Greetings! New to the forum, but not to bikes. This is my 19th year on sportbikes, with a few broken bones, contusions, and moderate amount of ground plastic behind me. I ride an Aprilia Mille on the track (schools and track days, not racing anymore) and a CBR1100XX for commuting.
I'm in this forum eyeballing '03 ZX-6R's as track weapons, since I loath and despise sportbikes on the street (too dangerous). Haven't decided yet, though I had a helluva time on my last inline sportbike and raced an '85 Ninja 600R and ’95 Gixxer 750 with AFM (CA, U.S.A.) 1996-7. I will soon re-lurk and study your collective views about the new bike, including track manners.
About schools: been to many in CA, Oregon, and WA State. dP Schools are a fine thing. If you can lasso an instructor, they're great. The C Group is a fine place to learn. They mostly cut everyone loose in the afternoon. If you ask for personal instruction, you'll usually get it. Agreed Mr. Randolph is a great instructor.
Donny Greene is probably still involved, and between him and Chris Steward I can think of no better instructors for B or A Group. Donny’s forgotten more about going fast than I’ll ever learn. Don Canet of Cycle World used to instruct, too: he's damn near AMA-fast and OMG there is a lot to learn there. Again, my info could be out of date though at least a few of these cats were still around at dP as of August 2001 (Portland, OR date).
Last year I did CLASS, just for grins. I found it an excellent school for teaching street safety. I disagree with the methods for finding optimum track lines and winning prizes. No one promised me the latter before I attended CLASS, though. I agree with another poster on this thread: there are few better schools than CLASS for those who are new to the track and want to learn some skills for street survival in a closed-course environment.
A local outfit called Adrenaline Freaks runs track days at WA, OR, and CA tracks. It’s basically open practice, and priced accordingly. Many dealerships also run impromptu track dates by invitation-only or open to all. A Portland Italian bike dealer has about five scheduled for this year, for example. I know a couple WA dealers plan Thunderhill (CA) dates. On and on… there are far more track days than time/money to do them available here in the PacNW. Heaven knows what’s cooking in the LA or SF scene, not to mention dealers back east with the cool tracks there.
Track days have exploded in the U.S. the past ten years, leading to a huge leap in tire development for “do-everything” rubber. (Examples: Bridgestone BT012SS, Pirelli Diablo, Metzeler Rennsport). The people asked, the companies responded. We live in good times.
If you want instruction, seek out a school with instructors. Track time only, try local dealer track days. I value instruction highly and always ask to be led around a few laps the first track day of the year. Insturction is mandatory for those new to track riding in general or to a particular track, lest they crash and/or perpetuate bad habits.
* No points awarded for
* "speed reholstering"
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