Team Hammer School

I was even dumber, picked this place as the first time to try GP shifting....

 

How does the Team Hammer school compare to other racing schools? I'm trying to decide which one to attend. Several options out there from Rick, YCRS, California... Some of which are very expensive.

 

That. Even more critical now a days because the bikes are faster. Even a mid pack novice on a 1000 getting a marginal drive out of the chicane can get a lot of speed by the time they get on the clamps for turn 1. Setup and tire management and pressures are all very different there and the speeds at which they become critical are becoming more accessible because the bikes are so good.

 

ha... first time I went it was March of 2001 and I rode a ZX12. Turn 1 still had the grass on the outside and all the marbles near the wall and apron.
Second time was in 2010. I had a better bike and better protective equipment...lol.
I think the class started out with 35 folks and by the end of the day there were 18 folks left to get their certificates. One of the highlights was Mr. Ulrich coming in and smashing dreams/egos about folks wanting to be signed as a racer.
I was hoping to do some laps behind Mr. Hopkins until someone crashed not 1 minute after our session started.

 

Daytona is one of those tracks that you can just say that you raced on....more of an 'experience' rather than something to get excited about going to, for me anyway.

I remember being in the middle or lower part of one of the high banks....look to my right as i'm being passed and the bike was actually above my head, as if it were plastered to a wall. Not sure how to explain it, but definitely 'weird looking/feeling'.

Nice and frosty in the morning and 40 and rain for race day.

"Aaronson" was there....sup A-aron?

 

lol

yup !
lots of people that say "it's easy, ya just need a lot of HP" .. 1) havn't raced there 2) aren't very fast
there's a reason guys on 600's can do way faster lap times than guys on 1000's there.
2:00 is the initial goal for most bigger bike riders. To do 1:55? BIG step. To do 1:51's on a 600?? fukin rock star shit.

OH.. and as some stated, Team Hammer is only there in October for the Race of Champions.

 

That was my first time there too. I thought I was tzrider and went straight racing. The next year, I did the track day first.

 

Pffft.... Novice.

What's impressive is the level of prep the bikes are in. Everything is Broome & tidy and the suits/boots/helmets are new and shiny. We're talking CCS novices here.

Then again, it's the first race of the season.

My first & last time there was in '94 (Methinks), must have been with my Lowe's 'Metal Garden Table Blue' coloured F2 wearing my TIG welding gloves. Got yelled at because I was riding the pits with my bicycle....

Fun times.

And missed the space shuttle launch during my practice....

 

Everyone who ever lost a race at Daytona lost because their bike was too slow. Yet plenty of extremely fast bikes show up every year, and don't win.

 

I did some analysis of Daytona lap times and finishing positions a few years ago. Looked at both pro and club racing results versus other tracks in the same year.

Guess what? The same riders winning at Daytona were winning elsewhere. Big surprise!