I recently (June 2003) attended a motorcycle performance riding school at a large track. I'm going to tell you about it and what I learned.
I guess the first thing you need to know is my motorcycle riding history so you know where I'm coming from. I bought my first motorcycle in college around 1995. Actually I went in 50/50 with a friend. It was a 1980 Honda CB750F. My next bike I bought was a 1989 Yamaha FZR600 around 1997. And this year I bought a new 2003 Honda CBR600RR. I've probably average 1500-2000 miles a year, so I've got 15k-20k miles on bikes. I've have a couple of near death experiences like most riders. I'm not an extreme risk taker - I can't do a controlled wheely, and I've topped out at ~125mph on streets. I've done autocrossing a couple years back (timed car racing through cones in parking lots). And I've never really had the skill / talent to excel at that. So pretty much I just wanted to do this for the fun and the experience.
The "Motorcycle Performance Riding School" aka "Advance Street Riders School" was held by FASTTRAX at Beaver Run Motorsports Complex. FASTTRAX is based out of North Canton, Ohio (about 50 miles south of Cleveland) and Beaver Run is just south of Pittsburg, PA.
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Beaver Run Pit lane and front straight |
FASTTRAX requires that you and your bike have certain things:
Rider Requirements:
Motorcycle Requirements:
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Foggy morning view of Beaver Run front straight |
The school is $175 in general, but this time it was $125 because this was the first time they were at this track. The school fills up about a month in advance according to the website. The no antifreeze is because the coolant overflow spits coolant on the track. Antifreeze is appearently very slippery. The tires supposedly need to have 95% of there tread left, but according to one of the tech guys, they are looking for a non-bald tire that doesn't have flat spots from riding on streets.
"Outer Pits" by front straight
I stayed at the Holiday Inn 2 miles away so I didn't have to wake up so early. I arrived at the track at 7:15am as required. Everyone parked in a gravel parking lot close to the front straight. It had been raining the night before and it was ~60 degrees and very foggy. We were supposed to register, unload, then be at a driver's meeting at 8:15am, but this being the first time FASTTRAX was at this track there were some kinks. We registered and had a drivers meeting around 8:30am. We, about 70 of us, were split into groups: Racers (people with racing licences or racing certificates) and non-racers (later to be split into "A" and "B" groups). The "A" group was riders that had taken the course before and wanted to ride a little faster. The "B" group were all the first time students.
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Front front to rear, pits / front straight / start of back straight |
No one could really ride on the track until the heavy fog lifted, so our first classroom session was extended. The instructor/owner was very knowledgable about the topics and also genuinely cared about the student's safety. He introduced a new topic in each every classroom session and had us focus on it for the next track session. On the track there were "control riders" for every 6 or 7 students. The control rider was our instructor out on the track. Typically we played "follow the leader", where the control rider would ride on the line and we would follow him single file. Each lap the rider directly behind the control rider would rotate to the back of the line. There were also roaming control riders that went around to make sure the students were doing everything right. The instructor sometimes seemed to get into stories too much for my liking, I'd hoped for a little more content. The control riders were very helpful.
Major track leasons learned:
The first track time session we went around the track at ~40mph to get the feel of the track and to learn the line. The second was a little faster ~55mph and the third a little faster. I was getting a little bored at this point, it seemed that I was just "driving" around a track. But the 4th session changed, the pace picked up considerably. It was definitely "fun" at this point. The speed was brisk, where you actually felt like you were near racing speeds. The next session the speeds increased higher, to the point where I was pleased with the speed (and didn't want to go faster at the moment). The final session was not follow the leader and there was passing in the front straight. That was an absolute blast. You could actually take the track at near racing speed (near because most of us went as fast as we felt comfortable with). There probably would have been 3 more session had there not been fog and an accident. The accident was during the racer's track session. Appearently someone got highsided (when someone passes and then cuts back too early and takes out the passee's front tire) and was taken to the hospital. The track was closed until the ambulance returned. We ran a total of 60 miles on the track.
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Riders waiting in grid area for ambulance to return |
Beaver Run is a new race track, catering mostly to cars. They also have a go-kart track and a skid pad. The north track is the one we ran on. It is a 12 turn, 1.6 mile natural road course. There is a planned south track with connectors to the north track. The track was smooth and not torn up. Traction was good. There was an ambulance on-site. The track is brisk. For a racer, the slowest turn can be taken at ~60mph and the straights at ~140mph. The track is very wide, even in the turns. There was a stoplight at the end of the pits, operated from the center of the front straight. The concessions were two small trailers. The classrooms were in a double-wide. The restrooms were port-a-johns. The Beaver Run facilities were good in comparison to other tracks according to the instructor. Appearently from a motorcycle racing prespective a few thing would need changed to promote good racing.
| Pits lane / front straight / start of back straight (Front front to rear) |  |
Other tracks appearently aren't as nice as this one. Mid-Ohio appearently has cement corners due to Indy cars and also some track sections are up to 6" off. Nelson Ledges is appearently a fast track. I was told the slowest corner was ~80mph and the straight you can top your bike out to ~160mph.
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track tire wear on street tires |
A couple of last thoughts.... The tracktime really eats up tires fast, you'll probably get about 400 miles to a new set of street tires. At the end of the day you get a nice FASTTRAX tshirt and certificate. The "saftey school" certificate will supposedly get you a discount with most insurance companies.
I had a blast and plan to do it again soon. It's a bargin for the money. I still plan on staying in the "B" group next time until I think I can race with faster riders and not cause an accident.
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