When to start racing?
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gkotlin
New Member
Progressing within the ranks of Nesba will help you in racing. Racing without any practice or instruction will just allow you to make mistakes and increase your chances of crashing and possibly hurting yourself or others.
Learn to ride well by coming out and doing trackdays. Learn the fundamentals and build a foundation of skills and know your limits. Then add racing to the mix. Racing isn't just track time with scoring and trophies. It's an art all it's own. Knowing when to pass, where to pass, what line to run. When to run a good line and when to run a poor line so you don't show all your cards. You can't worry about race craft when your still trying to figure out where you line is taking you and wondering if you'll have any lean angle left to make the corner.
Meat
Member
:agree::agree:
TOTALLY agree! I am trying to learn the racing thing. Passing someone that doesn't want you to pass them is a skill I don't currently possess but am working on. Track days have definitely prepared me to move onto racing and I will keep doing track days to learn more fundamental skills that I will use in racing. Without those skills I would be a danger to me and others around me.
You must also remember that the experts will be lapping a bunch of the novice racers. You better know what you are doing or they could take you out accidentally.
Cliff#11
New Member
I had the mind set of wanting to race also.. always thought I was an "unshackable" kinda person.. I thought i was getting it in "I" group with NESBA.. Went out and ran hard and got my bump.. My first session in "A" gave me an entire different out look about "thinking" I could hold a line.. and thinking I was FAST and unshackable... I was totally NOT comfortable with getting passes everywhere on the track... It honestly freaked me out 
. getting passed on the inside and being able to hold your line with out freaking out and taking out the guy/gal passing you on the outside at the same time is very stressful(For me anyway). Holding that pace the entire day is physically and mentally stressful..I still have a long way to go.
I still want to race.. Badly. But, I want to be predictable and know I'm not going to get anyone else hurt... let alone myself, by doing something stupid.
I do a fair amount of track days.. I always learn a ton everytime I go!
+1 Track days first. :agree:
my 2 cents
. getting passed on the inside and being able to hold your line with out freaking out and taking out the guy/gal passing you on the outside at the same time is very stressful(For me anyway). Holding that pace the entire day is physically and mentally stressful..I still have a long way to go.I still want to race.. Badly. But, I want to be predictable and know I'm not going to get anyone else hurt... let alone myself, by doing something stupid.
I do a fair amount of track days.. I always learn a ton everytime I go!
+1 Track days first. :agree:
my 2 cents
Well what if instead of waiting for your bump you just raced? I bet you you would have been just as scared but you would have to get over it out of necessity. I'm not saying I'm unshakable or anything but i feel like if the faster you start the faster you will become comfortableCliff#11;143463 wrote: I had the mind set of wanting to race also.. always thought I was an "unshackable" kinda person.. I thought i was getting it in "I" group with NESBA.. Went out and ran hard and got my bump.. My first session in "A" gave me an entire different out look about "thinking" I could hold a line.. and thinking I was FAST and unshackable... I was totally NOT comfortable with getting passes everywhere on the track... It honestly freaked me out
I still want to race.. Badly. But, I want to be predictable and know I'm not going to get anyone else hurt... let alone myself, by doing something stupid.
I do a fair amount of track days.. I always learn a ton everytime I go!
+1 Track days first. :agree:
my 2 cents
Cliff#11
New Member
I wasn't really waiting for my bump. I just was waiting to feel comfortable with the conditions. That will prolly work for most people. Just jumping into it. I tend to be alittle on the "Safety First" side. When i started doing track days after 15+ years on the street, I realized I didn't even know how to ride a motorcycle properly. Their was just alot more than i realized that is involved with it. I'm enjoying my progression with doing track days..For me, the racing would be a hobby. It wouldn't be much fun going out and potentally taking someone else out that's trying to make something out of it. I watch alot of races.. I watched Jenson run 1:28's at VIR North and he was in the same group with people running over 2:00's. I would prolly fall around the middle of that pack. I'm not affraid to get hurt or anything like that.. How low would I feel if that was my first race day and I did something stupid that I could have learned doing a few track days and affected his career? Or ended it? Most people don't think about things like that.. I guess it's just my nature. I'm not willing to put other people at risk for something that will only be a hobby for me at best.
If your just looking for the adrenaline rush you'll get tons of that from a trackday.. Street riding has almost no application to the track.. There is soo much Knowledge at the track doing track days... Many former racers.. Current racers that have the time and are willing to help you... Your not going to get that kind of attention just jumping into racing....
Cliff#11
New Member
Watch this video... How stupid would you feel if you were this guy... the crash is about mid video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc4NzvLUosg&feature=PlayList&p=0092CE0932CE2DBC&index=1
At 1:55 ish... He has no clue how to hold a line and is a danger to everyone around him.. even after he crashed that guys he kept running wide... blowing his line in every turn.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc4NzvLUosg&feature=PlayList&p=0092CE0932CE2DBC&index=1
At 1:55 ish... He has no clue how to hold a line and is a danger to everyone around him.. even after he crashed that guys he kept running wide... blowing his line in every turn.
gixxercurt
New Member
It's the person following that is responsible for making the safe pass. You'll find it hard to pass running the exact same line as everyone else. If you aren't ready for something like to happen then you shouldn't be racing. It sucks but thats racing.
Meat
Member
Sure, it is the responsibility of the passing rider, but there is a point at which the inability to hold a predictable line starts to come into play here. I don't know anyone that wouldn't have gone for that pass. The guy was totally off line and he left the actual line wide open. Even at a track day, most would have gone for the pass, regardless of what group they are in. You don't expect a guy to quickly swerve on a straight.
Casper
New Member
Racing is about ego if you factor out those guys that are lucky enough to actually make a living doing it. Sure it’s fun too, but if you’re not fast enough to be competitive, how much fun would you really have? The only folks that would be impressed are those that know nothing about racing, lap times, or track days and your cc company.
A racer that can’t hang with the top 25% of “I,” or Blue, depending the org., can plan on getting lapped, repeatedly, by other racers, both Amateur and Expert in any given race. More importantly, the chances of a wreck are significantly higher.
The days of folks just competitively jumping into racing are over, because track days are so cost effective on a $ to track time ratio.
Just my $0.02.
jruck
New Member
I would recommend at least 1 full year of nesba events, do at least 12 track days. You just don't know what it's like to be in a mixed grid with experts and get passed by Sam Gaige. It feels like you are in a Bi-Plane and he is on a Jet-Fighter.
For saftey reasons it would be bad judgement for you and other racers.
For saftey reasons it would be bad judgement for you and other racers.
Everybody gets lapped there first time. Even Advanced guys. That's why you wear a large flapping neon orange shirt. It says stay away from me. The longer you ride with nesba, the more confused you are in your first race that you actually don't want to follow guys with orange shirts. 
tomseviltwin
Control Rider
I didn't realize this (I did the Cornerspeed school), but went and tracked down a WERA official at registration and they were more then happy to provide me with a WERA school shirt.
Casper
New Member
Now how did you get all of that out of what I wrote?
Track days are cheaper than racing for the vast majority of folks, so what explains why a person would choose to race as opposed to doing a track day? I would imagine the added fun has to do with the competitive nature of a race. That’s why I do it, but competitive ultimately =s ego.
I can’t say this any more simply..? Someone that isn’t riding at least as fast as a quick Nesba “I” guy is going to be comparatively REALLY slow, whether the race is 8 laps or a longer GT event. The 5 or so seconds between starting waves is virtually irrelevant given the disparity in speed? (Not sure where you picked up the lapped by the same rider multiple times concept from my statement?) :dunno:
In any event, racing is a blast, but it has risks and costs, especially for an inexperienced rider.
Why are the chances of wreck significantly higher? In some cases I think racing is actually safer than trackdays. Everybody is on somewhat equal bikes. Everybody knows that people are ON THE MOVE. ETC. The only somewhat more risky part to me would be the start. I can't speak for CCS, but despite the sheer number of races at a WERA event, I hardly ever see a red flag.