This whole season has been interesting. It's my first year as a white plate, and I can't get away with recovering from simple mistakes without someone capitalizing on them and overtaking me. The competition is crazy fierce. With that said, I have possibly the worst starts in the world. I start from 2nd row of the grid and am in nearly last place by the time we hit T1. I end up having to make my way through the field, and in turn the lead pack of riders gets away from me and I'm stuck running 2-4 seconds slower than I know I can go. Starts are crucial... and I completely SUCK at them.
When I see that 1 board go sideways, I put the bike to about 15k rpms and when the green flag drops, I just feather the clutch. The problem is, is that when the bike launches and gets about 10 feet, the power just DROPS and its slow as a pig to get back into the power band.
Any seasoned racers have a good method for launching the 4th gen R6? I need to get good starts in order to stick with that lead group and thus far this season, I've been failing miserably.
I do like 12K and when the board goes sideways I let the clutch out enough that I can feel it dragging just a little and moving the bike. When the green flies, I feather out the clutch and give it a bunch throttle too. The goal is to keep it in the high revs, by not letting the clutch out too fast so it stays in the power range.
PS: I am not the best at starts, but almost never lose a position off the start either.
No, you are wrong, I most definitely have the worst starts in the world.
What do you do with the throttle during the launch? Sounds like maybe that could be where you are going wrong. Obviously the revs are going to drop when the clutch engages, so even though you are starting at 15k, you are gonna have to add some throttle as well to keep it form bogging.
I guess I just keep my throttle where its at. I don't recall trying to give it more gas mainly because I feel like I'm somewhat pinned already, but maybe that's solely my issue - giving it more gas once I start to feather that clutch out.
I've seen some people that modulate the revs and fluctuate between 11k-16k right before the green flag drops and they seem to get better starts than me. But I think you're right thedub, I need to give this sucker some more throttle when I feather the clutch out and stop being a silly nanny.
15k is way to high an rpm.. and as some posts stated above, ya have to feed throttle (from about 11-12k) as you feed clutch.
you are trying to do an old school mx dirt bike start. hold throttle wfo and just feed throttle. This can't work on a modern road race bike.. and you will be replacing lots of clutches.
3 fingers on the clutch
at 2 board drop into gear.. FIRST gear !!!
feet on ground in front of pegs to hold bike in position.. as you:
feed lever out till ya feel it just engage holding the 10-11k (maybe 12?). you need to know what that rpm SOUNDS like,not look at gauge
the rpms can not drop from this rpm as you launch, if they do, you are done. feeding throttle as you release clutch SLOWLY is key
practice,
practice,
practice..
peak torque is ~11500. RPMS should be there or above and should never drop below that engine speed.
Reaction time is a big thing... most starters have pretty simple tells.
As soon as you see the "tell" you snap the clutch out to get the bike rolling then feed the throttle
Your body weight has to be over the front 50% of the bike. Grip the tank or seat with your thighs.
You can cut or build a small bolster in the seat to keep your ass planted & from sliding back
Ideally a dragstrip is the perfect place to practice against a timing system. A good 60' time is ~1.75 or lower.
A good 330 will be in the low 4.3 second territory. You should be able to get a 7 second flat ET or lower in the 1/8 mile with
trap speeds north of 100mph.
11,500 is ideal, but imo you can't consistently launch these bikes way above 11,500. it's messy.
and it's not just about getting the bike rolling. it's about picking your way to the best spot, and taking advantage when you can. Ideally you want to get to the outside of t1 and rail around a lot of riders. Go up the inside can work but is way more sketchy. And trust in your TIRES on a start is huge. No feel or trust in the tires? i don't care how good you launch, if you won't lean the bike and get on the gas in T1, you won't hold a good start for long..
All good responses here... minus the 2nd gear MX start, haha.
I have no problem being WOT going through the outside of T1 and T2, its the start. I think that my problem is that i just tend to dump the clutch and am not feeding it out enough while getting on the throttle. I'll give it some practice tries next weekend.
3 fingers on the clutch. way better control of the lever that way. If you feel the rpms begin to drop or the front raise up, don't let off the gas, just don't feed any more clutch.. yes, it's a combo of more throttle and gently feeding the lever out. Ya shouldn't have the lever all the way out till you are some distance down the track if done right.
People that pop it out fully too fast, have to roll off the gas, and have a bunch of riders fly past.
New to the forum and new to the R6, well new to inline 4's in general. There are some good tips in here but don't help out shwizard to much, I need to beat him in a couple of weeks.
When I took the amateur road racing course in Albuquerque, they taught us to launch at WOT. That being said, I needed to replace my first OEM clutch pretty soon thereafter.
Well on a 600... thats par for the course. Like tires or brake pads. :wink:
You can get more life with stronger springs. Its a cheap <$30 improvement that all cable operated clutches benefit from.
You will need "man" strength hands though...hehe. :grin:
I've been getting off the line really well this season and getting the holeshot in most of my races. I'm usually at around 13k, steady throttle and when the lights go out I progressively add throttle while feathering the clutch out.
bahahahah....... I hear ya, the above is my exact story but in Aus
I nailed my last start....balls on the tank, both feet down, 13.5kish just near the friction point.....light goes out, clutch out to mid friction, full throttle.... let the clutch out gently fully..... let her slip, hold her wide
have a funny feeling it will require lots of clutch maintenance though
I would add to what the others have said about slipping the clutch and letting it drag when your in your grid spot, but also something very, very , very important... anticipation and reaction time. If you can get really good at anticipating when the light will go out or flag will be dropped, you can get that split second reaction over everyone without jumping the start. That imo, is probably just as important as slipping the clutch properly.
If you anticipate when to start letting out that clutch you will have a head start on everyone. And don't be surprised if people think you jumped the start Some racers are very slow to react because they are waiting for the light, but if you time it perfectly, you'll leave at the same time the light goes out, but you will run the risk of jumping the start, so it works better when you use this method if your starting mid pack or from the back. If you do it from the front and accidently jump the start someone will probably call you out on it and you could be penalised. This is my secret that I shouldn't tell...
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