how many track days a year

That power disparity forces you to keep it pinned longer, and get it open sooner!

 

It's the dozens of people that I've brought to the track first hand and thinking of which ones would have been OK with going straight from the street to a grid.

 

So which classes did you win championships in? I'm curious to see what class (and number of riders in said class) where you were able to win a championship in your first year as a racer.

 

There was a provisional novice at Summit that had no business being on the grid. Half way through the race, as I was mid pack in the group of experts, everyone coming out of T3 shot gunned, veering hard left and right. I didn't know what the hell was going on until I saw the bright ass orange shirt rider in the middle. Any one of us could have easily clipped the side of him while attempting to veer around him, and taken us both out.

You might not give a shit and call it as a racing incident, I do not. That could have easily been prevented if he was more up to speed with his racing peers. You should not catch a back marker half way through an 8 lap sprint race at Summit. There is zero reason to add more risk to an already risky sport.

So why are you so against track days? You do realize that the bulk majority of the current racers did not go straight from the street to the grid, right? It's a progression thing. Not many are going to front $5k just to 'try' club racing. They want an easy venue where they can take their street bike, tape up the lights, and not have to drill 17,000 bolts and nuts on their bike in order to try a race.

It isn't hard, but it's convoluted as fuck when you're first getting into it. The website was confusing enough (and still is if you're new to navigating it) when I started racing, and I already had a year of track days under my belt at that point.

You're going to tell me that I'm not helping racing? Are you fucking serious? You really want to get into that? I can show you 15+ people that I have personally directed to WERA...and you're telling me I'm not helping racing? Those people times how many race entries they've done to date...and you're saying I'm not helping the situation.

 

Hmmmmm, I m not convinced that anyone can draw any definitive conclusions from using such a small data set.
I can only say that I’ve brought hundreds of new riders to the track, mostly for track days but easily a couple dozen for racing. From my experiences I would say it was more like 50/50 from the track day guys who would have no issues going straight racing. Certainly not 99/1. Like I stated prior, it all depends on the mentor and what the new rider is being coached and what THEY choose to do.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen and heard ill advice being given by supposed experience track/racers guys. Conversely, I’ve also seen and heard a lot of good advise. Point being it varies. Everyone is on a different time line of development. What is best for one is not always the best for the other which is what seemingly what I am getting from you. Plenty of riders would have zero issue starting racing as their fist on track experience.

 

I do not know if that PN had been on the track prior to that day, but what I am certain of, is that he should have had more track time before gridding up. I don't believe any of us were expecting to catch traffic before seeing the white flag.

Forums are outdated and the bulk of new potential customers need to be able to get their questions answered on social media platforms. I know what you are going to say, and I agree, I think forums are much better in regards to accessing info and searching old stuff, but that's another topic altogether.

The 99% of people that I'm talking about would never bother to jump the extra hurdles required to go racing straight off the bat. You can say it's hurting racing, it's not. I have brought hundreds of riders to the track at this point. You know what a fucking hassle it is to convince someone to even show up? The ordinary person thinks it's the biggest fucking deal just to find gear to wear. And you think someone is going to throw on race plastics, safety wire their bike front to back, put in water wetter, rent a truck/trailer, and throw $1500 at a weekend...just to try racing? LOL

A website that needs updated hurts WERA. A classified section that brought in $ that is no longer running is hurting WERA. The lack of consistent engagement from WERA on social media is hurting WERA.

Track day orgs aren't hurting WERA in the least.

 

Well hells bells. I did all kinds of tracks days and schools before I started to race and still got lapped by PJ and Dane back in the day in the meat grinder middleweight class before I saw the light and bought a clapped out SV! To each their own. I did a good number of track days because I wanted to try and hone my skills and be safe not only to myself, but others much faster than I. I still remember saying a win in my mind was to NOT get lapped by the fast experts on the last lap. Doing the track days made me more comfortable on the bike. What works for some may not work for others. For those that sack up right to the races, my hats off to you. Could I have done it? Perhaps but just felt better in my mind to try and get it together before gidding up. Hell I've been passed so many times I don't even flinch anymore!

 

I have personally coached at least 50 (probably closer to 100) new-to-the-track folks. Maybe 3 or 4 had a good idea about what a race line was or even what the apex was. Without cones they would be totally lost. Chop the throttle, obey the flags?...right ....After only 1 day they were much more attuned to the basic concepts and this is done in a relatively noncompetitive slower situation. Of course there were a few exceptions, on both ends of the curve. Like most things there are no absolutes.

 

Without trying to muddy the information overload the OP is getting and not dissecting costs down to sandwich bags....

The OP asked about track days and seeing if it is something he is interested in pursuing. I've never "gridded up" but the amount of prep between a 1st time track day (taping lights, ziptie kickstand and go ride....with appropriate gear) compared to "never done this and may not even like it" fully-glassed and wired bike and spares set-up seems like a helluva lot of time and money to test the waters...

Not to mention the "ride at your own pace" track day vs "hair on fire, pin it flag to flag" mentality between the two...or so has been described to me.

 

Two. The first will light the fire or not. The second will let you know if your hair catches. Track days and racing are not mutually exclusive.

 

^that

 

OK, I’m going to answer the OP question. The answer is 18. 18 is the correct number of track days which is typically 9 weekends. Or you can do some one off Fridays or Monday’s as long as the total reaches 18. Best advice, Come prepared. Have fun.

 

Thanks for all the replies. Bummer this morphed into a side track. But it’s all helpful believe it or not.

 

Some guys are already "racing" their buddies on the street. For some of them going straight to racing might be the best answer. For most I suspect at least doing a couple of track days first is probably a good way to go. They don't need to do a whole season, but at least two days is probably a good idea and a place to get settled in with how things work at a track without the time and expense of a fully prepared bike or the possible scariness of close inside passing and being blitzed by a pack of experts as they lap you.

 

Get a Harley and have fun riding on the street.