[johnnyrod]

I think this might be asking how long is a piece of string, but here goes anyway... I think there are some pretty switched on people here who might shed some light.

In short, how do racers manage to do faster laps when they have more grip, i.e. the tyres haven't gone off, or it's dried out a bit more than earlier? Maybe this is what the top ones get paid so much for, but how do you feel for the outer limits of grip? This sometimes isn't that far away on the road, with crappy surfaces and smoothed off bits where the lorries have been going, and all that. I'm trying not to develop paranoia, having lowsided a few times in my biking life (once with the bike ending upside down in a hedge about 3 feet off the ground, and my nose is still bent, the Motoliner could only fix the taco'd frame). The closest I had to a gentle slide without either falling off or over-reacting was laying a big black stripe out of Barn at Cadwell.... a few hours before I fell off at Park. I don't think it helped me though.

But anyway, I watch them zipping around on the telly and wonder how they "know" how much grip they have, i.e. how does it feel? Is there a boing as the suspension starts to unload? Is having my knee on the deck really going to make any difference? Do I just need bigger nuts and less of a compulsion to go in too fast and/or shut off/stand up the minute it twitches?