California Superbike School

Name: California Superbike School
Brand: Suzuki

Humans live in varying shades of grey, but what happens on a motorcycle is very much black and white. That's what we recently found out first-hand

Forget what you thought you knew about cornering. There is no racing line. And to become a more confident rider you’ll need to learn new skills that will help you overcome primordial survival reactions. You know the one's... fear, dread, alarm, panic, the list goes on.

It may sound a little daunting at first, but after spending a day’s tuition in the level one course at the Australian branch of the California Superbike School (which holds classes at Queensland Raceway and Eastern Creek), I don’t mind admitting there was a lot about cornering that I didn’t full understand.

In fact, so confident was I in my own abilities -- the haughty motorcycle scribe -- that I asked the school’s Technical Director, Steve Brouggy, if I could start at level 2 on my Suzuki GSX-R750. “Mate, what do you think? I’ve been around traps, I’ve done plenty of track work. Do I really need to complete level one?”

He replied flatly, “Everyone starts at level one.”

But after the first theory lesson, followed by the initial 20-minute track session shortly afterwards, I realised that these guys know what they’re doing.

For about 30 years the California Superbike School has been teaching people the art of cornering, and US-based superbike guru Keith Code is the man who started it all.

The Technical Director for Australasia and our teacher for the day, Steve Brouggy, has conducted more than 900 courses over more than a decade and has been contracted to teach in India and Malaysia. Though his manner may be a little unforgiving at times, his method works.

"One thing that struck me about Keith when I first met him is his absolute certainty about riding motorcycles. Up until then, any conversation I had regarding riding motorcycles was peppered with words such as 'sort of' 'it’s like' 'kind of' 'about' 'I think' 'to me' 'I think of it like this' etc. and Keith just never did that," revealed Brouggy.

"It is true that as human beings we live in varying shades of grey, but in physics terms what happens on a motorcycle is very much black and white. Keith was the first guy I ever met who could accurately describe what you were dealing with as a rider, but was also able to understand the human element and our ability not to function with absolutes."

IN THE CLASSROOM

The day is a long one – it starts at 0700 hours and finished at 1700 hours. You get almost two hours of track time in the day, five sessions at around 20 minutes each, but before each track session you sit through a theory class, and it’s here that the brain begins to grasp what the professionals are trying to teach.

I won’t go into the nitty gritty of what is taught, but there are five drills and as Steve explained to me in an interview after the class, the first drill, throttle control, is the most important of all.

The full list of drills for the level one course is:

Throttle control
Turn points
Quick turning
Rider input
Two-step turning

It was edifying to see the teacher explain with some authority not only the physics behind why bikes do certain things at certain times (including why MotoGP riders swing a leg out on approaching a corner...), but also the psychology behind why we, as humans, react the way we do to various stimuli – such as a rapidly approaching corner, rain.

Intriguingly much of psychological stuff has to do with fear; our fear of losing control and potentially crashing. The survival instinct in most vertebrates is strong and I personally found myself struggling with some of the concepts. But by day's end I was lapping significantly faster than at the start of the day thanks in large part to pushing beyond my own 'safety' barrier.

The completely shagged tyres on Suzuki’s GSX-R750 were evidence of this. I asked Brouggy about this aspect of riding a motorcycle and he explained how Keith Code resolved the difference between our perception of speed and what a bike is capable of doing, for example.

"Irrespective of your experience, age, speed, type of riding you do, sort of environment you ride in, etc, you basically face the same challenges," said Brouggy. "What Keith has done ... (is to) observe and communicate how these hard physical facts and human beings interact. Without a full understanding of this relationship, there can be no real understanding and/or improvement in a field that challenges you on the mortal level that riding motorcycles does.

"This is why you cannot learn to ride a motorcycle purely from reading a book, seeing a video, or riding around a carpark at 25 km/h," states Brouggy. "It’s this understanding, combined with the certainty of the physics of riding, that separates the Superbike School from every other training organisation - in any field - that I have ever had contact with. Which, from my perspective at least, is a pretty cool thing that I get to work in that environment."

Communicating and demonstrating the methods of executing a perfect corner is done in a very clear and concise manner. Whether on a race track, or even on the road, there are infinite ways of approaching a corner – the perfect line is a fallacy.

You’re taught that maximum lean angles or getting your knee down are not always the quickest ways around a corner too. Instead it’s about teaching your body and your brain to do things a little differently and to get a better understanding of what it is to execute a cornering manoeuvre. After all, knowledge is power.

ON THE TRACK

All of the five drills take place after their respective theory sessions, so you get to put the teachings into practice. Each student/rider is assigned a coach, at a ratio of 1:3, who will spend time showing what the drill requires, and will then fall back to watch you attempt said drills.

The approach is very good and for my part yielded good results and quantifiable improvements throughout the day.

Stef, my coach, was 21 and female and an incredibly good rider.

Interestingly, the first drill, throttle control, allows you to only use fourth gear, and no brakes are allowed. This may sound a little severe but it works incredibly well.

By the end of the day you're using brakes and all gears and though I was familiar with Phillip Island, having driven several sports cars on the circuit, this was my first time on a bike – and it was sensational.

The coaches are very good at what they do, very attentive, and there was a broad cross section of rider skills in our group, from ridiculously fast, to slow and steady. I felt I fell somewhere in the middle, but by day’s end I was clocking 255km/h down the main straight and heading into Doohan Corner (turn one) with plenty of mumbo.

The Australian branch of the California Superbike School is a very professional operation, and it gets results. I’m not just saying this because I have a 64 per cent share in the company (that’s a joke). While the track work was important I felt as though I learnt more from the theory sessions, and much of the psychology behind the relationship your brain has with your body was fascinating to learn.

And remember, there is no racing line...