Penguin Road Racing School instructor, Peter Kates, said glibly,
"Racing is fitness, racing is consistency, racing is
connect-the-dots", and with this dismissed all our preconceptions
on what makes a good roadracer.
"Nerves of steel!"
"Nope. Even top national riders get scared." Fear is your brain talking. You can't ride very well without a brain.
"A wicked fast bike!"
"Phhhht.. I'll give you pick of any of Eric Woods' race bikes, a week to learn it and any instructor in this school will still suck your paint off with one of the rental EX500s".
"A sponsor!"
"That's right. You could use your sponsor's money to hire Mick Doohan."
Thus began Basic Roadracing at Penguin School at New Hampshire International Speedway on June 10, a Pro Class which packed more information, skills sharpening and sheer physical workout into two days than I thought was possible in years of street riding. Jerry Wood's flyer claims that Penguin will knock seconds off your lap time. In my case it was more like tens of seconds, down to an official Tuesday low of 1:36.... about average for a Novice CCS rider on a race-prepped Kawasaki EX500 at NHIS but not even on the same track with the times that Rich Oliver was doing in 250GP practice the next day. 1:14s!
Except for being entirely male, class demographics ran the gamut from an 18 year-old Virginia kid to a 55 year-old who had ridden Harleys all his life. Triumph regional DM, Walter Allwine was there, as was Peter Jones, an editor at Sport Rider magazine. Most of the Advanced guys had plate numbers; most of the Basic guys had attended CLASS and/or a Motorcycle Safety Foundation course.
Knee-dragging and block passes were never addressed. Instead it was learning the line, the dynamics and performance envelope of the motorcycle and how to muscle a 400-pound gyroscope around a track to the point where lactic acid will still be boiling in your muscles the next day.
We studied each turn at NHIS in microsurgical detail: the pre-turn point, the brake/deceleration point, the brake release point, the corner entrance, the hard turn point, the apex, the acceleration start... and these were just the basic reference points we were expected to discover, perfect, catalog on a worksheet and be prepared to be drilled on during the interleaved classroom sessions. We spent hours playing follow-the-leader with our guest instructors: US Superbike maven, Dale Quarterly, and AMA 250GP champ, Randy Renfro.
We stood inches away from the apex, watching Jeff Wood attack the course at speed on his ZX6R while the Advanced guys followed the same line in the NHIS courtesy van with budding NASCAR North stock car driver, Dale Quarterly, at the wheel, trailing white brake smoke.
When we were finally cut loose to practice on our own Monday afternoon it was with careful instructions to follow the mental checklist we had been given, not to set a lap record. Speed would come in time we were assured, and it did. As it did, my images of my motorcycle cartwheeling down the track slowly disappeared as well. I knew that if I hauled in the brake at the "2" marker before Turn One that I would be slow enough to throw the bike over and head for my next reference point, the corner of the new pavement sealer and finally the tip of the yellow paint line at the end of pit road. After 130 laps of NHIS, "connect the dots" was the perfect metaphor.
If I screwed up, an instructor would suddenly pop in front of me and tap the back of his bike... a signal to tuck in tight behind and follow his line. It was somewhat demoralizing to be on what appeared to me to be the fastest lap ever set at NHIS only to be passed on the inside by Gerry Wood riding with one hand, looking back at me.
Tuesday began with a 90-minute track-walk with Eric Wood and staff instructor Steve Aspland learning how these guys see the track. We've all seen those cool on-bike and in-car videos during a race but for them it's not a movie but a slide show. *CLICK*... a subtle pavement seam became a brake point. *CLICK*... a tire scuff on the wall was cue to throw the bike over and then look for... *CLICK*... a cone laying on its side, the apex reference. Eric said he has as many as a dozen reference points for every turn at NHIS, which means well over a hundred cones, pavement transitions and tarmac dings clicking off at up to 150 miles an hour. Racing at these guys' level is an awesome feat of concentration.
Track time was interleaved with classroom time to review what we did and to learn a new technique for our next track session, while the Advanced guys took their turn on the road course. The instructor-to-student ratio was just about perfect. In fact, the experience apparently unnerved a couple of the more sedate street riders so on the second day only five Basic guys returned for the Advanced class. So there was no problem tapping an instructor on the shoulder and asking him to follow me around the track and then back to the pit for notes. Several laps and pit consultations with Steve Aspland taught me the practical, not posey, approach to hanging off in tight turns. It works well, as my filed-down boot soles can testify.
There were optional drills and seminars offered throughout the second day. Peter Kates of Computrak ran a seminar on suspension set-up which finally demystified for me the dynamics of pre-load and compression damping. Randy and Dale ran panic braking drills on the grid and drove home the physical impossibility of locking up a front brake at race speed. It just can't be done, no way, no how. And I literally ate a fresh set of EBC brake pads down to the backer in just two days to prove it. There were also drills on effective standing starts a/k/a "hole shots", getting sponsors and physical fitness regimines for serious racers led by Randy Renfro, who now runs a large fitness equipment company in Virginia.
Despite a track full of rank amateurs there were only two "incidents" over the two days, neither of them serious. One occurred directly in front of me as I was attempting an inside pass at the top of the hill after Turn Three. The kid on the EX was doing great but his rear wheel suddenly shuddered and he was down, sliding in a shower of sparks and plastic. I was glad we had just finished a lecture on target fixation and so narrowly avoided becoming mishap #3.
Penguin School was a very well-spent $400... a two-day E-ticket ride which improved my confidence on and control over a motorcycle immensely. Granted, learning the racing line and flags won't have a heckuva lot of use on the street but the handling skills I learned paid off only the next day when I narrowly missed an encounter with a deer on the Merritt Parkway at 2am. It _will_ improve your riding, as even our hyper-cautious, grandfatherly Harley Springer rider admitted after he clicked off a 1:49 on his rental EX500, hanging off like a budding Scott Russell.
I'd had some reservations that I'd be thrown into the deep end of the pool but the instructors were aware of our apprehensions and couldn't have been more supportive. Nobody was forced to ride over their heads and track sessions were divided so the Basic guys weren't getting strafed by the Experts. We were never told to go faster, just smoother.
For those who want to learn what their motorcycle is capable of doing, I can't recommend Penguin more highly. But a word of advice: if you decide to check it out get your body to a gym first! A few weeks of squats and abominal workouts will leave you in a lot less pain after the experience than I felt afterwards.
Penguin will be running several more classes at NHIS and at Bridgehampton Speedway in Long Island this summer. Rental bikes, leathers, and riding gear are also available at extra charge.
For information on the school, call (508)339-4673 or see Penguin's web page at
http://www.penguinracing.com/.
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