I'm sufuring from a bit of a sour taste in my mouth with racing CCS. May be I'm just being a cry baby, but I'm thinking others can relate.
I've raced 2 GTL races this year and both have been cut short. I think the most laps we got was at Autobahn (A WHOLE 8 LAPS). This is supposed to be a half hour race not a freakin sprint race.
I've raced a few other races and they are always cut short. Along with waiting for way too long to go race and ride my bike.
I go to the race track to ride/race my bike not sit around and pull my pud! I do like racing for the whole competition aspect, but for the money I'm not getting enough saddle time for the money at CCS events.
I do understand that this is the nature of the sport. People crash, its racing, deal with it.
I'm becoming more interested in Track days, flat track racing, off roading, and sport touring because at least I get to ride my motorcycle more.
Just had to get that out of my system, thanks for reading.
Nick
complaint registered.
As soon as you can get:
people to stop crashing
debris from falling/entering the track
weather to cooperate
you can have your guaranteed full race.
Until then, your options are to do something else as you mentioned, or perhaps enter more classes (consider GTU as well?)
The GT races are also only 25 mins by the time you get to the grid and the flag flies.
Sorry dude. That's the way it goes.
Yea, Nick.. nothing new. There have been all sorts of discussions on this topic.. lengthening races, vs. cutting classes.. etc, etc.
We've all experienced getting races cut short, so no you're not being a cry baby. :) If everyone plays nicely, or even with relatively few incidents, races go as scheduled. However, it's when people start crashing and getting red-flagged, oil spills, etc.. That's the problem.
It does suck, but in the end.. It's mostly us to blame when races get cut short, b/c it's us that crash and cause these things. There is a EOD time limit that we can only run till on the tracks.
BTW I think in the 2+ years I've been racing, I've only had a handful of GTL races that went smoothly. (Didn't get either red-flagged, or cut short due to previous red-flags)
My weekness is I love racing too much!
Its an addiction, a sickness... No no no no (I keep on telling myself) its a hobby!
If I only had more money!
if you love racing, track days aren't gonna cut it. Just pay & race. It's the competition that drives me more than the number of laps I do...
When Autobahn got cut to 5 or 6 laps, it became real interesting because the race then depended on the first lap. There wasn't a whole lot of time to catch up...
Quoteif you love racing, track days aren't gonna cut it. Just pay & race. It's the competition that drives me more than the number of laps I do...
When Autobahn got cut to 5 or 6 laps, it became real interesting because the race then depended on the first lap. There wasn't a whole lot of time to catch up...
Track days suck after racing a few events. I went to a TPM day a couple of months back and had a terrble time. I wanted to leave after like the 2nd session because 1. I wasn't pushing myself. 2. There was nobody to compete against.
I guess I have been lucky since racing with CCS that none of my GTL races have been shortened because of crashing, debris, etc., but I can feel your pain man. I saw it the last race at VIR where not only did they cut the AMGTU race short (to 5 laps) but they put it at the end of the day at about 6pm. Bleh!!!! Anyway they said if everyone didn't keep crashing that they would've had a full race. Not even CCS can slow down time.
Aside from this year...
GTU almost always had a red Flag.
In '02 at RA there was a MW race that had 2 red flags before even one was completed.
I feel your pain, but this is racing. There is only few people out there willing to give up one inch of asphalt for a 3 dollar trophy.
Suck it up, it won't always be that bad.
XIII
Everyone makes sense here, just wait until Gingerman when everything is on Sunday and there is quiet time for church,etc....
QuoteEveryone makes sense here, just wait until Gingerman when everything is on Sunday and there is quiet time for church,etc....
Definitely. I don't know how CCS even attempts to run all those races in one day. The only reason I see trying to do it is purely from a money standpoint.
I think the ridiculousness of running so many races is a factor, but not the complete cause.
I think the real reason is to give riders the variety of as many tracks as possible and to make the tracks that otherwise are not viable as race only weekends adding the street practice in to make it possible for the racers to race at that track.
And you all bite your tongues. If they pull Gingerman, I'll cry. I love that track...
However, if EVERYONE shows up, perhaps next year they will change it to a 2 day schedule! They ran the 1 day because the entries were historically very low.
QuoteAnd you all bite your tongues. If they pull Gingerman, I'll cry. I love that track...
However, if EVERYONE shows up, perhaps next year they will change it to a 2 day schedule! They ran the 1 day because the entries were historically very low.
I'm doing my part at the end of this month. Looking forward to trying the track out.
The weird thing with Gingerman is that from what I recall for the last couple of years, the races have gone on without a hitch, with very few delays.
Now Barber and Road America is a whole different story!!!!