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[jotjotde]

For anymone interested in a racetrack rookie training, here's an overview about my experiences which might be insightful. Hopefully it helps to better understand what you are up to and to align expectations and real life.
I always was curious about racetrack driving, be it with my car or now with the Ribelle, but never managed to go for it until early this year when I booked a rookie training with an organizer which I thought had a good reputation (affiliated with a major German motorcycle news magazine). Cost was 450 Euros for one day with an instructor and 6 stints of 20 minutes in a group of five drivers. Location was the Bilster Berg racetrack, sometimes referred to as the 'small Nordschleife'.
Arriving at the racetrack I got the impression that nearly everyone except me had travelled there the evening before, bringing caravans, tents, bikes and equipment. So, while they had no problem orienting themselves, I had to ask for directions in what felt like total chaos. Naturally I was the only one with an electric bike there, and the technical guy who checked it, promptly told me his opinion (which wasn't positive).

•   Even if it was named rookie-training, there weren't too many actual rookies around. So I ended up as the only real one in a group of more experienced drivers.
•   Expecting the instructor to know how to induce a rookie to a track was wrong. First stint was like hell and I broke off after four rounds. It was totally overwhelming and looking back on this, I can be happy that nothing happened.
•   My fault was, trying to match the speed of the group at any cost. Should have slowed down until I had the feeling to be in control again, even it that would have meant to impose my speed on the rest of the group.
•   Another fault was to choose a racetrack with such serious topography. In hindsight I would say that the organiser wasn't right to offer a rookie training on this particular track.
•   Keeping close to each other regardless the speed was encouraged by the inctructor, which alone stressed me totally out in the beginning. I should have taped my mirrors. You better do not see how close the person behind you really is.
•   Having had some basic safety inductions in special training centers before, I did not expect so many other riders to be on the track simultaneously. It looked to me that organiser had put as much drivers on the track as possible to maximise profit. So I did not expect there were overtakings during the stints.
•   Naively not thinking of accidents, I did not expect that stints are interrupted or even cancelled because of crashes and was surprised that cancelled stints are not added later.
•   I expected quite high consumption of energy but that was wrong. A 20-minute stint with approx. 6 rounds was consuming maximum 11 % SOC.

Summarizing, it was not a positive experience which was at least partly my fault.

[Specter]

Germans are arrogant assholes for the most part anyways,  just my opinion so your 'experience' is not totally surprising sadly.

The guy putting it on was a total jackass, it's a good thing nobody got hurt.  One should NEVER force anyone in a group to keep up with the group, that's how you kill people!!  You should make sure you leave an appropriate review, and well next time, check first.  Id go to one of the track days first and mozy around if it was possible to get an idea how they are running their game.

You should have taped your mirrors?     REALLY?  You should have NEVER been allowed to even be in a position to say that!   You are generally not allowed on the track with mirrors or glass to begin with, the clown who 'teched' your bike, sounds like another asshole with a smug attitude.  Glass is absolute Taboo on a track.  Mirrors need taping, so do lights.  Foot pegs / stands need to be tied up or removed etc etc.  Mirrors really are best removed, they tend to get into the way and honestly, they literally spin / twist on and off in a minute so it's not worth having it there to get broke if you slide or bump.

I am so sorry to hear your experience sucked so badly.  I am ready to go to a 'racing /track school' whatever you want to call it put on by Yamaha here in about a month up in the Carolina's and hope it's a lot better experience for me.  I decided for the first time, Id rent their bike to run on.  Why wreck mine right?  Yes I know a horrible way to look at it but until I get comfortable with the track thing, im going to be a timid little puppy.  If I kill myself, that's MY bad, but if I was to f someone else up for the rest of their life, Id have a hard time living with that.   Just me though.

Aaron

[jotjotde]

Germans are arrogant assholes for the most part anyways,  just my opinion so your 'experience' is not totally surprising sadly.

Congratulations for successfully offending me.
Comments like these are neither contributing to the topic nor in any other way helpful.

[Bodo]

Easy now. Not saying discrimination is bad, but there are better places to do that - where everyone expects it.

That said, thanks for sharing your experience, jotjot. I'm not yet trying to test race tracks, but get safer in driving. While there are enough group trainings on offer, I decided to do a 1on1-training. Price was twice that of a group training, but I'll do that again: it was relaxed throughout while also very efficient.
Maybe you find something similar at a small track that doesn't need to be fully booked to survive?

[Specter]

Bodo, it helps to look at who is putting on the training too.  If it's some local show, then there is a good chance you are going to get exactly what you paid for!  If it's an organization that is in business TO train people properly then you have a much better chance of getting genuine training that will actually be helpful.   Now that I am looking, I am seeing many 'courses' being offered here and there, how to make yourself a race driver!!  how to be safer !!!, this that and the next thing.  Some of them look very shady.  Look at how long they have been around and accreditations they may have.  A bad day at the track can  happen on the best days!, but a bad day on the track that happens because you have bad actors on the track, can be life changing, and not in a good way either!

Be safe and be careful whom you decide to train with.

Aaron

[Demoni]

Sorry to hear your introduction to riding on the track was less than amazing. I hope you will give it another try!

I have been fortunate enough to go to a number of track days with various organizers, some do a better job than others. Making first time riders feel comfortable (and safe) on track is one of the big things that separates a good provider from a bad one. Most track days I have attended separate the riders into 3 groups based on skill level, each group has specific rules to help keep everyone safe.
First time riders are required to be in the "slow" C group, passing is only allowed on straight sections of the track. They separate the C riders into small groups for the first session, no passing is allowed and each group is lead by an instructor to show the ideal line. During all the following C group sessions there are instructors on track to watch for unsafe behavior and to provide feedback to riders. 

It is not always required to remove your mirrors or tape off your lights but I suggest getting in the habit of doing so. You always want to be looking where you are going, mirrors are just a distraction. The most important piece of advice is to always hold your line and be predictable. As you progress to faster groups you will find bikes on track going a lot faster and a lot slower than you, having someone move over unexpectedly is a recipe for disaster. In the fast A group it is not uncommon to be passed so close you could reach out and touch the other person.

If you can find a riding school that provides one on one or two on one instruction this is going to be the best way to see improvements in your riding ability.

[Specter]

I don't know where all they offer them, but the Yamaha group offers a riding school.  They offer several actually, throughout the US.

Id give google a try and see what all is available where you live and by whom?  Again, Big names like Yamaha, BMW, etc are probably going to be much better schools then Zoomie Zoom's Speed World of Racing.  Don't always believe the feedback you get on google / etc about companies, as leaving fake reviews is about as old as the internet itself, but look for consistency, and if there is a problem, how it is handled.  Be wary of a company that has tons of reviews and NONE of them negative.  People cry, often, there is always someone who will find something to boo hoo about, the chances of a company NEVER making anyone upset about anything EVER are very low.  If I see that, it immediately gives me alarm bells that someone is harvesting reviews.  Again, how was the negative instance handled speaks TONS about the company.  Even if the complaint is petty, just having it there / leaving it there, add's a lot to the perceived legitimacy of the comments.

Also look at the companies policy on refunds.  Stuff happens, can you get your money back if something goes wrong?  This is VERY important if you are plunking down a few grand for a course!

Finally, and this sounds wrong but here goes.  If this is your first experience on a track etc, if they offer rentals of bikes, Id seriously look into it.  NOBODY wants an accident, but if one is going to happen, wreck their bike, pay the 50 dollar insurance deductible and be done with it, why wreck yours?  Even a slight brushup could cost you thousands in repairs, these things are not cheap!  Get comfortable with the whole track thing, learn it, get a bit of confidence up THEN bring your machine to fine tune your skills.

When you take driver's ed classes, they provide the car, so why not let them provide the bike for the same thing essentially?

You know on that.  Lets say you took your bike onto a track to run it.  If you did tear it up, would your insurance cover that?  Im thinking not, and in fact they'd probably drop you like a bad habit on your policy as well because you  used the bike for that!

Do they offer racing insurance?  If so how bad is it? is it worth it?

Aaron