The British Superbike School

The School, despite it's name, is a small family business and started as an initiative from MAG and Notts County Council Motorcycle Forum in 2010, to look at providing circuit tuition in motorcycle handling to help reduce Road Traffic Collisions. 'Loss of Control' still is a major cause of collisions (50% higher than any other cause for bikes over 500cc - one in five), and is also a significant 'contributing factor' in many other accidents.

We joined the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) in 2025, and continue to work with the MCIA, RoSPA, BMF, DIA etc on motorcycle training and safety.

I had qualified as a RoSPA Advanced Motorcycle Instructor in 2009, and a DVSA Post-test Trainer in 2010, having previously club raced 2-strokes for 15 years. I'd been to most of the race schools over the years, had qualified as an FE Teacher, and thought a conventional industrial style 'skills training' approach might work. I had been an apprentice at Ford AVO, so was also a qualified time-served automotive engineer. The training has been further developed over the last 15 years based on advice from other coaches and trainers, and feedback from riders.

I subsequently qualified as an ACU Road Race Coach, with the School accredited in 2016 by the ACU as 'excellent'. We now have > 20 ACU/FIM licenced coaches with over 500 years of experience between us. Following an attendence at the School by the DVSA, on-track training is now a module in the DVSA's Enhanced Rider Scheme.

The intention in starting the British Superbike School was therefore to provide the best professional motorcycle coaches for road riders in the best setting in which to master bike control away from road hazards, by introducing the physics of how motorcycles stop, turn and accelerate, so riders can understand how bikes react to rider inputs, to improve rider technique and skills and help develop that vital confidence. We use not only Police Motorcycle Roadcraft, but also Vittore Cossalters ‘Motorcycle Dynamics’ with permission, as my background is Automotive Engineering, having originally been an apprentice with Ford Competitions at Boreham.

The trick has been to apply this and other proven theory (complete with all the maths), and make it of use to riders to apply.

We then found considerable interest from trackday riders, some of whom were already very quick, so looked at finding some more experienced track/race coaches who have joined us over the years, particularly when Ron Haslam's at Donnington closed. So the training was split Road and Track witha 3rd level for Competitors.