As the sport becomes more and more professional, the areas where gains can be made become narrower and clearer. Motorcycles are closer in terms of performance, riders are working ever more carefully on fitness and nutrition, refining their riding skills ever more precisely. Marginal gains become harder to find and, therefore, ever more valuable. Coaches become a key tool in finding those wins, drawing small benefits from closely observing where drivers win and where they lose, and what they can do to improve. Turn a meter earlier here, hold your trajectory a meter longer there, move your trajectory a few centimeters left or right in a particular turn.
Sharp eye
Smith drew a parallel to watching other sports as a spectator, praising what a keen observer can observe. “I watched an alpine ski race a week ago and we were there watching – I'm a fan, but I don't know the sport – but you watch and watch 20 skiers go down: you knew exactly who was fast, who was slow, who took the classic line, who took the aggressive line, who took risks or not, etc. »
The same approach works in MotoGP, but it takes an expert to spot what's really going on. During a 45-minute free practice session, watching 24 drivers go by, you know exactly what works, what doesn't, who is good on the brakes, who is good on acceleration. That's something the data will never tell and it's something some people can never see. But by finding the right person, the right coach, it can help you improve: a coach, as long as the way they transmit information to the team and the driver is done correctly, it is only beneficial.
Driver coaches or track analysts are often used not only to help improve their own riding, but also to watch what other riders are doing and make comparisons. In this case, can a pilot benefit more from what he had learned about himself or what he had been told about what other pilots were doing?
It depends if you don't look at yourself. If what you're doing doesn't work in a particular corner, they can tell you: this or that competitor attacks the curve this way and someone else another way. Then you can try both ways to pass and see which one works best for you. This gives you several options to try in areas where you are less good.
It's simply a matter of comparing and drawing inspiration from the 24 best riders in the world, and the 24 best motorcycles in the world. If they all do it a certain way, you have to do it that way and find a way to make it possible.
Watch, learn, adapt
But each motorcycle has different strengths and requires a different approach, meaning lessons must be filtered through each machine's lens. You have to take all the information and digest it. A Honda doesn't work like a Yamaha, nor a Suzuki like a KTM or an Aprilia. Basically it just helps to understand and it's something that really stands out. You might not necessarily be able to use the option, due to the difference in how motorcycles operate, but at least it gives you that option. Sometimes you can't see it, if you're on the track at the same time.
This is why we always see drivers trying to keep up with each other. It's not always to take the aspiration, it's to see, what does his bike do that mine doesn't do? Where can he pass faster than me? What will I encounter in the race? It's a bit of a game of cat and mouse because everyone does it and it's classic that in this case, to avoid taking inspiration from their rivals, they cut to let it pass.
This is where a coach or track analyst comes in. It can basically provide this type of information. Following someone directly is the best information you can get. With an external observer, and on-board data, this makes a winning combo. Smith recalled that “What's completely useless is driving around banging your head against a brick wall and not learning anything. »
Video recording, a significant bonus
With Dorna providing comprehensive coverage of every practice session, with multiple camera angles available for many of them, drivers and their coaches use them to debrief. This lets you know what you look like when you're fast and efficient. You don't always know when you're riding, but when you see it on TV you know right away. Because body language is really clear and there is always a reason for an action or reaction.
But that's not all. Ground television images can be useful, on-board cameras much less so. The only thing it brings is information about competitors' gearboxes. If they use second or first gear in a particular corner. This can be used for a rookie, who does not know which gear to use in each curve. It can also be used to see if someone is shifting more or less quickly in a slippery area or to stop wheeling.
All this information is good to take in, in the hope of finding the details that can make a difference. Not all of this information can necessarily be used for the next session, but something the pilot can keep in mind to get creative. The same goes for when you watch a practice session and see someone overtaking a slower driver in a certain spot. This may be an option to keep in mind.
Get inspired by others
The thing about all of this is that you never know when – or even if – it might come in handy. It's simply a matter of gathering information that you could use in the final lap of the race. You see someone else doing it and then if you take a little more on the curb it means there's less angle or a slightly different line in the next corner.
This was particularly useful for KTM, on a brand new prototype with no existing data, and it will be at Aprilia this year. Smith said during his time at KTM that “When we have a new bike, we think so much about the bike and its settings that we don't just think about the track. Whereas there are riders who are so confident with their bikes that they can just focus on the line. So you can use TV footage and other people to derive this information. It is important. »
In racing, as in any other quest for perfection, the devil is in the details. Driver coaches, track analysts, television coverage, following your competitors, these are all tracks that drivers use to go for the final tenth, the last hundredths that can make the difference between success and failure. As technical regulations narrow the performance gaps between machines, these details become increasingly important.
