Virginia International Raceway - North Course
06.23.06: Cornerspeed
I signed up for the Cornerspeed Level 1 school as i have been having some problems with my riding, and there is no better way to get back on track than to take a class. Leading up to the event, I was a little hesitant as I was told that it might be too remedial for my skill level. I was happy to discover that getting back to the basics was exactly what i needed.

i got to the track the night before with about $24 in my pocket (road trips always drain my wallet) only to find there was a $25 gate fee deposit (which i would get back providing i left by 7:30 the next evening), a $35 camping fee and a $20 electricity fee. Since i didnt have all of that cash on hand, i paid my gate fee, dropped off my bike and grabbed a hotel. Thank goodness too as it was hot and REALLY humid all night.

The next morning, i had very little to do to set up my pit. My canopy broke at Pocono a few weeks before so once i just laid out my gear for easy on and off, and put the warmers on my bike. It turns out that the students are encouraged to park their bikes at the classroom for easy on and off so i ended up not even using my pit. in fact, i didnt even use my tire warmers.

So onto the class... i was told that the curriculum is basically what STT teaches and the first session was no different. In the class room we talked about flags and lines and then went out for our "follow the racing line" session. pretty basic and very slow, but i had not been to VIR North in a couple of years so it was nice to get familiar with hte track again. it seems that it takes me a little longer to learn a track and after the first session, i only knew where to be about 80% of the time. i got a little frsutrated at the structure of the track portion of the class. we were told to stay with our instructor and to since there was only about two people per instructor, to switch positions within the group so each student getsa a chance to ride behind the intstructor. so after the first lap, i waited for the coach to signal me to pass, but he niever did. so the next lap i took it upon myself to make the pass, but i dont think the other student was expecting it. then the instructor passed ther groups, so i stayed with him as best i could. it seems that most of the groups were passing one another and everyone got mixed up and shuffled around. by the time we got off the track, i had been riding with three different instrcutors and i was the only one with my latest instructor as he lost hte others he was working with. it would hav ebeen nice if all of the coaches followed the same rules, even just to keep the students' confusion to a minimum. after that cluster-fuck, i decided to damn the "rules" and just glue myself to my instructor.

the next session was supposd to be getting the students to set up for the corner early. this means getting your body position set, knee out, etc. before any braking or down shifting is done. I had major problems with this drill and i even have problems with it when i teach it with Sportbike Track Time. It is just VERY hard to hang off of a bike when it is upright and when going at too slow a speed and that is the exact problem i was having with it. even though i was setting up early, say 10 seconds before the corners, we were going so slow that i was a close distance to the corner. i got "taught" by the instructors to set up earlier. i kind of blew that off as i have my own issues with it.

after that session, i was feeling quite frustrated. i felt that the school was too basic for my skill level and that i was not only wasting my time but also wasted a considerable amount of money. bu the next session started to change my mind. so back in the classroom for some AC, hydration (provided by the school) and more lectures which led up to my favorite drill, the no brakes drill. i was determined not to be "held up" by slower riders and was the first in line to get out on the track. this worked to my advantage as Aaron was my coach for most of that session. in all honesty, i used my brakes a couple of times due to the mental fear of going into a corner too fast, or mis-judging how much engine braking i have (and a few times so i wouldnt ass pack another rider) but being able to follow Aaron was the beginning of exactly what i needed. by the end of the session, i was much more confident with my entrance speeds and also more confident on my bike, which was good considering it was only the second time i had ridden it.

well, the classroom lectures get a little fuzzy from here on out. Aaron did a great job of teaching, but i think that i was concentrating more on what i needed and not neccessarily trying to absorb everything he talked about. If i remember correctly, most of it was talking about being smooth and how that is done. like getting set up early of rthe corner, not just body position but mentally as well, looking ahead, proper steering inputs, etc. Although there were three concepts that stuck with me that helped met he most. the first was to think of the rider as a pilot. it implies more of an active role of manouvering the bike than simply sitting upon it, to move your body before the bike and the bike will follow and it is the "pilot" that is on the racing line, not the bike. the latter two are very closelyy tied together and made a huge difference in my riding. the goal of riding fast is to slow down your perception of what visual, audio and tactile feedback you are receiving. this allows you to stay focused and accomplish everything you need without feeling rushed. getting my body position set before steering the bike helped greatly with that. and once the body is set, a steering input is given adn the bike really did seem to come to where my body was. as i thought about that last part after getting off of the track, it seemed kind of like the concept of orbit. a body is travelling fast enough so as gravity pulls it closer to the earth, the curvature of the earth falls away from it at the same rate. the bike is not goin to "fall" to my body because my body is moving away from it (just from being on the bike) as it is "falling" to my body. i find it a very appealing concept and as far as new ideas go, made the biggest difference in my riding.

i have my nickname "splyn" on the back of my leathers and one of the instructors (steveZX9 from the board) came up and introduced himself to me. it turns out i know him from online but never met hime before. so we grabbed some lunch together and hooked up for the next session. at this point it seems that we were supposed to be working on refining what we had already practiced and for me having Steve "pull" me around the track was great. i had been chasing people lately and trying to force the bike to go fast, but thats not the right way to do it, or at least at my skill level. so this gave me an opportunity to try out the new skills at an elevated pace. sinec i could see Steve going through corners or sections of the track faster, i knew i could do it to, if i got the technique right. after our first session, he gave me some pointers on lines and told me to get on the gas harder and to not use neutral throttle (which is one of my biggest problems).

it was somewhere around here that when i got back into the pits and went to put my bike on the rear stand (the school requires you to remove the kick stand or secure it) i discovered that one of the spools had fallen off. after a quick assessment, i decided to lean the bike against the building and to use the "non spool" part of the stand. well, it seems that that wasnt poassible as the rear brake was in the way. so for the rest of the day i simply leaned the bike against the building. this actually worked out to my advantage as i didnt need to precariously balance the bike as i positioned the stand.

by the end of the day, i felt great. i was going faster, i was either accelerating or braking, and not using neutral throttle. but i know i could be accelerating harder, so that is something for me to work on. the only comments the coaches could give me at the end was "Sign up for level 2" in fact, i got kicked out of a couple of the post session debriefs in the hot pit because there was nothing for them to say to me.

then came the mock race. i felt fairly confident that i would do well, but i missed the grid sign up because i wanted to put away some gear i left out before the ominous black clouds opened up. so i got placed in the last open spot witch was 9th, or the last spot in the first wave. THe mock race is mainly so we can get at least some experience with the 5 minute boards, gridding up and going through a start.

so we got out and did our warrm up lap and gridded in our positions. finally the green flag was thrown and we were off. i got a pretty good start and ended up in about 6th place going into turn 1. since we were only allowed to pass on the outside of turns i stuck in that position until turn 7 because there really was no "safe" place to pass within the passing rules. going into turn 7, i passed quite a few people on the brakes and found myself in second. then i set him up for turn 9, but didnt quite perdict his speed well enough. if i had, i would have passed him on the outside of 9, but i ended up being next to him going into 10, which was the inside of 10. instead of chopping the throttle, i got on the gas and completed teh pass. although i wasnt raiding very well, due to being too tense and having a death grip on the bars, i got through 14, but not as well as i would have liked and tried my best to keep on the gas all the way down the hill and onto the front straight.

the race is normally 4 laps, but as i approach the start/finish line, i see the red flag. so i signaled that i was coming off the pace and proceeded into turn 1 a bit slower. as i come around turn 2, i see the ambulance rolling onto the track and although we were told we could pass the ambulance, it jsut didnt feel right so i stayed behind it. it seems that someone went down in 14 and as i got back to the pits, i could see the class was already there with their bikes parked. i must have been the last person off of the track.

i walked up to Steve, who was anxioulsy watching the race to see how i was going to do, and he told me that i crushed everyone and had a 4-5 second gap. he was disappointed that the race was as short as it was becuase he wanted to see how much i would have won by. In all fairness, my "win" isnt that impressive as i have a lot more experience than the rest of the class.

so with the class over, i got my "diploma", packed up my bike, collected my $25 gate fee and hit the road. and although the day was stayed dry, tthe ride home was particularly soggy.

all in all, i was very glad that i took the course. it gave me a chance to focus on my riding, get my cornerspeed and comfort level back up to where i am not frustrated and showed me how a class SHOULD be taught. Aaron is a wonderful instructor and i would recommend this school to anyone, esppecially if they are struggling with their riding.