Riding skill level necessary to start racing...

Should one be riding at the "advanced" level on track days before racing at the WERA novice level? At least one of the WERA approved racing schools, apex2apex.net, sends out advertisements that indicate that "you must be able to ride in advanced group" before they will accept you into their WERA race school.

 

It really has more to do with how far you can wheelie and whether or not your friends u ride with on the street say you are ready cuz your super fast...


Kidding... listen to mongo hes the expert.

 

Pffft..

Hey, they let Lever ride..

 

As long as you can hold a line on the track and are comfortable being lapped in a 6 lap sprint race..........line it up!

 

So long as you can stay on the race line and have basic controls down pat (smooth downshifting, braking and countersteering), faster racers will be able to predict your actions and go around you, so your possible lack of speed isn't a safety issue.

Track days are great for practicing what you already know but you will learn far more by going racing.

 

Sounds to me like they are trying to get more money out of you.

I would not be overly surprised, they recently tried to advertise here in the General forum.

 

People were racing long before there were "trackdays".

 

The first time my tires ever rolled on any track was Ed Bargy Racing School.

BTW, I DOMINATED the mock race.

 

Reminds me of the guy who walked up to me once at a race and introduced himself. After chatting for a couple of minutes, he told me we had been in the same mock race a few years earlier and I had stolen that from him because I had trackday experience.

Some people take that stuff seriously.

 

Cherrypicker.
Steve

 

We're all old now.

 

Personally I think that anyone who wants to get into racing would beneift from doing many (years) of trackdays just to get comfortable and be able to enjoy riding the bike falt out. "Practice makes perfect" and there are no better race practices for the general public then trackdays.

Now you will probably get fast alot faster racing just because the level of guys you'll be on the track with will encouage you to step your game up but also it could be bad because you may miss out on getting comfortable with the basics and platue early.

 

I think people would benefit from making track experience mandatory for a M/C license.

 

I think people who do trackdays without taking schools tend to develop bad habits that they discover when they start racing.

 

I have to agree with this citing the knee dragging obession. Alot of people at trackdays seem much more concerned with dragging their knee then being fast and taking a correct line.

Also people at trackdays seem to push it to the limit in slow corners and park it through alot of the fast ones.

 

Most of the time I don't drag my knee and I get around most race tracks
pretty well.

 

hell, what is in this sport?

 

I know guys that think once their puck touches they need do grind it into the asphalt. When mine touch I know where I'm at lean angle wise then lift it off the asphalt. It's just adding drag and is gonna slow ya down. It's a gauge, not a third wheel