Every track day ends the same way. You've got a few hundred laps of data on the logger, a head full of "next time I'll…", and a van to load. Then the next track day comes round three weeks later and you've forgotten all of it. You ride the same lines, brake at the same boards, and wonder why the lap times haven't moved.
The data was never the problem. The problem is that data isn't a plan. A speed trace tells you where you lost time. It doesn't tell you what to do about it on Saturday morning at 9am, with cold tyres and a sighting lap to go.
That's what drills are for. This post covers how to write a drill that actually changes your riding, how to tell whether it worked, and how ApexIngest now keeps your drills in front of you between track days. If you're new to reading the traces themselves, start with our beginner's guide to motorcycle telemetry.
Key takeaways
- A drill is one corner, one action, one reference point. Anything bigger is a wish.
- Bring one or two drills to a track day, not ten. You only have one slot in your head for "the thing I'm working on".
- Judge a drill by the same corner on your next visit, not by your lap time.
- ApexIngest turns each coached session into a drill plan, flags drills that look like they worked, and emails you your open drills every Friday.
- Every 1 November you'll get your season in numbers: laps, tracks, fastest lap, top speed, max lean and your most-improved corner.
Why "ride more" doesn't work
More laps make you more comfortable. They don't make you faster on their own. Without a target, you repeat what you already do, and you get very good at your current mistakes.
The riders who improve season on season treat each session like an experiment. They pick one change, ride it for a whole session, and check the data afterwards. We covered the full method in how to improve lap times using telemetry. A drill is simply that method written down so you don't lose it in the paddock.
What makes a good drill
A good drill passes three tests:
- It names a corner. "Brake later" is advice. "Brake later into T4" is a drill.
- It's one action you can do every lap. Not "be smoother everywhere". One input, one place.
- It's anchored to something you can see. A brake board, a marshal post, a kerb stripe. Your eyes need a target, because your sense of "a bit later" lies.
Here's the difference in practice:
| Vague goal | Drill |
|---|---|
| Brake later | Five laps moving your brake marker one post later |
| Get on the gas sooner | Roll on earlier after the apex, by the second kerb stripe |
| Carry more corner speed | Five laps holding your entry speed into T4 |
| Use the front more | Trail-brake to the apex for three laps |
| Be more consistent | Repeat the same line every lap through the slow chicane |
Notice the numbers: five laps, one post, three laps. A drill with a count has an end. You do it, you check it, you move on.
How ApexIngest builds your drill plan
Run AI coaching on a session and the AI Coach picks out up to five focus areas: the corners it flags as costing you time. Each one comes with an observation of what happened and a drill to take to your next session. You get one drill per corner per session, so the list stays short.
One thing we're strict about: every number in your coaching is calculated, not invented. The AI writes the sentences, but it isn't allowed to type a digit itself. Every time and speed is filled in from your telemetry, or from the reference you're being compared against. If it can't phrase something within those rules, you get a simpler built-in drill instead of a made-up one.
All your drills collect on one page: Your drill plan. It has two tabs, Open and Completed. Hit Mark complete when a drill is done, or Reopen it if the habit slips. Your dashboard also shows a card along the lines of "2 drills open — bring to next session", so they're in front of you whenever you log in.
Each time coaching turns up new drills, you'll get a short email ("Your AI Coach has 2 new drills from…") so the plan doesn't sit unread.
Did the drill actually work?
This is where most practice falls apart. You ride the drill, it feels better, and you never check.
Check the corner, not the lap. Open the circuit under Tracks and select the session you set the drill in plus the one where you rode it. The corner chart puts them side by side for every corner: entry, apex and exit speed, plus max lean. If the drill was "brake marker one post later" and your entry speed into T4 has gone up, it's working. If nothing moved, you didn't actually change anything. That's normal, so go again next time.
ApexIngest also checks for you. When you ride the same track again and run coaching on that ride, we compare each open drill's corner with how it was when the drill was set. If the time you're losing there (against your best lap of the session) has dropped by more than 0.1s and your entry speed is up by about 1 km/h or more, the drill gets a "Likely worked" badge and we email you to say the corner got quicker.
Be honest about what that tells you. In the email's own words: "We claim the corner improved while this drill was open — not that the drill alone caused it." Tyres, temperature and traffic all move the numbers, and a change that holds up session after session is the real thing. That's why you decide when to tick a drill off, once the technique feels bedded in.
The Friday drill digest
Drills only work if you remember them before you get to the track. So every Friday evening (17:00 UTC) we send you a short email: "You have 3 open drills heading into the weekend." It lists your three most recent open drills, each with its corner and track, plus a link to the full plan. Read it over dinner, pick the one you'll work on, and you arrive at the circuit with a plan.
Two things keep the digest useful rather than noisy:
- No open drills, no email. If your plan is clear, we stay quiet.
- Old drills tidy themselves up. A drill that's been open and untouched for 30 days moves to Completed automatically, so the digest doesn't nag you about a corner you rode two months ago.
Your season in numbers (every 1 November)
As the UK season winds down, every rider with at least one processed session that year gets a once-a-year season digest on 1 November:
- sessions, total laps and tracks visited
- your fastest lap, and where you set it
- top speed and max lean
- your most-improved corner: the corner where your best time through it dropped the most from your first session at a track to your latest
The most-improved corner needs at least two sessions at the same track. The digest goes to every account, free included. Sessions count by the date you rode them, so upload any rides still sitting on your logger before 1 November.
Turning the emails off
Both emails are on by default. You'll find two switches under Settings → Email preferences:
- Drill emails: the new-drills email after each coached session, the "looks faster" progress emails and the Friday digest.
- Season digest: the once-a-year 1 November email.
The unsubscribe link at the bottom of any drill or digest email switches off both in one click. Account emails, like "your session is processed" and billing notices, still arrive.
What the loop looks like
Here's an illustrative example of how it fits together (the figures are made up to show the flow):
Saturday. You upload your second session and run AI coaching on it. The coach flags T4 (braking too early, entry speed down) and T9 (slow to pick up the throttle on exit). Two drills land in your plan and the email follows.
The Friday before your next track day. The digest lists both drills. You choose T4 only, because one change per session is the rule.
Track day. You spend the whole of session two on "five laps moving your brake marker one post later" into T4, and nothing else.
Back home. You upload, run coaching, and the T4 drill shows "Likely worked". Comparing the two sessions under Tracks confirms it: T4 entry speed is clearly up. Once the change feels natural, hit Mark complete. T9 is still open. That's next time's drill.
Ride, analyse, drill, check. Boring on purpose, because boring and repeatable is how you get faster without taking new risks.
FAQ
Do I need Pro for drills? Every free account gets one AI coaching preview, and that preview creates drills in your plan just like Pro does. Coaching on every session is part of Pro (£9/month or £79/year). That means a fresh drill plan after every track day, and the automatic "Likely worked" check, which needs a coached later ride.
Why did my drill move to Completed on its own? Drills that stay open and untouched for 30 days are closed automatically, to keep your plan and the Friday digest relevant. Hit Reopen if you still want it.
How many drills should I take to a track day? One or two at most. Pick the corner the coach flags first, and give that drill a full session.
Got a logger full of last weekend's laps? Upload your existing data free and get your first drill plan, or read the 5-step method behind it.