Throttle Control

By Andy Ibbot
After four years of deliberation, anticipation, and trepidation I finally dusted off my dog tags, my license, my head and went racing again. I have often wondered how I would fare in the extreme world of motorcycle racing, given the knowledge I now have compared to the riding I used to do.
In the past I would ride as hard as I could until my whole world was one of survival reaction following survival reaction following either a crash, a third place and/or soiled underwear. It's not the best way to race and at the time I had only just completed a level one course with Keith Code. It had made a difference but more practice was needed. I never got the chance. In 1996 I crashed and was run over by the rider behind while leading the race. I broke my back and hung my dog tags up.
But time has a funny effect. You forget the pain, the anguish and the repair bills. The look on your wife's face and that of your family and friends. Nah, that's not true - you choose to forget. Anyway, this weekend I found myself at a wet (but fast) Snetterton racetrack for a six-hour endurance race. One of the other instructors at the Superbike School had a spare Suzuki GSX-R600 with a stock engine and asked if I would join him and Matthew Hartley, also one of the school's instructors, for a bash. This was going to require consistently fast laps over the whole six hours to get anywhere. Look at it as a very long track day being in the fast group from beginning to end. An ideal scenario to practice the techniques I have learnt over the past four years and see how hard I could ride before my own survival reaction barriers came into play.
I learnt a hell of a lot about my own riding and that everything Keith has taught me is spot on. The biggest barrier to fast laps and also to smooth road riding is how well you use the throttle. Yes, it sounds really simple doesn't it? You get on the throttle as soon and as hard as possible and that drives you hard out the corner and down to the next set of bends at the highest speed - right? Nope. That may well be your plan but traction and the type of corner you are in and how many errors you made on the brakes will play a part too. Look at the pictures.
One rider is well off line while the other can track tightly. Now look at the throttle position pictures, which one goes with which?
Let's get one thing straight from the off. Too much, too little and just plan neutral throttle positions will all have the same effect - they push you wide. I have experienced the first and last of the two but I always used to think that if you shut the throttle the bike would tighten up, not run wide. Until I discovered that on a closed throttle I would add more lean to help the bike stay tight. Hmm, more lean on a closed throttle is asking for trouble. The front end is already loaded because the closed throttle adds more of the bike's weight to the sharp end, and then add more lean! It's a wonder we get away with it. Still, that's just one of the things that made itself so apparent at the weekend.
The ideal throttle control, and I quote direct from 'Twist of the Wrist' is: Once the throttle is cracked on it is rolled on evenly, smoothly and constantly throughout the remainder of the turn. And that can mean as much or as little as three to ten millimeters of travel with your throttle hand. Doesn't sound like a lot but it's enough to let the bike hold a 'good' line. And lines is something we look at in depth next month…
Getting it on as soon as possible is the key to stability. There is a really nasty bend at Snetterton called the bomb hole. You enter it over a change of surface that has a lip on it that drops you into the hole on a, at best, slightly positive camber. The bike loads up in the middle and goes light on the exit where the camber flattens off. It's horrible and has a certain fear for me. It was the corner that resulted in my first big crash and a trip to hospital with several broken bones and concussion. Every time I went through there in the first 30 minute session I would close the throttle on the way in, stall in the middle and then gingerly get back on it on the exit. This is the worst thing to do as the bike loads badly, the front end pushes and it doesn't cope with the lip too well. All this made me tense on the bike, which made the feeling ten times worse. The bottom line is simple - the tenser I was, the more off the throttle I was and the more likely I was to crash!
It took halfway through the second session before I could bring myself to crack the gas on the way in. Crack, just enough to get the carburetor slides open, and transfer weight to the rear. About two millimeters of throttle cable. What a difference! The lip was still there but it didn't feel half as bad as it did in the first session. It was as if someone had smoothed the track out! In the middle of the turn the bike would now hold it's line making me feel more confident. And at the exit I was carrying more speed so the off camber section didn't last as long. All this because I was scared to use a tiny bit of throttle cable on the way into the corner. Get it on as soon as possible and you will find a new bike underneath you, one that handles well and doesn't scare you as much any more…