Trackdays - Have Your Say (read Before Placing A Post)

If you're reading this then you probably take part in trackdays as an occasional hobby or maybe you're a regular trackdayer. Either way you take part in a group activity to use the UK's race tracks for pleasure and as a customer you expect to come away from your experience satisfied with the service your trackday provider has given.

I myself am not affiliated with any club or tdo, I use all of them to visit the tracks around the UK as a keen trackdayer and club racer. Having seen things from either end of the spectrum from trackday novice to ACU, it is apparent to me the range of needs to be catered for in a trackday.

This thread is your opportunity to voice your opinion of how the service you receive could possibly be improved, we are lucky to have several trackday providers each with their own method of running your day on track. Use this opportunity to get your point across as part of a group.

*Before you submit your post please pay attention to the guidelines below:

1.Do not include specific details of the trackday provider or names in your post.

2.Do not quote from other posts in this thread, this isn't intended to be a discussion and it is your personal opinion that is important

3.Be as constructive as you can, positive criticism is much more likely to be acted upon than negative.

To be honest, the most constructive thing i can say is

THEY ARE GREAT ! i don't want them changing in the slightest. I've never seen all these 'muppets' that people go on about.

Or the lunatics who cut everyone up.

I've never actually been to a bad trackday, or one that's been poorly run.

In the ideal world, i'd like a "road bike only" trackday or two... that would be pleasant for me, but not a major factor in whether i doa TD again etc.

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www.rideinbiketyres.co.uk
www.slidersguesthouse.com/
www.focusedevents.com/
yzf1000-r1.co.uk
#359

I've only done 5 TD's - always on my road bike and as such I may take things a bit slower/safer than others since I can't really afford to trash it and I have to ride it home.

I've done some days that are better than others but to be honest I've enjoyed them all.

I personally like a few less bikes on track at once (more space, easier overtakes for all etc) and so am prepared to pay a bit more if necessary to get that.

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Orange Z1000 with a few mods....

I'd like to see the TDOs fit transponders and then move people up/down groups based on their times, fewer overtakes should result in fewer passes (or even crashes...). Getting people in true order of speed would be pretty much impossible but getting it closer would help.

Also tyre warmers for hire.

Also tools available (save me trying to bring my own on the back of the bike).

sargey2006 wrote

I'd like to see the TDOs fit transponders and then move people up/down groups based on their times, fewer overtakes should result in fewer passes. Getting people in true order of speed would be pretty much impossible but getting it closer would help.

Also tyre warmers for hire.

Also tools available (save me trying to bring my own on the back of the bike).

Why would you not want to see overtaking ? Is that where the crashes happen then ?

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www.rideinbiketyres.co.uk
www.slidersguesthouse.com/
www.focusedevents.com/
yzf1000-r1.co.uk
#359

I love em all regardless of who is in charge,done about 25-30 this year and of to jerez on sunday
Aint life a bitch

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Its easy enough to be happy,when the world rolls along like a song

But a mans worthwhile,if he can smile when everythings gone fucking wrong

Adolf Hitler 1945  

   

sargey2006 wrote

fewer overtakes should result in fewer passes.

Class

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Ingie
:burnout:


# 48

Thanks to:
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generally very happy with them

seen some knobbish behaviour from time to time (usally from people who think they are faster or more talented than they really are!). have had to 'had a word' once - but no major dramas.

find the fast group safest place

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Entry Forms? Check
Warmers? Check
Dogtags? Check
Transponder? Check
Talent? ....er

Can we have a jump on the start finnish straight at Donnington please, my old man moans he doesnt see much action from pit wall there, a 10 footer should do the trick.
Ta

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www.jodyleesracing.com

GO Racing Developments
http://www.gord.biz/

Strange that I see dickheads at every trackday I've done for the past two years and some haven't "seen" any? Admittedly I tend to do DOnington where they have more than the average share of them.

I'd like to see TDOs only allocating spaces on ability. No space for your ability tough luck. I'd like to see the dickheads sent home more regularly with the TDOs operating and sharing a database of riders so that they can all put the fee up for dickheads or bar them for twelve months. I want TDOs to pull riders out of groups they are unsafe to be in and pit them until there's space in a group that their ability fits with.

Too expensive,too eager to wave the red flag,too eager to wave the black flag,sessions are too short,long boring speeches about safety etc...did i mention too expensive.This is gonna get me in trouble i suppose.

All of the above is the total opposite to a good MX trackday or Enduro rideout:burnout:

i would say that earlier briefings would be a ggo idea and make the track open at 9am for the fast group to be out so we all get maximum track time

less bikes on track,dont care if it costs £10 more as i'd pay that for more clear track with less bikes to avoid/hold up.

i've stuck to using NL so have no complaints of bikes being in wrong groups as i stay in the inters and it seems fairly even so dont have too many complaints on wrong people,guess it maybe different in the novices as it fills up after the inters is full. if you ask for inters and its full tough luck you should have booked up earlier and shouldnt go in novices,i know off ex racers who go in novices rather than fast group which is where they clearly belong
and that needs to be changed.

Lets have

a; Safety briefings, not 15 minute hard sells, it's not rock science;
1; go through the flags
green, all is well, carry on!
yellow, incident on track, ease off, no overtaking.
red, damn serious incident on track, session is over, get the fuck over to the right h/s, ease right off, be ready to stop, no overtaking.
red/yellow stripe, limited grip on the track in this section somewhere, be aware.
black, report to the TD master, all is not well with you or your bike.
2; saftey - this is REAL simple and can be summed up in one short sentence;
"look after the bloke in front of you, if we all do that we'll have great day and all go home happy"
3; that's it, if I want some photographs, suspension setting up, on board video etc. I'll ask, I don't need telling, I can see the stall.

b; enforcement of the above, you break these rules you can go home, no ifs, no buts.

c; traveling marshals, instructors, call them what you like, but lets have ones who care more about TD conduct and punters having a good time than they do about comparing laptimes.

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"Why would you put your beer down? You don't smoke..."

Reducing the number of riders in a group is going to cost more than an additional £10. With Donington costing over £25,000 to hire for the day in 2006 organisers need to be putting around 50 riders in each group to just break even. Discounts for early and mulitple booking mean profit margins are very slim.

philthy wrote

Reducing the number of riders in a group is going to cost more than an additional £10. With Donington costing over £25,000 to hire for the day in 2006 organisers need to be putting around 50 riders in each group to just break even. Discounts for early and mulitple booking mean profit margins are very slim.

Just wondering but are you sure that Donny is £25k to hire? - Oulton was less than £12K + VAT to hire this year and the TDO's charge about the same for both tracks.

Brands GP was £22.5K + VAT this year which explains why it is the dearest day out there.

According to Mark at NL and I've no reason to doubt him. Don't forget Donington is considered the premier circuit in the UK and has outstanding facilities.

My perfect TDO A Novel by Clanktank

More Track Time.
People who miss the chequered flag and do another flying lap should be banned from the next session.
No crawling round on the last lap so it takes an age to recover all the riders, just keep a good pace and get back in safely.
Prompt start at 9am, no faffing around with late briefings or delays in pitlane. If your not at the briefing or don't line up in time for compulsory sighting laps then tough.

Dickheads being sent home more often.
The warnings given at the briefing should be followed up and not ignored/shrugged off by the TDO. If more than one rider, or if an instructor/marshall see's bad behaviour then it should be one warning, and then if you get another one you're out, unless it was particularly idiotic where they should go immediately. Monkeys there to practice wheelies or impress their mates with close overtakes should be gone by lunchtime.

Briefings
These should be a reminder of what was on the paperwork and disclaimer you were sent and which you read properly and signed before going on track, not a full blown lecture on how many dickheads we had last week so you lot have to suffer for it.
Novices should get an extra briefing away from the inters and fast group after the quick main briefing.

Groups
All first time track riders should go in Novices, no arguments even if your mates are in Inters.

Decent Instructors and not just a fast group clique/ex-racers social club
They should be out there looking at who's fast and who's not and then recommending changes to groups. If they concentrate on this for the morning then all the groups should be sorted well before lunch and everyone can have a great time the rest of the day. Someone here called them rolling marshalls, which I think should sum up their job quite well as they shouldn't be just be "instructors".
If they are instructing then take that rider out in the appropriate group, as I've seen them taking someone from the fast group out in Novice to do some quick laps which scares the crap out of some newer riders.

TDO's United?
Perhaps as has been mentioned before, TDO's could actually talk to eachother and get organised amongst themselves for benefit of all. I'm not talking about being regulated, although that may come in time, but just acting as proper businesses with common working practice within the industry. Showing the ability to self-regulate now may be stop it getting regulations imposed on it in the future?
Benefits could be:
Shared database of riders, good and bad, which would highlight idiots and aid gauging riders ability for correct group allocation, as they will know how many TD's you've done. (see my note about Novices in Groups section above)
Riders being more confident and happier by knowing what to expect at any given trackday, and so therefore encouraging more riders to do trackdays.
Briefings being the same for all and so wasting less time explaining the differences and avoiding confusion (do we slow on the last lap with this TDO or blast it to the finish?)

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Clanktank wrote

[Shared database of riders, good and bad, which would highlight idiots and aid gauging riders ability for correct group allocation, as they will know how many TD's you've done.

Lots of excellent points, but from a personal perspective, this one doesn't sit well with me. The rider should be able to decide on the group no matter how many days they have done. I've done 50+ trackdays, i've played in fast on many occasions, these days, i want to pootle about and trundle round taking in the sights.... Based using your criteria, i'd have to go in fast... i don't wanna

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www.rideinbiketyres.co.uk
www.slidersguesthouse.com/
www.focusedevents.com/
yzf1000-r1.co.uk
#359

Ingie wrote

Class

Ah well, my typing may be crap but my logic is impeccable...

I don't have many problems any more as I always book with my chosen trackday company No Limits.

I would pay £10 more or so for less riders but it isn't that much of an issue that it affects my choice.
I do see most crashes being single bikes and a lot are on cold tyres/1st lap. How you get this through to people I don't know as it is one of the things that is always covered. Maybe a bigger sign as you ride out saying 'cold tyres' ?
I don't see bad riding as widespread as some people, by that I don't mean people crashing on their own but people involving others in their incident. Yup I've been knocked off once but in around 150 trackdays the odds aren't too great. I guess for me it's the stupid crashes on cold tyres that bug me as they are easily avoidable.

On the whole I'm more than happy with the company I use.

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I have enough bikes thanks