I completed Level I & II during a 2-day event at VIR on 15-16 AUG 2012. Yes, it costs a little more than $2500; however, it is worth the cost on myriad levels.
It's turn-key. You're using their equipment. All you have to do is show up. They will provide boots, leathers, gloves, and helmet, if you don't already own them. They fuel the bike. They put new tires on it. If something goes wrong with a bike like a low-side in Turn 1, they put you on another machine. There may be a small payment for the damage you have done, but at the end of the day, you hop on/in whatever vehicle you arrived in and go to the hotel or home. No muss, no fuss. Plus the bikes are BMW S1000RR's which are extremely nice machines. They serve breakfast and lunch too so you don't have to pack the fridge or a cooler. They have plenty of water and shade. It's turn-key.
The attention is plentiful. There is a 1:2 instructor-to-student ratio. Every session the instructor is evaluating you and someone else, so you get some quality time with someone whose skills Keith has approved. The instructors are all good riders, and, at least the instructor I had, are good at analyzing your strong suits and helping you to realize how you might do something a little different.
The format of the instruction is brilliant. You sit in a classroom for 20 minutes where a particular topic is illustrated. Each topic throughout the day builds on the previous, so you're laying a solid foundation. Immediately following the classroom session, you're out on the track for 20 minutes practicing what you just learned. Limitations will also be placed on you during a session like the inability to use brakes and not being able to exceed third gear. After the on-track practice, you have a one-on-one meeting with your assigned instructor to discuss how the session went and how you feel about the topic you were just taught. Then, you're back in the classroom for a quick recap of the track practice, and then it's on to the next topic.
Keith's philosophy and approach are simple. His system teaches you how to break down a turn, and ultimately an entire race course, into it's component parts. It's a series of steps that you could liken to solving a complex problem. Once you have things broken down into small, manageable pieces, you can concentrate on the parts that you're not so good at and improve them.
My explanation is no doubt long-winded, but $2500 and an entire weekend aren't trivial to me. The takeaway is this - if you're serious about track days and/or racing, the school is worth every penny. Heck, what you learn in the school will also apply to the street.
My only other advice is that you take the class first thing in the season. That way you can refine the skills you pick up in the school all season long.
You'll never look at a track the same way again... I don't.
