS is one of those turns where Reggie told us to round off the turn, not cut it off.

It's the last 90* turn before the skidpad when running CW.



It took a bunch of practice, and basically f*cking up the turn until I was able to round it off like Reggie said. When you make this turn round, it lets you get on the throttle sooner and into the set of smaller back-and-forth turns quicker. When I got turn 11 nailed down, I was passing at least 2 people each time I went through there.

Choke up and you're going to be rigid...and stiff...and blow the turn. Loosen up and round it off and you'll take off a couple seconds each lap

 

great input billy. turn 11 SOWS is a notoriously bad corner for me (this is the left hander after the chicane, right?) and can never get it right.

 

Yep, that's the one. I nearly lost my front end in that turn, too. Too much lean angle + cutting corner off + bumpy surface =

Also, the chicane leading into turn 11 is GNARLY. It's a blind drop over the hill off a triple-digit straight that you have to aim within a 5-foot slot. Now that's creepy.

 

Here's another one I have.

Yesterday I spent the day practicing with WSMC on my Ninja and dropped 4 seconds off my best laptime from last month (only second time on this bike). One area where I see most people having trouble holding their line is in turn 5 after the Omega a.k.a. the Balcony.

After (hopefully) making it cleanly through the Omega, you will be headed downhill into turn 5. If you hold the throttle on while exiting turn 4, you will come wide down the hill into turn 5 and not have to worry much about aiming each time you run through there. Stay hard on the throttle until about 2/3 of the way down, take a good stab at the brakes, but KEEP YOUR THROTTLE READY. Most people get in too hot in this turn and will brake brake brake, effectively standing the bike up and running straight off. I should know...I've done it once or twice before too

Here's a pic of the turn. Notice the number of skid marks running off the track.



Get your braking down early enough to have the be able to get back on the throttle as you lean into turn 5. As soon as you're ready, get back on the throttle which will load the rear suspension and carry you through the turn back up the hill out of turn 5. It goes against your natural instincts, but will save you if you think you've gone in too hot.

Last month I rode behind a noob who not once, but TWICE, went in too hot on his GSXR 1000 and broke hard trying to keep from running off the track, then cut back up the track into the pack of guys following him. He's one of those guys that will end up taking himself or someone else out eventually if he can't ride within his limits.

Here's the map:


I'm down to a 1:51 lap on my Ninja 250 which ain't bad. The record for the older style Ninjas like mine is a 1:48 or so, which makes me not far off. The newer Ninjas are running 1:41/2/3's in the races, but then again they have actual race rubber (BT-090's) while I'm using the best tire that will fit my rims (Dunlop GT501's) which are sport-touring tires.

Anyone have a good line for another corner on a track we talked about or a new one?

 

with or without afm turn? or mazda? if its afm then **** thats afm grid qualifying lap. 2.16- 2.13ish i think it is for buttonwillow.

button has tons of hidden secerets. lines and drills to do to help your riding.


thanks for sharing..

a line thru there that i like is the chacaine(sp?) and all you do is ride over it before mazda turn.

reverse config you can take riverside as one turn into the bustop.. scarry after 120ish into a narrow turn. and yes use engine braking for that turn. saves time. to me at least it does.

 

Config 13 is with the AFM turn, but i'm sure they're way faster than 2:15?

My line knowledge is a little rusty but we're gonna be out there on sunday so it's time to discover something new and kewl about BW. hopefully i can figure out turns 2 and 3 (offramp and cotton corners)

 

^ maybe not afm wera? i dunno.....

 

yeah i'm not sure. that track can be run in so many configs it's pretty confusing.

i think the AFM #1 plates in the 600cc classes are running high 1:40's at BW in config 13 CW which wouldn't surprise me. I just want to break 2:00/2:05 this year

 

According to Tiff there is nothing wrong with cutting through the grass.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMJ6xs8I2HM

 

some more thoughts on buttonwillow:

When running config 13 (aka, w/ afm sweeper instead of star mazda), you can carry a lot more speed than you think into sweeper. a lot of people overbrake going into that turn--it's pretty wide. you can go in hot and coast or maintain neutral throttle through it. take it wide at the end of the corner then apex late and get the bike upright asap and get good drive.