One of the more difficult types of turn to get right is the turn where the apex is very late, and more often than not, blind.
This is a characteristic that is often seen in decreasing radius, or long radius corners such as the final turn at Silverstone, where the track comes right back around on itself.
The reason they’re difficult is because you can’t always see where it is you need to be heading and where you want to end up (apex), so it is in corners like this where we find our riding is most inconsistent.
Like with any turn, you’re probably not going to get it right from the off, but in corners where we can’t see where we want to apex and exit, it can feel like a bit of a guessing game on how to approach them.
Here I want to cover some points about blind apex turns that will help you better approach them the next time you encounter one.
What you often see with riders that can’t see their apex or exit – and don’t have any real turn markers set – is the tendency to turn in early.
This turning in early will create a number of issues and potential outcomes. The most common outcome is to run wide on the exit, which in itself opens up issues such as delaying exit throttle until you can get the bike pointed up the road, or worse, the rider will try and tighten their line as they apply their exit throttle, moving them into potential high-side territory.
Other issues include the tendency to steer multiple times during a corner as the rider hunts for a decent line, and the same again with the throttle; it comes on and off multiple times as they try to gauge the apex timing. Both of which will lose you time and bike stability.
Here’s what we can do to prevent the common pitfalls of blind apex turns.
The main thing we need to remember when trying to perfect these turns is that the bike goes where our attention is.
If the desired line for the corner is to start on the outside of the track and slowly move to the inside to eventually meet the apex, then if you immediately look right at the inside kerb as you steer you will more than likely go there, meaning you have then turned in too early.
Instead we need to look where the bike needs to go, and in the case of blind apex turns we need to look for the vanishing point of the turn.
Instead of looking immediately to the inside kerb, look as far ahead of the kerb as you can. In the same way that you track the vanishing point around a blind turn on the road, you can find this same point on the kerb.
This will give you the earliest indication of when your apex is going to appear, and in time you will begin to pick up on the same visual clues of when that point is, allowing you to correctly time the point at which you want to meet the inside of the turn (your line should dictate this) and hit the apex.
This is something that will take a bit of trial and error, but starting your mid turn roll on too early and too aggressively will mean you will likely run wide and compromise your exit.
We want to get back onto the throttle as soon as we can to give ourselves maximum stability and grip mid corner, but you have to find the right time to do it so it doesn’t affect your line.
Knowing that rolling on too much pushes the bike to the outside of the turn, this acts as a good indicator of how the throttle does in fact dictate your line, and that it isn’t just the bars that determine your overall direction of travel in a corner.
If you find yourself coming to the inside of the turn too quickly, ask yourself if you are starting your roll on early enough to maintain the line and hit that late, blind apex.
On the other hand, if you’re correctly starting your roll on after you have finished steering and are still coming to the inside too soon, then you may need to assess the point at which you steer into the corner. You may need to turn deeper into the corner, for example.
In these longer corners, it’s one that allows you to complete your steering input, get back to the throttle and start your slow roll on and follow your desired line (preferably without deviation) and hit your apex.
Once you have your correct turn marker set, with the same turn rate and throttle application you will be hitting that apex time after time.
As I’ve said, these turns aren’t easy so don’t be too hard on yourself if you can’t hit your apex every time.
Your main goal is to be close, because if you can get close then you know you only need small tweaks to your turn marker, steering rate, or throttle control to get yourself bang on that apex.