www.fastrackriders.com

[scubajohn]

If you are considering taking a track day you might want to give http://www.fastrackriders.com a shot.

I just did there Riding Saftey School that includes level 1 track day. The cost for the School was 65 and the track day was 150. There were no other costs and anyone could go watch for free.

The day started with 3 slow trips around the track and then a lesson how to exit and enter the track and 3 more slow trips around . This was done while the level 1-2-3 guys were in the drivers meeting. So it was only us newbies out there. Then while the group 3 and 2 riders were on track we were in the class room getting a great overview of counterstearing and flags basic track etiquet. It lasted about 30-40 minutes. Then it was off to the track. The school and level 1 all go at the same time. There were 12 students and 4 instructors. Basicly 1 person would follow the Instructor a while then he would wave you on and he would watch the next. After the Track session was over we would go to the meeting room and they would discuss what they saw you doing wrong or needed work and would ask what you would like to work on and explain how to make the changes. They would then cover more topics of saftey and basic riding skills.

It ended up with a total of 5 class sessions of about 30-40 minutes each and 8 track sessions of 20 minutes each. I have never been to any other riders school so dont really know what happens there but the guys at fast track were a great group of people. The owner was also one of the instructors he purchased the school about a year ago. i guess before he purchased it it was a bunch of hooligans that ran it so it used to have somewhat of a bad rep.

I for one thought I was a decent rider I was quick to find out I SUCKED!!!!!!!. After the first go around the instrutor told me I was totaly leaning the oposite way I should be in cornering hehehe. So I had to lean the bike WAY more than I needed to make a turn. In class they went over the how and why center of gravity and counterstearing works. He went on to show me on a supprted bike how I should be leaning and also how to slide my ass over and off the seat a little so after I got comfortable with shifting my weight I could start to slide my ass off the seat. The second time on the track it was like I was on a different bike one that I could actualy turn. It took most of the 20 minutes to get the hang of it and I would still catch myself leaning the wrong way but at least now I know what I was doing wrong and am working on correcting it.

Heheh I bet people think I am crazy I have been sliding my ass off the seat and forcing myself to lean into the turns even way more than needed just to force myself to quit my bad habbit.

If you happen to go to one of ther classes please let them know that John Freeman a former student sent you there way . If 3 people go to the class I get a free track day. They are also very open to setting up "private schools" if a group was interested. I bet with 10-15 people we could have the instructors all to ourselves. Of corse the cost of the trck and stuff they would still have to run the level 1-4 just to brake even. He was saying they dont see a proffit till they hit 70 people.

They also have a pro photographer there taking pictures all day. Had like 6-8 of me that I saw and they were still printing out thumbnails when we left at 4:30pm. The total track day was from 7am to 5 pm. So they got in at least 1 more track session after I left but I was beat and did not want to go out there tired I like my bike to much.

They had 8 flag people around the track Ambulance tow trucks all the saftey stuff.

After our last class room session for the day was done and we got our class photo Free and a certificate that shows we compleaded the course.

We had one student total his new R1 Not one thing on the bike was undamaged. He came out of it fine says the rear end came out from under him in a turn.