Ok I've been going back and forth trying to decide if I want to race or not. I already signed up for the school to get my license hopefully and would like to start racing at VIR for the June 23rd Weekend.
Ups and down on racing. Why do people do it over track days?
How many of you have given up street riding for straight up racing?
How many of you use your street bike as a race bike as well?
Thanks
Sorry if the question has been asked before but it's been bothering me the past couple days if i want to start racing or not.
Any suggestions or ideas?
I would think that 100% commitment should be a target.
Apples and oranges.
In general, you get more track time during open track days. Much more. And, yes, you can run around and learn to cut good lap times. You might even dice with a guy or two. But it's not really racing.
There's nothing like racing 20 other guys into the first turn. Pushing harder and harder, up to and sometimes past your personal limits. Learning race craft is different than learning race tracks. Winning your first race is an experience you'll never forget.
The experience of real racing is much more intense. It's also more expensive. You'll spend more on tires, more on engines and if you get sucked into racing for championships, more on travel (and even more on tires and engines). And since you are pushing harder, you're probably more likely to bin a bike due to a mistake you make, or one that someone else makes, also pushing harder.
There is room for both. I really enjoy the occasional track day. But racing is a whole different master.
this is my first year racing. the past 4-5 years I have done several trackdays, but finally decided to race and I love it. I am addicted. I don't know if I will ever do as much street riding as I did in the past and my streetbike is a Ducati 996 so that is saying something. I prefer racing over trackdays, because you actually have something to show for it... i.e. a finish.. and something to work towards other than better lap times which is also a huge goal and I like to compete. Today was one of the most rewarding days... I opened the mailbox to a check from Trackaddix for my finish at MAM.. I have never gotten money for finishing a race (I raced motocross for 12 years).... it put a smile from ear to ear... Take the class and enter a race and Im sure it will all make sense......
I had been doing track days for a few years. It was neat.
One year I got a shiney new R1. It was really neat.
I thought I should go racing because I was a fast track day rider. (Plus I was a bit nervous about the price of fixing my R1 if I should get a scratch on it....I pondered if it would be cheaper to get a used race bike rather than have to pay for new street fairings on a trashed Yamaha.)
I was living in Alabama around the time, & thankfully I received (& heeded) some advice from some guy who makes m/c stands named after some dog. (Even now I wonder how he kept a straight face when I explained my plan to race the R1 as a novice.....)
He said I should perhaps consider racing in the Sportsman classes as a newbie, getting a used race bike as a starting point.
I'm so glad I followed his advice. The only thing I would have done differently is (perhaps) have purchased an sv650 as my first platform. Regardless, the F2 has been great in Thunderbike (& MW sportsman in CRA).
Good luck,
Once I started racing I no longer wanted to street ride.
Now I ride a zuma around town when destination and weather permits.
racing pushes you in way that track days dont (or cant). i agree w/ jeff... street riding loses its appeal after racing (i dont own a street bike)
Quote from: Jeff on June 06, 2006, 09:38:54 AM
Once I started racing I no longer wanted to street ride.
+1
I don't own a street bike, but I had the opportunity to borrow a bike and ride to RA last weekend to spectate. It just wasn't appealing anymore. I drove my truck instead.
It's weird how much I used to enjoy riding on the street. I gave up street riding 5 days a week to race 5 weekends a year, and it was worth it.
To race, or not to race: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The bruises and anguish of outrageous highside,
Or to take wrenches against a sea of troubles,
And by more wrenching end them? To crash: to lowside;
No more; and by a perfect lap to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That ego is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To ride, to race;
To race: perchance to win: ay, there's the rub;
For in that race of champions what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes joy of such long life;
For who would bear the bumps and scorns of Dorn,
The competitor's wrong, the better man's humility,
The pang of lost seconds, the backmarkers delay,
The insolence of young gun and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his street bike make
Into raw race machine? Flags would cornerworkers bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the rider and machine be safe,
The undiscover'd country from which
No mere rider returns, puzzles the senses
And makes us richer for having
Tried the tracks that we know not of?
Thus the act of participation does make winners of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is made brighter through riding past checkers waved,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment
With this regard their efforts made whole,
And gain respect of all.-- Fast you go!
Two Wheeled Racer! Triumph, in thy efforts
May all wins be remember'd.
-William Shakespeare, not! :biggrin:
My former streetbike is wadded up in the corner after learning how to race on it (or maybe how to crash??). Not in the slightest hurry to fix it. I would probly get a second or better race bike before I even bothered putting the streetbike back together. Street riding simply does not compare. I only use track days to practice for races. After I rode my 1st trackday about a year ago I was already bored and my next trip to the track was for LCR school. But racing isnt for everyone, you must have a passion to compete, and to get about 1/2 the sleep that you are used to when its racing season. Good luck whichever way you decide to go.
Quote from: Carnage R1 on June 05, 2006, 10:04:28 PM
How many of you use your street bike as a race bike as well?
This may sound ridiculous (did I spell that right?) but I have my street bike all wired, set of race plastics, seperate gas tank and I'm working on the tires to race. My bike will be My race bike and my street bike. I'm still in college ,so I guess I'm giving it the old college try... I'm going racing because I'm out on the street using up my knee and toe sliders, and that is just plain stupid. I'll be a late starter in this season ,but atleast I'm out there this year.
I started off riding on the track, decided to give racing a try did 1 or 2 race weekends my first year on a GSXR-750 next year switched to an SV650 did most of the local rounds, finished well. The following season ran every round until a crash put a huge dent in the race budget. This year I didn't think I was going to get to race, and it was killing me now things have worked out and I'll at least be out there a couple weekends. Like others have said don't bother if you are not dedicated, passionate, and have a drive to want to do it. It is far more expensive than track days, takes far more preparation, and usually there is just as much to do for racing even when you are not at the track. However lining up on the grid, waiting for the green flag to drop, well there's not much else I have experienced in life that can compare.
Oh yeah and just sold the street bike, that was after having it for a couple years and only putting 4k miles on it, and just didn't enjoy the street anymore.
Racing is to track days what grain alcohol is to beer.
And it will definitely change your "take" on street riding.
There is no feeling in the world quite like being on the grid, watching the "1" board with the blood pounding in your ears, waiting for the green flag to drop.
Even if you can only manage one or two weekends a season, do it.
Quote from: lbk on June 07, 2006, 10:03:07 AM
Like others have said don't bother if you are not dedicated, passionate, and have a drive to want to do it.
I'm a second generation racer in my family. My Dad and his buddies raced ama/ccs when it was still together in the mid 80's to early 90's. I grew up at blackhawk farms as a kid watching him race and his buddy win the midwest championship. When I was 6 I was helping set up corner worker stations at bhf. I even made it to the first annual Wegman Auction. I've been riding motorcycles for 19yrs and I'm 26 now. I'm more than dedicated and more than passionate. The only thing that is going to hold me back from racing every weekend is books and tuition and time. After I'm graduated though..it'll be a different story. I'm destined to be there and its too bad its taken this long...and may I add...excited :thumb:
Go for it then man! I didn't mean for that to sound like you weren't dedicated it was a general statement for anyone thinking about getting into it. I know a lot of people that are track day regulars then they try racing, and don't realize everything that is involved. :D
Quote from: Carnage R1 on June 05, 2006, 10:04:28 PM
Ok I've been going back and forth trying to decide if I want to race or not. I already signed up for the school to get my license hopefully and would like to start racing at VIR for the June 23rd Weekend.
Ups and down on racing. Why do people do it over track days?
How many of you have given up street riding for straight up racing?
How many of you use your street bike as a race bike as well?
Thanks
Sorry if the question has been asked before but it's been bothering me the past couple days if i want to start racing or not.
Any suggestions or ideas?
I started as a track day guy, three years ago. After one season of riding the track I gave up on riding the street, it seemed to lose all meaning. I just have my race bike and a Yamaha YZ250F for screwing around on the dirt. As far as racing goes I just love to ride, I never had any interest in being better then someone else, I was all about pushing my own personal limits. I changed jobs and all of a sudden getting Mondays or Fridays off to ride the "good" tracks wasn't an option. If I wanted to ride the "good" tracks I'd have to race.
Now I'm 1/2 way through my second season racing, it seems track days have lost their meaning to some extent. If I'm not going to be racing on that track and go in with specific things to work on, it just isn't as much fun as I remember. It was one of those situations where ignorance was bliss. Now I'm completely addicted and all I can think about is the next race.
Using your street bike as a race bike sounds like a royal pain in the a$$, to get it changed over each time for street and track.
If you have never done a track day or very few track days, I HIGHLY recommend participating in a bunch of track days first. Even if you are a fast street guy, riding the track is very very different. You need to learn about lines and more importantly learn how to be predictable on the track and "hold" your line. Last weekend at Summit Point, it was scary lapping riders after 3 laps in a sprint race. It isn't the pace that is the problem, it is the unpredictability of their riding, it is dangerous for themselves as well as other riders.
Just my 2cents for what it is worth.
Z
Quote from: lbk on June 07, 2006, 01:21:57 PM
I didn't mean for that to sound like you weren't dedicated it was a general statement for anyone thinking about getting into it.
I didn't take wrong, I knew it was a general statement. I was just expressing myself :biggrin:
I decided to pick up racing this year...or race schools that is. Last Summer into Winter I decided that I wanted to do it, so I bought a race bike just before the Fall from a member on this board. It was a SV650. Thought I could save for racing all winter, but that turned out harder than I though...of course. I went to the Chicago.tv school/track day at Grattan, then to LRC at RA, and was planning on hitting Cornerspeed at VIR, and and the Visionsports school at Heartland Park. Well I just dropped some metal shelving on my TL, so that money I had saved for VIR is going towards my deductible, and I do not think I will be able to make it to VIR, however still looking forward to Heartland Park. I wanted to enter at least one race this year, and that may or may not happen. Regardless I am happy knowing that I will have ridden 3 or 4 tracks in the area, learned the basics, and will be able to build on this next year when I have more money. I always thought my friend Minh joked around when it came to racing/money. Everytime we talked racing we talked money, and it made no sense to me, until I realized for myself that it takes serious money to race. So that being said, I would say try the track before you race. Take some schools before you race. Everyone here is more than helpful, so I would also recommend you ask a lot of questions here, so you know what to look forward to. Instruction from these folks could probably replace years of experiance (knowledge that is, not actual race). Here's a pick of me at RA, I'm in the blue...that track is awesome. And P.S. I don't think I'm any good at racing motorcycles!! Would really love to learn to be good!! But that will come in time!!
(https://www.ccsforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi4.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fy132%2FPolishPete%2FDSCN1312.jpg&hash=c8a8d856933863a9b7199cd9c59eabb0334ba00a)