Jack Miller: “No f****** way this will stop, first exit before eyes adjust”

Jack Miller has provided a fascinating insight into the importance of a MotoGP rider’s eyes adjusting to speed.

The Pramac Yamaha rider has pointed out how time away from riding at peak MotoGP speeds can mean eyesight requires an intense readjustment.

Miller insists the first laps of a new season are crucial to redeveloping the senses needed to travel at such velocity.

“It’s the eyes,” he told the Gypsy Tales podcast. “Winter break gets you - you go away, go back to Australia, I didn’t touch a bike from the Barcelona test in November to the first week of February.

“So you haven’t done 300km/h since then.

“You’ve got things going through your head. I’ve been doing it for eons but still ‘will I remember how to ride? Can I do what I did three months ago?’

“Your eyes are the first thing. Always in Sepang.

“I know from doing copious amounts of laps there, you know exactly where the braking marks are. You know where you’re safe, where you’re not stretching it. You’ve got a good window.

“You come out the corner, up the gears, you’re not worried about the ride-height device, you’re just worried about getting around.

“You go into the braking zone and think ‘there is no f***** way this thing is going to stop!’

“Your eyes are all over the place. It takes the first exit before your eyes adjust to that speed, and you start seeing things in a different light.

“It takes five or six laps to really adjust. Then it comes back like muscle memory.”

Jack Miller 'hyper aware particularly if I am focused'

Miller insists the adjustment is even more severe on four wheels.

He explained: “I have done a bit in go-karts. That’s another step, the Formula 1 guys, that sort of thing.

“You are so low to the ground, your corner speed is so high. Your eyes are working.

“In go-karts, your eyes take a couple of laps to adjust to how quick things come in the corners, and how much corner speed you take.”

He continued: “I feel like my peripheral vision is pretty good. I see a lot, especially in a car, a bicycle or a motorcycle.

“I am hyper aware of what people are doing, particularly if I am focused on driving a car or riding a bike.

“I can see a lot. That definitely comes back to racing. You can feel or hear a motorcycle pass you before you see the bike. Your senses work in overload.

“You try to avoid a block pass, pull it up earlier to cut back, especially now because there is no margin for error.”