Anyone who rides a motorcycle will have heard
of this amazing organization. If not, then you should read on. A track day at
Problem One - me with suspended license. Catching a bus around the circuit didn’t
seem that fun a prospect. Solution -
Ring up school and find out that no license is required, just photo ID. Also
Joel “pick me up, drop me off!” Yep thanks mate I owe you one or two.
Problem Two - the paper work was being sent to a phantom address. I still didn’t
have it 4 days before the final weekend. Solution
- another phone call. It turns out we can fill out the forms at the gate
before we go in. Very flexible so far.
Problem Three - The trailer Joel had organised from his mate was a three-bike set-up
but was designed for dirt bikes which meant the tracks are too narrow and our
190 rears are at least 40mm too wide. This was discovered two days before the
School and the next day was a Sunday. Solution
- another one or few more phone calls trying to contact Lyn. The wider
tracks on her trailer saw us head over on a whim just hoping she was home. Luckily
she was and was more than happy to lend us her trailer. Thanks heaps, Lyn. I
owe you one or two as well.
A final-check to make sure we have
everything: helmet, keys, gloves, accessories. Then it’s off to the
We finally arrived in slight rain
but a clearing forecast. We signed in at the gate for track purposes and then
again at the pits for the School’s paperwork. Off loaded the bikes and rode
around to our colour coded groups. We just happened to park underneath the
podium, more ass than intuitive class I think, but still a perfect photo
opportunity. The color system worked well with 5 groups consisting of two Level 1 groups and one each of the other
levels. (Top group is Level 4). There were 21 students in each Level 1 group
and 7 instructors equating to 3 students per instructor. One group on the track
at a time and 55 students in total.
Steve Brouggy would be our
classroom instructor for the day and would prove to be very good at his job.
Easy to understand, funny and more than approachable, just like all of the staff
there, actually. Lesson One was introductions, what is expected of us and of
the instructors, and what we want to get out of the day. To ride safer and
faster seemed to be the big winners for that one. There were all levels of
rider skill in our 2 groups and all had equal time with the instructors. No favoritism to faster or slower riders.
The day was broken up into five
20-minute sessions except for the first session that had two sighting laps in
single file which went for a bit longer. Funny, each session seemed to get
shorter. Having more and more fun might have contributed to this.
Session One - Throttle Control This was done in 4th
gear, the only exception was to use 5th gear for the straight. No
brakes unless you needed to avoid a collision or off track exploration. The
idea behind the throttle control exercise was to get your complete attention.
Like most drills for the day, at first this seemed ridiculous. But these guys
are still in business for a good reason: they know what they are doing!
First session and first crash. Everyone
was cruising. As you can imagine, it takes a long time to slow down for tight
corners with no brakes. The rain had stopped but the track was still wet. A
bloke on one of the hired bikes got a bit edgy on the first lap and passed his
girlfriend only to crash two corners later at MG (a tight right hander). They
both left after that, the bloke’s bravado somewhat deflated after talk of a $3500
excess. I hope they did not live too far from the track. A long drive home,
either way.
Session Two - Turn Points Joel was like an excited school boy finally let out onto the playground,
always first on the track. His jaw must be aching because he didn’t stop
smiling all day. On the other hand, I was always the last one out. This meant we
were at opposite ends of the field during the drills. We decided this was for
the best. Our tendency to play cat and mouse interrupted, forced us to concentrate
on what we were supposed to be doing.
The turn-in point on each corner
was marked with a cone and later an X when the track was dry. We would have to
wait until the mark before turning in. A big eye opener for me as I would
normally turn in long before the marker on some of the tighter corners but once
made to turn later I found it so much easier to negotiate. Using 3rd
and 4th gears for this one but still no brakes. This drill made it
easy for us to learn the now drying track.
Session Three - Quick Turning Moving on from the last drill but
now trying to improve the time taken to turn into the corner. While we had time
in between track and classroom sessions we did some counter steering drills.
This was done with non-riding instructors in the car park. These drills would
prove useful for this session. We could use 3rd and 4th
gears with light braking.
By now the track was just about
completely dry. This was good for most of us but tragic for others who started
to push a bit too hard and ended up crashing. No serious injuries, just wounded
pride.
Lunch All
included with the cost of the day and served in the cafeteria. There was as
much free coffee as you wanted, which might explain why I spent the remainder
of my free time in the little boy’s room.
Session Four- Relaxation Fighting with the bike saps energy and concentration. These relaxation
techniques helped but weren’t revolutionary to me. Putting all the drills
together was, however, improving my riding consistency. Hitting the sweet spot
just about every time was awesome and I could actually see results. Not just in
myself but in the other riders as well. Confidence levels were soaring sky
high.
Session Five - Two-Step Turning Another eye-opening classroom delivery showed
us how to extend a tight corner by looking well into it before turning in. A
bit weird at first but again, RESULTS!
This was our last time out on the
track and this time we could use all gears and full brakes. I lined up right
beside Joel at the front, making sure we would be the first two out. What a
blast! I have never had so much fun. We stayed together the whole time, changing
cat and mouse roles as we went. Joel had me at the start and end of the circuit
but I had him through the middle. It was grouse. I don’t know our top speed
because they taped up the speedos (the less distractions, the better). I am not
sure of our times but one of the blokes had his father timing him in the high
1.50s and we were going quicker than him.
Another crash saw our session end
early, making a record 8 crashes for the day (3 times the average) with 5 of
them in our group. Two blokes from
At the end of the day all had had
a brilliant time. We had a final meeting in the classroom before going down to
check out the photos of us on the track. We both bought one. Then we happily
filled out a feedback report and were told we would be sent a certificate in
the mail.
By this time it is about 5pm and
we had had one truly full-on day. Load up the bikes and have a last friendly
chat with the other students before heading home via Pakenham for something to
eat and another chance to talk about this amazing day. I have a funny feeling
Level Two is on the cards for later this year.
Approximate kms for the day: Joel (Honda CBR1000) 208 kms, Breht (Honda
CBR 954) 198 kms, Joel & Breht (car + trailer) 285 kms
As you can see, Joel did a few
more laps than I did. This was because he was out early each time and had
already done a lap before we all got out. Something to keep in mind if I have
persuaded any of you to attend a day. You can probably add another 25 kms or so
to Joel’s total, as he had to travel home still after he dropped me off. Thanks
again mate.
The cost for the course was $385.
This includes insurances, track hire, 1 to 3 instructor ratio, completion
certificate and a proper lunch. You can contact the
Breht Emmerson