track bike or racing

[carl_easykart]

hello everyone thinking of geting a track bike or even start racing i would like to know is it a expensive hobby i used to race motocross then jetski and karting but i love 2 wheels more and fancy abit of track racing or just track days.

what is the best options to keep it as cheap as possible. what bike to get whats the cheapest race class. i would like a 600?

i got told track days are realy good fun but need you to change the tyres after a good day and i know tyres are not cheap so this is where im unsure if it will cost me to much for a day out.

many thanks carl

[G]

Racing can get pretty expensive, trackdays it's much easier to do cheaply.

Read the FAQs in this section.

Trackdays you should be fine to run a set of tyres for quite a few days.
You can buy them fairly cheaply with a fair bit of use left on them from racers too.

In racing you're generally trying to make a reasonable effort to 'keep up' with other people - for a trackday you're generally happier to be riding against yourself (or at least randomer bikes).

On a cost per track minute thing, trackdays are way, way better value, so I'd stick to that - there's plenty around and they're generally less hassle.

(I've done a decent number of trackdays and raced for three years, for the record.)

Cheap 600 is a good start - on a budget and you should be able to get a decent track day bike for £1-£1.5k.

[carl_easykart]

thank you for your help

[supZ]

[G]

[supZ]

the team my m8 races for does it. the guy who runs it just does it for the love of the sport and wants to help out other riders who want a foot in the door.

tbf i dont know if 'lots' do it but he cant be the only one

he advertises that people can come down and try out. they'll pay for the use of the bike and he sees how they do.
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CBR954RR - Daily toy
CBR600RR - Trackbike

[Damon]

[G]

Suspension setup certainly helps quite a lot.
I probably get around that for trackdays - especially these days where it's going to be my cack-handedness, rather than speed that is killing them!

It also depends how much it's a case of you vs the bike's capability against all-out speed.

Harley on here I can remember was racing with tyres that had done five weekends of racing I think. At that time (quite a lot of years ago) he wasn't getting very good times in; and I can remember thinking that I certainly wouldn't be either on the tyres he had!

[Blue_SV650S]

If you have raced other things, then you will know what an open ended question that is ....

What is 'a lot'/'cheap' to you?? You might have been used to spending 20k a year on your other racing, and think say £15k/year is cheap, whereas someone else might think £15k/year is beyond their means.

So I think you need to put a realistic annual figure (plus initial set-up fund) that you could budget before coming out with anything overly relevant to YOU.

Regardless of this, I don't think it is an either-or decision ... I certainly think that you should start by doing track days and seeing how you get on; both in if you like it and if it likes you. Racing and track days are a world apart in what you need to 'do', but if you gel with the track days and are posting respectable lap times, then consider the move to racing. If you can't post good lap times at a track day, then to my mind you are wasting your cash doing racing as it is much less VFM in track time and you will only get frustrated coming last/right down the pack. Unless you are not bothered about being competitive that is - but given your background, it is the competition that you lust for??

As for tyres, if you are racing 600s, you will need at least 2 rears and 1 front for a weekend if you want to be competitive (this excludes doing a practice day).

On trackdays, it is really less crucial to have some spot-on tyres as you are not after the last few seconds, let alone the last few tenths

I have no idea how many trackdays I get from a set of tyres as I tend to use part-worns which vary, what I do know is that I ride them until they are worn down on one side, then turn them to extend the life.

I find the 600 is much harsher on tyres than the SV, but then I suppose it is trying to put more power down!!

I basically ride the rears until the slippage is such that it is spoiling my fun. i.e. a bit of slippage and I can go just as fast, just need to 'hook up' a little later out of turns, but if I am starting to really 'nurse' it out, then its time for a new one!!
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The purpose of life is to fight maturity.

[geordiecbrblo...]

I've always fancied at go at this www.cb500racing.co.uk

Kwak ER-5, Honda CB500, Suzuki GS500 or similar - one make on tyre, no suspension mods (I think) - looks great fun and must be the cheapest class for starting racing!

[Slacker24seve...]