TGP - Speed school ...

Heading there this weekend, hoping the weather will be good at least one of the days. Had a real good time weekend before last at Barber, too many red flag incidents though ...

ACE

Wish I could have made it to baarber but after a successful dog racing weekend I will be up the road at baarber with the sheep haterz. Be sure to write this up though as it sounds super

So now I've done it . And it was a blast. Here's a quick run-down ...

The school really was a lot of fun in a 'work' sense of riding. There were only 10 of us as students, and all the others had more track experience than I do and maybe 4 were older than me (>58). Jason and Brian were great, and the other Pros (guy nicknamed Whitey, and Kyle Wyman) were good folks too. All were faster than shit thru a goose . The support folks with the school were helpful throughout. The Ohlins tech (Brian's brother) went over all of our bikes during the weekend and gave each a base setup, then helped with adjustments if you asked for them.

We had video sessions where a pro would follow each of us, mainly holding the race line. Then we'd watch each video in class and you would be critiqued on your line, body position, throttle control, brake control, lean angle. It was friendly critique, but no holding back and straight to the point. If Jason, or the others, saw something that needed work, you would hear about it, again and again, but always with a smile . We walked/discussed the track, worked trail braking drills, and throttle control drills. The drills were run from different starting points on the track. We'd get lined up and shoot off around to the execution point one at a time. Jason/Brian would be on or at the edge of the track eyeballing our execution. Jason would often get low at the edge of the track looking for the results he expected, talk about intimidating . We'd get their feedback right then, told what to try on the next run, and then repeat. We each got about 4-5 reps for each drill. We had open lap practice sessions and the pros would be out on track checking us out. At some point during the lapping for each of us, our bikes were fitted with GPS units, but I won't see my data until the school gets it all put together. We'll be getting our vids for review/study as well. There was classroom discussion and each day started close to 0800, finishing after 1700. Lunch was as much Subway as you might want while discussing riding dynamics throughout the hour, which was all you had. Then it was back to 'work'. At one point, Jason demonstrated what he wanted from us during a drill. He came around turn 3 (the only RH er) on his slider, you could hear it shaving down, faster than most can come down the straight to the turn!

All the guys (no women damn it, well, Jason's wife was there but she's taken, a sweet/pretty young lady) were sociable but this was no trackday socializing type of weekend. We probably ran fewer total laps than you might at a trackday weekend, but I was twice as whooped at the end of the day. I begged off a Sat. nite Mexican dinner with the group, as it was in the opposite direction of my hotel and I really wanted sleep to focus the next day. Kinda wish I hadn't wimped out on dinner, would've been fun. These guys have stories I'd have enjoyed hearing .

ACE

Bummer on the dinner but you probably made the right choice for class benefit. Wonder if I could have stayed at the track... anyone do that?

Yeah, some did. There were a number of land yachts there ...

ACE

sounds like you had fun. I'm really considering doing the Penguin School Advanced class next year.