Need some advice.

msalser1000 · 10-17-2006, 3:40 AM

Hey guys, I have a coule of questions and some comments. I have some friends that wn to get into endurance racing. Which i think is cool, but they wanna jump right into it with hardly any experience. One guy is a licenced road racer with WERA, the other three have Little or no track time what so ever. I have a lot of saftey concerns for them. I think season of track days would be a good thing for them, so they can learn to ride on a race track. Riding fast on the roads here in WV is one thing, racing is a whole nother ball of wax. I am all for them doing it with some proper training and some track time. When I voiced my opinion I got turned on like my rotweiler on a raw steak. Should I mind my own bussiness? Just dont wanna see these friends get hurt. I would love to race myself ,but like i said riding fast on the road is one thing. The track is something completly different.

They all weigh from 145 to 215 pounds, and they think they can all ride the same bike with the suspension set for the heaviest guy. And think they will be competive. I might be crazy or out of line but i just dont wanna see people get hurt fot being irrational.

thanks
MS

BDA116 · 10-17-2006, 9:30 AM

They can't race without a license. They can't get that license without going through whatever course the sanctioning body states.
Once they've done that, if the sanctioning body gives them licenses, let them go make fools of themselves.
They'll get humbled immediately and more than likely won't want to do it again.

HondaGalToo · 10-17-2006, 9:51 AM

BDA has a good point: They can't race without a license and will be required to go through some type of instruction to get one. From what I've heard about race schools, the instruction part isn't as informative as what you'd get at a good trackday school. I think your suggestion is right on the money, that they should take a season of trackdays first. But, you can't often persuade the hard-headed with reason. At least you tried.

gt702 · 10-17-2006, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BDA116

T
They'll get humbled immediately and more than likely won't want to do it again.

Or they'll take the time to learn right.

One nice thing about endurance racing is that it isn't a sprint where you need to run at 100% all the time. You run at 90% and focus on staying up for the whole hour or whatever you are on the track. As long as they don't expect to win the championship from day 1, they can use it to get lots of good track time. I wouldn't tell them not to do it, but I would recommend additional track schools ... to help them improve for the future championship

ucfmotorcycle1 · 10-17-2006, 12:11 PM

I wouldn't say a whole session of trackdays is necessary before racing. It depends on the rider. If the rider is doing well after 2 trackdays (holding the line, proper body position, no crashes) then it would be ok for them to start racing.

To get a race license you do have to go through a class but from my experience with it (CMRA). Its not hard to get the license when it comes to the riding. I ended up not going through with it because of the dedication issue. YOu have to corner work on 2 separate days and then race on two separate days. Can be done in 2 full weekends but it just wasn't going to work out with my schedule. Plus it was a boatload of $. Which I calcualted would be better spent on trackdays at this point in my life. Maybe when I retire I will have the time to dedicate to racing.

msalser1000 · 10-17-2006, 1:14 PM

That was what I was tring to impress on them. They are ging to VIR on the 6th to get the licence. But that will be their first time on the track. Like I said the guy that owns the bike they will be campaining is already a licencd racer, but he is looking for a way to keep racing cause he has came on some hardships. I think he has made it sound easy to these guys.

CBRVFR · 10-17-2006, 1:28 PM

I think you've given them good input. It would be very foolish to get on the grid without even knowing the track or having some idea of the relative differences in lap times they'd encounter with the experienced racers. If they do even a few track days first, I think it's possible for them to get a feel for the real requirements of racing by doing a short endurance race. That's how Heavy-Dee got started, if I recall.

BTW, I've been licensed by CCS for two years WITHOUT taking their class or even asking for the license. Just happened to be at a trackday on the same day.

That *may* be an indication of a fundamental lack of organization, I don't know...

gt702 · 10-17-2006, 1:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CBRVFR

BTW, I've been licensed by CCS for two years WITHOUT taking their class or even asking for the license. Just happened to be at a trackday on the same day.

That *may* be an indication of a fundamental lack of organization, I don't know...

Hearing things like that was the reason I stopped racing a few years back when GLRRA stopped holding races. Very mixed reviews of both CCS and WERA (maybe just my area) where I never heard anything bad about GLRRA. I decided it wasn't the risk and moved on to track days and other things.

CBRVFR · 10-17-2006, 1:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gt702

Hearing things like that was the reason I stopped racing a few years back when GLRRA stopped holding races. Very mixed reviews of both CCS and WERA (maybe just my area) where I never heard anything bad about GLRRA. I decided it wasn't the risk and moved on to track days and other things.

I thought it was just because you were tired of getting spanked by SV's.. probably just a coincidence of timing.

gt702 · 10-17-2006, 1:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CBRVFR

I thought it was just because you were tired of getting spanked by SV's.. probably just a coincidence of timing.

Trust me, by the time I quit, I was being spanked by a lot more than SV's, and it had nothing to do with the capability of the bike

But I still have my memories ... and as old age creaps in, I'm letting the bad momories go away first

Diesel954 · 10-18-2006, 6:13 AM

Tell them to form a mini-bike endurance team if they have them in your area. The slower speeds will help them learn corner speed and proper lines. They wont want to hop right out into a full blown big bike endurance race. Way too much difference in closing speeds between the top teams and newbies. Good recipe for disaster.
I raced on a team with an NSR50 to learn the lines and such. Minis are way too much fun and the races are very competitive. Nothing like having someone reach out and grab a tailsection to prevent a pass.