Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Track rules and regulations were thoroughly discussed, including the meaning of all the flags, as well as the rules on passing. In the case of the C group, there was one standing order for the day - no passing on the inside. "The best improvement in riding will come when you can focus all of your concentration on what you're doing," , Pegelow said."That's the main objective of this schooL" From there, the A students were dismissed for the first session of the day. Emde then took to the podium to thoroughly discuss the racing line at Laguna Seca, offering all the helpful hints that he has learned from countless laps of the course. All the students myself included - took ample notes. "For example," Emde said. "When you come to the Corkscrew, you want to aim for the tree that you see when you drop over the hill, because that will set you up perfectly for both eight-A and nine." Emde also explained that each rider will find sections of the course where he or she can go fast and a section that will be a challenge. Emde said that the turn which scared him the most was turn six. "Because it's blind," Emde said. 'Tve never had an accident there, but when you come over the hill, you can't see the apex. To make matters worse, it's offcamber. When you carry too much speed in there, its easy to unsettle the bike." No sooner had Emde gotten the words out of his mouth before the track radio crackled to life with news of the first crash of the day. It turned out to be Mr. Track Record. He set a record all right - first rider down and out. When I heard that he was OK, I have to admit to chuckling a bit. But maybe it was more out of nervousness. Would I be next? With the end of the first classroom session, we were finally sent to our motorcycles for the first track session, which would be a follow-the-instructor affair, no passing. The objective was to learn the racing line. One of the best attributes of the DP school is flexibility. Students are allowed to sign up for each track session with an instructor of their choice. I selected Emde for my morning sessions and Greene for my afternoon stints. For this one, I had asked to be paired up with Emde, but for some reason, I wound up with Torres. No matter. Once out on the course, we set a much faster pace than I was intially prepared for, but we never carried any speed through the turns, so it was fair to say that I wasn't actually riding Laguna Seca yet. One thing I did hotice, however, was that Pegelow was right - even on the rain-slickened course there was plenty of traction to be had if ample caution was used. My confidence increased tenfold. With t11e first session completed, we returned to the classroom to discuss cornering techniques. No stone was left unturned as we discussed flat comers as well as positive and negative or "off"camber turns and the effects tha t earn will have on a motorcycle's slip angle the amount of effort to required to bend it into a turn. Pegelow instructed us that off-camber turns like Laguna's turn six have a low-slip-angle relationship to the road and thus require greater care to negotiate than would a higher-slip-angle turn like turn 8. We also discussed constant-radius, increasing-radius and decreasing-radius turns and how to prepare for earn. Pegelow also explained how a late apex was desirable for the blind comers often encountered on the street. "Every comer has a series of lines," Pegelow said. "Vision is the key sense advance of the curve, anticipate it," Greene said. "You don't want to be moving around in the middle of the comer." Greene was also complimentary of my progress and suggested that I ask to be moved to the B group. Unfortunately, that wasn't possible because the group was full. Instead, though, I received Pegelow's blessing to lap in an A session under Greene's close watch. What a difference that made. It was like having the . track all to ourselves. Greene anq I took turns leading, and my sreeds continued to improve to the point that we actually began to pass a few of the slower A rid- (Above) As part of the braking Instruction, students get several chances to test their skills on the skid pad. Pegelow uses hand signals to direct the students to use the front, rear and then both brakes. (Right) "Relax your left arm": Greene (left) offers Rousseau (right) advice to facilitate left-hand turns. DP instructors are easily accessible for one-on-one instruction during the course of the day, making the learning process more personalized. that you have. You must learn to scan as far al1ead as you can to see the roadway so that you can see the apex or midpoint of the comer. The object is to straighten the road out as much as possible." Several questions were asked by the students and all appeared to receive satisfactory answers. After that it was time for the second session. Upon leaving the classroom I was pleased to see that the rain had stopped and the track had begun to dry, but not enougn for me. This session was to be a lead-follow affair where earn student would have the opportunity to lead the group for a lap while the instructor followed him or her to offer a critique. My confidence level was not yet high enough to lead, so I opted to follow. But the pace was quicker, and I came away from the second session with an even more positive feeling than the first as the speed built up. Back in the classroom, we discussed braking. At this point, Greene took over the discussion, bringing to light another positive feature of the school. During the course of the day, a DP student will get the opportunity to hear from several different instructors, all of whom can offer different viewpoints while teaching a uniform, established curriculum. It sure ·'"\de ~he class time less monotonous. "There's only so mum grip available between the tire and the road, and it varies a lot," Greene said. "Many of the faster riders will use "trail braking," where they leave the brakes on as they go into a turn." Greene also suggested not always following the braking markers that line the road, but rather to look for a mpre permanent object like a tree or a fence post. Those man-made markers, Greene said, can be moved because of an accident or road construction and thus be inconsistent. We also thoroughly discussed braking technique, the idea being to apply the brakes as smoothly and positively as possible. Once again, all questions were answered, and then it was off to the skid pad for braking drills, in which Pege10w and Greene successfully taught each rider to improve his or her technique utilizing the front brake, rear brake and then getting maximum effect by applying both. This was V/~ry enlightening as I botched several attempts before getting it right on my final two passes. Then it was back to the track for another leadfollow session. By now the track had dried completely, and after one lap of the course I was confident that I wouldn't be slipping in any water, so I followed Emde right off the grid this time. After another lap, he cut me loose to show him what I'd learned. It wasn't much. Right away I double-apexed turn two before racing down to three and four and cutting both too far to the inside, which slowed me even further. Flustered, I tried to make it up going into five and double-apexed that one as well. I was way wide in turn six and almost took to the dirt, but the capper was the Corkscrew. I misjudged it horribly to the inside and was forced to lock the brakes and practically back it in to save myself. Somehow I did, and continued to go wide in nine, get 10 halfway right and then slow for 11 before returning control (?) of the class back to Emde, who quickly waved me aside. "You've got it backwards," he told me. "You're turning in way, way too early where you should run wide, and you're running wide where you should be tightening it up." Emde then went on to carefully rehash my frightful journey in a way that was at once informative and easy to understand. I took it all to heart and vowed that I would build on what he told me during my sessions with Greene. Then it was time to break for lunch, which is provided by the school and included in the enrollment cost. My one-on-one afternoon sessions went much better as Greene and I improved upon my shortcomings. After each session he would take me aside and we would go through each section of the track. Some of the things he said started making sense. Things sum as relaxing my left arm and resting the balls of my feet, not my heels, on the footpegs. "Make sure you're set up well in ers. I also got to feel what it was like to be passed on the inside by several very fast riders. It was amazing to wa tch someone go by and then flat disappear in a matter of seconds. The session was the highlight of my day, and made the final C session seem like a traffic jam as Greene and I blew by as many riders as we could while obeying the no-insidepassing rule. As the day had progressed, a fellow C rider on an RVF400 Interceptor had made about the same progfess as myself, and the thi-ee of us waged a real battle for the entire session. By the way, that Interceptor guy beat me by cheating - pulling to the inside through turn five and then leading back to the rneckered flag. Heh, heh, I guess we weren't really racing after all, were we? But it was as close as I had ever come, and it was truly awesome. That session marked the end of the day, at which time Pegelow awarded all the students a certificate of completion, and we loaded'up for home. As r did, I thought about what I had learned. The best reason for attending a road racing school is because the skills that are learned in that environment will pay back dividends in the unpredictable world of street riding. And I believe that the faster you can safely operate your motorcycle, the more safely you can operate it at slower speeds. The DP Safety School offers that training and more by matching its students with welltrained instructors, whether in group or one-on-one sessions, to help its students gain experience and confidence and become the best motorcyclists that they can be. If that is what you are looking for as a motorcyclist, then give the DP Safety School a call or contact a school in your area. You won't be sorry. l1'II Who ya goruw call? DP Saf8ty School P.O. Box 1551, Morro Bay, CA93443-1551 l105I772-8301 I.l') C\ C\ ...... ~ ..... CIl So ~ 35

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