Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Dick Mann wo n the Daytona 200 in 1970 on a H onda, and in '71 on a BSA. .u lar accidents in Turn I at th e sta rt o f lap two as people go t sucked along fast er than they 'd go ne before in - practi ce and overshot their bra king point for Turn I. Every year someone I would go down and take th ree or four out with him , so in th e en d th ey decid ed to ma ke Turn I just as unsafe ,- but a lot slower orr th e start, which mea ns the field stri ngs out soo ner nowad a ys." Co m ing down orr th e banking a t h igh speed a lways presents you with a p roblem of w here to p ick yo ur bra kin g point in th e ac res of concre te: H ow did Dick Mann do it? "T here ar e two wa ys o f app ro aching Turn I , the , hi gh and the low. If you have a real fast bi ke tod ay, bu t one wh ich isn 't so nimb le, like a su pe rbike, you ca n stay hi gh across the fin ish line, the n drop d own gradua lly into th e turn and ma ke o ne bi g sweepi ng curve o ut o f th e wh ol e th ing, with a tig h t ex it, which mea ns you ca n get the bik e uprigh t soo ner fo r the dr ive o u t. Bu t on a better- hand ling m achine, o r o n a slower bik e, the bes t bet is to stay low, practi cally o n the gra ss, th en you ca n brake in a stra ig h t line, dr ift o ut to the right enteri ng T u rn I, a nd tightapex it. I a lway s too k this line, because our bikes just weren 't fast enough , even in the F750 da ys, to mak e it worth while staying hig h up, but br ak ing was al ways a problem: th ey used to have distance marker boards th en which I used , bu t it wa s al ways a tes t o f judgement, especia lly co m ing down to b otto m ge ar a s yo u brak ed 'a ft e r travelling at high speed for so lo ng. " A lot o f people fall down in T urn I under br a king midway thro ugh a race because th ey lose co nce ntratio n w he n they're tired and forget th at Turn I has some rea lly stra nge factor s which will get you if you 're not ca ref ul. It's difficu lt to see even if you wa lk o u t there to show so meone , but in fact there's a rise in the pavement, so th at right about th e wrong moment wh en you 're braking hard from high sp eed and com ing down through the gea rs, the fro nt end gets all li ght. 1£ yo u wait ti ll the last possib le moment to brak e and try to mak e all your time up u nder the brakes th ei e with th em hard o n, you' ll usu all y fall. I'd brake very, very har d to begin wi th , the n ease o rr as th e front end got ligh t, th en back aga in hard on the brakes again befo re gett ing bo tto m gear, layin g th e bik e over is th e kind of fal se a pex.J'd mad e for mysel£ by dr ift in g out to th e right, and tu rn ing sha rp left. I'd a lways run a rea l h igh bottom gear for Daytona , too, th ough one pro blem peop le had to wa tch for especia lly as tir es go t wi der and better a nd you co u ld lean once more, plus more J apanese street bike based mach in es took to th e bowl, was th at you cou ld lea n th e bike over too far to th e left in tu rn one a nd grou nd th e gear lever, which wo u ld knock th e bike out of bo ttom gea r. " Where there's now a q ui ck right/left fli ck aft er T urn I, termed the Turn 2 ch ica ne, prior to 1985 T urn I was follow ed by a short.straight (now even sh orter ) to Turn 2', grandi osely termed th e Internation al H orsesh oe, a 180degree right-hander of even radius. " I'd sw itch th e power o n early co m ing ou t of T u rn I," said Mann. " It was a lways a consisten t corne r, so you 'd figure o n po wering out of there a lit tle sideway s with the bike slid ing slig h tly so as to g ive you alo t bett er run down th e back stretch behind th e p its to T u rn 2. On th e BSA-3, which was easily the nicest bike I ever rode ro u nd th e full banked speed way a t Da ytona , I' d ge t th ird gea r al ong th at short stra ig ht, th en down to seco nd for th e horsesh oe. I'd drift wide out to th e grass exi ti ng T u rn I , th en if I was running o n my o wn, cross over graduall y to th e left to tak e th e idea l line ro u nd T u rn 2 - o u tsi de.. ins ide, outside. But th ere was a lso a very goo d line if you were la p p ing slower rid ers, which wou ld be to stay over to th e right all th e way down , and hug th e in side all ro u nd Turn 2. I( was a little slower , b u t that way you'd be 'o n th e ins ide of th e slow guys, wh ich was a lo t safer tha n eithe r criss-crossing their lin es, or trying to ri de round th e o u tsid e of th em . T ha t was tak ing a real cha nce! " My fast line round T urn 2 was to act ua lly go in very deep, bra ki ng very la te so th a t I o versho t what wo ul d be th e idea l p lace to start turning in. Bu t th en I'd ma ke.an ea rly apex for my sel£, turn th e bik e ro und a nd power ou t very early, clipping the tru e a pe x as I d id so. Each year you cou ld do it faster , because eac h year Fra nce wo uld want to hav e a new record speed, so he'd ma ke th e ra ce track a li ttl e fast er! Each o f the corn ers at Daytona ha ve a hi story to them, wh ere France added pavement so as to let you ma ke the tu rns q u icker , a nd on Turn 2 for exa m p le each year he added pavem ent o n th e ex it, so you cou ld gun it harder a nd ear lier and drift o u t wider a nd wider as you did so: Lots of people sti ll don't tak e adva ntage of th at, bu t th ere's no doub t you 're chea tingyo u rself of tim e if yo u don 't. " T he fas t, sweeping left-hand dogleg a t wh a t used to be ca lled Turn 3 (now T u rn 4) has always been Daytona 's most testing co rner, at least to me, a ny how! G oi ng th rough th ere under po wer wi thou t chicken ing ou t a nd backing o rr the throttl e has a lways been a mental ba rrier to be overco me - hasn 't it?'''1 g uess so," muses Man n , "tho ugh in o ur day it wasn't so wid e no r so fast as i t is to day, wh ich p rob abl y made it eas ier. I'd tak e it in thi rd o n th e BSA, after grad ua lly crossing over to th e righ t after T u rn 2, hi tti ng fourth ' gear briefly, th en co ming back one for the dogleg so yo u co u ld run th ro ugh th ere on the pow er - just p u ll it stra ig h t back one gea r wit ho ut sh u tti ng the th rott le co m p letely, a nd dri ving th rou gh ." Was th ere th e little d ip in th e road rig h t o n the a pex of the left-ba nder wh ich can so u nse tt le a bike' s fro nt end if you hit it wrong today? " No , bu t I wo u ld n' t use all th e road at T u rn 3, beca use I wanted to get righ t over to th e left again for Turn 4, wh ich in so me way s wa s a more im po rt ant co rne r; you ca n save a lot o f tim e her e by doi ng it properly." T h is is another 180 degree right-hander , but much tigh ter tha n T urn 2, ca using a lo t of people to ru n ou t o f ro ad o n th e exit. I' ve always th o ugh t of it as a co rne r you can on ly lose tim e at, not gain it, but Dick Man n di sagrees. "The tri ck is to go very, very deep into th e tu rn o n the left," says Dick , " b ra king very hard a nd very la te, I'd use seco nd gea r if it was o ily, because then you 'd do the whole turn q u ite wide and co nce ntra te o n s ta yi n g aboard , but ot herwise I'd get bo ttom gea r j ust as I started to tu rn into the bend, th en ge t th e power on rea l early a nd drive hard th ro ug h th e real a pe x of the corner, stayi ng on th e right-hand side o f th e roa d as I did so. Not on ly did this let me avo id a ll the o il and rubber th a t'd build up th ere as th e race p rogressed , bu t it 'd p u t me in the righ t positi on for T urn 5 (nowTur n 6, a ti g ht left-b a nder lead in g on to th e banking ) wh ich was the key to how soo n you co uld get your top spee d o n the ban k. Wi th the non -sticky tires we had th en , you co uld accelerate so m uch more q uickly if you had the bik e upright, bu t even without th is I'm certa in this is th e q uickest way round T urn 4 up to the po int you start , b ra king for T u rn 5, beca use it 's also shorte r. I was a lways very conscious of shaving yards off a race tra ck's len gth if I co u ld do it, and I a lways measured the sa vings in bi ke len g th s. There are three or four bik e len gth s saved by do ing Turn 4 my way, ra ther tha n the classical sweepi ng Britishstyle line people use nowada ys, and if that lets yo u get the jump o n a not he r gu y, as well as save time through the turn, it has to be righ t." Turn 5 used to be a mu ch tig ht er en try to the banking than it is tod ay before the Fra nces rerou ted th e co ur se so as to lead ridersmore gra dua lly and therefore more q uickl y! - onto th e ba n king. " Even now ad a ys th is is a co rner you m ust ta ke with gr eat ca re," say s Dick , " beca use it's a ll too easy to swi tch th e pow er o n too hard and too soo n, a nd sp in ou t. There's a step in th e pavem ent ri ght where th e infi eld meets the banking which ca n com p letely u nsett le th e bi ke and flip yo u over , a nd a lot of very experienced rid ers have forgotten that. Gary Nixon lost th e 200 one yea r on the Su zuk i wh en he cam e down th ere, but it 's easy to do. I'd use botto m gear aga inafter br iefly grab bin g second o n the short stra igh t down fro m Turn 4, th en feed the pow er in rea l ca refully as th e corner opened u p : yo u MUST wait before do ing so beca use the turn 'seem s to tighten up a bi t on you, plus there's a lwa ys a lo t of oi l a nd ru bber la id down from th e cars wh ich ha ve th eir 24-h our race usua lly on ly three week s befor e th e bik e races, an d if there's been no rain th e track will still be v ery greasy. Definitely th e easiest p lace on th e race track to co me to grief. " Daytona lore has it tha t th e hot ti p co m ing o n to th e ba nking is to run right up to th e wa ll exi ting T u rn 5, th en d ro p do w n to yo ur d es i red posi tion on th e banking, thus su pposedl y ga in ing vit a l m illiseconds by improving acce lera tio n , a nd doing the same thing co m ing o u t o f the Ch ica ne. Does Dick Mann subscribe to th is view? " No , even on the triples, which were fas t enough to run whe re th ey do today on th e su pe rbi kes, I'd always co me o u t gra dua lly, a nd aim for the center of the banking, wh ich is wh ere I'd ru n a ll th e way ro u nd unless' I had to pa ss someone. Again , yo u' re sa ving di stance, which I th ought was more im po rta nt than pl a yin g helter-sk elter l T he wi nd co uld be a factor in how 19

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