Pro racers should be banned from...

... entering track days. It's demoralising. Look at the difference in entry and exit speed, not so much mid corner.
Work on your slowest points, people. For starters, have one! Then, figure out how to get to and away from your slowest point of each corner, as fast as possible.

 

Johnny B will be sure to pass you once he dishes out 5 finger justice; see youtube thread.

Other than that, I love Canepa’s onboard stuff.

 

I love being on track with faster riders personally,even if it’s for 1 or 2 sections before they’re gone.It gives me a chance to see from the cockpit what’s truly possible and I usually will drop a little bit of time trying to latch on. We know there will always be faster riders so I just suck it up and try to learn something from them even if it’s just one little thing at a time.......it will be more than what I knew if they weren’t out there.

 

Just what is a "pro" rider and why do you have to be a pro to be really fast?

 

A rider that makes a living from racing.
I never said that only pros are really fast.

 

Oh, in that case nothing to worry about. There's so few of them actually making a living from it.....

 

Wow, that is a cool video. I thought he was extremely polite giving everyone lots of room. Being the much faster, experienced rider amongst trackday riders can be a bit hairy. Closing speeds are insane and sometimes you never know what the slower rider might do. Looked like everyone did a good job in the video. I would think those guys would enjoy seeing how it can be done, even if just for a moment.

 

Yeah he didn’t dive bomb anyone or cut across them after passing them. He even waited several times to pass someone so that he didn’t spook them. I think it would be bad ass to see him pass me and disappear quickly into the distance

 

I will say one of the coolest moments I had was at Road Atlanta a couple years back at the Triple Crown... On Sunday it was friggin pouring and resorted to the TL since I am more comfy on that in Monsoon conditions.. On the Warm up lap on the back straight I was like WTF and I doing out here... it was pouring.. Then I had Mesa, Rhett, Shane, and Jeremy pass me with their blinking tail lights on and 40 foot roosts coming out.. I was like.... That’s Bad Ass....

I love riding with faster people.. it only gets better with age..

 

So in the youtube thread there was chatter that the other riders 'ran slicks on the street' would 'set records at the gap' their "racing lines" are shit. This looks like a top tier racer on a top tier bike riding around a bunch of guys out there to have fun.

 

That isn't demoralizing. Canepa is clearly on a well set up 1000cc bike. Demoralizing is being passed and left in the dust by one of the fast up and coming "pros" on a 300 when you are on a 600 or 1000. Generally all of those guys are so fast and so clean they are gone before you have a chance to be spooked.

 

Except for that R6 that gets blown by at 2:08.. that would scare the shit out of me.

 

Pro rider on a dialed R1 superbike blowing by street geeks. at least he didnt punt anyone off their bike...........like he has before.

 

Like the 13-year-old girl that just started racing LRRS. She passed the 600 wave on a 300 in the rain and won by over 30 seconds.

 

John Hopkins passed me at Homestead in 98/99 followed by grant lopez. It was an ego defeat.

 

Everybody passed me in '92. And then I quit racing and stuck to wrenches, PR, and pit boards.

 

Canepa was passing pro racers like they were standing still at Suzuka last year too. Imagine how demoralizing that was for them!

 

I love being on track with real pros. With your average trackday "fastguy", not so much. I loved being passed like I was standing still by Matt McBride (CSBK pro Superbike racer) at Calabogie a few years back. It happened so quickly, I never had the chance to fear for my safety and just was in total awe at what the guy could do. I just had to go talk to him after the session and the first thing he said was "Did that spook you ? I'm so sorry !" After I told him i was just super impressed, we chatted for a while and he was a real nice guy.

 

Hey...hey...you forgetting yer job ‘round here??

 

I’m not sure how things are today, but, STT used do trackdays between Vintage Fest and the AMA round, at Mid-O. Non-factory racers could ride the whole week with STT. I probably learned more off the week than any other dates I rode.

When racers in the back of the pack of any world class organization are criticized, I shake my head. They’re all flying. It’s just a few tenths here and a few tenths there all add up to a slower lap time. It damn sure isn’t because they’re not fast.