What are your launch procedures for a good start?

I've never actually done a "high performance launch"?

How do you do it?

 

Go to a drag race test 'n tune. Telling it is easy - pin the throttle and use the clutch to keep the front wheel from looping - but doing it is hard, and only practice will teach you.

 

shit... go to Mechanicsville/ MIR and ask Jason Miller to give you a few pointers.

 

question...
Last summer i trailered the bike to an empty church parking lot off in the boonies. marked off a certain number of parking spots, had one of my buddies be the flagman and another friend be the timer. about 15 starts later, i'm loading the bike back on the trailer with a burnt clutch. anything i can do to avoid this? my starts arent the greatest and just those 15 or so help noticeably but i'm still only an average starter so i'd like more practice but dont want to replace a clutch every time.:tut:

 

on my k6 gsxr 1000.....

on the line bring revs up to about 7k.....anymore and the stock slipper clutch has hernia's

plant the rear brake down hard.

let the clutch out till you feel it just starting to push the bike forward.....using rear brake to keep you where you are.

on the go signal, let the clutch out progressively, as you wind on more thottle,

use rear brake to control wheelstanding.

cheers.joe.

 

you can put heavier springs in the clutch. Not sure about the guaging of your progress. A dragstrip will have incremental times where you can see how fast/slow you are going. Most important 2 are going to be the 60' and 330'.

On hot lap passes sometimes you can tilt the bike to the clutch side so some of the oil from the sump gets splashed on the clutch pack.
Repeated launches tends to heat up clutch steel plates.

 

The last thing you want to do is stand that bike on it's tail, think of your start as being at any old stop sign, know what feels good for revs and let the clutch lever out till you know where it's starts to grab,then just feed it. I use my 3rd. finger under the lever and adjust my clutch so it's just about ready to catch when the lever is pulled back against that finger. This way i know how much slack is there before the clutch grabs. Stalling or a wheelie will cost you more time than an average launch and then getting to full throttle.

 

You can't win a race on the launch, but you can damn sure lose one.

Like i said in the "mock race" thread, when the green flag drops...just go. That is one of the main thing Ed Bargy stressed when i did the riders school. Too many people worry about nailing the launch when they should just worry about getting going.

Getting that extra 1/2 bike length isn't going to make you win. The faster guys will get around you regardless...just as you will get past the guys slower than you.

It is comical to see the guys with their shit revved to the moon...and then they wheelie. Or the bike dies on the launch etc because they are trying to "nail the launch".

 

Along those same lines....

The race is not won in T1.

Just get the bike going on the launch and get through T1 safely. You have anywhere from 6-10 full laps (Sprint race) to sort things out; there is no need in doing stupid shit in the very first turn.

I was at Talladega last year (or maybe '09) and a C-SS Novice race was red flagged twice in a row right off the launch because of pile ups in T1. It took 3 starts/attempts to get the race underway.

 

Kinda makes sense....As far as the launch is it safe to say it's like everything else in riding, practicing the proper technique will make you better.

 

i see the point, but if you had a bad run in qualifying, and are placed on the grid further back then what you would normally expect, a good start can mean the difference between 3rd or 4th....

holeshoting 3 or 4 bikes at the start is better then battling your way past (just) slower bikes to get into a position you rightly know you have the pace to fight for.

me for example, i "usually place 4th or 5th" but one qualifying time i gridded in 9th!

i was able to holeshot 3 bikes on the line to get to 6th, then spent the next 5 laps chasing down and then wresting for 4/5/6th positions, in the end, i came 4th.

if i didnt get the hole shot, would still have wasted 3 laps passing the other 3 riders.

getting a good start has its merrits. but it is true, its not the be all and end all

cheers.joe.

 

One of our local fast guys in WA started from the very back of the pack once a few years ago. Within two laps he was up at the top 5, and a few laps later he was fighting for the lead. Starts are important but a mediocre one won't cost you the race.

 

I rev the bike about halfway into the powerband and slip the clutch enough to barely keep the front wheel skimming the ground. By the time the clutch lever is fully out/clutch fully engaged I've bogged the bike enough to where the RPM's have dropped enough to where it doesnt stand straight up but is still in the powerband high enough to where it doesnt bog down. Each bike is different and you have to go play with it to get it perfect. For instance my Buell will stand straight up with anything leaving at over 4500 RPM's but my stretched, rigid mount ZX12 drag bike I leave hard at 11k at the strip. I drag raced for years before I got into road racing and it showed during my mock race, I passed a few people just off the launch even though I was on a slower bike. Go to a parking lot or your driveway and just get a good feel for the clutch see how hard you can launch it while keeping good control of the bike. Good luck!

 

On the 2 board get your body as far over the tank as you can comfortably go. Sometimes I space out, forget this part and I'm pointed skyward at go time.

 

Last summer Eli (#1 plate holder), Brad Delong, and a couple other riders all blew the start so they were gridded at the back, behind 27 riders for the re-start.

After lap #1 Eli was in 9th place, lap #2 he was 4th, lap #3 he was 3rd, and he lead the race by lap 7 of the 10 lap race.

As for starts, one other good piece of advice I got (and forgot ONCE, never again) was to remember to get your feet up on the pegs ASAP as 1st gear is very short for most bikes and runs out quick - trying to up shift into 2nd gear with your legs still dangling behind the bike doesn't work so well! Needless to say that after nailing the start then watching 3-4 riders go back by you as you fumble to get the thing into 2nd sucks!

 

This is the "new racer" section and WERA doesn't use qualifying for any Novice races. Only the C-SS Expert race at the National rounds has qualifying. So that point is irrelevent.

If somebody "deserves" to be in a place, they will get there.

Obviously there isn't a statistic on it, but if i had to bet...i would say that there are more races lost by somebody fucking up the launch than there are races won by somebody "nailing it".

Like Bargy says, "just get off the line, get going and get through T1 safely".

 

Yes. There is an "art" to getting a good launch and like everything else, it will improve with practice.

I never launched anything (bike, car, ATV, nothing) from a dead stop until the start of the mock race. I have fucked up a few launches, but now i can launch pretty good and to be honest, i really never practice them. Outside of race starts, i have only practiced a launch 3-4 times.

Practicing launches is a good way to ruin a clutch. Which sorta ties into my previous point. You are much more likely to lose a race because of a ruined clutch, than you are to win a race by getting the perfect launch.

 

Really?

What if you and another guy who you typically race for the win are pretty much dead matched on your laptimes, but he always gets better starts than you?

 

Sure, we can sit here and come up with theoretical situations all day long.

Yeah, if you and another guy just so happened to be gridded up right beside each other...and your lap times are ALWAYS within hundredths of each other...and your tires are in equal condition...and you both took an equal shit before the race, then getting a better launch than him will be advantageous.

But that doesn't mean you will beat him. Like i said, there are 6-10 laps to sort things out. Even if you did beat him on the launch and beat him into T1, there are still 50-100 turns that will have to be negotiated before the end of the race.

But you are still missing the point. Yes, getting a perfect launch is advantageous, but t still doesnt guarantee you will place well. However, getting a shitty launch trying to get a perfect launch will damn near guarantee your race is ruined.

Much better to "play it safe", get the bike rolling and give yourself an opportunity to place well...rather than fuck up the launch and remove all hope.

 

This is the best thing i read so far. As I hate to admit, but i drag race bikes as well, this is going to be the best thing for you. In the perfect sinerio you rev on a 1000 to about 7k, on green pin the throttle and use the clutch to keep the tire down. BUT, that is for the strech. On the stock wheel base bikes i typically dont go all out right off the line. But that is just me. Practice is the only way to really get good at this. And when you go to the local drag strip, talk to the bike guys and i am sure that they might give you a few decent tips. Good luck man.