KIDS GET ‘SAFETY HEAD-START’ AT THE HONDA RON HASLAM RACE SCHOOL
10 August 2005 - Honda (UK)

More youngsters than ever are taking up the opportunity of taking their first steps on two wheels at the Honda Ron Haslam Race School.

Since last year, children as young as 12 can experience the thrills of two wheels in a safe environment and with experienced instructors. Thanks to the Honda Ron Haslam Race School, the future generation of bikers can get a head start on safety by attending the On-Track course which takes place regularly throughout the year at the school’s base at the Donington Park circuit in Derbyshire.

Ron Haslam, who raced in motorcycle grands prix during the 1980s and 1990s, runs the school with his wife Ann and he understands the benefits of getting youngsters onto bikes in the right environment. He said: ''It’s important to get youngsters to respect motorcycles at an early age but also to let them learn about how fun bikes can be. We can do this safely at Donington Park with our On-Track package.''

Using Honda CBR125Rs, 12-year olds and up can gain an introduction to riding modern, performance motorcycles, while over 14s can also use one of the school’s fleet of new Honda CB500s. Students and instructors meet in the pit-lane before going out onto the Donington Park circuit. After they''ve come off circuit, there’s a final debrief and then Ron takes them into the paddock to do further skills training with them. The course lasts approximately two hours and all riding kit is also provided. The student to instructor ratio is never bigger than two-to-one, and is often on a one-to-one basis.

Ron’s career started when he was just 15 when he lied about his age to go racing! He says: ''In my generation that’s how we had to get started, generally with a bit of encouragement from friends and family. Many of today’s riders on the road and track started out on a field with an old bike that was probably dangerous! Today the situation is completely different and safety has to come first, that’s one of the reasons why we lowered the age limit for the On-Track package. Any rider will tell you – whether you’re riding on the track or the road – training and experience is what counts.''

Ron adds: ''Many of the skills we teach here can be applied on the road in later life. We want to teach riders that there are options in an emergency situation so they don’t freeze. Corners have many different lines through them, not just one. If you do go into a corner too fast, there are many different options and by teaching youngsters this then they will react correctly and automatically in an emergency.''

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