Just getting the chance to meet Valentino Rossi is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for most racing fans, but next month four lucky, or should that be fast and rich, VR46 fans will get three hours of one-to-one coaching with the G.O.A.T. around the Misano circuit in Italy.
Rossi, and his sponsors Dainese and AGV, are laying on the Dainese VR46 Class on Wednesday April 17. Four riders will get a 15 minute intro from the nine-time world champion, followed by two on-track sessions riding with Rossi. The MotoGP legend will then analyse the onboard video and provide commentary, before giving a final 20 minute theory session. If that’s not going to make you faster and smoother, we’re not quite sure what will.
Dainese and AGV will provide all the riding gear, and there will be a Yamaha YZF-R1 for you to spend the day playing on. The places will only be available through an auction, with proceeds going to the Fondazione Marco Simoncelli, a nonprofit organization aimed at helping those less well off in Italian society. Bidding currently sits at just under £7,000, although we’d expect that to rise significantly by the time the virtual hammer falls on March 7th. The winning bidder will also have to prove their credentials on the track too, as you’ll need to be an experienced track rider capable of lapping Misano, or Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli to give it its full name, in under 1:55, which is around 20 seconds off the top men in the Italian superbike championship.
If you’d love to take part, but don’t quite have the speed or bank balance to ride with Rossi, Dainese are laying on other groups that will accommodate beginners on supplied 125s, through to regular track sessions for riders of various abilities, on their own bikes.
For £1169 you can book a place in the ‘Champions Class’ with tuition from Rossi’s VR46 Academy proteges, including former Moto2 world champion Franco Morbidelli, as well as current Moto2 stars, Luca Marini, Lorenzo Baldasarri and Marco Bezzecchi, while the novice group comes in at £449.
Want to know more or book your place, all the info can be found at: https://www.dainese.com/gb/en/corporate/dainese-experience/riding-masters/riding-master-misano/
If this has got you hankering after some quality one-to-one tuition, there’s plenty of opportunities to do so without leaving these shores.
Triple British superbike champion and 500cc Grand Prix podium man runs his regular Masterclass at Silverstone throughout the summer. Like the Rossi experience, it’s an opportunity to ride a Yamaha R1 around a bona fide Grand Prix circuit, and Niall’s instructing team usually include his rapid offspring, Tarran and Taylor, who are current day front runners in the British championships. See https://www.silverstone.co.uk/track-days/bike-track-days/ for more information or to book a place.
If Donington Park is your circuit of choice, Niall’s old sparring partner, Ron Haslam, is once again running his eponymously named Ron Haslam Race School in 2019. The Carole Nash backed school has 20 dates this year, starting on April 10th and running through to mid-October. The Haslam school has been going for over 20 years and is well known for offering courses catering for everyone from complete novices to national level racers. Ron works exclusively with Honda, giving you a chance to ride a range of their most popular sportsbikes, including the new CBR650R and the CBR1000RR Fireblade. Places for the first events are filling up fast, so to find out what it’s all about and book a place, head over to https://www.haslamraceschool.com/dates for more information.