Has anyone done the YCRS?

Ya'll just let me know the date so I can come watch.....

 

Who wouldn’t want to ride an MT-10?! Good gawd! That thing is just addicting, to me.

 

Yeah, there's no way he's doing that.

 

It's so easy to imagine him chasing a grasshopper in the dirt when they're stopped on track like a 4 year old during a t-ball game.

 

Between JDSA and Supercamp, running around on the dirt with little bikes had a comedic value off the charts.

 

Took it back in 2014. Awesome experience. Knowing the general audience here, I'll say this: Yes, you can save money by using your own bike, but a race bike is a pain in the ass. Ask me how I know. Thankfully it was summer, and slicks weren't really an issue. The lack of a kick stand was a pain in the ass.

Some of the YCRS staff would really prefer you just use a school bike, and for good justification: They're maintained, on DOT's, with kick stands. Luckily, in my class, none of the racers had issues with their bikes. But I could totally see how someone constantly fucking with their bike would really interrupt the flow of the class. The school bikes are literally turn key and go. They're even setup for your preferred shift pattern.

If you must be cheap: Buy a new set of your fav hyper sport DOT street tires, and put a kick stand on your shit. Save yourself the hassle.

Hindsight: For the few hundred dollar difference, to not have to be bothered with hauling your own bike, fueling your own shit, yada yada...dude. Just use the school bikes. Totally worth it. When/if I go ahead, using a school bike all the way.

 

The other benefit to using the schools bike. When we went, they do actually look at the brake light to see how long and when you start trail braking, and that will definitely help both parties get the most out of the school. I presume they still use that as part of the curriculum.

I've spoken about YCRS a few times and will try to condense it this time. My kid did Level 1 and 2 of California Superbike School, Danny Walkers school, Bargy's school, local trackday school out here in S. Cal. When I finally saved enough for him to go to YCRS, $2,395 as I recall, I was really disappointed we waited so long and feel it was multiple times better than all the other schools.

Tyler took it the first time in 2011 about 3-6 months before he went to his first AMA race. He had already been racing 5-6 years on mini's, 125's, SV650 and had set some track records on the SV. After the school he said, I learned so much that it feels like I didn't even know how to ride a motorcycle before. He said it turned on the light bulb for him.

 

Now I'm disappointed. There's only one date at BW which is the only reasonable drive from here and I can't make it. I'm just an old wannabe also-ran but it sounds like the school is worth it at any age.

 

Buttonwillow is danger close to being sold out already. I would love to do a second date and we are working on it now. We are doing the the Streets of Willow on 10/3 - 10/4.

That being said....as John and Rob were so kind to point out, you can show up at any track and ride oone of our bikes. Plane ticket and a gear bag. All inclusive. Arrive and ride.

Palm Beach is going to be awesome in a few weeks when everything else is freezing cold!

 

I know this isnt' a cheap sport, but adding plane ticket, etc to the expense starts to put the cost out of reach. At least on top of the new bike I'm trying to put together for this year. Looking at the map Streets might be an option. It's further away but there's a more direct route to get there so it's about the same length of drive.

 

Inde Motorsports Ranch is awesome and about an hour from Tucson, AZ. The place is a private motorsports play ground...

Ryan at Motorcycle.com just did the December school at Inde and shot a very cool piece about it:

 

I took the 2 day class this past spring at Pitt and really enjoyed it. Learned a lot and met some great people. It was the day after my first two track days of the season so I was a little over worked for a 57 year old. Next time I’ll just go for the class.

 

With the 1 day Champday program. Is that always your own bike or do you ride the a YCRS bike?

 

I hope you guys can do this. It's great. Rich Oliver's does a piece in their program with the kids doing maintainance and adjustments on bikes. That's is a great way to teach them feedback skills and instill confidence and responsibility.

 

The 1-Day ChampDay is always BYOB. The 2-Day ChampSchool has a rental option.

 

We are working on a ChampMini program that uses mini's as part of the curriculum for ChampSchool as well as a standalone program for kids. Stay tuned and I welcome your feed back on the concept..... [email protected]

 

So is a race bike with slicks a pita on the 1-day school as well?

 

Kurt - Its workable and we have lots of customers do it, but its not the best situation. As previously mentioned....lots of stopping on track and lots for drills. Slicks get cold and its nice to put the bike on a kick stand and work with the instructor instead of holding the thing up the entire time.