Consider this when you are exiting the track...
http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=26294
Now, I don't know that this is exactly what happened (rider turning across the straight to exit the track), but it sounds plausible, and in any event, a guy is dead from a front straight incident which in all likelihood could have been prevented.
man that's terrible..but what I found the most disturbing was this...
"The track day, run by the racetrack, did not have any cornerworkers or ambulance crews on site."
:wtf:
Quote from: Jeff on July 05, 2006, 09:07:08 AM
Now, I don't know that this is exactly what happened (rider turning across the straight to exit the track), but it sounds plausible, and in any event, a guy is dead from a front straight incident which in all likelihood could have been prevented.
It was completely preventable. New track rider that apparently never got any proper instruction on how to exit the track. And some people wonder why we get so anal about people crossing the blend line and people who swing across the track at 7 to get into the pits at BHF. Wild guess but that tracks management is probably gonna be taking a beating with the local papers and in courts. No cornerworkers, they may had got away with but NO AMBULANCE!?!?!?
You should see the lengths we go to at STT to stop that from happening. Big threatening speech at every riders meeting, cones ALL OVER the pit lane, cones on the blend line where practical, people directing traffic....
Yet every so often someone STILL screws it up! :wtf:
Makes me wonder how I've gone since 1999 without violating a blend line or worse. Heck, I even remove my own crashed bike from the impact zone if I can still get up!
Sometimes it just happens that you lose your mind. Case in point, last year I was coming down pit road in the middle of practice and decided I wanted to just stop there and change my suspension so I swung to one side RIGHT IN FRONT of Rosno. He damned near punted me. It scared the shit out of me and I'm pretty sure him as well.
He didn't seem pissed about it as I groveled an apology later, but I'm sure he was a bit tweaked. I knew better but the thought just didn't cross my mind at the time... Now it constantly does...
Quote from: Jeff on July 05, 2006, 07:27:18 PM
Sometimes it just happens that you lose your mind. Case in point, last year I was coming down pit road in the middle of practice and decided I wanted to just stop there and change my suspension so I swung to one side RIGHT IN FRONT of...
LOL! I guess I'm always waiting for it at Blackhawk...I don't know why, but that yellow line can be a magnet. Maybe their's BCH's in there that draw us in.
As for no ambulance? Seems like the cost completely out weighs the risk.
Don't worry about Dave. He is used to people running him off the track, wether on purpose or not... :biggrin:
ugh... don't get me started...
I don't know whether I'm just a bad judge of what people will do, or what, but I've put myself in more than my share of shitty positions this year...
Quote from: Jeff on July 07, 2006, 09:10:13 AM
ugh... I've put myself in more than my share of shitty positions this year...
....leaving this for the experienced.... :spank: :biggrin:
Quote from: Numbskullz-113 on July 07, 2006, 08:16:05 AM
Don't worry about Dave. He is used to people running him off the track, wether on purpose or not... :biggrin:
Where's Mike? LOL!
Quote from: PJ721 on July 05, 2006, 01:21:10 PM
man that's terrible..but what I found the most disturbing was this...
"The track day, run by the racetrack, did not have any cornerworkers or ambulance crews on site."
:wtf:
How can this be done? A simple waiver sig.?
That and not so good legal and medical advice. And a market that is more price sensative.
MRA racer Gene Bazyl passed away yesterday, the second fatality from the Track Day incident noted above.....
http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=26367
RIP Gene
The number of Track Day deaths concerns me a great deal.
Rick
I think it's going to continue to rise to a level where he insurance issue blows most of the organizations out of the water...or the cost of a track day goes up to decrease ridership...or even the insurance issue forces tracks to bring the track days in house and more restricted.
You know, it's not a joke. Our toys are dangerous. They function almost perfectly, but are piloted by humans. It's a real tragedy that these folks died.
Lightweight racers can appreciate how scary a trackday can be, because they practice EX/AM combined. It takes a while to figure out what you're doing on a racetrack, and the other riders aren't going to wait around while you learn. In that sense, I feel that trackdays make racing safer, because these days we weed out the Darwin Award winners before they get a race license.
I had a student this weekend who was a real Darwin candidate. He was riding a litterbike, he showed up late and missed the first two classes, wouldn't take instruction or even attempt to practice the drills we were teaching. The guy kept begging to go faster.
"When can I go Intermediate?"
"When you learn how to brake and corner effectively."
"But I can keep up with you now."
"You can keep up with me because I'm riding at 50%, turned backwards in the saddle watching you!"
"But I can keep up!"
"Have you dragged a knee yet?"
"No."
"So then you aren't quite done learning what we can teach you in Novice, right?"
"But I'm fast!"
"You can't run any corner on this track the same way twice. You bullied your way to the front of the group, and you're holding them all back in the corners. Then you pull the trigger on that thousand, and rocket up to where I'm idling down the straight, waiting for you to catch up!"
"But I'm faster than any of the other students!"
"Only in a straight line!"
"Can I ride with a different coach?"
An hour later, that litterbike was broken in half. The guy fortunately walked away. I've no doubt that having tried trackdays and found them too restrictive, the guy will soon be buying another bike and entering a race near you. Let's hope he doesn't asspack Brewer....
I am now going to get on a soapbox and make many enemies. :preachon: Later these people may or may not thank me.
No one who has never turned a lap on the track has any business at all on a modern litre bike at a track day. No one. There have been three track day deaths this year. I know that at least one of them was riding a litre bike. Every track day organizer I've worked with has safety at the forefront of their program. However, as Chris said, this does not weed out the Darwin Award candidates. It doesn't in racing either, but there's an "understood" tighter structure. Not to mention that experts can and will bitch to the right people until the "issue" is dealt with.
I understand that as a business, track day organizers cannot turn away guys on litre bikes, it would be financial suicide. So here's my not-so-perfect idea.
If you show up with a litre bike and you are not known as an experienced rider by the coaches and staff, you ride Beginner. Exception: Expert licence with CCS ASRA WERA, etc. If you have an AM/Novice licence, you ride beginner. (this is the "maiking enemies" part) Why penalize everyone? Because people DIE. Period. So a vetting proccess is necessary. After an evaluation session, these riders can get placed properly. K3s newbie would never make it out of begginer until he gets an attitude adjustment. Guys who can ride should have no problem moving up to the next levels offerd by the track day for the rest of the day(s).
Yes, guys can get killed on smaller displacement machines, but the attitude of some riders about litre bikes is the issue, and you need to weed out the guys with a chip on their shoulder.
For example, the modern 600 behaves more like a 750 or 1000 of 10 or so years ago, with better technology in the frame suspension and tires. Litre bikes are like souped superbikes of a decade ago, again with all of the advances thrown in. These are the kind of machines that only world class racers could get their hands on "way back". Now you have green novices who hold an probationary operators permit that's still wet able to purchase one of these monsters. Then they decide they want to "learn" during a trackday, but close their minds to the possibility of actually absorbing some of what good experienced riders want to teach them.
The other class of Litre madness is the mid-life crisis guys. These guys tend to buy the most high powered bike they can afford, most likey the Hyabusa. :rollseyes: We all know how appropriate that 1300cc monster is for the street or the track. Mind you, these are the guys who rode Honda CL350s in highschool and college. No clue.
So yeah, I think the process of weeding out potential problems this way allows trackday orgs to control a potential problem while still allowing the patron a little bit of glory. And hopefully, it also gives them an additional opportunity to educate those that wish to learn. Let's face it, bikes are just about one of the biggest pleasures we know of, let's spread the love while keeping 'em safe and in one piece.
Well, this guy made it out of novice in the crash truck. We never would have promoted him to intermediate. Litterbikes (because their parts usually wind up littering an impact zone....) are fine in careful hands. I've had students with one year of riding experience and the Mid Lifers with the new toy come through my classes, and we've taught many of them to ride quickly and safely. Some have gone on to race as well. If the rider shows up with a dose of respect and a willingness to learn, their new litterbike probably won't spit them off. It's the Kamakazi pilots that really scare me.
Yeah, but you and I both know that starting on something a little more managable is a better learning tool. Sometimes common sense is the scarcest when it's needed most. :ahhh: ::)
Quote from: spyderchick on July 17, 2006, 09:29:46 AM
No one who has never turned a lap on the track has any business at all on a modern litre bike at a track day. No one. There have been three track day deaths this year. I know that at least one of them was riding a litre bike. Every track day organizer I've worked with has safety at the forefront of their program. However, as Chris said, this does not weed out the Darwin Award candidates. It doesn't in racing either, but there's an "understood" tighter structure. Not to mention that experts can and will bitch to the right people until the "issue" is dealt with.
I understand that as a business, track day organizers cannot turn away guys on litre bikes, it would be financial suicide. So here's my not-so-perfect idea.
If you show up with a litre bike and you are not known as an experienced rider by the coaches and staff, you ride Beginner. Exception: Expert licence with CCS ASRA WERA, etc. If you have an AM/Novice licence, you ride beginner. (this is the "maiking enemies" part) Why penalize everyone? Because people DIE. Period.
Not that I dont agree with ya Alexa, but trackdays are full of STREET BIKES, not racebikes. They use what they own for street riding normally. Not everyone can afford a streetbike and a track only bike.
As for putting am/novice race licesne holders in beginners, well intermediate would be better. expert license holders should be able to start in advance groups.
More than likely the goofball Chris dealt with probably bought that litterbike (that is just a great word:biggrin:) for his first bike. The kd crashing at the track may have been the best thing for the kid since he probably would had done that on the street sooner or later and bought it there.
Personally I wish I had found a GS500, Ex500 or FZR400 when I started racing instead of the F2. Wanted a lightweight bike, but the F2 was a deal that was too good to pass on.
In GTO at BHF on Saturday, I watched an AM on a relatively new 1000 crash 3 times (that I saw) and re-enter the race... Shouldn't we have a 'strike' system?
There was a waving flag as I approached T1. I round T1 to see the cloud of dust as this person re-entered the track, only to blow the bus-stop and go off and fall down there too... The next time I lapped him/her (2 laps later I think?) s/he was laying down in T6...
If its the bike I'm thinking you are referring to, yeah he should had been pulled. It looked like the heat was seriously affecting him. Problem with a 'strike system' is a rider could had been forced off and the corner didnt see the force off part. Being forced off should count as a 'strike'.
Very good points Alexa and Chris.
Seems like every time I've riden with a local group that likes to find country roads that are fun to ride fast, I've had a guy say to me that he'd be able to keep up with the leaders if he was on a 1000 instead of a 600. He can't understand that the only place he's losing the pace is on the corners!
Although people buy liter bikes for a variety of reasons, there looks to be a large number who show up at tracks with a "Pit Bull" mentality - the only good dog (bike) is the one that can rip your arm off on command and gets lots of oohs and ahhs in the process. The dog (bike) may be a complete pussy cat, but you just know in the back of your mind that he's capable of going from 0 - 100 in an instant.
I still keep thinking about the guy that I was standing next to at the gate at Gingerman last July. He had ridden his shiny new, street stock R-1 to the track to do the Learning Curves race school. I joked with him that he was taking a big chance riding his bike to the track instead of trailering it. He flat out told me not to worry, he'd be riding it home. I laughed and reminded him that he didn't have control over the other riders who may be in over their heads.
From the first laps that the school got on the track calls starting coming in from the various corners about the guy on shiny new R-1. "Make sure the instructors know this guy is an accident waiting to happen." We got the word to Brian and the guy seemed to understand for the next couple of track sessions.
Now were down to the school's mock race. Shiny R-1 boy immediately proves he has forgotten anything he learned in the school. The vision of that $5000 purse that Learning Curves offers to the winner of the mock race was too tempting. What? You're kidding me.... there isn't a big prize to the winner? I know SOMEBODY told this kid there was money to be won!
Within 3 laps he had overcooked turn 1 and cartwheeled his bike to turn 2. No race license. Luckily no serious injuries. A now totalled, once shiny new R-1. No way to get home, 60 miles away.
Maybe we should let Darwin has his way and allow the gene pool to be cleansed of these mutants!
Quote from: Jeff on July 17, 2006, 02:14:20 PM
In GTO at BHF on Saturday, I watched an AM on a relatively new 1000 crash 3 times (that I saw) and re-enter the race... Shouldn't we have a 'strike' system?
There was a waving flag as I approached T1. I round T1 to see the cloud of dust as this person re-entered the track, only to blow the bus-stop and go off and fall down there too... The next time I lapped him/her (2 laps later I think?) s/he was laying down in T6...
Jeff,
I talked to the guy as he was pulling off the track at Hot Pit. Told him it was probably better that he voluntarily pulled off because he was going to be black flagged anyway. Not sure if it's true, but I heard that Dave in Control was afraid he didn't have enough log sheets to keep track of the guy's incidents!
Quote from: Woofentino Pugrossi on July 17, 2006, 02:04:33 PM
Not that I dont agree with ya Alexa, but trackdays are full of STREET BIKES, not racebikes. They use what they own for street riding normally. Not everyone can afford a streetbike and a track only bike.
As for putting am/novice race licesne holders in beginners, well intermediate would be better. expert license holders should be able to start in advance groups.
Well, they can bring their litre street bike, just understand that this is not a toy to be played with in inexperienced hands. So the vetting process would be to make sure they ride where they belong.
And as for amateur racers, they can go to Learning Curves or another school, get their race license and never have turned a lap in a race situation. So you could potentially wind up with this scenario:
* Rider who goes and buys a litre bike
* Rides it on the street for a few months
* Decides that to be cool they wants to race
* Goes to a licensing clinic, never races
* Obtains race license
* Signs up for track day, want to be ut in advanced based on said license
* Chaos insues
Most track day organizers need to perserve their business by being proactive when potential problems arise. Escalating costs, both with the track and insurance companies could potentially ruin a business if there are too many negative incidents. Then it's happened in the past where the media gets a hold of info (generally incorrect info), and runs one of their famous "witch hunt" stories during sweeps week and you have a track losing business and community support.
So a few riders are inconvenienced by a rule. Life sucks because we have rules.
Burt saw your post as I was writing this, there is a classic case in point. As much as we'd like Darwin to have his way, I'd rather they learn at some point from us expereinced folk and live to spread the gospel, and bring their friends to join the sport. However, that might be too pie-in-the-sky. Darwin Award winners will continue to stalk our sport unless we can intervene.
This is what happens when a sport grows as fast as this one has been growing. Everyone wants a bike these days and everyone thinks they can go fast w/out experience...Some peoples brains are just numb to logic, though no matter what reason its sad to see anyone get hurt or k.i.a..
Getting ahead of any learning curve in this sport spells disaster sometimes-Newbies in any "extreme sport" need a lil lookin after! Great ideas/posts Chris and Spyderone! John in NJ
Quote from: spyderchick on July 17, 2006, 02:33:27 PM
So you could potentially wind up with this scenario:
* Rider who goes and buys a litre bike
* Rides it on the street for a few months
* Decides that to be cool they wants to race
* Goes to a licensing clinic, never races
* Obtains race license
* Signs up for track day, want to be ut in advanced based on said license
* Chaos insues
$125 for a race license just to be able to ride a faster track day group? Nah. Can't see it. A bigger problem is the guys who sign up a group or two low because the group they wanted is sold out. Now they become bullys, and a danger to everyone. An intermediate rider trying to remake the novice group to his liking is a very bad situation, but it has surely happened. People have been thrown out for it as well.
Most AM racers should start as intermediate riders anyhow. If they can run expert times, then thyey should be advanced.
Somewhere in the whining about liter bikes you all forgot that the cause of the two fatalities was a newbie apparently crossing the track to exit improperly. Haven't we all seen that problem before? Now you're going to solve it with new rules that have nothing to do with the problem.
Now it's my turn to get on the soapbox... :preachon:
Quit picking on "mid life" crisis themes. I get it all the time and I'm sooooo bloody tired of hearing it. I've been riding and screwing around on every type of bike under the sun since I was 13 years old. I've always ridden for the love of it. Now, just because I'm older people tell me I'm having a mid life crisis? If I were having a mid life crisis I'd be riding a 24 yr old blonde with a firm @%& and great $&$# and an insatiable appetite for more than pizza. That's a mid life crisis.
Now back to you're regularly scheduled programming...
Quote from: dylanfan53 on July 18, 2006, 12:01:54 AM
Now you're going to solve it with new rules that have nothing to do with the problem.
Yeah, this thread did kinda turn a corner. And let's keep in mind that one of the two fatalities was an experienced racer who got caught up in a newbie's mistake. I guess we started on the 1000cc theme because the guys who usually make the most boneheaded mistakes at a trackday usually started the chain of judgement errors by buying a litterbike.
Quote from: dylanfan53 on July 18, 2006, 12:01:54 AM
Quit picking on me. I've been screwing since I was 13 years old.
Me too! But even then I was having a mid life crisis. You see, everyone predicted that I'd never see thirty, so my life at age 13 was already essentially half over. I just wanted to make sure I got my share of mid life crisis before it was too late! Who'd have thought I'd last THIS LONG?
Quote from: dylanfan53 on July 18, 2006, 12:01:54 AM
Now, just because I'm older people tell me I'm having a mid life crisis? If I were having a mid life crisis I'd be riding a 24 yr old blonde with a firm @%& and great $&$# and an insatiable appetite for more than pizza. That's a mid life crisis.
Don, when you find a woman like that who wants you, call me! I'll be your wingman and ride shotgun on her friends! :thumb:
It seems that it is getting too easy to get on the track, be it racing or trackdays. As was pointed out quite correctly by Alexa, anyone can buy a sport bike and go to learning curves and buy a racing license. I attended learning curves last year after attending 5 trackdays and wondered if I was ready or not. I found out at the classroom session that half of my classmates had never turned a wheel on a race track. Chris you point out the riders that show up and demand to be moved into the next group, clearly things have gotten to the point that people seem to feel some entitlement. Maybe some lessons could be learned from the progressive licensing of 16-18 year olds (cars not motorcycles) that is saving lives on the streets.
It's interesting. I moved from 50cc on up to 400 cc over a period of years and bikes as a dirt rider. Then as a street rider I moved from 650cc on up to 1100cc, again over a period of years and bikes. My first experience on track was aboard my ZX11 at Keith Code. My second time on-track was learning curves, and I was rolling a race-prepped EX500. Again over a period of years and lots of experimentation, I've found 750cc to be the perfect size for me at the track.
Each time I tried a new dicipline, I started small. Dad broke me in this way on dirt bikes, and I guess I saw the value of it. No one else has chosen my bikes for me since, but I keep following the formula, and it has worked.
It seems to me that any rider will crash any motorcycle that he rides. My current bike is the only one I've ever owned that I haven't tossed down the road or at least dropped, and I'm sure it's only a matter of time. The difference is that by graduating from small to medium to large, at least you're less likely to make a mistake that is catastrophic.
This weekend I used an analogy with a student who spoke limited English. Yes, gestures and sound effects were involved. My student very much understood my point.
"When you first try machine gun, no one in room safe! You practice, all bullets start to hit just one wall. Practice more, all bullets hit target. THEN you get bigger machine gun!"
Quote from: dylanfan53 on July 18, 2006, 12:01:54 AM
Somewhere in the whining about liter bikes you all forgot that the cause of the two fatalities was a newbie apparently crossing the track to exit improperly. Haven't we all seen that problem before? Now you're going to solve it with new rules that have nothing to do with the problem.
That's true, but part of the problem lies in that most of these track day peeps are showing up on litre bikes
Quote
Now it's my turn to get on the soapbox... :preachon:
Quit picking on "mid life" crisis themes. I get it all the time and I'm sooooo bloody tired of hearing it. I've been riding and screwing around on every type of bike under the sun since I was 13 years old. I've always ridden for the love of it. Now, just because I'm older people tell me I'm having a mid life crisis? If I were having a mid life crisis I'd be riding a 24 yr old blonde with a firm @%& and great $&$# and an insatiable appetite for more than pizza. That's a mid life crisis.
Now back to you're regularly scheduled programming...
LOL, Don you should meet my mailman and my neighbor. I could name a dozen of these same kind of guys. Besides, you guys are exceptions in that you actually follow your "dreams" to do something you love. Mid life crisis? Nah, guys like you are measured in "Childhoods" So you're one your 3rd or 4th childhood. :biggrin:
Oh, and those guys riding 24 yr olds instead of something with two wheels are missing half of the eqation, and they envy you. :cheers:
Thats a definitely important (learning curve) point of staying ok on bikes thru life K3- I was lucky to grow up in a suzuki kaw shop late 60s ,70s mostly mastering a 50,90 125 200,....I watched many since get hurt and cannot ride anymore.. If you think about learning curves and apply them to as many situations as possible, you get some benefit usually to ride longer=ride better. SAFETY FIRST! :thumb: john in nj-(thanks for the tire info...etc etc etc
Quote from: spyderchick on July 18, 2006, 09:51:08 AM
Oh, and those guys riding 24 yr olds instead of something with two wheels are missing half of the eqation, and they envy you. :cheers:
I'll keep telling myself that... :biggrin:
Quote from: dylanfan53 on July 19, 2006, 11:39:41 PM
I'll keep telling myself that... :biggrin:
You know, if you rode a 24 yr old motorcycle...you could be on to something... :biggrin:
Don's riding a Buell now, so technologically speaking.... :ass: :thumb:
Quote from: K3 Chris Onwiler on July 20, 2006, 12:39:20 PM
Don's riding a Buell now, so technologically speaking.... :ass: :thumb:
Oh snap, that was low, even for you! :err: :lmao:
I would love to see a graduated licensing situation for the street. It would keep all those mid-lifers off the new Harleys and splattering themselves all over the highways coming home from bars. Yes, and keep the new squids off the litre bikes.
I for one have never found a real reason to own a litre bike. What, middleweights just don't go fast enough on city streets and highways?
I would like to see it at the races also...........but that would mean cutting profits for the race orgs. Right now they'll take anyone's money. I believe for the future of our sport and track days the organizers will have to start lookig at this.
I can't understand why the multi-time crasher at BHF was not pulled off the track and sent packing. Just because you pass the LCR school does not make you a racer and sometimes the person needs to be told that.
If safety control forwarded the info about this guys crashing habits to the race staff there's no reason for not pulling him off. He was a hazard to himself and everyone else out there.
My always laugh when my younger Marines come up to me and say " Staff Sergeant, I am getting to used to the power that my 600 makes and am wanting to get a 1000, what do you suggest? " Of course I tell them that I am scared to death of litre bikes and if they wanted I could take them for a two-up to show them what their 'weak' 600 can do.
Oh! Here's a classic! How about the guy who can actually ride his Literbike? He passes you down the straight, walks away down every following straight, then tells you later how hard literbikes are to ride, and how he'd be much faster aboard the bike you're riding! :finger:
Graduated licensing on the street would be a great idea.
Actually I would prefer a liter bike on the street over a 600. You just put it in 3rd and forget it. The 600 you have to keep shifting... On the track is a different story. I raced one once and it scared the hell out of me...
On the track, what I'd like to see would be some sort of system which would ensure skill and safety in advancing from am to ex, and the same sort in running liter bikes. Play Tourist Trophy on PS2. Get your expert license... You go through drill after drill after drill and until you pass them all with given expectations, you do not advance. Granted, that's a video game, but there's no reason why the same concept couldn't apply.
Hell, do it off of sustained/average lap times on given tracks. I.e., a middleweight rider would need to show an average laptime of 1:16 at blackhawk farms to be allowed advancement to expert status.
Really though, that makes little/no difference when I think about it since many of the EX/AM races are combined and have a 15-20 second lap time differential...
I don't think that the lap times are any indication of safety on the track, using lap times to control graduation to expert would groom the expert class for really close racing but wouldn't make it any safer. There are plenty of safe backmarkers and there are also plenty of dangerous leaders in expert. That also would not address the dangers in the amature class at all.
Years ago when I was involved with Midwestern Council you would take the equivilent of learning curves and then you ran 6 races with large X's on your car. If you were involved in any kind of incident your probation was extended to 9 races, any further incident and you came back to try again next year starting in the classroom. This system also used the feedback from the corner workers as they could easily spot the new riders and would give them an extra look.
Quit picking on "mid life" crisis themes. I get it all the time and I'm sooooo bloody tired of hearing it. I've been riding and screwing around on every type of bike under the sun since I was 13 years old. I've always ridden for the love of it. Now, just because I'm older people tell me I'm having a mid life crisis? If I were having a mid life crisis I'd be riding a 24 yr old blonde with a firm @%& and great $&$# and an insatiable appetite for more than pizza. That's a mid life crisis.
Now back to you're regularly scheduled programming...
WTF??? Are you calling me a midlife crisis?? :P
No, young lady. You would merely be the FOCUS of a midlife crisis.... :kissy:
Hey K3, I'm not even 24...
Which makes you the perfect age to be the focus of all us dirty old men in the midst of our midlife crisis....
HEL-LOOOO!!!!!! God made young women specifically to drive old men crazy!
I'll tell you the same thing people tell me...
A 19 year old hot chick who loves bikes. Who loves racing. Who wants to be a racer. Who understands when I stay up til 3 am just to finish this one part. Who understands that you can't ride on the back of the bike when it doesn't have a subframe. Who rides Fiddys. Who understands that Ramen Noodles aren't that bad because Penske shocks and GSXR forks are really important. Who can hang out at the track all day and throw tire warmers on and not complain about it. And did I mention that shes's hot :)
I'm going to throw my two cents in.
A few points.
1 Not all track day riders show up on litre bikes. I would guess based on what I have seen that roughly 40 percent are 1000's
2 If there are 100 riders at a track day and 40 litre bikes you may end up with about one or two a-holes. These people would be dangerous on pedal bikes. The litre bike doesn't make it any worse.
3 The GTO race was brought up. First, was the guy doing the crashing for sure on a 1000. I have been doing all of the BFR Unlimited races including the GTO on my R1 and most of the hinkey riding comes during the Unlimited GP. (Throw in some money and everyone goes ape@#$%.) Again it's not the bike that is dangerous, just the decision making of the rider.
4 Track days are providing a more proficient pool of racers for one simple reason. Track time.
5 This probably isn't the place to "solve" problems but I would suggest the following. In order to take a racing school and become a licensed racer CCS ought to require that the applicant have completed a minimum number of track days, 5 for instance.
6 To get more on topic, let's talk about the rider's meeting. Here's an idea. Have a seperate amatuer rider's meeting that is complete describing all of the flags in detail, track entry and exist procedures starting and griding procedures and so on. Follow it up with a rider's meeting that is for all riders.
Well there's my two cents.
Damon, problem is theres alot of NOT PAYING ATTENTION at the riders meetings. Also not all riders are there. We always have someone crossing the blend line every race day. Ironically most the time its not yellow plates that do it.
Also how many times have we tried to debris flag wave off someone due to smoking only to have the rider just slow down and ride around back to the pits. You are supoosed to STOP at the closest corner station and find out why. You may be leaking. Think of how long it would take to clean up a line of oil that goes from 3 to 7 for example? Or you may have forgot to strap your helmet up.