I did phase 1, their classes are during the week, which is pretty inconvenient since i work full time. I would have done both 1 and 2 otherwise.
Impressions of phase 1:
(first off, i need to say that i knew a lot of the techniques involved in ridnig a bike, i read a lot of books, and i practice alot my body position, throttle control, even off the track)
So... first hour and thirty minutes is theory.
The instructor teaches you about braking, steady throttle, acceleration.
Then he moves on to what effects steering inputs has on how the bike turns.
He continues with how you can use throttle control to increase or decrease your turning radius
And finally he talks about body movement from the center of the bike off to one peg for more control
He then finishes the lesson with racing lines, entry points, apex, corner exit, etc...
Everything up to now, is stuff you should already konw if you ride a bike, the more advanced (not THAT much advanced, you should get from a book like sport riding techniques)
When the theory is done, you get suited up and get a bike (if you don't already have a bike and equipment) a the minimum i suggest you bring your own helmet.
You have a total of 7 sessions of track time, in each of them you work on a different technique.
1st one is racing line (follow the leader, pretty slow compared to solo)
2nd one is racing line + keeping your eyes at the right place on the track (follow the leader, a bit faster)
LUNCH BREAK (if you bring your FZ6, this is when you go to the garage and turn up your rear suspension preload to the max, because you noticed a lot of bounce in turn 3
)
3rd session is acceleration and smooth braking with upshift/downshift (boring, you should already be doing this as part of your monthly/routine)
4th session is solo (no leader) track time (instructors will be in one of the turns and taking notes on your technique)
5th session again solo, different corner
6th session follow the leader, this time watch for his body position, mimic his every move!!!!
7th session solo again, final time on the track. Don't push the bike too much, you're tired, and your mind is tired. You gain a lot of confidence during the day, it's not the time to ruin it now.
There were two accidents during the 7th session, one broken bone, one low side.
All in all, i liked doing it with my bike, but that's because i wanted to show those show offs on supersports that my fat tourer can pass them in a turn with the knee grinding on the tarmac, while they're having a hard time controlling a bike that's almost 200lbs lighter.
A lot of the theory i already knew, but it's a GREAT opportunity to fine tune your technique, and the instructors are there to give you pointers, listen to them, it helped me a lot.
And, finally... the best piece of advice i can give you is, learn the race line, visualize it in your head, learn the turning points, don't go wide or too tight. One mistake i made was to push the bike a lot, i didnt take the time to really take it slowly and have the good race line. I wanted to consistently put the knee down in every turn
that was my goal for the day, so the race line kind of took the back seat.
Oh, if you can, take both days, phase 1 and 2. You learn a lot more interesting stuff during the second day.
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