Professional help with corners?

Hello all.

I'm doing an IAM course and my observer reckons i am just about ready for the test once i sort out one last thing. He says the examiner might just pick up on a slight lack of confidence when maintaining my speed round tight bends. And he sent me away to do 500 miles round bendy roads before my test.

Problem is trying to build confidence carrying more speed arounds bends is difficult on wet muddy roads with tractors and boy racers coming the other way in the middle of the road.

Is there such a thing as 121 tuition on a race track. I would ideally like to follow an instructor round a track, with him starting slow and getting faster and faster, untill i feel comfortable cornering at speeds way in excess of what would be senisble on the road.

I'd rather pay extra for this than go to a normal track day untill i'm a bit more confident. Can anyone recommend anywhere that does this?

http://www.circuitbasedtraining.co.u...ng_courses.asp

I have heard good things about this, not done it personally. Seems to tick all your boxes though...

The trick is to understand the limit point principle. I don't want to tell you how to suck eggs, but the limit point is the furthest point of the road surface you can see as you move along the road. If the limit point is moving towards you slow down, if the limit point appears to be stationary apply a bit of drive to keep a steady pace. Once the limit point is moving away from you, accelerate and chase it. In practice this means slowing down early for the bend and driving through it.

The main thing is to keep your head up and look out of the corner at the exit, not at the corner itself.

It may be worth asking your IAM group for another observers opinion/input before you take the plunge for the test.

Good luck

I understand what you mean there, so....

Highly recommended:

http://www.haslamraceschool.com/


HOWEVER......


Remember that you should be riding for safety over everything else. Ride at a speed at which you can stop in the distance you can see etc. I remember not so long ago, being in a similar position. I was out on a weekly observed ride with an Observer and our groups most senior observer backing him up - at the first stop it was pointed out to me that 55Mph carried around a tight bend on a country A road was impressive. What was also pointed out to me at the same time was that there was NO WAY I could possibly stop safely on my side of the road (left hander) in the event of encountering the unexpected. NOT SO IMPRESSIVE.

So remember, in order to pass the test, you need to:

Ride to what YOU CAN see,
Ride to what YOU CANNOT see,
and
to what you can Reasonably EXPECT MIGHT happen.

Good luck & don't overemphasise the "Progress" thing- remember the "Safe" bit that precedes it.

Garry

There's nothing like practice. I had to do this, I was complete crap, so I had to sharpen up my act, but I did it in sping/early summer last year. The examiner did take me round some 90 degree corners - and I passed so I must have done something right.

Suggest you drop a PM to darylB. He had someone take him round mid-Wales for precisely this purpose.

Css:
http://www.superbikeschool.co.uk/

I took my IAM test in January of this year. My Observer was and I presume still is far more critical than the Examiner. Remember your observer wants you to pass and the Examiner will also want you too. Making progress was one of the "minors" pointed out to me. Your examiner will want to know why, it's easy to say you didn't think an overtake was on, or you felt the road conditions were not so good blah blah blah.

Taking circuits round a nice track will be fun, but will it help your confidence on the road? I think not. Get out there and practice.