Amatuer Road Racing

[monkin]

Going to a school and track day in a couple weeks.

With this schoo..minimal bike mods are required. So

gonna use the stock R6.

After the school, and I get my licence (maybe) I plan on getting

a track bike already modded. I'm thinking it would be cheaper

and better to go that route than to mod mine or another street

bike for racing.

Thought there may be some folks on here that could blast some holes in

my logic or just tell me flat out..YOUR TOO OLD AND FAT TO RACE.

In that case I'll use my son as a guinnea pig.

Either way..if theres anyone here who races..you got any advice for a noob?

 

[not2shabby]

I've never raced but have done several track days. Check out the WERA site for used bikes and try to find one already race prepped that suits you. Usually MUCH cheaper than modding a street bike. My 2 cents...

 

[oldryder]

I did my 1st road racing at the ripe young age of 52. I also (somewhat) fat. learned a lot!

you are doing fine. take the track day and roadrace instruction. you'll have a ball and probably be a much more technically proficient rider when you are done.

buying an already prepped bike is waaaaay cheaper than doing it yourself plus you usually get a load of spares and other useful stuff like tire warmers and stands.

look over the classes in your local amateur racing organization closely. In my local one novices are allowed to race 600cc bikes which seems insane to me. Personally, I never wanted to be on the track going 150 mph+ with some other riders with 1 day of instruction. It's not coincidence that the raceday spectators like the 1st sharp turn on the track in the novice "middleweight" class for all the crashes.

locally there are 2 classes below middleweight (600cc crotch rockets); ultralight which is EX500 Kaws, GS500 suzuki's, and 620cc Ducati's. All 3 have reliability issues when raced.

Lightweight is mostly SV650 suzuki's which are great race bikes with only a little modification. these bikes are pretty much bullet proof if left stock.

Go racing. It's a blast. it's been said it's more fun to ride a slow bike fast than a fast bike slow. I think that's right.

Note: consider a neck brace if you haven't already. good ones are becoming available cheap enough for the hobby racer.

 

[900gc]

Going to a school and track day in a couple weeks.

With this schoo..minimal bike mods are required. So

gonna use the stock R6.

After the school, and I get my licence (maybe) I plan on getting

a track bike already modded. I'm thinking it would be cheaper

and better to go that route than to mod mine or another street

bike for racing.

Thought there may be some folks on here that could blast some holes in

my logic or just tell me flat out..YOUR TOO OLD AND FAT TO RACE.

In that case I'll use my son as a guinnea pig.

Either way..if theres anyone here who races..you got any advice for a noob?

Monkin, shoot me an email. Been racing 8 years, in my 50's. Way too much to share in a post.

Wayne

 

[MotorToad]

I haven't raced bikes, but I've worked races for WERA, F-USA, AHRMA, CCS, and others. It doesn't seem as bad as the first couple of "600 Nervous" races I worked (hell, WERA let's novices race 1000s) but I'd still look for a lightweight bike in your area. The Ninja 650 actaully seems to be doing pretty well, though a reason for this escapes me, and sometimes it seems the popularity of the SV keeps it from being properly cheap. A motard might seem like a great starter racer, but those engines tend to not fare well with the amount of WOT you'll get on a 450/250 on a road course; these engines are popping up in 125 smoker frames, too. Rebuilds might not be as frequent, but they've gone from ~$300 to $3500+. Ask around and thumb through rulebooks and see what bike offers the most classes with the most sanctioning bodies that run at the tracks you're willing to drive to. (And drive home from, those Sunday night drives are pretty long!)

 

[Auburn]

Going to a school and track day in a couple weeks.

With this schoo..minimal bike mods are required. So

gonna use the stock R6.

After the school, and I get my licence (maybe) I plan on getting

a track bike already modded. I'm thinking it would be cheaper

and better to go that route than to mod mine or another street

bike for racing.

Thought there may be some folks on here that could blast some holes in

my logic or just tell me flat out..YOUR TOO OLD AND FAT TO RACE.

In that case I'll use my son as a guinnea pig.

Either way..if theres anyone here who races..you got any advice for a noob?

Never too old and fat to enjoy the track. Look on the local race club's websites and visti the track when they have races going on. You can see what bikes are for sale already set up and you can get a good idea how good their maintenance and prep is. Usually at the end of the season is when deals can be had for race bikes.

It is a lot of fun. I miss it, but with kids that want to ride, I have to give that up and go back to dirt biking. A good 600 or 650 twin are great choices. And you should be able to do some classes that don't have all the squids in them. You want to race with the guys that know they are not the next Ben Spies or Nicky Hayden. The ones that know they have to go to work on Monday.

Enjoy.

 

[monkin]

Thanks everyone

Based on what I've read so far sounds like the track bike is the way to go.

Will get the class and track day done and report back with how it went.