Z3n
Squid.
The rates they change, while notable for the nature of changing the time of the clutch pull, doesn't change the core of the technique. While being more comfortable with the nature and speed of the engine will be helpful, in the end, it's actually pretty irrelevant on the actual physical mechanics of the technique itself.Lazerus said:
Well, obviously us mere mortals aren't going to have the comfort or the skill to manage the sort of "semi throttle" clutch shifting in the way that pridmore does. I can manage a blipshift ok, and i found that even with minimal work/practice time on the clutch slipping downshift, it's still a lot smoother than any blipping shift. For whatever reason, downshifting in this fashion is a lot smoother...it seems to allow the bike to shift much better.
I can see the advantage to getting your gear set early, as it allows the bike to settle before turn in and gives you a better chance of nailing your drive out of the corner
BUT if you are downshifting at a point where before you would just be rolling of, havent you just effectively spent more time and distance slowing down at a greater rate? Do you need to change up your reference points to compensate? It seems like it would leave you wide open for someone to outbrake you. If you are on the brakes before you begin downshifting, it seems like you are handling both deceleration tasks simulateously thus lowering your lap times.
The advantage here is that as approach your braking point, you must roll out of the throttle. Now, in order to avoid upsetting the chassis, the action is smooth and you "roll into the brakes" as you "roll out of the throttle". There is a short point where the 2 overlap, as mentioned by Lee Parks in Total Control. During this period, (as you're rolling out of the throttle) you snap the clutch in, downshift, snap it in again if you can pop it fast enough and while you're braking, and then you finish your downshifiting with either blips or clutch downshifts as much as the situation dictates.
again, thank you folks for taking me by the hand here. It is this kind of knowledge sharing that I thirst for and actively seek. I appreciate every ounce of it! The track is coming soon, but at my income level will be a rarity, so the more free coaching I can get, the better[/B]
I'm in much the same situation...and believe me, i don't understand things much better. I'm putting my opinion on what works for me out there, and i'm going to be revising it based on what works better. The clutch downshifts are so much smoother it's amazing, even with no practice on that technique, that it seems to be very worth my time to work on it until i can use it comfortably in the situations that it fits.
Obviously, JP has much better control over this technique, allowing him to use it in more situations than i'd be capable of it. Just think back to when you were first trying to blipshift, and think about how hard it was...and then imagine doing it for years and years and years, and that's how JP is able to do it so comfortably. We keep working on it, and eventually we hope that we can understand how they manage to do it.
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JP summed up a key point of this technique that i missed completely...it gets your shifting done quick and early, before turn in, as quickly as possible. This in turn allows you to get ready for everything else as quick as possible, as per keith code's advise.
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JP thanks for coming here and breaking this down. I have actually been to STAR (2 days in Pahrump) and somehow missed the part about keeping the throttle open when downshifting. I am actually headed back to Pahrump this weekend and will test it out. 