Superbike School, Sydney, 16/03/09

[TheShredder]

Mark and Shane I heard the dogs played up at my place sorry if they caused you grief, I'll give them both a life threatening beating when I get home.

Hey hey no need for that mate they were fine just 1st night barking all night long then they were good. Ned is a good laugh & seeing i had just lost a dog the other week i enjoyed his sillyness.

Thanks so much for the room Bruce made the whole trip easy & yes its a pitty we didnt catch up. John did his best to look after us while there tho. so thanks to him.

shane

[TheShredder]

I have to give a huge thanks to Mark (driller) again for pushing me to attend & sharing the travel etc with.The whole idea of spending money on what i thought i was going ok at all these years seemed to out there BUT i was wrong. Worth every cent, what you think your doing & what your really doing are 2 different things which was clear in some of the photos.The difference from day 1 to my track day was huge. I felt like i learnt to ride after all these years LOL.
Hey Pan thanks for getting those meds for me also.
It was a struggle doing the days with the flu BUT in a strange way i actually think it worked for me & allowed me to
block out everything & just think about the drills etc .

[TheShredder]

For anyone thinking about doing 1 of the C.S.S dont be put off by it being called a Superbike school's thinking there going to be pushing you to become a racer its not like that at all.
You would take these new found skills with you into a race school but thats a whole other level.
Very well run event from start to finish
I did level 1 & 2 over 2 days & then had a track day on the wednesday. Now considering i had no intension what so ever to go,
couldnt see the point in pushing it round the race track as i wasnt into it & never had been & have done a few K's over the years i thought i was riding ok WRONG
I enjoyed the lot & wednesdays trackday had me in the grove ready to rip every session.

[bigfoot]

sounds like you had an awesome time. Are the schools good for beginners??

[TheShredder]

Things i noticed about the days at the track
A huge cross section of style's of bikes & riders attend.
Throughout the different levels of training the difference in peoples riding skill levels which we noticed ( good & bad )
Gee's theres a shit load of Ducati's out there & the owners that cant ride them
Theres is still room for error even in the schooling if your not preparded to leave ya ego at home & listen you can come unstuck as a few did.

Monday 2 crashes not sure what the 1st in the morn was but he was ok. Mon arvo a 1098 flipping through the field & the rider at the tyre wall hand ground to the bone on the wrist area ok tho.

Tuesday morn a gsxr 600 2 lap of level 1st drill bike destroyed rhs.
Tyre fitting guy high sided a track bike on 1st lap scrubbing in a set of tyres bark off & (broken wrist i think)

Wednesday the Ulysses boys were in town & a 30 of them come to the track for the day all in the 1 group thank goodness. & before you ask no i did see any cruisers or trailers going round any way before we left bout 2pm there had been 2 of them come off a gsxr 750 & a brand new ZX14r both guys were ok im sure but the were with the medic for a long time.


I cant let it go with out talking about the BUSA STIGMA
Lets just say Mark & i found out over the 3 days at the track that all the sports bike riders had a very different respect for the busa's after we spent a lot of time showing them that they do get around the track ok after all

[TheShredder]

Heading down to Port on saturday i decided to take a look at a new road all good untill
i hit the dirt ended up doing 20K's of twisties in the shit not happy bout that

Loaded up leaving Drillers for the drive to Sydney

[TheShredder]

Oh some thing else i found out over the 3 days on the track

I was always into the idea of getting your suspension fully sorted (not just doing the adjustments to factory gear) & now unless its
an extreme case eg ( really to heavy for the bike or racing ) i not so sure now. I have tweeked my setting G2 tho

The idea of dragging your pegs & in some cases the fairing round (which i have done)& thinking it means you must be going fast etc
Is WRONG
As is dragging the knee to a point, while it is cool & i have always wanted to do it. It doesnt mean its the fastest way round the track

Which i found out on the 3rd day, the more input & body position i put in had me going better & smoother with little to no drag from either knees or pegs.

I also learnt not to use the rear brake either.

Tyres are a big 1 everyones got an opinion on but with the right control over the bike even not so sticky rubber gets the job done.

I guess its a bit like that saying ( Its not what ya got its how you use it hey.)

Just out of intrest after 3 days & 14 sesion on E.C heres what the tyres looked like
factory front bridgestone BT015 which had done 7900ks pre the track then 500ish on track
only showing the left side as it did most the work. It actually looked more balled up & further on the egde on the tuesday but after getting better drive out of the corners & standing the bike up on the exits the tyre's were pushing in another section.
BOTH TYRES WERE SET AT 30 PSI


Now heres the spin out for ya once again my old favorite the Pilot Road 2ct Rear which proved itself to me again
alltho it did leave a few blackies on the exits ( trainers words not mine) & i had no trouble with them & rode as fast as i had wanted to go
It came down to having good throttle control & the new skills helped me achive a smoothness which had been lacking.
3800Ks pre track 500ish track



The funny thing about seeing balled up tyres you think gees he/she must be going ( Racing & extreme street/mountian riding aside) truth is in the school it didnt matter what bike they were on, what skill level they had, or what the tyre was they all showed the same signs balling due to the track so its not really that impressive to see.

[pan]

Hey Pan thanks for getting those meds for me also.

That was Ruffy mate. He came to EC, then drove out, found a chemist and brought them back. I just brought them up to the lunch room


Amazing how different your photos are from Day 1 to Day 3!!!

[spamanglenn]

so did the ducati riders shift by feeeel. I bet they felt the breeze went you went past down the straight.Looks like a couple more busa riders to do a track day with one day.Its been a while.

[garbo]

That settles it! I'm saving my money and doing it. I have done both schools at oran park and got heaps of good feedback and consider myself a better rider for it. I thought superbike school was for boy racers but I have changed my opinion thanks to this thread. Great to see you all had a blast. Well done fellas.
garbo

[BLACKZOOK]

First of all a very big thanks to Bruce for putting us up for three nights at his home you are indeed a true champion mate
Also would like to thank Ruffy for being a great host while we camped there
and wish you the best possible outcome for your surgery mate.
Mark

Your more than welcome mate any time you guys are down you have a bed there, real pity I wasnt there you would have turned up for the SBS with a massive hangover which I believe is traditional for the busa club.

Had a laugh at Shanes comments re knee down. Pan taught me the trick on my first trackday, I really wanted to scuff the sliders and be able to say I got it down. In all reality it isnt the quickest way round a corner, now I lift the knee out of the way as it puts me off.

Great photo's of the bikes and tryes.

Next trip down we should tee it up so we do a trackday at EC and then head down next day to Phillip Island for a track day there would be a great double.

[TheShredder]

next day to Phillip Island for a track day there would be a great double.

Funny you mentioned that Bruce i'm already thinking about level 3 & going to the isl.

shane

[busababe]

Well done guys ! I've done Levels 1-3 and hope to do level 4 a bit later this year. Never had a run around PI, but this will change.

Cheers from BB

[Keenbeen]

looks like a lot of fun hard work, but would be totally worth it.