Why the 'Slow in, Fast out' Technique is NOT a myth…

So there's a cool article and series on Jalopnik written by a race car driver Alex Lloyd, and this one is entitled "Why the 'Slow in, Fast Out' Technique is a myth.  And of course he's writing for a major auto blog, while I'm sitting here drinking coffee in my underwear, and he's a professional race car driver with thousands of hours in open wheel racers, while I'll be lucky if I get out for a ride today and hit 45mph…  SO I know whom a jury would side with, but for the sake of bean counter minded riders everywhere I want to openly disagree… I think the title definitely, and the article partly misrepresents what the age old saying (slow in fast out…is fastest) is about.  So if you care to ponder, while I get another cup of coffee (I know late start), click to read the rest.

Riding or driving fast is complicated.  And I know from my long career in open wheel racing (on the computer) that open wheeled cars have a really fast rhythm on most tracks.  You're not really thinking about stuff mid-turn, because it happens so fast.  But the fundamentals still apply.  There are three ways to approach a corner:

1) Fast in: You can go into the corner as fast as possible to the turn point, spend the rest of the corner trying to hold the line ahead of another racer, and come out slower, but ahead.

2) Slow in: You can go into a corner slower (compared to #1), and get on a good line to charge out of the corner, getting on the throttle earlier.  This can also be used for passing, only the passing would occur on the exit provided the rider can find a line that isn't being blocked.

3) Race line: Then there's the compromise between the two where you go in a little faster (than the slow in line) and come out a little slower, while still going fast enough to keep someone from jumping into the corner ahead of you.

The point of the saying, "Slow in, fast out…is fastest" is that when you're not trying to block someone this is _OFTEN_ the fastest line out of the three approaches.  Not because of a rider's skill level (because going into corners faster can bring more errors) but because of the nature of most turns…  The exception to this is when a turn is followed by an even slower turn or section.  In that case, it's "faster" to go into the corner faster and scrubbing off speed with a wider line - because in those cases you don't need to be "fast out" so fast in is…well, faster.

What do you base this on Mr Smarty pants?  A tiny bit of personal experience as the fastest rider (in my mind).  A bit of coaching that I've received over the years….  But more importantly, my thousands of hours of seat time on a MotoGP bike (once again, in my mind) while watching MotoGP.  Laps in which a rider has to pass another rider are rarely the fastest laps.  These superior riders sacrifice their lap times in order to get ahead of other bikes all the time.  Because once you're in front, it doesn't matter if you're slow out (using fast in slow out), as long as you can hold onto that lead on the exit and have the pace to stay ahead for a few more corners… I'm guessing that this is so basic that professional racers no longer think of it in these terms, they think of "getting it turned" and "getting a good drive out" but what they're really saying is that they are sacrificing some entry speed in order to get it turned early and get a good drive out.

What does this matter to (mainly) street riders like us? _ Probably nothing, but it's fun to think about._

Related posts:

1. Fast on slow, or slow on fast…
2. What fast looks like…
3. Going Fast…