DONT HIT THE FRONT BRAKE AT DRAGS
- Thread starter ROACH
- Start date
CoolBUSA5454
Registered
There was a guy who recently died at our SEMDRA race in J'ville last month by grabbing a handful of brakes at the finish line trying to not break out. I quit racing in classes that were slower than my bike could run for that purpose. If I dial in now, I always put a time .02 faster than my best run. If I break out, oh well, but I go home. Slowing down past the lights is no problem. The problem is too many guys jabbing the brakes at the finish line.
We’re talking about advanced bracket racing. Top end tactics. Racing the stripe. Roach was doing exactly what every successful bracket racer does. He was using the other racer to let him know if he was running faster or slower than his dial-in.
I learned very quickly that if I was not running within .01 to .02 of my dial in I’d be going home early. This can be very hard to do on a street bike. Especially against dragbikes. Hence the dragbike in my garage.
Say in time trials you run an 11.00, 10.75, and finally a 10.82. What do you dial. What if we dial the 10.75 and then run a slow 10.85. Easy win for the other guy. How about dialing 11.00. You would probably run 10.75 and lost automatically for running faster than your dial-in.
What I always did on the street bike was to throw out the fastest and slowest pass. That leaves us with the 10.82. Maybe dial a 10.80 figuring were going to be a little pumped up when it comes to the actual race. So just before the finish line we kick it into 4th gear @138 mph and look back for the faster bike (8.50 @152). He is way behind us and obviously not going to catch us. So we figure one of two things has happened. Either we treed the #### out of him or we are running way faster then our dial-in. In fact were on a record 10.65 having just put up the best 60’ time in our lives. So now in the last 100’ of the track we must take out .15 thou of a second @138 mph or lose the race for breaking out. And you only have about .5 thou of a second to do it in that 100 feet at that speed.
It is my very strong opinion that the front brake is not the way to do it. And telling anyone to use the front brakes, for the sole purpose described above, is very dangerous. Any braking, front or rear, for the purpose described above can be very dangerous. And probably should never be done period. I would tell anyone new to bracket racing, that if they started learning to race the stripe, to just sit up and chop the throttle and never hit the brakes at all.
I learned very quickly that if I was not running within .01 to .02 of my dial in I’d be going home early. This can be very hard to do on a street bike. Especially against dragbikes. Hence the dragbike in my garage.
Say in time trials you run an 11.00, 10.75, and finally a 10.82. What do you dial. What if we dial the 10.75 and then run a slow 10.85. Easy win for the other guy. How about dialing 11.00. You would probably run 10.75 and lost automatically for running faster than your dial-in.
What I always did on the street bike was to throw out the fastest and slowest pass. That leaves us with the 10.82. Maybe dial a 10.80 figuring were going to be a little pumped up when it comes to the actual race. So just before the finish line we kick it into 4th gear @138 mph and look back for the faster bike (8.50 @152). He is way behind us and obviously not going to catch us. So we figure one of two things has happened. Either we treed the #### out of him or we are running way faster then our dial-in. In fact were on a record 10.65 having just put up the best 60’ time in our lives. So now in the last 100’ of the track we must take out .15 thou of a second @138 mph or lose the race for breaking out. And you only have about .5 thou of a second to do it in that 100 feet at that speed.
It is my very strong opinion that the front brake is not the way to do it. And telling anyone to use the front brakes, for the sole purpose described above, is very dangerous. Any braking, front or rear, for the purpose described above can be very dangerous. And probably should never be done period. I would tell anyone new to bracket racing, that if they started learning to race the stripe, to just sit up and chop the throttle and never hit the brakes at all.
Ok, now that I understand better what you're talking about, I guess I owe you an apology for for kinda implying that you were a squid...
"Sorry"
I'd still be leery to stomp on the back brake, rather sit up, throttle back and finesse the front binders - even when it was this tight - but I've never done this kind of racing, so I'll defer to your experience. Sounds like a rough sport, having to watch your times that closely...
Thanks for the info, too!
<!--EDIT|expat
Reason for Edit: ":16:"|1121451991 -->
"Sorry"
I'd still be leery to stomp on the back brake, rather sit up, throttle back and finesse the front binders - even when it was this tight - but I've never done this kind of racing, so I'll defer to your experience. Sounds like a rough sport, having to watch your times that closely...
Thanks for the info, too!
<!--EDIT|expat
Reason for Edit: ":16:"|1121451991 -->
Group: Members
Posts: 29
Avg posts/day:1.22
Joined: June 2005
Location: Germany Posted: July 05 2005,11:40
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gahh. I hear this kind of thing from so many novice (mostly American - probably due to the relatively easy licensing requirements) riders. It's like they are all terrified of their front brakes...
I have to go along with Revelis here. The front brake is the only one that really works. At high speed, the back brake is going to do about nothing, except lock up and slip, due to front-end loading caused by your body's inertia and momentum, which is particularly bad on the 'busa with its (more-or-less) 50/50 front/back weight distribution and long wheelbase. The back tire is going to slow the bike down some, forcing more of your body's weight forward onto the forks = less effective braking on the back.
My safety course instructor made us do panic stop runs at 50-60 MPH, where the goal was to briefly (!) lock the front tire. This was some scary shid on the busa, and I could only get it to work the first time; all following runs left me stopped without chirping the tire. He said the secret was to pump the front brake quickly using only your fingers while not moving your arm at all. He had us practice this off of the bike at first. A lot of us (including me) found that this is not an easy thing to do, as you reflexively tend to use your biceps/shoulder in such a movement which can be disastrous at high speeds (using your upper arm can deliver a steering impuse to the forks, which can get you wobbling...)
Another important thing is how you brake when you panic stop. Never just clamp your hand down. A quick jerking-pull to about 25% followed by a smooth, fluid pull to 100% will always be best. My instructor illustrated it with a "braking mantra" BRAY!-kiinnnggg... BRAY!-kiiiinnnnggg...
As with everything else, practice makes perfect [/QUOTE]
Thanks for the details, Expat !
<!--EDIT|Rhythm
Reason for Edit: None given...|1121453060 -->
Posts: 29
Avg posts/day:1.22
Joined: June 2005
Location: Germany Posted: July 05 2005,11:40
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gahh. I hear this kind of thing from so many novice (mostly American - probably due to the relatively easy licensing requirements) riders. It's like they are all terrified of their front brakes...
I have to go along with Revelis here. The front brake is the only one that really works. At high speed, the back brake is going to do about nothing, except lock up and slip, due to front-end loading caused by your body's inertia and momentum, which is particularly bad on the 'busa with its (more-or-less) 50/50 front/back weight distribution and long wheelbase. The back tire is going to slow the bike down some, forcing more of your body's weight forward onto the forks = less effective braking on the back.
My safety course instructor made us do panic stop runs at 50-60 MPH, where the goal was to briefly (!) lock the front tire. This was some scary shid on the busa, and I could only get it to work the first time; all following runs left me stopped without chirping the tire. He said the secret was to pump the front brake quickly using only your fingers while not moving your arm at all. He had us practice this off of the bike at first. A lot of us (including me) found that this is not an easy thing to do, as you reflexively tend to use your biceps/shoulder in such a movement which can be disastrous at high speeds (using your upper arm can deliver a steering impuse to the forks, which can get you wobbling...)
Another important thing is how you brake when you panic stop. Never just clamp your hand down. A quick jerking-pull to about 25% followed by a smooth, fluid pull to 100% will always be best. My instructor illustrated it with a "braking mantra" BRAY!-kiinnnggg... BRAY!-kiiiinnnnggg...
As with everything else, practice makes perfect [/QUOTE]
Thanks for the details, Expat !
<!--EDIT|Rhythm
Reason for Edit: None given...|1121453060 -->
If I dial in now, I always put a time .02 faster than my best run. If I break out, oh well, but I go home. Slowing down past the lights is no problem. The problem is too many guys jabbing the brakes at the finish line.
I AGREE WITH THAT.TOUGH BUNCH MY HOME TRACK ALL DELAY BOX BIKES WITH SLIDER CLUTCH
I AGREE WITH THAT.TOUGH BUNCH MY HOME TRACK ALL DELAY BOX BIKES WITH SLIDER CLUTCH
Similar threads
