I've never heard of a track day for vintage/lower hp bikes. Is there such a thing? I was just wondering how you all test your bikes setup, do you just show up at the track and let 'er rip? I was going to zip tie on a license plate and slap on a mirror just to pretend to be street legal, truck it out to the country where there's less law enforcement and find some curvy roads. Maybe bring along a chase rider. But it's just not the same as the track. Are there other options, or do I follow Burt Munro's road testing example?
Ha ha! no need to go Indian on us! There are, of course you know, 'track days' and then back east here, someone started up a nice deal for us licensed vintage racers with an Historic Sportscar group, so there are events scheduled in 2008 at Roebling, Road Atlanta, VIR, Road Atlanta (again), Roebling (again), and Daytona...if anyone is interested, I'll post more details. And yes apparently you get practice, races, and very nice trophies. Sportscar guys don't mess around.
Yes, more details please! Only prob is that I'm not a licensed racer (yet). But VIR isn't to far to go for me, 6-7 hours I think.
Here's another option, may be a bit far... (let me know if I'm out of place posting this here) I always have fun at this event, here's the cut + paste from the flier: USCRA Vintage Race School and Practice Track Day Tuesday April 15, 2008 This April, the United States Classic Racing Association (USCRA) will be holding its annual vintage race school and track day at New Hampshire International Speedway(NHIS) in Concord, NH. This is an event for any vintage rider (bike or body!) who wants to learn more about how their vintage bike performs on the track and to introduce them to vintage racing. While the day is racing-oriented a lot of street riders find that learning the limits of bike and rider on the track is much wiser and safer than on the street. After taking this course you will be fully qualified to participate in USCRA, AHRMA, WERAvintage events. • New Riders School – Get a taste of what vintage Road Racing is about, includes track and classroom sessions, personalized instruction, track walk, sessions on bike preparation, equipment, and eligibility, USCRA Rulebook. Plenty of track time and Rookie Race at end of day. Have the time of your life. • Advanced Race School -For current USCRA racers or other Licensed Road Racers, Classroom and personalized on track instruction with expert level racers. More track time than you can handle. • Sidecar Race School -Personalized instruction on sidecar racing for new teams or teams who want to go faster. • Sidecar Practice Session – 1 hour open practice session at noon for sidecars. All Riders MUST use Snell M2005 / BSI 6658 Type A / ECE 22-05 Helmets ONLY Registration Due by April 1st for New Riders School USCRA 2008 Schedule May 2,3,4 -Motogiro East -New York State May 16,17,18 -Vintage Celebration -NHIS June 16 -FIM / NAMU North American Vintage Championships -NHIS July 4,5 -US Vintage Motorcycle Grand Prix -NHIS August 31 -Pewter Run -Hillsborough Center, NH September 1 -Granite State Championships -NHIS September 19,20,21 -MOTOGIRO USA – Vermont THIS IS AN AMA SANCTIONED EVENT. YOU MUST BE A CURRENT MEMBER OF AMA. MEMBERSHIPS SOLD AT THE EVENT.
charles--yes! post more info on the sporty guy Georgia trackdays.... Motomark--I actually tagged and insured my v1 CB350 [ but icy/salty roads suck]
ROSKO, This sounds like exactly what I looking for. Now if we could just convince them to do one weekend at mid-ohio! Vermont in September could be nice. Hmmmm.
My 450 was last summers commuter, so it's currently street legal - but not for long. I was thinking about fabricating a quick remove "tail light/rear turn signal/license plate holder". It would be fun to have a streetable vintage racer, but there's no way I'll ever push as hard on the street as I hope to at the track, hence the reason for this thread. I discovered after taking my first track day 2 years ago (not on a vintage bike), that the first hard parts to drag on my cb450 were the foot peg holders. I needed more cornering clearance. That course of action leads to building a vintage racer and that apparently leads to wera.
Okay, here's the deal as I read it: The Historic Sportscar Racing Series is putting on these events and Mark Brown at "GP Customs" in Florida knows about this series...you can find a thread about this on www.northamericantwostrokes.com and there is a dedicated website, now up and running at: www.historicmotogranprix.com/ Try those first to get some info, rather than for me to get into detail here, and post again or PM me if you need more info... But look- get through a school first and get your competition license. That should be your first order of priority. Regards, Charles R. WERA #7
I'm on it! I'm planning on taking the new racers school at Nelson in May. If my 450 isn't done by then, I can beg/borrow a friends SV racebike to get through the day. But I'm really looking forward to hitting the track on my old Honda. I'll be the happiest back-marker you've ever seen! Thanks for the additional info, I'll check it out! :up: -mark
Charles, Can do (in a way) I am not in a position to get anything up on the USCRA site. I do know that the website is not updated often and the best way to get info out would be the e-mailing list. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail directly and I'll forward it to the USCRA group and the NYCvinMoto mailing list. Sound good? [email protected]
Mark- Great you are doing this! Don't rush things, get yourself and your bike prepared, we have enough Honda racers in WERA Vintage to ask about things as you prepare...best wishes, C.
I think you'd be comfortable in the beginner's group at most any track day. Most are pretty strict about passing and overall etiquitte in the beginner's class. I instruct with STT, and they have tons of trackdays at Mid-Ohio. BeaveRun is fairly close to you as well, and they have quite a few track days hosted by NESBA and others.
I felt comfortable with my SV650 street bike at a STT track day at Road Atlanta last year [ and an Elite Sportbike trackday at Tally] they generally have four of five groups in novice and you don't have to go any faster than you feel comfortable: you WILL be faster at the end of the day!
Hey Mark, Do you need any manuals for your 450? A friend of mine is closing his shop and has boxes of old manuals....I saw several CB450 Honda books.
CharlieY, I sure could use a Honda cb450 Factory manual if your friend's got one. PM me the details, let me know what he's got and what he wants for 'em. Thanks for thinking of me. -mark
I'm gonna use your post as a blatant excuse to post pics of, ME! This is me (white helmet) coming through the carousel at mid-ohio last september, That's stickboy #359 (my instructor that day) getting ready to pass me on the front straight and show me how it's done. STT is a great organization & I've been riding with them for the last two years. But somewhere in their rules they state, "YOU MUST RIDE A MOTORCYCLE APPROPRIATE FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE TRACK RIDING. SEVERELY UNDERPOWERED MOTORCYCLES, OR THOSE NOT SUITED TO HIGH SPEEDS OR LEAN ANGLES WILL NOT BE ALLOWED ON THE TRACK." I'm not sure if my cb450 would qualify or not. I guess I should just ask Monte or Bonnie.
Mark, I too wondered about testing my race bike before racing. I ended up doing a Team Pro Motion track day at Beaverun on my RD400. It looks like you already have some track experience so I think you would be fine in a beginner group on the 450. I was quite surprised at the day I attended with TPM, it was my 1st track experience and I was offered a bump from the beginner group to the intermediate group the 1st day because of my lap times, ability to hold a line, and general track awareness. I don't mean to imply that I am fast either as there seemed to be several true new riders in the beginner group, one guy had only been riding 2 weeks.
Good suggestion, I've gotten so used to STT that I've kinda forgotten that there are other track day providers out there.
