In a♑ sport where success can be decided by one thousandth of a second, MotoGP riders are constantly seeking every drop of information to gain even the slightest edge.

A consequence of the sport getting ever more competitive - the last two seasons have seen an unprecedentꦜed number of race winners and tight racing - is the quest for greater data and statistics.

But numbers only tell part of the story and there has also been an increasing trend towards use of 'rider coaches'; often an ex-racer, who observes from trackside and passes on feedb🏅ack 🔴about how their rider might improve.

Another avenue of 'non-data' comes from the vast array of TV๊ footage now available, with every MotoGP track session filmed from multiple camera angles.

But what can a rider learn from it all?

Red Bull KTM's Bradley Smith, who worked with Randy Mamola for much of༺ his gran🌜d prix career, explains…

Rider Coach

"I had Randy working with me and I see that as a massive help just in terms of having eyes outside of the track," began🤡 the Englishman.

"It's amazing. I wa🌜tched a downhill ski race a week ago. I'm a fan, but I don't know the sport, but when you stand there and watch 20 guys go down you knew exactly who was fast, who was slow, who took the cautious line, who took the aggressive line, who had big balls, who didn't, who was erratic, who was smooth.

"And that was all on one time through.

"So if you stand tracksﷺide in a 45-minute MotoGP session and watch 24 guys going through, you know exactly what's working, what is n🏅ot, who is good on the brakes, who is good on acceleration…

"That's something the data will never tell you and it's something that some guys can never see. But if you find the right person, the right coach, they can bring that paไckage.

"I think coaches - as long𝕴 as&༒nbsp;they relay the information to the team and rider in the correct way - are nothing but beneficial.

"Basically [a coach] helps you understand if something really stands out and helps with ideas if what you are doing is not working in a particular corner. They can tell you, 'so-and-so is attac𒁏king the corner in this way and someone else is doing it that way'.

"Then you could try both of those different approaches and see whicꦗh one works for you. It gives you a couple of different options to try in areas where you are weak.

"It's jus🃏t a case of using the mass🦂 of visual information from 24 of the best riders in the world, on 24 of the best bikes in the world. If everyone else is doing a corner in a certain way, you need to do it like that and find a way of making it happen. I think that's the important thing.

"But you can't just directly overlay it - a KTM will never do exactly what another manufacturer will do, and another manufacturer wouldn't do what a KTM would do. You have to take all the information a꧅nd digest it, find a way to make it work for your package.

"You might not necessarily always ๊be able to use the options, because of 🍸the difference between how the bikes work, but at least it gives you those options to try.

"Sometimes you can't see [what others are doing dif🅺ferently], if you are riding round by yourse♊lf by example.

"That's also why we still see riders trying to follow each other. It's not always to get a tow, it's to see🔴 'what's his motorcycle doing that mine isn't?ꦇ What am I going to come up against in the race?'

"But you don't always have the possibility to study your rivals in that🐭 way because they shut off, wave the other rider by and so on.

"A coach can basically supply that same 🍌kind of information, se෴cond hand. But that's better than not at all.

"First hand, by following someone, is the be🦄st information you can get as a rider. Next is second hand and then try and back that up with the data. What's completely useless is riding around hitting your head against a brick wall and not learning anything."

TV Coverage

"I watch myself [on the TV coverage] because you know what a 'good you' looks like on the bike. You know what you loo𓃲k like when you are comfortable on the bike… definitely not riding like you’ve got a pole up your backside!

"You don't always know☂ that when you are riding, but when you see 🌄it [on TV afterwards] you know straight away. Body language is really clear and there is always a reason for an action, or reaction.

"﷽On-board [TV footage] is pretty useless for me; the only thing we c🔯an learn from that is other people's gearboxes. If they are using second or first gear in a particular corner. That was more important last year because we didn't know which gear ratios, so it helped us to understand.

"On-board gear changes can also help to see if someone is short-shifting in a slippy area or to prevent wheelies. That's something you can note, but both of those things are fro🐲m looking 🧸at other guys rather than your own on-board. Then you have to decide which differences you can transfer across.

"All of that is informatio💮n that you cannot necessarily use first hand, but something you can go away and think about. Get creative.

"The same applies💝 when you are watching the practice sessions [on TV] and you see someone overtake a slower rider in a certain place. Or if you see someone run in deep i🅺n some places, but still have the ability to make the turn.

"Or perhaps you see🔯 someone run over ✅a kerb in a way that you didn't think you could. Then if you take that bit of kerb it opens up a slightly different line into the following corner.

"You can remember all༒ those kinds of things as an option. It's about gathering information 🦩that you might not even need until the last lap of the race.

"Because we’ve got a new bike sometimes we are thinking so much about the bike that we are not thinking purely about the track. Whereas some g♑uys are so confident with their bikes they can just focus on the track.

"So you can use TV cover🍃age and other people [coa🐓ch] to draw that information from. It's important," Smith concluded.

KTM told mahbx.com that ♛"at the moment a couple of team member𝔉s share this [coach] role."