Trackdayers ---> Racers

True. I think what Chris was saying is that if you are a Novice with multiple podiums and turning 1:02's at Tally and 1:35's at Barber, you belong in the expert class. Cherry picking the Novice class will not make you a better/faster rider, the best way to get faster is to ride with riders that are faster than you are. Leave the Novice class to true Novices and that will help the sport grow.

 

20 weekends is a lot IMO. As of right now, I still don't have 20 race weekends under my belt. I had about 6-8 track day weekends when I started racing, and 5 full race weekends behind me when I accepted my Expert license.

 

I figured a conservative 3 race weekend sprint schedule on 1 bike. Some practices & 3 entries. Roughly equivalent to about 3 hrs of track time (very generous est) x 20. That's a best case scenario barring no mechanicals, DNFs, injuries, etc.

 

Agree completely.

Riding a motorcycle at high speeds, in close proximity to other people of varying skill levels who are also riding their motorcycle at high speeds, is dangerous...regardless if the event is timed or not.

My worst crash to date was back in 2007 at Talladega, at my first track day weekend ever, riding in the Novice group.

Mark, you might remember that one, you stayed after the day ended to watch my stuff until my dad came back from the hospital.

 

Agree

 

Agree
imho trackdays are more dangerous.....horrible to great riders scattered all over the track. I have been taken out more times on trackdays, then races

 

I agree, but there's something inherently mentally tough for a "true" novice rider to see .02's at Tally and .36 at Barber. If you're a trackday rider contemplating racing (like I was) and you see times like this, you may think you're not fast enough to race -- not talking about competing, but the general proposition of having the skill set to race given the speed and lap times. Again, we're just looking at the nomenclature "novice" and you see some pretty damn fast lap times.

My first year racing as novice was filled with trackday coaches that were running .36's at barber and damn near 1.00 at Tally; these guys had years of seat time before they started racing. I jumped in the mix anyway, but there was definitely a discussion amongst my buddies about racing after looking at "novice" times.

 

I see.

My numbers are a little different because I do 7-14 races, on 2-3 different bikes. And I still do a lot of track days.

 

agree again.....I am a sad man

 

But w/ trackdays, what is a true novice anymore?

 

:up:
The wheat from the chaff

 

I constantly hear td guys telling me they don't want to race until they get their lap-times down to 'X' ....w/ X being competitive front runner times.
I always tell them to go race for fun and don't worry about the times.

 

I'm bored at work.......

 

I have absolutely no idea what that means.

 

You're right. But I suspect getting their "lap-times down to 'x'" is also synomous with, "let me get some more experience under my belt before I go out there." I don't know if people just want to meet the minimum requirements for racing.

 

back to the expectation portion of the program... would you show up weekend after weekend for a couple years to get your buttocks whooped by racers 1-3 seconds a lap or faster or in some cases not even cracking a top ten finish, if you were giving the racing effort 100%+?

 

I can guarantee the best way to "get their lap times down to X" is to just grid up and race.

I picked up a second per lap in my first practice session, and 2 more seconds per lap in my first race. And this was at a track I had already been to several times at track days.

Even now, at track days I am typically 1-3 seconds off my race pace depending on the track.

 

I just think some trackday riders feel entitled to open track for some reason. I have absolutely been guilty of it myself, so I can't throw too many rocks from inside my glass house, but I think the biggest difference is:

- when a given rider is slow at a track day, people complain about him or her holding everyone up.
- when a given rider is slow in a race, people think of it as "I'll see him or her once as lap traffic, and that is the only time today he or she will even be a blip on my radar."

(maybe track days need to start doing race-style starts, so the fast guys do get out ahead within the first lap...)

Mixing bikes of vastly different sizes with a group full of beginners probably contributes to that frustration, but that's how track days work...

I have repeatedly told 250 owners that a race environment is safer for them than a trackday, because they will never have to worry about a liter bike accidentally plowing into the back of them.