Ducati Sporting Club UK > Sport > Trackdays & Race Schools > California Superbike School

[Andy Ibbott]

Where do I start?

First of all I must apologise for not jumping in sooner but time is a rare commodity for me at the moment and I wanted to read everything that was said.

For me there are 3 points here:

Road/track skills
Coaching abilities
Thomas Luthi

Road/Track skills
At CSS we teach cornering skills, we are very purist on this. For a road rider, it’s the area of greatest enjoyment and if we can help a rider do it with more confidence he will get more enjoyment from his riding.
The same applies to a Track dayer; it's the corners that create the challenges and fun.
And the racers, it’s where the lap times come down, not the straights.

So, if you want to improve your cornering for whatever reason/goal/gain this is our specialised subject - at all levels.

Coaching abilities
I feel that Johnny Haynes gave such a comprehensive answer to this (see bottom of page 5) and I have nothing more to add.
It was interesting that there were no comments, questions or response to this answer though...

Thomas Luthi
Yes he was already fast but there is a world of difference between top ten and top of the podium. In 125 this is normally 0.5 of a sec. Where could you find an extra 0.5 of a sec? Or 1 second or 10? If you are already at your limit then how do go faster?
Could he have won the Championship with out me? Could he have done it without Sepp his chief engineer? Or Honda? Or his Mental coach? Who knows...? Fact, the TEAM as a whole and a bit of luck helped him win the World title.
Did I make him faster? Yes. Did I teach him 'special' tricks? No. I'll give an example from the 2 day test in Brno I have just returned from.
In one corner he was late applying the throttle, which was affecting his time in that split.
Ok, that is what was happening. Now fil2 what would you do to help him go faster? What is the cause of the effect?

Sandro, his team mate has just spent the whole 2 days working on Throttle control. Did he find it below him? NO, frustrating maybe but in the end when we had a breakthrough he went faster.

I say this a lot but you can't change what you don't know. It is one of the facts of this life.

Let me know your thoughts, I'm around until Sunday night when we have Schools in Ireland.

All the best

Andy

[Paul James]

Thanks for your input Andy, realise how limited your spare time is.

[Andy Ibbott]

I hope it answers some of the questions and I hope it raises more which I'm glad to answer, although maybe not straight away!

[couchcommando]

Nice to see the 'boss' answering our questions and commenting on our thoughts, I like to see that as it shows commitment to the customers.

I have had lengthy discussion with TP on CSS and he has made some valid comments.
The one thing I cannot understand is if you have a good technique then what is stopping you braking that 5m later, or cornering that 2mph faster or opening the throttle 1/2 sec earlier. I understand all the instructors know the techniques so what is stopping them reaching lap record speed on any bike they ride ?
Maybe this question isn't answerable and maybe we should concentrate on getting the perfect technique first but where does the ability to put the technique into practice come from and assuming all other things equal why are some people quicker than others ?

Anyone care to explain why Rossi doesn't appear to look thro a corner as we are led to believe this is a basic technique ?

[fil2]

Originally Posted by Andy Ibbott

.
In one corner he was late applying the throttle, which was affecting his time in that split.
Ok, that is what was happening. Now fil2 what would you do to help him go faster? What is the cause of the effect?

Andy

im hoping TP can show / tell me at cadwell track day...............

Phil..........

[Chris 77]

Sorry Fil,Dont think thats gonna happen. Sure TP may be able to give you a tow round but until you decide CSS is worthwhile and what we do is a good thing(i.e Do level 1) the tech is gonna remain unobtainable. Please dont expect TP to help you out just because he's a mate as it will cause him much grief from management.Rules is rules.

[bradders]

Originally Posted by Chris 77

Please dont expect TP to help you out just because he's a mate as it will cause him much grief from management.Rules is rules.

youre joking, right?? From what I understand TP spent his hard eraned on becoming an instructor, why cabnt he share that with thise he chooses either in terms of 'favours retruned/swapped' or just coz he's a mate??

[fil2]

Originally Posted by Chris 77

Sorry Fil,Dont think thats gonna happen. Sure TP may be able to give you a tow round but until you decide CSS is worthwhile and what we do is a good thing(i.e Do level 1) the tech is gonna remain unobtainable. Please dont expect TP to help you out just because he's a mate as it will cause him much grief from management.Rules is rules.

never thought you did anything other than a " good " thing Chris...?....my only concern has been will it make me faster ! this is something i have to consider very sensibly as the " commitment " needed for me to attend is Huge......i just cant suck it and see.......

Phil

[couchcommando]

Tiger Woods coach doesn't have to keep up with him round the course to see what he's doing tho'

[TP]

Originally posted by Grib
So TP, you must be able to get us a nice discount...*hinthint*

It's something I'd like to do, it's just the cost of it that's stopped me so far.

Sorry, I'd love to help ... but Johnny may feed me to the other coaches ...