Review: Ron Haslam race school

Coming up the hill from the paddock entrance of Donington Park, I could hear the noise of screaming inline-fours belting down the straight. It set a nice tone for the day and immediately put a grin on my face, made even bigger by the sight of a CBR125R performing a rolling stoppie from one side of the car park to the other. Nice. 

Even though it looked like great fun, I wasn’t there to ride a 125. I’d booked myself onto the Ron Haslam race school's Premier course, which involves riding Honda’s latest CBR600R around the circuit with both an instructor and one other student. 

You start the day with sign-on where, if required, the school will kit you up in safety gear from head-to-toe. It’s a nice touch and saves you having to lug all your gear if you’re not local to the circuit. 

After a short wait, Chris, one of the instructors, took us into a briefing room. He gave us the run-down on Donington Park circuit and got in some decent jokes too, calming the nerves of what would be the first bit of track time for many of the students. 

He explained we were there to have fun above all else, at which point he showed us braking markers and racing lines, whilst giving useful pieces of information to be fast yet safe. 

My name was then read out and I was given the number 15, which corresponded to the bike I’d be using. We were also introduced to our instructors, all of which are either current or ex-racers and know how to shift a bike around a track extremely quickly. They’re approachable though, and there was an obvious ethos as the school that nothing is too much. It was mentioned a number of times that if you’re not happy with something, then speak up and the team will do their best to rectify it. 

With the lingering smell of hot tyres and petrol in the air, bike number 15 rode into the pits. I jumped aboard and fiddled with the levers, desperate to get out on track. The instructor explained the first session was for us to familiarise ourselves with everything, whilst he would use it to gauge our ability. 

We creeped out of the pit-lane, following the instructor’s Honda Crossrunner through some of the best corners in the UK. After a couple of laps, the pace increased slightly and we started to tap into the CBR’s powerband, tearing into the redline down the Wheatcroft straight. The brakes are massively powerful and give you the confidence to squeeze as hard as you dare, the combined ABS keeping everything in check as you bang down the gears. 

Before I knew it, the chequered flag came out and the 15-minute-long session had ended. We rode back into the pits and passed our bikes over to the next group. With only three sessions allotted to each student, I was slightly disappointed with the lack of pace throughout the first one, even if it was just to get familiar with the bike and circuit. Pairing-up students of similar ability is a necessity but at just under £300 for the day, that works out at £100 per 15 minute session. 

I was taken under the wing of a different instructor, as were a number of other students, meaning a fair few of us ended up having one-to-one tuition. 

Session two started and the new coach was quick to work out the pace I was comfortable with. I followed his lines through Hollywood, Craner Curves and the Old Hairpin, comfortable in the knowledge that if his bike had the grip to attack them, so did mine. Every lap completed left me more and more impressed with the CBR, you’d be forgiven for thinking it has a slipper clutch the way it deals with simultaneous heavy braking and aggressive downshifts. 

Whilst passing other riders, instructors would tap the seat cowl of their bike to signify you were overtaking. It’s a tested system that works, they’re on the ball and regularly checking their mirrors to monitor the progress of their students and look out for overtaking groups. It’s a simple way of making good progress whilst remaining safe. 

Session two ended and I already had umpteen questions lined up. What gear for the Melbourne Hairpin? How aggressively do you transition from brake to throttle? Which line is the fastest for Schwantz Curve? Each one was one answered informatively and as in-depth as possible. What seemed to help most of the students was seeing the instructor, and other riders, take a corner at a given speed. It’s mind over matter, but if a Honda Crossrunner can carry 100mph through Craner Curves, so can a CBR. Full-grown men were coming into the pits with a grin from ear to ear, pointing at their scratched-up knee sliders. 

With only one session remaining, I wanted to push the bike, and more importantly myself. Donington is a hugely rewarding circuit, it flows from one corner to the next and it’s your job to connect the dots. The two hairpins Melbourne and Goddards are difficult to master, they’re slow, off-camber, and it’s easy to provoke an unnecessary low-side. I followed the coach from corner to corner, trying my hardest to stay on his line and match his braking points. Waving in and out of my comfort zone, I became more and more comfortable with the higher speeds I was carrying through certain corners. 

Just as I was getting into a groove, the red flag went up and we returned to the pits two minutes short of a full session. I extracted every last bit of information I could from my coach before meeting everybody in the debriefing room. 

Chris - flamboyant and friendly as ever - was there with a spokesperson from Bridgestone. He gave us a quick run-down on the tyres fitted to the CBRs, Bridgestone’s T30, a sports touring tyre that performed exceptionally well all day. According to the spokesperson, Leon Haslam lapped Donington only two seconds a lap slower than superbike pace with T30s fitted to his Honda Fireblade. 

After a small debrief and prize giveaway, the day was finished and everyone left with a smile on their face, whilst others left with scratched knee sliders and even bigger smiles. 

The day was good fun and it’s always nice riding a bike in anguish, especially when it isn’t yours. The instructors were good fun to be around and very helpful too. However at £300, I’d imagine seasoned racers and confident trackdayers would find more value in a normal trackday, which comes at a third of the price. Three sessions just simply didn’t feel like enough to really get stuck in, which is a shame because the bikes, instruction, circuit and hospitality were all fantastic.   

Of seemingly much better value is the Elite course, which you can attend after having completed the Premier day. You ride the latest Fireblades fitted with full telemetry-equipment and have a designated 60 to 90 minutes on track. It costs an extra £100 but it looks to be the best option for those most serious about reducing lap times and reaching their - and the bike's - potential.

If you want to improve your riding and have fun at the same time, the Ron Haslam race school is perfect. It's full of friendly, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable staff, with extremely capable bikes and an exceptional circuit to play around on. Just chuck in an extra session though, would ya' Ron?