GHIT 0233: Ken Hill on Driving and Riding
Ken Hill is an accomplished motorcycle racer and sought after coach.\xa0 Ken was kind enough to join us for a great discussion on track driving and riding.\xa0 While often thought of as very different, most of the skills and techniques translate fully between riding a motorcycle and driving a car on a track.\xa0 Ken has a podcast that goes into a lot of Ken\u2019s preferred techniques and philosophies about track riding that Ken had developed to assist him in his personal progression as a competitive racer and then refined them with his work with the very best of the best riders and drivers in the world.\xa0 Once we had listened to Ken\u2019s podcast, we simply had to have him on because he has a way of conveying the information that is unique and often leads to a deeper or different understanding of the principles that often leads to those \u201cAhh Hah\u201d moments each of us is looking for when at the track.\xa0 This is one of our must listen episodes if you are looking to grow as a driver, rider, and racer.\xa0 As is his podcast, creatively titled as the Ken Hill Podcast.
PS\xa0 We end up using PittRace as an example track during this episode so if it is safe, it may be helpful to have a track map during some of our conversation.
You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving.
For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.\xa0 If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review.\xa0
A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/KenHillwithGHIT\xa0
We hope you enjoy this episode!
PS\xa0 Please don\u2019t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don\u2019t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.\xa0 Just enter the code \u201cghitlikesapex!\u201d when you order.\xa0 They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.\xa0 The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly.
Best regards,
Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill
Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers
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Highlights from this episode include:
1)\xa0 We start off with a discussion of the potential consequences of high performance riding and driving.\xa0 This is often glossed over but is an important aspect of our sport and must be kept in mind whenever participating on the track.
2)\xa0 Ken also goes into some of his history starting with cars and then transitioning into motorcycles and recently completed the loop by adding his first personal race car.\xa0\xa0
3)\xa0 His personal story started a bit later than what is typical and had an unanticipated benefit to his riding and coaching.\xa0 Since he started late and had \u201cless time\u201d, Ken focused on how he could progress as efficiently as possible and make up for the lost time.\xa0 This began his search for the fundamental principles and techniques that have been foundational to his personal riding and the riding and driving of his students.
4)\xa0 To the surprise of no one, the importance of vision skills has been demonstrated as a key technique to improve as a driver and the great news is that this can be trained and improved to help virtually anyone interested in performance driving and riding.\xa0 Ken also goes into the importance of what to look at (content), when to look at things and for how long (timing and duration), as well as an overview of some of Ken\u2019s eye training techniques.\xa0
5)\xa0 We go into the correlation between riding a motorcycle and driving a car on track.\xa0 The similarities are not quite 100% transferable, but it is pretty close in most cases.
6)\xa0 Our podcast has tried to bring in some of Ken\u2019s principles, especially in our Dominating with Dawson segments with Ben.\xa0 In this episode, Ken clarifies these concepts further and we go into his methodology of breaking down a bit further.\xa0 We finally do a much better job at discussing what is an entry corner and what is an exit corner, how to determine and how that affects the optimal path and input timing within the specific turn.
7)\xa0 The key items we discuss are the five principles that Ken utilizes to break down high performance riding and driving.\xa0 1)\xa0 Bike/Car placement, 2)\xa0 Vision/Focus, 3)\xa0 Motor Controls, 4)\xa0 Brake Adjustability, 5)\xa0 Turn in Point/Turn in Rate, 6)\xa0 Body Position/Body Timing\xa0
8)\xa0 Ken may have provided the key to Jen and Vicki\u2019s high speed braking zone issues that have limited/plagued them this season.\xa0 We hope to see Ken at Nelson Ledges later this year and do the drills with Ken in the parking lot.\xa0
9)\xa0 What are the 5 fundamental reasons for crashing?\xa0 1)\xa0 Lack of Focus/Lack of a Plan, 2)\xa0 Abrupt inputs, 3)\xa0 Rushing Direction (entry), 4)\xa0 Repeating a mistake, 5\xa0 Overconfidence
10)\xa0 We also discuss the 5 reference points of each turn:\xa0 1)\xa0 Exit Apex, 2) Entry Apex, 3)\xa0 Slowest Point of a Corner (EoB), 4)\xa0 Turn In Point, 5)\xa0 Beginning of Braking (BoB).\xa0 Another key is to work backwards, just as these are written and discussed.\xa0 Additionally, we also touch on how to determine the Vital Point for each turn.\xa0
We have a ton more questions for Ken and hope to have him on the podcast again, soon.\xa0 Please let us know if we missed something or were unclear during our discussion.
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Links we discussed during the episode: