Hammer school??? YEA/NAY..

[MELK-MAN]

Im a reasonably fast AM rider who has NOT been to Daytona. Is it worth $285 for the Hammer school? no need for school bashing.. if you had a good experience id like to hear about it.
thanks.. :)

[phillip]

I signed up for the racer practice for $175. I assume that it will be run like other school/practice days.

[fizzer400]

Greg,

I'm a reasonably SLOW AM rider who also has not been to Daytona! :) I considered doing the school, but I'm only doing one race on Saturday and doing the all-day practice on Thursday. I figure that'll be good enough for me(although I could use the extra track time I'm sure). The school came highly recommended to me by a fast FUSA/Wera rider I know though.

Jeff
CCS #419

[WebCrush]

I was planning on doing the Hammer practice but when I learned it was $175 for 2 hours of practice I changed my mind.

I'm just hoping that with practice on Thrus, Fri, Sat, and Sun plus one race each day from Friday on I should have a lot of track time.

Real question will be if 2 sets of tires (hard rear, med front) will last the entire weekend.

[r6_philly]

I don't remember getting more than 20 laps of practice on Thur. each of the last 2 years. Correct me if I am wrong guys. As I remembered, they ran the normal groups plus team challenge groups. Not a lot of track time, especially if any downtime is involved.

I want to do the team hammer practice day but $175 is not in the budget. But I also know the track quite well, so no biggie. My friend who is a first timer is doing the practice day though. You can never get enough practice, but after picking up 2 sets of tires I am out of $$

[wizard]

greg as you know i havent raced daytona fo a century. there never was much practice time aloted back in the day. I signed up for the school for that reason alone

[MELK-MAN]

thanks all.. See ya there Wiz. Gonna do the school if nothing else for the track time. 8)

[MudDawg]

Nay.  Not much there for a racer.  Sign up for the practice instead.  You get the same amount of time...with less problem riders in your session.

I generally sign up for the Team Hammer when I go to Daytona.  You never know when its gonna rain.  Having the option of a spare full day of practice is generally worth it.

[David_Swarts]

I am completely biased, so take this as an advertisement.

The Team Hammer day is broken up into three groups, two groups (racer practice and track ride) get four 30-minute sessions. The school group gets five 30-minute sessions. Although the day sometimes starts a few minutes late for normal de-bugging of ops, we have never had anyone complain about not getting enough track time at our Daytona days. In fact we have had many riders log over 150 miles at Daytona.

If you have never been to Daytona with CCS, the practices on Thursday, Friday, etc. are not the place to learn the track. Daytona isn't a hard track to learn, but finding full-speed braking markers is tough when you get 15-minute sessions and about 80-100 racers per session. You'll be lucky to get about 5 laps and most likely will not get a clean lap the entire weekend. And that's if the sessions are not red-flagged.

The price of admission for the Team Hammer day at Daytona is more than a day at a normal track, but this is not a normal track. Team Hammer is the only motorcycle track day at Daytona and has been the only one for several years.

For a Daytona first-timer who wants to do well in his or her races and has the means to pay for it, I would recommend taking the full school and asking for one-on-one instruction from Steve Rapp, Chris Ulrich, Lee Acree, Michael Martin. What other school has pro-level racers as instructors who teach you the racing line before the race weekend?

That's not to mention the set-up tips and assistance that could be found from Keith Perry and the team.

And once again, I recommend that anyone considering doing the Team Hammer day pre-register to save time and money.

David Swarts

[MightyDuc Racing]

Just remember that you will probably only get like 2-3 sessions on Thursday from what I hear because the Team Challenge is in the afternoon.

[MudDawg]

I am completely biased, so take this as an advertisement.

The Team Hammer day is broken up into three groups, two groups (racer practice and track ride) get four 30-minute sessions. The school group gets five 30-minute sessions. Although the day sometimes starts a few minutes late for normal de-bugging of ops, we have never had anyone complain about not getting enough track time at our Daytona days. In fact we have had many riders log over 150 miles at Daytona.

If you have never been to Daytona with CCS, the practices on Thursday, Friday, etc. are not the place to learn the track. Daytona isn't a hard track to learn, but finding full-speed braking markers is tough when you get 15-minute sessions and about 80-100 racers per session. You'll be lucky to get about 5 laps and most likely will not get a clean lap the entire weekend. And that's if the sessions are not red-flagged.

The price of admission for the Team Hammer day at Daytona is more than a day at a normal track, but this is not a normal track. Team Hammer is the only motorcycle track day at Daytona and has been the only one for several years.

For a Daytona first-timer who wants to do well in his or her races and has the means to pay for it, I would recommend taking the full school and asking for one-on-one instruction from Steve Rapp, Chris Ulrich, Lee Acree, Michael Martin. What other school has pro-level racers as instructors who teach you the racing line before the race weekend?

That's not to mention the set-up tips and assistance that could be found from Keith Perry and the team.

And once again, I recommend that anyone considering doing the Team Hammer day pre-register to save time and money.

David Swarts

Yes you are biased.  Not like Ulrich pays you or anything.

The morning's with Team Hammer's track days are generally disorganized.  Let me rephrase that...I have always seen them as disorganized.  Part of that is the Daytona curse....guards.  Part of that is poor organization but Team Hammer / Ulrich.  Now this is just my opinion...but I've made it in the spring and fall for 4+ years now.  It hasn't changed.  Methinks it's not his highest priority.

150 miles on a 3.56 mile course?  Uh...supposed to have 2.5 hours.  Not exactly a challenge.  Don't they make 200 miles in less than 2 hours for the Daytona 200?  :-)  

I can't speak to the 1 one 1 time with the crrent crop of racers.  I only had info from Vic Fasola.  (Aaron Yates crew chief I believe?) a few years ago when I took the class.  As for other classes with Pro Racers...uh...Star School, Mystery School, Freddie Spencer, Schwantz, etc.  I think I missed a few.

The setup tips I got from Perry's class were relatively benign.  if you were racing...and mildly serious...then you should have known them.  (Hey Keith...say Hi to Laura!!!  When ya gonna let her back on the track on her SV???!)

If you want to learn lines...watch a tape of the Daytona 200.  You can actually learn a lot from it since the coverage is excellent.  (Didn't Tom Cruise say something like that?)  :-)

As for the speed...that's up to you and track time.  But being on a 3.56 mile course with 80 riders...while busy...shouldn't be incredibly crowded.  I've been on it with 110+ in practice ... that was busy...but still had room to ride.  (They split it up after that session due to the numbers.)

I took the class as a 'reasonably fast' amateur on a lightweight bike.  I was annoyed at having street riders with zero clue about riding lines, bike setup, or anything about racing....getting in my way continually in the class.  So I guess I'm saying...stick to the racer practice...it's where you belong.

[flccs90]

Hey Greg,
My answer is no.. dont do the school dont do practice .. just stay home your fast enough! Daytona is a fairly easy track to learnI'm sure youll have no problem. Never done the school so cant say, if any thing do it for the track time. Daytona is a hoot! See you @ Homestead!! Good luck!!