On the right track: British Superbike School

The British Superbike School calls Blyton Circuit in Lincolnshire a home – not a bad spot for teaching people to ride fast and safely. The school is dedicated to helping riders advance their riding skills and bike control – cornering, braking, throttle control, lines, steering and balance. Master that and you’ll be more confident and a safer rider. Riding your bike more smoothly will make the whole experience more pleasant – and it will make you quicker.

What is it?

Training at the school is circuit-based, but the skills are applicable to both track and road riding.

The coaches are a mixed bunch of highly skilled riders, from police rider instructors, ex-championship winners, TT riders and qualified advanced riding instructors.

There are three levels: level 1 is for road riders to improve basic bike control, level 2 is for road and track riders and focuses on advanced riding techniques, and level 3 is one-on-one individual professional on-track coaching.

How much?

Both level 1 and 2 consist of five track sessions, debriefs and classroom lessons. The price for both is £289. Level 3 costs a bit more, £489, but you do get more individual coaching.

You need your own bike and kit for the training, although hire bikes are available if you don’t want to take your pride and joy out on track.

Who is it for?

It might be called a ‘superbike’ school, but you can attend on any bike you like, and 125cc riders are more than welcome. Track experience is not required either – in fact, this is the perfect place to gain that experience if you want to go and do a track day.

On any given training day you’re likely to see 125cc commuter bikes mixing with big adventure bikes, with all types and sizes of bikes around. It really doesn’t matter what you ride or how well you ride it, everyone can improve their riding, and a track-based training day is a great way to do that.

My experience

I did the level 1 training on our long-term test bike, the Honda Africa Twin, which isn’t exactly built for track, but as I pulled into the car park at Blyton Park I was pleased to see that there were a couple of Triumph Tigers too, so I wasn’t the only one on a distinctly non-track bike.

We had five 20-minute sessions on track, followed by a debrief and a classroom-based lesson. I approached the first track stint with more than a little trepidation, but following my coach, Kev, around for a couple of warm-up laps, I was more than happy with the way that the big twin handled. The wide bars really lend themselves to effective counter-steering and dropping the bike into corners was easy, controlled and effortless. Even the chicanes (which I don’t like at the best of times) weren’t too bad, with the bike flicking from side to side pretty quickly for such a tall adventurer.

After the first session Kev’s immediate comment was: “You know how you’re moving your bum off the seat in the corners? It’s not really making much difference on a bike that size, so you may as well stay on the seat for most of the track and just hang off in the faster corners.” Fair point! During the next session I stopped moving about so much, which actually made the chicanes much easier and faster to get through.

A couple more track sessions improved my speed and lines, and I started to feel more at home on track. Kev’s feedback at the end of each session was very useful and I felt like I was steadily improving throughout the day.

The Africa Twin performed much better than I had expected and I felt quite quick around the 1.6-mile track. For the size of the bike, the handling is agile and there is enough power to get out of the corners quickly.

Want to give it a go?

The day was not only useful and educating, it was also loads of fun – I had a big smile on my face all the way back home.

If you fancy a day of track training, visit: www.britishsuperbikeschool.com