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Old 18-Aug-2005, 16:13
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Mick Boddice – Track training school

Just my own impressions of the day, I gave Mick a chance to respond before putting this on the board - his comments are at the end of the text.....

Mick Boddice – Track training school – 12/08/2005

I’d been looking forward to this event for sometime now, ever since I read a good write-up about the school in a magazine. My heart sank a little after an autoroute session that told me the circuit was to be a 350 round trip for me from Cleveland.
On the morning of the school, I woke at 5am to be greeted with teeming rain outside and fingers crossed for better weather ‘Down ‘sarf’. The rain persisted until just past Sheffield where the first trace of blue skies appeared. After a blast straight down without stopping, I was glad that the circuit was easy to find by the instructions I’d been sent. Darley Moor is a crackling little (1.5 miles long), bike only circuit. I’ll confess now that I bought the two Superbike School DVD’s that feature Darley Moor and a certain Mr. Whitham sliding a new triumph into the hairpin not quite the way he intended!

I’d studied the first DVD for ages as it includes a lap of Darley, although it is highly edited and confusing (I thought) a slow on-board camera view would be been much better. The series has been on Sky but the extra bits on the DVD make fun viewing.

Still, as it happens, none of that was any use as I found out by ripping down there early enough to be able to walk a track for the first time before a riding session of any type. Basically a triangle, there is only one left-handed turn and a very, very tight hairpin to contend with along with some esses to try and make things more testing.

I actually enjoyed walking the track and got back just in time to get changed and get back to the café for the introductions and briefing at 9:30am. Mick Boddice himself welcomed us to the circuit and introduced us to the instructors for the day including a certain Mr. Matt Lewellyn, who I instantly recognised from a Ducati Sporting Club trackday in 2004. The usual overview of the circuit and flags to be used during the day were given and a note of caution added by telling us of the “drop it and your out for the day” rule, before we were divided up into groups.

One excellent idea at the school is that they also provide tuition for 11 to 17 year olds (Juniors), on natty looking 125 honda’s. I didn’t count numbers but they were certainly in the majority and I didn’t envy the instructor with that group!
I’ll also admit to hoping that I would be placed in Matt’s group as its always nice to be able to say one has been taught by a top flight racer and as the last name was called out – yippee, it was mine – result!

After getting the rest of out kit on, of which good quality leathers were available for those who did not bring their own, it was straight to the bikes for some familiarisation laps of the track. Matt gave us a small team briefing for the four riders he was allocated. We were using 2005 model Honda CBR600rr’s and apparently the bikes are replaced every year and these seemed standard apart from having all the lighting kit removed, race fairings and Avon sticky tyres fitted. Ten minutes of course, disappeared seemly in seconds as we acclimatised not only to the stunning bikes, but also to the track as well. Three sets of cones were used to denote turn-in, apex and exit points at the critical locations. The hairpin though was a real odd-ball, as its so tight and it had been coned off to half the width of the track. I could see the reasoning behind this as it would be very easy for a novice to barrel in from the previous turn and come in too fast or run off at the exit.

Comment number one – only one group of riders were allowed on track at a time. This puzzled me a little, I appreciate that the track is very short at only 1.5 miles so that a rider could come upon an incident rapidly but there seemed to be plenty of marshals and medical staff in attendance, so I can only imagine that there is a legal reason why this should be. However, having to wait for another two groups of riders to go out on track before our group was frustrating, I found.

Back into the nearby café, it was time for a discussion on body positioning, counter-steering and braking. I couldn’t help but think there were a few people in the group who wanted to ask questions but either felt awkward or didn’t want to slow proceedings. I was too busy stuffing into a bowl of fruit as I didn’t even have time for a decent breakfast. However, all the basics were covered and the few questions asked were fully answered. I couldn’t help but feel that some hand-outs would have been of use, sent out maybe a week prior to the event on these subjects. This session could have been used to re-inforce the principles or answer any specific questions pupils might have had.

The back straight on the track had been set up with a series of cones widely spaced in a straight line, the aim being to ride through them at a good speed, using counter-steering to effect the turns. Matt advised short-shifting into fourth gear and trying to come out really wide on each turn so a good appreciation of the technique could be gained. Being last in our little group didn’t really help and I found myself going too slowly through the cones and being able to ‘slalom’ the course, tracking close to the cones instead of pushing to move wide.

Comment number two – I couldn’t help thinking that it might be possible to repeat this exercise on the start/finish straight, even though it was much shorter than the back straight. This would not matter too much as the bikes could be kept ‘rolling’ from the previous set of cones, giving two chances at doing the exercise in the same lap. Having to wait for all the juniors and the group in front once more – gave ample time for discussion but was too long in my opinion.

My second attempt was better as Matt observed, I was much lower and relaxed on the bike and was using greater leverage to get the wider turns I needed. My final run felt better still as I had a better gauge of the track/cones and with a little more speed, I felt as though the task flowed a lot better.
Next task was to finish the counter-steering run with hard braking in a straight line to impress us with the real potential that exists on most bikes when used fully. I’d already done a little practise with the radial brakes on the Honda when coming to restart the previous exercises, the stopping power is awesome and I was a little worried of lifting the back end but, needlessly as it happened as both runs I did in this exercise were fine, with the rear of the bike only just lifting at the end of the stop.

Just before our main break a demonstration of how to ride the corner cones was given by one of the instructors, with all of the groups being talked though from some good vantage points. Ideal lines and then slight variations were shown on how turning in too early/late and missing the apex point have a dramatic effect on exit speed and accuracy – a good demo.

Lunch was the next important task to get on with. The included basic buffet was very welcome and all freshly made with hot quiche and sausage rolls to provide a boost even though the outside temperature was getting better as the day progressed. I really enjoyed the friendly ‘club’ atmosphere that prevailed everywhere, even the tea and coffee was free for the pupils on the day and very reasonable anyway for anyone else that was paying. The break gave the pupils a chance to get to know each other a little better and compare thoughts about the morning, everyone felt they had made some improvements.

Back on the track, it was time to put all the lessons into practise. Matt once again led our group out for some easy laps to bring us back up to speed once more. Even in this first session of the afternoon I found myself becoming frustrated, I was deliberately not accelerating down the straights so that I could concentrate on using the cones and the mornings teachings, even so I found myself easily catching the group after roughly half a lap. Matt was still able to offer some good advice just by watching me in his mirrors but, there again I guess we were only riding at about 10% of his speed potential.

Second session Matt suggested that he might wave some riders past so that he could watch each of us at various points. The leading lady in our quartet, who had been on the school the year before, was doing impressively well and gaps were starting to open up in the group. Matt dropped back and waved some of the other riders in front of me through so I (blush), thought it best to fill the gap and overtook the two guys in front of me and slotted in behind the lady rider. She was very good on the throttle out of turns and already had no fear of using the potential of the bike. Once again our twelve minutes on the track vanished and in the pits, Matt administered me a ‘slap on the wrist’ for overtaking but, said I was perfectly safe in what I did so would not tie me to the back of his bike for a demo lap.

Matt has asked us all of our previous riding experience and I had explained that I’d done six or so trackdays but was ride rusty as I couldn’t afford to run a road bike and trackbike together. For our last session of the day our ride order was changed to how we ended up during the last session (lady rider, then me and then the other two guys). Having been a motorcycle instructor in the past myself, I could see Matt’s dilemma in that I might pull away from the group if I was at the front – I certainly wouldn’t of overtaken the leading rider as that would of meant I might have been out of Matt’s view. But there again for a last session I might have been tempted to ‘push on’ a little bit! In the circumstances, Matt made entirely the right call.

Our lady rider rode even better than previously, she was riding quickly enough to the point that I think a lack of physical strength was slowing her down through the esses. I was concentrating on riding smoothly and trying to relax more on the bike, I found the pace awkward in that I never managed to get a proper ‘flying lap’, even in the last session. Matt gave us a debriefing with pointers on specific items to work on for each of us. A nice certificate presentation in the café and some special awards to the most improved riders was a very nice touch to end the day with.



For someone wanting to ‘test the waters’ before trying a trackday, this school is the ideal preparation. All of the major points on lines, braking and steering that would be needed for riding on circuit are covered well. The equipment supplied and bikes (for a small extra fee, £175 using own bike or £250 to use the 600RR’s) were first class and all of the instructors were very professional, knowledgeable and friendly.

As might be gathered from the above, I found the day a little frustrating at times. The waiting between groups to come back in and being more use to track riding than the others in my group left me a little disappointed. I was surprised that an “advanced” school advertisement was enclosed in the certificate pack to take home with us. I’m not sure if it’s a requirement to have completed the standard school first but the advanced day didn’t appear to have been offered or advertised on the website any where that I could find. Likewise, I don’t remember being asked about riding experience on the application form prior to the day, riders with many years and/or previous trackday experience could possibly be handled in a different group on the day.

Having said the above I still rate the day highly, much better than the European superbike school that I had taken at Croft circuit the previous year, which I found to be very impersonal. For little more than the cost of hiring a trackbike normally, a full day of tuition is provided along with the use of a first-class bike. The Mick Boddice school provides a complete and friendly introduction to track riding for the trackday novice.

===========================================
Response from Mick..

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR COMENTS - SORRY ABOUT ALL THE JUNIORS BEING THERE, NOT COMMON MUST HAVE
BEEN THE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS . I WILL TAKE ON YOUR COMMENTS AND WORK ON THEM.
THANKS MICK BODDICE
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Old 18-Aug-2005, 16:15
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ooops - web url in case anyone is interested....

http://www.boddicedarleytraining.co...._training.html

Cheers - Frank
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Old 18-Aug-2005, 19:04
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Darley Moor is a cracking circuit to watch racing at, its only about fifteen miles from home for me as well.

If you come down again Frank let me know!
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Old 18-Aug-2005, 19:23
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Interesting write up Frank. How did the lack of physical strength of the lady rider manifest itself. I have very little upper body strength and I've never really thought about it but was that obviously a limiting factor? Sounds like a good course overall. It strikes me that it's very difficult to please all of the people all of the time.

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Old 19-Aug-2005, 16:19
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Mr Rockhopper - might just do that - I'd like to watch some racing at Darley now even if it is fair way to come.

Ruth,
Even the lady herself, admitted that she really needed to get to the gym to work on her upper body strength. I seem to remember Matt commenting that she needed to get her shoulders lower down so that her fore-arms were parallel to the floor (in the hope of getting maximum leverage, I think). Her problem manifested itself as the speed on track increased, she was having to shut off too much for the esses instead of using counter-steer to help.

Two things I forgot to mention about the day - excellent trackside photography was available on the day (but I've seen enough of my big backside on a bike for a while) and I also believe that the day also counts as a signature on a racing licence as well, certainly one guy rushed back to get his licence signed but I imagine this is just to get rid of a novice jacket?

Cheers - Frank
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Old 19-Aug-2005, 17:15
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Two more meetings left this year, 28th and 29th of August and then 2nd October. I'm not sure which i'm able to get to but hopefully at least one of them. You can get so close to the track its actually a bit scary. There are often incidents at the chicane right after the start (bikes end up on the grass) and the first right hander becasue its tighter than it looks then they have trouble with the hairpin although i've never seen anyone highside on the way out of it. They normally come to grief on the way in.
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