Penguin Racing

[Eric Sheley <Eric@xxxxxxxxxx>]

>At 09:12 AM 12/9/00 -0500, Mark Hanke wrote:
>Eric, Tell me more! Did you use your bike? Did you learn alot? Was it worth
>the cost and what was the cost?
>Mark

The course cost was $200 for the one day "Basic Roadracing School"

I went back and forth on using my bike. On the plus side, I would get the 
experience on the track with a bike that I was familiar with. On the 
downside, any error could lead to serious problems. The rental of their 
bike was $225 for the day with an additional $200 crash deposit. So, if I 
crashed my total tab on the bike side would be $425 - no way I could crash 
on the ST cheaper than that. The other thing that played into the decision 
to rent was the distance involved. The track is about 240 miles from my 
door, and I knew that there would be no way I would be riding back after 
class (fatigue). I don't own a trailer, so that was not an option. The 
bikes supplied were Kawasaki Ninja EX500s - it was fine for what I was 
doing, but a little frustrating when running against TLs, R1s, 916s and the 
like. I could keep up with everyone for the most part in the corners, but 
on the straights it was no match for the acceleration of the other bikes. 
But overall, renting their bike allowed me to focus on the track and riding 
instead of worrying about wrecking my ride.

The class is a basic roadracing class - it is not a street rider class, so 
the focus is not on street riding (but skills learned will carry over to 
the street). When you finish the class successfully you can pick up a CSS 
racing license. The first few hours of the day is spent on track safety 
(flags, how to crash etc) and then on cornering (which is why I took the 
class). A large amount of the classroom time was spent on target fixation - 
both on how to use it and how to avoid it. Use it to set your four 
cornering points - Brake Point, Entry, Apex and Exit. Avoid it for 
everything else (especially for crashing bikes in front of you) - they have 
two pics in the manual of a rider following a crashing rider off the course 
that turned out to be very prophetic ...

Things I picked up during the class (again these are for the beginning road 
racers)

"Go slow to go fast" - repetition and practice is the key to going faster. 
Start slow, learn the layout. Then go faster - at that point you will 
encounter some problem (bad line etc). Fixing that problem will then allow 
you to go faster. But by going slow to begin with, you have the confidence 
to know that you are capable of completing the circuit.

Don't concentrate on late braking - you do better to get a good line that 
will allow you to get back on the throttle earlier.

If you get a false neutral, always shift up. Makes sense, but never really 
thought about it. The worse thing that will happen is that you are up one 
gear and have reduced power by being out of the powerband - this is much 
better than locking up and crashing.

We all know to stay off the rear brake except for certain conditions. 
Several racers at the track actually bleed a few bubbles of air into the 
rear brake line to increase the lever distance before the brake will 
engage. It is easier to get off the brake in case of trouble (lockup) by 
changing the angle of your foot than trying to lift your foot off the 
lever. Our instructor stated that once you locked the rear, your right foot 
somehow weighed 500lbs and was very difficult to remove from the lever.....

Don't panic - if you get too hot into a corner, don't concentrate on the 
corner, but rather force yourself to find your apex and head for it. You 
may still crash, but have a chance of making it through without any 
problems at all.

In racing it is not a matter of if you will crash, but rather when you will 
crash. The beginning class averages one crash per ten riders.....

After the class, a basic exam on the mornings subject is given - 70% or 
higher to pass, but if you don't ace it, you were sleeping in class.

Then a break for lunch followed by the follow the leader section. As we had 
a large group (60 beginners and 40 experts) we broke into odds and evens 
(based on the tail number of the bike) and then into smaller groups, with 
one leader (either a member of Penguin racing or a local racer) and four or 
five riders. We then headed off on to the track following our leader. The 
goal was a slow pace (a slow pace for racing that is - it moved right 
along) run around the track that could be done with no or a minimum of 
braking in order to find the best lines for the track. After each lap the 
lead bike in the group dropped over and the next bike came up, so that 
about once every four laps, you were right behind one of the instructors. 
We did 4 or 5 laps and then headed off to talk about what we had 
experienced (as the evens rolled out for their session). The evens came in 
and we headed off for another session. We did this a few times and then all 
groups came in.

At this point it became open session for the rest of the day. The group was 
broken down in three smaller groups - odd beginner, even beginner and 
expert class. Each group got about 20 minutes on the track and then 40 off 
as the other two groups went out. This kept the numbers on the track down 
to about 30-40 riders at a time so it never felt crowded. During this open 
section there were a large number of instructors on the track and back in 
the hot pits. You had the option of talking to an instructor, having 
another follow session or have the instructor follow you and critique your 
riding. The riders on the track did the same and if they felt you needed 
more help they would come along and flash the "follow me" sign and correct 
your problem.

The expert riders were amazing to watch - watching them hit turn one at 
140+ mph was just incredible, especially knowing first hand what the track 
looked like from that angle. However along with that speed, they had some 
spectacular crashes. The expert class managed two red flagged sessions, 
loosing about 15 minutes of riding time.

One of the highlights of the day was watching Eric Woods blast around the 
track on his modified Yamaha - I think it was a Yamaha YZ426 (yeah that's 
right - a dirt bike!!!). They had pulled the knobbies and added 17" rims 
with DOTs. He rode the piss out of that thing and humbled many of the 
expert class........

On my final track session on the next to last lap I got to witness a crash 
right in front of me. Was headed down the back infield straightaway toward 
turn 8, a hairpin followed by a sweeper that takes you onto the back 
straightaway. In front of me was a Duc 748, followed by a Monster (dark) 
and then me. We had been warned over and over that this corner could really 
bite you as it was easy to come into it too hot. The Ducs were fighting it 
out and the guy on the 748 missed the braking point on the track wall - I 
know this because the next thing I saw was the cloud of smoke from the rear 
wheel. I heard the instructor in my head saying "you've made the corner 
before - get off the brakes and turn in" but obviously the duc rider 
couldn't hear the same - he was headed toward the gravel traps. Then I 
heard the instructor again - "you will think, hey that guy is crashing, 
that's pretty cool - look away!!!! Look Away !! or you are going to be 
right with him". Concentrated on the apex which was on the other side of 
the track and continued through the corner without incident.

If nothing else, coming away with that skill was worth the price of 
admission. Once you have completed the basic course, you can take the 
advanced course (expert level) where Eric Wood handles body positioning, 
going faster etc and does a lot of one on one track work.

Money well spent as far as I am concerned.

The facility in Homestead is fairly new and has a really nice layout. You 
use the front and rear straights from the oval, but then head onto the 
infield track for a majority of the track time. If I can find a dealer 
doing a track day there, I will be sure to be back.

- - Eric


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