ACU school day report

[G]

Yep, it's one of those annoying blog posts that clutter up the forum.
I'd only bother looking at it if you're particularly bored and can't be bothered to find anything else on this wonderous web.


Nice weather travelling up. Only problem was a diversion due to roadworks, going onto the A1(M) from the M25; added fifteen minutes or so.
Until about a mile and a half away from the circuit that is. Saw a couple of white spots in the headlights. Half a mile away and I was in a full-on blizzard!
Despite the fact I was doing 40-50mph up the sliproad, the snow seemed to be travelling sideways, rather than towards me!

The pits were a lot busier that I expected, with hardly any space left and all the garages appeared to be full. Drove round a bit and ended up going back to a space I saw, between a couple of campervans. Had fun manouvering the van between the expensive motorhomes, while trying not to make too much noise as most other people seemed to have gone to bed. Then had to get the bike out so I could back up the van, allowing my extension lead to reach from the pits.

Not fun when the scene looked like:
https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/snowynight.jpg
(I had just parked the van; that was the snow that had settled in five minutes or so!)

I left the bike on a pit garage wall as I didn’t want to go opening lots of garages and waking everyone up, to find one with a space free.
Chucked a blanket over it, hoping the snow wouldn’t mess anything up.
https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/bikenight.jpg

Got my van set up with a mattress on the floor and not too much stuff threatening to fall on me, heater plugged in and slowly heating the van.
https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/insidevan.jpg
Sorted a few bits, then read a book for a bit.

Ting!
Lights and heater go off. Doh. Look out and the lights in the garage have gone out as well, must have tripped their circuit breaker, especially if others have heaters on in their motorhomes. Guiltily remove my extension lead (getting into the garage proper to un-trip it would have made loads of noise… the motorhomes will have their own leisure batteries anyway.)
Luckily I had brought 3 sleeping bags, a duvet and a spare hoodie. Make use of all of them ontop of my thick matterss. Luckily the heater is a radiator style one, so keeps warm for a while, which I make use of initially to heat my pillow. Add a beanie and I’m moderately snug.

Wake up at around 6:30. Look out of the front window and the windscreen’s covered in thick snow.
Soon hear someone cursing a lot, just out side my van. I hope it’s nothing I had done the previous night, but don’t feel like sticking my head out to investigate. Eventually hear that It seems he had done Alex’s trick of leaveing the van keys in the van… along with his spares! Not a nice thing to find at 6:30 on a snowy morning I suspect.

Stick my head out and the ground doesn’t look too bad. Then find out that it’s just because people have been walking past and there’s warm motorhomes by me.
The track isn’t looking too great, as I didn’t get round to making those snow tyres:
https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/trackmorning1.jpg

https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/trackmorning2.jpg

Luckily my blanket seems to have kept the worst off the bike:
https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/bikemoring.jpg

Wander around a bit and it seems I wasn’t the only person to suffer.
https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/tentmorning.jpg

There are a lot more people here than I was expecting, though not quite up to a proper racing-weekend mini-village.
https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/villagemorning.jpg


Get the bike ready for scrutineering; the snow is still coming down sporadically. Presume there’s loads of snow on my bike as I go into the bay, as there is on everyone else in the queue.
Only thing the scroot picks up is that the gear change rod is slightly loose on the shaft; something that a quick tighten with a 10mm spanner sorts after.

Leave the bike by the van and wander up and down the garages.
Note that there’s one with some space and check it’s ok to move in… thankfully the other people in that half is another person for the school, rather than a big group of people there for the MRO practice. Seems he’s in my half of the school, riding his new (to him) SV650 for the first time also the first time he’s ridden with wets.

Looking out on the track, it would seem they are trying to clear the track, with some kind of plough and driving vans around to melt it a bit. A few people suggest that we get out and race the vans instead as there’s still at least an inch of slush on the track.
https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/clearingsnow.jpg


Everything’s running a bit late, as the resources have gone into clearing the track, but we eventually get our first class room session, followed by our first track session.
It’s quite an experience riding on a track when all the surrounding area is covered in snow. We go at a snails pace; some people are on supercorsas with no tyre warmers. There are a load of instructors, with a few students assigned to both.
Despite our slow pace someone still managed to crash on the second session.
Talk to our instructor after the sessions and he seems pretty cool. Tried to get to know what we wanted and how he could help, was chatty and happy to share knowledge. Talked to the other people in my ‘sub group’ and they all seem cool.
Though one person can’t get his ZX6 to start, even after a jump start is arranged. Oh well, at least it’s not my bike going wrong.

Through both the track sessions it has rained, sleeted and snowed at points.

The third track session is our dummy grid start.
I get placed 8th, so that’s second row, next to the pit wall. We get a sighting lap to get to the grid, followed by a warm up lap to attempt to get some heat into the tyres.
For those that have done drag racing, imagine a drag race.
But there’s standing water on your starting position and it’s freezing cold with light snow. There’s also no divider and the person next to you is a meter a way, while a meter on the other side there is a brick wall. There’s also 39 other people, both in front and behind you, trying to get into the same position you want to be in.
Fun !
I make a fairly good start, squeexing between the fourth place person and the pit wall to get 2nd place; quite an exhilarating experience!
After the first couple of corners an instructor leads the pack for half a lap to clam things down, then we’re off on our own.
A couple of people get past me and I decide to try and keep up… until one of them highsides coming out of the Esses; so maybe just because they are riding at that speed, doesn’t mean that it’s possible to do it safely. I calm down a tad, but carry on making an effort. Don’t think I got passed again, or at least only by a couple of people.
We get told our free lunch has been cancelled as there isn’t time , so I remind my self to get some food at some point; I had made some rolls the day before, but the last two that didn’t have brake fluid on were had for breakfast.

Get a few pics in of the other school group:
https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/bike1_143.jpg

https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/bike2_142.jpg

These kids were about 12!
https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/kids.jpg


I start at the back on the last session. Manage to work my way to the front of the block of twenty or so I was at the back of, though some may have got away at the front; only for it start hailing quite heavily. Seeing that I’ve just got past a load of people, I feel I shouldn’t pull in, so carry on, for the session to be chequred flagged… the hail is quite intense, with it starting to settle and that mass bouncing effect you get as a lot rebounds off the tarmac.

We do our final multiple choice theory test, I chat to people, say ‘bye’ and start packing up,

All in all, a top day, despite the weather .
Had some fun on track, talked to some nice people and should now have my ACU licence!

[Silver]

So, is this what you have to do to get a race licence? I assume from your post it's a single day, is it a pass/fail thing or just training like the CBT? Which track was it?

Sorry about all the questions

[G]

You now have to do a multiple choice theory test (would normally cost £50) and a race school.
(As well as all the other bits and bobs; eye test etc.)

This day incorporated both and makes it mcuh cheaper.

You can't really fail, though I can see that bloke at silverston who crashed twice before getting out of the pits getting a 'talking to' at least.
Most of the other rookies I talked to seemed cool though.

[TiN]

Sounded like a good experience mate.

Shame that it was on the wrong side of London, otherwise I would have contemplated popping over to cheer you on.
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TiN
dotgems.net

[John]

Nice post, enjoyed reading that.

Sounds a bit crazy, nice one for not coming off.

How long until you get the documents?
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[EuropeanNC30R...]

Sounds like you did pretty well Nice one.

[swaffs]

Sorry I didn't get up to see you mate.
Was far to cold and I found something else more important 'indoor' to do

sounds like a good experience. shame you didn't get much grid start practise though.

I hope the classroom sessions were more usefull.

How much was it for the whole day then?

Swaffs
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"Look not back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around you in awareness."

[Korn]

[G]

A few bits that I meant to mention, but didn't as I was pretty tired at the time .

The day definitely gave me a bit more confidence, though I suspect this may be misplaced. One of the reasons I came away with a smile on my face though .
I wasn't riding anywhere near 90%, never mind 100%. The first two slow sessions meant that my tyre warmers were redundant, as the tyres were cold by a few laps. I'm sure I could have pushed a fair bit more, but was understandably cautious given the conditions. I did manage to get my tyre warmers on for the last session; and left it untill pretty much the last moment to get out, so made some use of them. While I was going for it a bit more, I'm sure I could have gone faster.
Being faster than others in these conditions may not mean much, as it's the first time a lot of people may have ridden on wets, or even on their bikes. Others were probably (sensibly) more cautious given the conditions.


I think I'm going to have to try and book Brands on the 5th to get some competitive spirit back, just need to find out some money, as the credit is maxxed out at the mo .

I don't know what people were like on the Saturday; suspect some of the faster people were there then. They are basing the first grip position on how we did on Sunday. Which means I may even get a half decent position, as I managed fairly well on the start and on the faster sessions, as well as not portraying myself as a complete numpty to our instructor (or so I hope ).



Silver, sorry, didn't read your post very well either.
It was at Snetterton. The training as such didn't really have any meaning. Might have helped if there were better conditions on track. Others that didn't know Snetterton so well may have befefited from being shown the lines, but having done it quite a few times, I didn't really get any benefit from what the instructor showed us. It was only one day for the course, though they had two dates for the course, to give a bit more flexibility for those that have to work etc.

John:
Not sure on the documents, shouldn't be too long.
I could have pushed the bike more, but didn't really feel like crashing. I reckon the limits should be fairily progressive on wets, but I didn't want to find out they weren't.. though this would have probably been an excellent place to do so .

[cc123]

Looks like a good day had. Shame about the weather though. I didn't like riding in the snowy, windy conditions one bit never mind being on a track when its snowing!!
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[Luke_Retrofly]

Hi
Nice thread, one actually worth reading, glad you had fun despite the weather, hopefully ill come along to a few of the race meets .

Luke
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