Track racing - setup and riding style

Not to derail the thread, but what are those stabilizer looking things on the back (?) of your board?

It’s the stabiliser rods for the @MoeStooge 3-link trucks.

Neat! Looked into them a little bit.
What’s the main improvement over just regular ol trucks?

I’m not the expert, but from what I’ve seen stability (especially at high speed), tuneability, and behaviour predictability through corners.

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@davidbonde what is your battery setup? Can you show pics of your enclosure?

Tattu 4s 10.000mh 25c. Four of those. Two in parallel and those in series to make it 8s.

Picture of enclosure:

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Today was frustrating. It didn’t feel good, and I had a hard time finding fast laps. If I was a cyclist I would say that I didn’t have the legs today.

But I might also have been overthinking things today. Sometimes when I just concentrate on being fast and not on specific lines I am faster than when thinking to much.

As always when things doesn’t feel right, I look at the equipment. I have been really satisfied with the setup, but today I began thinking what if…

Maybe its silly and I should just keep the setup, but I have decided to make a new deck with some adjustment and see how that feels. I will keep the length and wheelbase. That feels right on target. I will keep the wide belly, that feels as it should as well.

But I will make it zero drop or just with a micro drop. This to get some more leverage when turning.

I love drop decks. I love to be close to the ground. But I do think that it would be better with zero drop on the track to get that more leverage in the turns. And I may ad a W concave. I dont really like W on the street, but today on the track I fund that it would be nice to have something to push against with the ball of my foot in toe side turns. Mostly the front foot. Now I rely completely on the grip from the glasfrit and that can feel a bit unsafe. So an added curve to push against I have to try.

These two adjustment will be added. I will start to make the mold and press the deck. Though I did press a blank with drop last week that sits cueing at the moment. I will use that for something else.

Often I do lap after lap to get some flow and practice a good line. Those laps are with less speed, as going full throttle is really hard and I can only do two max three before I need a break. But I have fund that doing those less speedy laps doesn’t help me practicing a good line. There is a world of difference between going fast and going really fast. I can go around track thinking I got the perfect line. Then go hard on the throttle and being no where near doing that line again. If I want the perfect line going fast, I need to practice the perfect line going fast.

But I think I got a better grab on how to do the two double hairpins. When I do a more direct line from apex to apex I can keep the speed much better.

Ok… today I chased the that fast lap. It didn’t feel good and I was not fast at all BUT that one lap where everything clicked and I got new best time. From 35.43 to 35.31

So once again I learned something on the track :slight_smile:

41.50 sec
40.50 sec.
38.93 sec.
38.53 sec.
37.67 sec.
37.49 sec.
38.78 sec.
37.19 sec.
36.96 sec.
36.66 sec.
36.29 sec.
36.27 sec.
35.59 sec.
35.43 sec.
35.31 sec.

A good line in through the double hair pin before the straight.

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Might be time to try a toe hook. Added Leverage and control on heelside turns. Great Report David

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I am still moving my front foot. Lets see when the zero drop is a reality.

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Good legs today… everything felt as it should. Was mainly concentrating on the straight today. I think I can push that harder. The karting folks have full speeder from the moment they are out of the hairpin before the straight. I can’t do that. I need to build up the throttle slowly.

The straight is actually a big hairpin (or two wide 90 degrees turns) that’s wide enough that they can have full speeder through the whole section.

So today the focus was to push myself and reach full throttle sooner on the straight. I got better but there are still room for improvement. I have to ease into it and with time there will be time to cut in that section. Going 31+ mph through those curves are not for the faint of heart. I fear that I will loose grip. This is one for the biggest mental barrier I have on the track… The fear of loosing grip, and not knowning when I do, or not knownning if I am on the edge of grip or not. Today I got the feeling that there might be way more grip left than I fear.

I have lost grip from time to time, but that have always been in the hairpins and one other turn where I have to turn really sharp. It has also only been in the heel side turns where I grab and really put my weight in to it. Loosing grip in heel side turns isn’t a problem. I can control that. But loosing grip in a toe side turn where I hang standing much more straight, would be fatal.

I also noticed something else today. After doing heel side turns I can stand up sooner than I have done up till now. As soon as the board is facing to the next straight part (but haven’t left the turn yet) I can stand. This gives me more time to prepare the next turn and it adds to the flow.

I broke the 35sec barrier and got a new best lap time. From 35.31 to 34.99. It took me three weeks to go through the 35’s. A month back I thought it was impossible to go below 36 and now it only took me three weeks to go through the 35’s. Next goal is below 34sec. Let’s see if that’s possible.

@RipTideSports I have to correct myself. The fastest time ever done on the track is 29.2 sec. Done by a 37kg. light boy. Best time in the 120-130kg category is 30.5sec.

New deck… it’s on it’s way. Have made the mold and waiting on a new batch of veneer. Its going to be no drop and without a W. Just a nice smooth concave and a very wide flat middle. Looking forward to try that.

41.50 sec
40.50 sec.
38.93 sec.
38.53 sec.
37.67 sec.
37.49 sec.
38.78 sec.
37.19 sec.
36.96 sec.
36.66 sec.
36.29 sec.
36.27 sec.
35.59 sec.
35.43 sec.
35.31 sec.
34.99 sec.

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Nice Job. .3 sec is a large increase when your nearing the limits of what the board and track will take. Sounds like fine tuning from here. It’s not as easy as it looks. Physically harder than most motor sports without a doubt. How many laps till fatigue hurts lap time?

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I can do three laps and then it starts to get difficult. Then it’s very hard to correct the small mistakes and if I make one I just let go, take a rest for a lap or two and then hard again.
But I am chasing a new fastest lap over and over. Could also be fun to chase the fastest 5 or 10 laps.
The hardest to do is the toe side turns. Fighting the g forces in those end up cramping my back
After an hour on the track I am soaking wet.

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Your so lucky to have access to a track like this in a regular basis. I’m very jealous.

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Had a really shitty day at work. Felt like crab and was really close not going to the track. But I ate some white bread with chocolate on and went. And I was on fire. Felt it right away. I alternated between a slow lap and a fast lap. Over and over. Didn’t get tired. At the fifth fast lap I got a new fastest lap 34.95, then 34.91, then 34.75, then 34.71, then 34.67, then 34.39 and the last lap of the day 34.35. Fuck it felt good.

I don’t know what happened but all of a sudden I gained confidence in the grip. I almost didn’t worry about loosing grip. That rocketet me off. Now I “just” have to get rid of the last fear. Think I can push the grip further.

It really helps to watch video of myself. Gives another perspective. I feel something as really on the edged, and then when watching, I can see that there is plenty more to push.

It was like my many hours on the track came together, and I feel that I have the track dialed in pretty good now. I got full throttle early in the straight. Breaking before the first hairpin felt good. And the two hairpins gets better and better. I am sure there are more time to cut. Every time I feel that now I am close to maxing out, I find a new level. And now I am sure there are more levels to reach. Next focus will be more throttle between the turns. I think I have something to gain there.

41.50 sec
40.50 sec.
38.93 sec.
38.53 sec.
37.67 sec.
37.49 sec.
38.78 sec.
37.19 sec.
36.96 sec.
36.66 sec.
36.29 sec.
36.27 sec.
35.59 sec.
35.43 sec.
35.31 sec.
34.99 sec.
34.35 sec.

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Be careful, one slip at those speeds around a corner sounds like hospital visit :’(

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one thing to remember, never tell a racer to be careful… EVER!!

Be Safe works better… always inspire a racer never put negative waves or thoughts in their head… racing is a MENTAL game

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I am not a born racer. I have to ease into it. I am really careful because yeah… I don’t wanna fall at those speeds that close to walls :slightly_smiling_face:

@kook Mental game… I vote for that. Gradually exposing the mind to it through bodyli experience seems to work. Most important for me is that it feels safe.

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@davidbonde do you do any cardio or leg training? If so what have you found that helps for this sort of thing. I know F1 guys are big into cardio.

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:slight_smile: I do a little deadlifting now and when. And not much cardio. I used to fence like really really much, and I am kinda sick of training now. So I do as little as I can :slight_smile: But I am sure cardio would help. My hart is pumping like crazy after a couple of laps.
I did start on some bent over kable twist as that targets the position and area where I get tired first (around the trunk). But I stopped as it is so unbelievably boring to work out. Says the physio :slight_smile:
mmm… but maybe I should get back to doing something again. That would be good for me.

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Sorry to take this off topic but I used to fence back in High School! Team Saber all day! People don’t realize what it takes to be a competitive fencer, the amount of stairs I ran up and down for hours and core work outs I did was utterly insane.

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