Racing Daytona This Spring

[ktd]

I'm trying to figure out what to expect  this spring for Daytona.  I have heard its very expensive to go.  I have no idea what to expect except it won't be like the normal race where you pull into the track and setup. Whats up with Camping, Paddock, Race, Practice,  Prior Track Days?  Can anyone refer me to a past post or share some info about this?  Daytona for Dummies?

[PJ721]

Yup - it's expensive...but it's Daytona...
you can rent a garage (info comes with the spring mailer or on the CCS web site)
or you can just set up in the fenced in area like any other track - just have to be out end of the day - as the gate
gets locked.
You can camp at the track (again info comes in the mailer)
Team Hammer does the track day -info can be found on their web @ http://www.teamhammer.com/
Practice is very limited - maybe 2 rounds in the morning - 4 or 5 laps

here is the link from Spring Mailer from this year.....
http://www.ccsracing.us/forms/2008/misc/08%20spring%20mailer.pdf

and if you've run any CCS in MA or SE - it's run pretty much the same - you'll see a lot of the CCS staff running the weekend.
only big difference is registration is outside the track - think it's gate 40 -  outside Turn 1
be nice to the security

[2old2fat2slow]

We could have gone to Europe for two weeks for what we spent last spring at Daytona. Are we going this year? Yep! Wouldn't miss it for the world. Going to try and do the camping scene this year. Had to hotel it last year because I was too sick to tent.

[kl3640]

Everything is more expensive:

Garages: $150 for open air for 3 days, or $300 for closed type for 3 days
Hotels: About 2x as much, some of which only rent for the whole week
Entries: $130 for first race, $90 for additional
Team Hammer Day: $175 for pre-entry for a trackday
Camping Permit for RV is more expensive.
Gate entry fee is more expensive.
Also, since Bike Week is occurring at around the same time, all of the restaurants, etc, are usually busy and not cheap either.

Plus you need gearing that is pretty much good for only there (which might mean a long chain also), race gas is almost necessary to be competitive since so many people use it (which means that not only do you have to buy it at up to $24/gal, but you have to have a map for it and a way to map your bike, e.g., PCIII, etc), tires get destroyed so you go through a lot of them over 3 days (and, in the case of Dunlops, the special Daytona construction tires actually cost a bit more than their regular tires), etc.  It can also be frustrating because the track (especially the Fall config) is so biased towards HP that better riders often lose due to power-weight deficits; so you wind up spending a lot of money to get as much HP as possible since everyone else does it.  For example, this past Fall, I used 20 gallons of race fuel (Pro V1), for the Solo Challenge and 5 sprints.

The actual race format, setup, tech, etc, are all basically the same as any other CCS event, except that the races are generally fewer laps due to the length of the course (especially in the Fall, e.g., 5 lap sprints, etc).  It is also on the official points paying calendar for most CCS regions, and is the 1st event on the calendar for the colder-weather regions, which means that it's an important event to attend if you're chasing any championship in particular.  It's also an ASRA weekend for TC, etc.  Besides the points, there are plenty of cool people there from all over the place who come to kick off their regions' seasons and who you usually only get to see once or twice a year, unless you travel a lot.  Also, it butts up against the AMA week, so you'll get to see more AMA guys than usual who use it as an opportunity for some extra practice (although I believe that this year the AMA week is before the CCS week instead of the other way around as it has usually been).

[ktd]

I really appreciate all this info!  I want to do this at the least once for the experience.

[honda60071]

ready to go ! When's the boat leave?  Will very much need to hook with some one with garage split cost where we can. Also spring is for points!!!!!!!!!!

[tug296]

My favorite race track.

[quicktoy]

$3,000 tire bill for me just for biketoberfest.  2 bikes 10 races

[Farmboy]

How about tire wear for the TC (Lightweight)? Is it possible to run the whole race on one set, or do we need to have an extra set of wheels with fresh rubber? Also, does anyone know if they run a full 2 hours, or is it abbreviated like RA?

Bueller? Anyone? Thanks.

[PJ721]

LW bike can do it on one set...no problem

[RCR_531]

Daytona is kind of love hate thing. It wasn't my favorite track but it has a strong pull on me each year. It is like everything it can cost you as much as you let it. I am trying to get a group together from the Midwest to go down this spring to help with the cost.
http://www.ccsforum.com/index.php/topic,21934.0.html

[kl3640]

How about tire wear for the TC (Lightweight)? Is it possible to run the whole race on one set, or do we need to have an extra set of wheels with fresh rubber? Also, does anyone know if they run a full 2 hours, or is it abbreviated like RA?

Bueller? Anyone? Thanks.

Most larger bikes run a single rear tire (even at places that are really hard on tires, like the Fall Daytona round), so a LW should have no problem with a single rear for the entire race.

The one caveat I would offer regarding extra wheels is if the weather changes.  We got pretty lucky this year (except for HPT, but even there there wasn't sufficient precipitation to warrant rains), but if there had been a race where the track started either wet or dry then changed to the opposite, I had extra wheels with rains ready.  I'm not sure if we would have had to pit-in on our own time or if they would have flagged the race for us; but in either case, I had the rains mounted and ready to go, and my crew ready to swap the wheels on short notice.

Road America wasn't abbreviated.  The rule is either 200km or 2hrs, whichever comes first.  We just didn't have any red flags this year until the last round at Daytona, so in every other event the planned distanced was reached before the time-limit was reached.