A Guide to Chicanes: Tips on Maximising Speed Throughout

One of the more difficult sections of track to tackle is the trusty chicane.

Where a simple corner can be broken down into small chunks to deal with in a logical sequence, a chicane (particularly the tighter ones) will require a little more agility and concentration.

In this guide I want to cover how we go about tackling these sometimes tricky corners, as well as what we can do to minimise the time spent going through them.

Getting the Most Out of Them

In your traditional chicanes, there are two main factors that will determine how fast you can get through them.

The first is how quick you are able to go from full lean right to full lean left (or left to right), and the second is maximising the time the bike is spent upright – if the chicane allows it, that is.

Now, you may be thinking that those two factors contradict one another, so let me explain by covering each point separately.

Speed of Lean to Lean

As is the case with any corner, the speed at which you can turn the bike (lean it over) is going to dictate a vast majority of the speed you can carry through it.

And chicanes are no exception.

If you can be lightening quick getting the bike from one side to the other, you will be able to carry considerably more speed through the chicane over someone who has a very slow steering rate.

If someone with a slow steering rate tried to go through at the same speed, they would quickly find themselves massively missing apexes, or worse, running off the track.

Maximising the Time Spent Upright

In some chicanes there will be a period of time, all be it small, where you can utilise the bike being upright

This period will show up in larger chicanes where the corners are more spaced out. Through Maggots and Becketts at Silverstone is a perfect example.

Watch this video from 1:30. You can hear as he is standing his bike up between the right and left, and then the left and right, he is applying a little bit of throttle.

In these bigger chicanes, rather than just coasting through the transition from the first part to the second part, you can actually use the throttle and brakes to gain time in this area.

And by using the throttle I don’t just mean hold it steady, I mean actually trying to accelerate in the small time you have between the first and second part of the chicane.

Think of a chicane you’ve already ridden through. Could you have stood the bike up quicker in the middle, given it a little squirt of throttle before using the brakes to slow back down for the second part?

There’s a general rule of track riding which goes something like, ‘if you’re not accelerating or braking, you’re losing time’.

Now this shouldn’t be taking too literally, because there are indeed points where we won’t be doing either (and for good reason), but it does ring true for many chicanes.

On these bigger chicanes with more drawn out transitions from one side to the other, if you’re not utilising this time with throttle and brakes, you’re losing out.

Finding the Right Approach

To look at the two extremes then, some chicanes will offer zero time to utilise the throttle and brakes. These will be very short and tight chicanes where your main focus should be turning as quickly as possible in both parts.

On the other side of the coin we’ve got the larger chicanes that offer a good deal of space where you can make time up by giving it a little squirt of throttle and regulating your speed into the second half of the chicane with the brakes.

But not every chicane is going to be one or the other, and it’s your job to assess them and determine whether it’s possible to make time up in the middle.

The Process

Getting the Bike Turned

As you may have read in my corner entry guide, counter-steering using the bars is the way we effectively steer a bike, and it is counter-steering once again that is going to help us accurately get through a chicane.

For a quick example, let’s say that we want to get through a chicane that has a right turn followed by a left turn.

To initiate the turn into the first right hander, you would have pushed on the inside bar (in this case, the right one) and the bike would have steered into the corner.

When the time comes that you want to then lean the bike over to the left, initially you’ll pull on that same right inside bar and the bike will begin to stand up. As the bike comes vertical and you perform move to the other side of the bike with your body, you’ll transition into use the left bar by pushing on it so that the bike continues to lean left until you reach your desired lean angle.

Only once you have reached your desired lean for the left hand corner should you stop pushing on that left bar.

How aggressive you are with the bars will dictate how quickly the bike goes from full lean right, to full lean left.

In higher speed corners it is harder to change the direction of the bike due to the dynamics of the bike, so I sometimes find it necessary to pull on the inside bar and push on the outside bar at the same time to help me get the bike turned quicker.

Body Position Throughout

The type of chicane you are travelling through will change how you position yourself throughout the whole section.

If it is a very quick flip flop chicane for example, you may not have time (or rather, it will waste time) to try to actually get into your proper cornering body position through both the first and second corner of the chicane.

You may not really get off to the inside for the first part to instead concentrate on getting your body position right for the exit of the second part.

Having the right body position for cornering will always help the bike, but be mindful that in very tight chicanes, all the effort to get into the perfect position could be counter-productive.

The Change Over

This part can be tricky, because it requires you to steer the bike quickly, while getting over to the other side of the bike without upsetting it too much.

Ideally what you want to do is start to shift your lower body over to the other side (shift your backside across) as you start to turn, or even better, before you start turning, if you have the time.

Getting your lower body over earlier will minimise unwanted inputs into the bars as you alter the bike’s lean and shift your weight across.

Another way to minimise unwanted inputs is to clamp the tank with your knees as you slide your backside across. This will mean you are stabilising yourself with your knees on the tank, rather than solely relying on your hands to stabilise yourself on the bars.

Once you’ve moved your lower torso over to the opposite side, your upper body will pretty much follow the flow of the bike.

So as your bike stands up you will bring your head into the centre of the bike, then as you lean into the second part of the chicane it will once again move to the inside.

Ok so that about covers it for chicanes. The above should have given you enough information to go out and tackle one of the toughest sections on any race track, and in turn get more out of them.

With practice and actually being mindful of what you are doing, you can be confidently taking through more speed than you ever thought possible while keeping the transition smooth and mistake free.