DOES ANYONE ELSE SEE A PROBLEM

[PJ]

once again  a trackday school determines the event schedule and track time... shades of Barber?....did not CCS learn  from their screw-up....

I doubt the compressed schedule has anything to do with the Team Hammer school.

That class is traditionally held the day before CCS events start at Daytona, so they just moved it up from Wednesday to Thursday since that day was available.

The new Daytona schedule now appears to be the same as a typical F-USA three-day weekend.

[Super Dave]

Don't blame the Team Hammer program for a problem.  You have no idea of the cost of renting Daytona.  I believe that John Ulrich's program that day is a rider on the CCS program and insurance...which is near $50k for those days.

Yeah, there's explaining to do, but don't assume anything.  There is a reason why.

AMA Pro used to run Tuesday to Friday, and then Sunday.  Supercross was on Saturday.  Now, AMA runs Wed to Saturday.  Things change.  Rental costs, participants, etc.

[OmniGLH]

Sh*t.  I already have my hotel and airfare booked.

If I can reschedule my airplane tickets... than this will be a good thing.  No paid vacation this year means the shortened schedule saves me a few hundred bucks.

[BERZERKER]

but when the Hammer School is in the "classroom" who will be utilizing the track?..... the cost of Hammer is nearly $300 and if the estimated rental fee for DIS is $50k, then 167 riders would utilizing the track and there went our practise day. A highly unlikely scenerio, but nonetheless, what is CCS' explaination?...

...are we out of line to request a plausible explaination?.....it stands to reason with the safety "reputation" of DIS always being questioned, would not a reasonably prudent person take the recent track modifications into consideration and ensure a practise day.. in the name of safety?.. OUR safety....


...and your are right Web, if CCS does not get their sh*t together, off to WERA we go....

[wvracer97]

I went ahead and did the math for my classes, and the fee schedule for Daytona is only gonna cost me 10.00 more than a normally priced event.  Whoop-pee.  It's Daytona-- the Mecca of race tracks (to me).  I've always dreamed of racing there, and if all it costs is 10 bucks more I'll take it.  Free speech is great, but give CCS a break!  It really is nothing when you look at how much money we are spending ;)  As far as track time... the Team Hammer day will give all of us plenty of time.  And if not, well, enter the GTU or GTO on Friday ;D

[hooter31]

we are not talking about the price per entry,we are talking about a practice day that has been there since i started racing Daytona(1994)that has been taken away from us with no explailation.If you read cycle world mag. you would have read about many of the top pros. having a problem running off the track and then crossing a hot track on many occassions with only 15 bikes on the track and their concern that during the 600ss race with 50 bikes on the track someone will get hurt.1 because of lack of track time,2 because of talent.It's ok to believe in something but make sure you are doing it with your eyes open...what do you mean team hammer will give us plenty of time if not there's the gt events???Idon't know about you but when i'm racing I don't want someone tooling around trying to check out the track while i'm racing I want someone who is committed to what they are doing not trying different lines

[Super Dave]

but when the Hammer School is in the "classroom" who will be utilizing the track?

Um, the people that paid for practice rather than the school through Team Hammer.  Been this way for quite some time.

What's the confusion?

As for someone getting hurt...

You're talking about the 600SS event?  They still have the same amount of practice that they have had for some time.  If the factory teams really needed the time on track, they would enter CCS races like they did years ago.  

As for people going off track...

Sorry, there's just a couple of new sections.  Kind of like visiting a new track.  That's kind of what racing is about:  who can figure out the track and go the fastest with the most reliable motorcycle.  If it's just about "not going off track"...well, there are track days for that.

Sears Point, on the other hand, is a really itimidating track that has claimed more motorcycle racers lives than Daytona has.  That is a hard track.  People still race there.  

I don't know why there is a loss of a day, but maybe someone that is concerned should contact Kevin Elliott for an answer.

[BERZERKER]

SD, I understand and respect your perspective. But as we all realize racing is now becoming prohibitively expensive as witnessed by the ever shrinking grids sizes (using the S/E regionas an example) and the grid sizes for the ROC were extremely disappointing.
Which I find puzzeling becuase the MIC has been touting " 1 million motorcycle sales in 2004" granted more cuisers are being sold then sportbikes, but even taking that fact into consideration it would stand to reason, based purely on numbers,  that more "sportbikers" would be transisioning into racing.

From all appearance, it's not happening.

By eliminating the Daytona practise day may be an indication that CCS is trying to cut costs based on falling revenues. A perfectly accepted business stategy. But for the average racer it represents a continued  erosion in our " buying power" which will   inevitably result in declining participation, thus CCS losing more money. A vicious circle indeed.

Options for CCS?:

 first a reasonable explaination to quell the unrest and possible migration to other sanctioning bodies or an exodus from racing entirely.

How dificult would it have been for CCS to say "hey guys/gals, costs of gone way up so we cant afford a practice Thursday practise session " or "it's the track that is putting the screws to us "

give the ligitimate impression that we are getting a good value for our racing dollar

and I'm sure forum members could tout dozens more solutions.

[Super Dave]

I think Tiff posted in another thread that Daytona "asked" that the schedule be shortened.

I agree, it would be nice to see more people involved within racing as racers.  Just not happening.  Track days, however, are growing in leaps and bounds.  That is really the competition for club racing organizations.

Getting more racers to race won't help, in reality, but getting people to see you at the races would be the best benefit to you, your sponsors, etc.

[Rick Beggs]

as i see it, we can pay 4 practice thursday, racing starts friday, right?
does anybody know where we can preregister 4 the practice?

[wvracer97]

we are not talking about the price per entry,we are talking about a practice day that has been there since i started racing Daytona(1994)that has been taken away from us with no explailation.

 ??? ??? There still IS a practice day.  On Thursday, with Team Hammer.  All day.  Sorry for not understanding your point, but how is this any different then running at VIR with just one TPM or Cornerspeed track day before the weekend.  I think all this whining is happening because people think they are entitled to something that now they aren't going to get.  In all reality, we can't ask for anything more than what is normally offered any given weekend.

As far as the track being new, big whoop.  Last year, every track I raced at was new and I didn't have a "special" track day to make me any safer.  Oh, and I'm still collecting a nice trophy at this weekends banquet for all my hard work (without the "special" track days!) ;D

[Super Dave]

The CCS Daytona activities were always Thursday through Sunday.  The Hammer program was the day immediatly prior to the CCS stuff.

So, last year, Hammer was on Wednesday.  Mostly practice then with CCS on Thursday, etc...

The volume of people and the size of the facility is why it's good to have that kind of time space available.  The place can be rather intimidating, and it's good to have the time available to aclimatize one's self to the place.  Concequences can be big at Daytona.  There isn't a high ratio of people that get hurt there when compared to other tracks, but it's lined by walls and you're going very, very fast.