road racing's population problem

I'm sure someone else has noticed this or maybe mentioned it in one of the "how do we save/promote road racing" threads.
I think the reason we dont get more young up & comers moving onto the world stage is because road racing is fucking expensive.
I've known this for a while, but never knew how cheap the more popular brother of road racing, motocross was.... I've spent 3 days at the local mx park, and its cost me a total of $90.
thats some really cheap practice. given that the bikes are also generally cheaper, and they crash really well (as ive found out), i can see why if a child was interested in motorcycle racing a parent would look into motocross.
i know unless we either switch to bikes that make less than 80hp we're not going to stop going through a set of $400 tires in a weekend, so the question is what else can be done to cheapen the sport?
why is it a trackday at Jennings is $130, and I can only go out in a group for 15 minutes at a time and have to wait 30 minutes between rides when I can pay $25 and ride one of 3 tracks from 10am-5p at will for as long as my body can take it (which isnt very long)?

 

apples to oranges. an actual race track is expensive to maintain properly while an MX track requires some people to move dirt around or fix trails when they get washed out, insurance is far more laxed (if i remember right they use the same insurance as a skatepark uses because they arent classified as a "race track"). i feel like the the list is endless when you're comparing even basic track days to riding around an mx park/trail.


and i dont think there's a whole lot you can do to "cheapen" the sport but ride a smaller bike. if you want to ride a liter bike, you're going to tear through tires. it's the same with cars. try drifting as a motorsport, we used to blow through 1-2k worth of tires in a practice day + transportation, lodging, etc etc etc. i think as far as road racing goes motorcycle racing is fairly inexpensive. but that's my opinion.

 

Try auto racing. Nothing lightens a wallet like that.

 

Sport of kings.

 

You only go through one set of tires a weekend?

 

you want to cheapen the sport that rewards type A behavior?

And ya... look at what "track day car guys" drop to run 50 laps. (enough to fund a front running expert a couple rounds)

 

I'm in the process of buying the cheapest 125 two stroke I can find on CL just go get more cheap track time on two wheels. I really had no idea how much cheaper dirt was until recently.

 

except boat racing and airplane racing

 

The best way to make a small fortune roadracing, is to start with a big one.

 

The local flattrack charges fifteen dollars to race. We go every Saturday that we are not road racing. They pay a cash purse so we usually show a profit for the night.

 

Insurance and track fees drive it up big time, I understand Barber costs 100.00 per hour, don't know about the others. Was hanging in the hot pits at road A. with an AMA racer friend this year. Discussing costs, they paid 150.00 for the weekend. Tires is the killer for them, running mid pack in the 600 Supersport class. Track owners I`m guessing have the pick of the litter, the rising popularity of trackdays, private testing, cars, race schools, etc. Maybe that's driving up the costs as well. I`m sure Mongo can help put things into a more accurate perspective.

 

Supermoto.

Too bad its dead in the PNW due to the local track not able to run supermotos anymore.

 

I would hardly call that flat track racing.... Groove as wide as a pencil and dry slick everywhere else.....

Still waiting on you to bring Caleb to some SMARS

 

cota cost 250 plus million according to google :wow:

supermoto isn't cheap either.. track day ranges from 25 to 70.00 but the tires are still 350.00 plus and don't last very long at winning speed. depending on the amount of pavement.

is not!:crackhead:

 

The track has gotten pretty good. He can make passes inside, outside, just about anywhere. We are going to put him on a champion Yamaha next weekend and try to chase Van down.
I'm sure Caleb would like to win some SMARS money, but I'm not sure I'm ready to put him in that mix of bikes and riders yet.

 

I will give you that some of the track layouts make for boring races.. like the xgames layouts i'v gone back and watched the dirt section was perfect! but the roadrace side was just way too fast, no places to pass, and no backing it in.
which is one of the main exciting things with supermoto.
Europe is light years ahead of us when it comes to supermoto and their track layouts.
here is a good example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgtqcpNQVSk

 

True. But the track is smaller and in this case run by a place that does rental karts.