Don't know. But let's give it a whirl.
I was in Mitre 10 today, and met a dude dressed in full leathers (in this heat?!) wandering around. I struck up a convo which led onto the issue of track-days.
He owns a flash Duke as well as a recently purchased, aging Honda 400 which, I discovered, he was intending to at least consider taking to a track day.
As the conversation went on it became clear that this guy (Mike...and he's a KBer) made it clear he didn't want to take the Duke onto the track because he didn't want to damage it.
And there, as I have recently made a point under the Track-days forum, is the issue.
Track days are perceived, by those who haven't attended, as some sort of dangerous 'test' of guts, grit, machine-size, ball-size, etc.
The fact is, they ARE NOT if you get into the appropriate group. They CAN BE if you get into the inappropriate group or decide you want to push envelopes beyond your skill-level....I have done this:--(((
I'd like to make the point here that there are always at least three groups, most often four. G1 is for the rare-air sniffers. G2 is for the wannabe rare-air sniffers. G3 is for the wannabe/wannabe rare-air sniffers.
G4 is for those quite sane folk who just want to ride at their own pace in traffic which is all going in the same direction and bereft of cops.
In a post on Track-Days, I related a story about a guy who turned up on an aging Triumph. I didn't enquire too closely, but it looked like something out of WW2.
I doubt he ever made it past 100Kph during the entire day, despite the odd person wizzing past him. He wore an open-faced helmet with goggles.
He wasn't there to race (few in G4 are). He was there to simply enjoy the buzz of the freedom a track-day provides.
And there were several like him. Happy as Larry to pootle around at their own pace within the G4 group.
Sure, as the day progressed a few in his group saw they could go faster than they probably thought themselves possible, but they did their own thing and kept well clear of the rest.
What are track-days? Let me state it again. G4 is for the many who have never done it before and just want to get out and have fun as opposed to those in the next three groups who are out there to challenge themselves and others.
BTW: You can upgrade whenecver you wish, during the day.
Each group goes out alone, so G4 is not mixed with retards on Motards, or exiles on missiles.
At every track-day there are line-marshals who will do almost whatever you ask (as regards riding). They will ride ahead and lead you through the corners. They will ride behind and critique you, if you ask. They will do both and, they will carry on doing so till you have had enough.
From day one doing this stuff I have yet to find a line-marshal who has treated me with anything less than extreme consideration. Most of them have skills which are somewhere between nearly equal to Stroudy, Jones, et al, through to being within 10% of the skill of these amazing riders.
But none of them have ever shown the slightest inclination to show off and make me feel like a dick.
I've followed them, been followed by, pulled them into the pits for a discussion on what I could do better. I have never had the slightest sense of being other than the most important person on the track when they have been with me.
Each track-day convenor has a different approach, and I think it's good to work a spread of various convenors and tracks.
For Aukers who can't afford the trips to Taupo or Manfield, I highly recommend AMCC at Puke.
They are the only group (in my experience) who take out the newbies for a walk around the track to explain 'lines' of entry and exit, cambers, increasing and decreasing radius turns, how to handle certain corners, what to expect if you mess up and how to get out of it.
But Puke is basically a few tight turns with two long straights and blind sweeper. Taupo 2 and Manfield short, are technical tracks, filled with wonderful corners.
But even at Puke, if you elect G4, and you're quite happy to pootle down the back straight at whatever speed you elect, you can be assured you're a hell of a lot safer than you would be testing yourself through the Coro run, the Paras, et al...cos everyone's going in the same direction at 'mostly' the same speeds.
And as the day progresses, and you've done Castrol at Puke maybe ten times, and find you think you might just be able to do it a bit faster, then you can. Or maybe the hill offers some challenges you wish to work on. Jesus H C, it's offered me a few...:--(((
But the really good thing is, unless you push beyond your ability, within your group, you are NOT going to spoil the paint-job on your bike because you're not there to compete with anyone but yourself.
Then the really, really good thing is, you will come away with a sense of achievement and some stronger skills.
The the really, really, REALLY go thing is, you can walk up to absolutely anyone at a track-day, ask a Q and know the person answering will give you their undivided attention; and that includes the likes of Craig Shirrifs, Andrew Stroud, Ray Clee, and many more really hot riders. None will object to you asking what may seem to be the most infintile question.
Of course, it helps when you time your questions of such 'after' they have come off the track, rather than just before they're about to go on. But the programme is quite easy to follow.
The loud-speakers call G? to the dummy-grid (that's the exit point to the track). So, if you want to ask Gareth Jones a Q, you wait till you hear the call for G1 to the dummy grid, then watch and wait till they're done doing their really quite alarming track speeds, then wander over to ask your Q.
I promise you, they will answer your any or every Q. I have yet to meet a self-styled, 'superior' dick at any track of race day.
The Dummy Grid.
This is a term used to describe the place you all gather, normally about four abreast and some deep, prior to entering the track. It's a real buzz to be sitting there, first time ever, on the dummy grid, cos you have no idea what's going to happen next....EXCEPT...the main missive. "I'm gonna go at MY pace."
But it's a wonderful sense to be amongst a group of bikers, all reving-up, like the start at The Isle Of Man.
You look ahead and behind and see guys on savage bikes, dressed in flash leathers, rolling the throttle, zoom, zoom, and you might think, 'Fuck! I'm in the wrong group!' But you're not. You're in G4. Like them. So you do a bit of throttle zooming just to maintain being a part of the scene.:--))
You will have been given very specific instructions on what you can and cannot do as you exit the dummy grid for the track, by the convenors.
And believe me, any knob jockey who decides to make a point outside the G4 skill-level, (on account of he has very small balls and needs to beat up on others) will get a severe talking too, and a repeat will end in an invitation to fuck off.
You wanna trun up to a track-day on an ape-hanger Harley, or a 125 modped, then turn up. By the end of the day you will be a far better rider.....and you'll want to come back for more. :--))
It's arguably the safest riding you'll ever do. No sheep, no tar-skakes, no cagers, no cops, no kids running out onto the road, no mad bus-drivers.
And gee, when the straight opens up ahead, and you feel the inclination to open up, free of the fear of the law and other dangers....wooo, but that's a buzz.
And guess what? At every track-day I have attended, the least populated group is G4. In my opinion it should be the most populated.
Why isn't it? Simple. Thiose who should quite properly start in G4 lack the knowledge of what track-days are all about, or feel less than powerful for having to admit they are just beginners at this wonderful game.
But I haven't seen anyone who has gone from nappies then straight into GI. Gee. I wonder where the G1's started?
In G3 and up you might be mixing it with 30 others. In G4 you get most of the track to yourself on account of there's so few bikers prepared to admit they want to do it, but can't handle the idea of being in the 'Slowbies' group.
How bloody stupid is that?
Fact is, you can't get into the Rare-air-sniffers group till you learned how to be an efficient slowbie.
And believe me, all those knob jockeys you meet on the road, all thinking they're God's gift to riding, wouldn't last ten seconds in G2.
But to get to G2, first you hve to do G4, and enjoy the doing of it.
You wanna learn to ride properly? The start ding track days.
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OK, I can't resist, I gotta set you straight on a couple of things here though dpex....
Originally Posted by dpex
We like our skin! 
) and I'm enjoying reading your OP about track days - very informative, cheers 
After that, he made his own decisions.
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