Ducatisti Forum - View Single Post - California Superbike School

**derrickr** · 21 Jul 06, 09:33 PM

Hi Philc,

I attended the California Superbike School yesterday up at Silverstone - and I guess you did too.

It was my first time on a track and I loved every minute of it. Yeah the day was hot and sticky, but we got a good long day (from 7am to 5:30pm) to talk, learn and put into practice by riding on the track.

Although the Stowe circuit was a bit on the small side it did allow me to simply focus on the specifics on the previous classroom session.

On reflection, I would have liked the groups split into various skill levels, since some of the riders went blatting down the straights only to crawl through the corners - slightly annoying when you're just getting a decent line and some fat bloke on a gsxr 1000 blatts just in front as you're about to turn in.

But as the school states; 'everyone has to start from level one'. So, I guess those that go back for level two will hopefully be slightly more skilled?

Anyway, I had a good day and although I knew of the majority of what they were teaching it was good to have it confirmed, and have a trained instructor to individually point out where I could improve.

I think I'm now addicted to the track and have already today been looking at doing some track days/evenings, and maybe even level two of the school later this year.

Thankfully my 900ss was fine after a slight scare earlier in the week when my clutch got totally f'd up. After going for a quick blast last Saturday, I noticed the clutch starting to slip

I poped in to Ducati Dave Robinson in Wandsworth to see if he could help, but he didn't have any plates. I then went over to Metropolis in Vauxhall and they thankfully had a set. I fitted them myself, but things then started to go terribly wrong - to cut a long story short the inner basket had worn, making the outer friction plate come off the basket and grate on the outer backet = not nice, shards of new friction plate flying off = one unhappy Ducati rider. Thankfully Dave managed to save the day by diagnosing and fitting a new inner basket for me - at zero notice! Nice one Dave

So in the end I managed to go to school, have a great time and see that Diablo nice and chewed up on the left hand side.

My recommendation: Go for it!

21 Jul 06, 09:33 PM	#2 (permalink)
derrickr Newbie Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Brixton Posts: 13 derrickr's Gallery	California Superbike School - deffo worth it Hi Philc, I attended the California Superbike School yesterday up at Silverstone - and I guess you did too. It was my first time on a track and I loved every minute of it. Yeah the day was hot and sticky, but we got a good long day (from 7am to 5:30pm) to talk, learn and put into practice by riding on the track. Although the Stowe circuit was a bit on the small side it did allow me to simply focus on the specifics on the previous classroom session. On reflection, I would have liked the groups split into various skill levels, since some of the riders went blatting down the straights only to crawl through the corners - slightly annoying when you're just getting a decent line and some fat bloke on a gsxr 1000 blatts just in front as you're about to turn in. But as the school states; 'everyone has to start from level one'. So, I guess those that go back for level two will hopefully be slightly more skilled? Anyway, I had a good day and although I knew of the majority of what they were teaching it was good to have it confirmed, and have a trained instructor to individually point out where I could improve. I think I'm now addicted to the track and have already today been looking at doing some track days/evenings, and maybe even level two of the school later this year. Thankfully my 900ss was fine after a slight scare earlier in the week when my clutch got totally f'd up. After going for a quick blast last Saturday, I noticed the clutch starting to slip I poped in to Ducati Dave Robinson in Wandsworth to see if he could help, but he didn't have any plates. I then went over to Metropolis in Vauxhall and they thankfully had a set. I fitted them myself, but things then started to go terribly wrong - to cut a long story short the inner basket had worn, making the outer friction plate come off the basket and grate on the outer backet = not nice, shards of new friction plate flying off = one unhappy Ducati rider. Thankfully Dave managed to save the day by diagnosing and fitting a new inner basket for me - at zero notice! Nice one Dave So in the end I managed to go to school, have a great time and see that Diablo nice and chewed up on the left hand side. My recommendation: Go for it!