Me and friends are interested in begining racing by doing endurance racing because of the amount of track time you get and because it is still racing with a racing mentality. The problem is........we are all pretty slow even for trackday standards and simply are not yet interested in sprint racing because it just doesn't offer enough track time for us to enjoy getting our asses handed to us. We prefer the slow painful humilation of an endurance event. The only thing I/ve noticed that WERA offers is the national endurace series and that is just not an option for us. So again I ask, is there anything out there as far as endurance racing goes in the Southeast region for slow first time racers??? The bike is a gsxr-600.
I would not recommend doing that because you would ruin it for people that are actually serious about it. Not to mention the safety hazard...
That's kind of why I asked the question. Is there just no endurance racing for people who just want to go out and do a race and have a good time but are not fast enough yet to be on the pace or even near it. The track time is what really makes me interested in endurance racing but if it is just too serious to accomodate slower riders............that would be a big dissapointment to me.
unless you are dangerously off pace, i dont think there is any reason you cant race in an endurance. you cannot use it as a test session(pitting repeatedly for adjustments) but otherwise, have at it.
Many regional club racing series have their own endurance races local to each region. Would be a good way to have fun, get up to speed without attempting it at a national level and would cost less that way as well, assuming the local club in your area has endurance events.
Track days are a good way to get up to speed. Plus if you do enough of them, maybe you'll get to coach/control ride. Then you'll get all the track time you could ever want, and then some.
As long as you're serious about the racng part of it, I'd say go for it. I'm pretty slow on an SV and have run more than 20 endurance races and have yet to have a problem with another bike. If the fast guys have had a problem with me, they've been nice enough to keep it to themselves. Steve
Not sure where you are located, but Fastrax runs an easy going endurance series at Nelson Ledges and Grattan. All the races are three hour, and there are many slower teams in the series. They were the first people that I raced with, and I feel that it was a good way to get my feet wet. I ran my first wera endurance race at the cycle jam, about six months later. I was about ten seconds off of the pace of the top 600 cc teams, yet I didnt feel like I caused any danger for myself or anyone else. I was still faster than many of the lightweight bikes out there.
www.cmraracing.com has a good series. That is where I started. A friend had an SV and we started running a few races. Not going for the box just trying to survive. We did just fine. I learned so much from that its not funny. Plus I met tons of people and contacts that helped me once I started sprinting.
Slow is one thing, but if you're not comfortable being passed by multiple bikes at the same time, then perhaps you should consider sprints. You'll be amazed at the speed you'll pick up after just a few weekends. I've only done one endurance race, but believe me, Tray and those guys WILL get around you. Being slow is not as big of a problem as being startled whenever someone stuffs or stands you up while you're cranked over mid turn. When you crash it's one thing. When you start crashing other people, that's when it becomes an issue. IMO, just my $.02 blah, blah, blah.....
Tell me about it. I race in the SV classes with my clubs (WMRRA and OMRRA) cause they aren't likely to lean on ya. But during the last endurance race there were a couple of passes I like, "Hey would you like a massage while you go around me cause really..I don't even have to let go of the handlebars." It was all good though...I trust them way more than I trust myself.
I just did my first six hr- I am slow as hell but it was great fun- I didn't even mind when one of the Vesrah guys ripped the bars outta my hands- made for a more interesting day! Seriously though like the above posters said- if you aren't comfortable with paint scraping passing don't do it. And it will wear your ass out SO GET IN GOOD SHAPE.
the only thing you really need to worry about is holding your line.. if you dont do that then your a danger especially in endurance racing. and dont freak the heck out when someone rubs up against you just HOLD YOUR LINE. That is all
If your near Ohio Fasttrax has a very laid back endurance series. You probably wouldn't even come in last.