Bike question | GTAMotorcycle.com

Bike question

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Aspiring_Racer

Member
Hey,

I might be picking up a 2007 R6 track bike to get into racing with (I have an 06 R6 already for the street so I know how to handle it and all that) The only thing is; as I am new to racing I don't know if this would be a competitive bike in a novice or am class. can any of you shed some light on this for me? What are a couple average bikes people race in these classes if this bike is not?

Thanks in advance
 
It really depends on your skill level vs what the bike has been tuned for. For instance: one rider on a stock R6 could beat another rider on a race-tuned R6. Depends mostly on the rider rather than the bike.

Street riding is completely different than track/race riding. if you're new to racing and (I'm going to assume) track days: I recommend attending a race or track school and get some instruction from professionals. I have the exact same bike and it's night and day on handling when you're talking street riding vs track/race input.

So the bike could be competitive against novice or am classes, but the rider might not be.
 
The bike is as competitive as the rider will be. There's no appreciable and meaningful difference between that R6 and the newest models.

I thought there was a thread somewhere about what a beginning roadracer needs to do, but I don't see it.

You'll need to take a school (next spring) to get your roadracing license. There are 2 regional roadracing organizations, SOAR and RACE. RACE operates exclusively at Shannonville, near Belleville. SOAR operates in Cayuga and Grand Bend. Both have a new-racer school. Both will be at the Toronto motorcycle shows in December and January.
 
Yeah I am aware of how much the rider makes or breaks the bike, I basically wanted to know that this isn't going to be a bike that won't hold its own when I get a bit better with it. You both seem to have the same consensus that it will be a decent competitor.

Azim, yeah I have only done one track day. That being said I was in the top 3 of the novice group and was told I could have been bumped up to the intermediate. So obviously I'm not that fast but I'm hoping to get into the novice (practice as it was put to me by a RACE rep.) class.

Thanks so much for the info
 
An '07 R6 with a little suspension work is plenty competitive with the other bikes in a 600cc class. I have one myself and it goes pretty good.

At RACE, you would be in the Novice600 or Novice Open classes which are fairly new racers, some not so new as well. Above that is Am, then Pro.

At SOAR, Novice level is called Rookie class, it is only open to new racers who have participated in LESS than 6 race weekends.

At SOAR, the class above Rookie is called Novice(the equivalent to RACE Am), then Expert(RACE Pro).

As Brian said, both RACE and SOAR have a race licensing school which is required, they run on the Friday before each Round.

You can purchase a license at the motorcycle shows(in case you had a race # in mind and wanted to try and get it before it's taken, if it's not already), then attend the school once the season comes around. SOAR's first race weekend is May 25-27 which is only 207 days away!! Also, there will likely be a test weekend sometime prior to then.

Look forward to seeing you out at the track, there's always room for a new racer in the paddock.
 
What are the requirements for a race weekend, do you have to be present for all 3 days?

Whichever one I sign up for do I have to be present for every single weekend during the summer or is it a sign up per weekend kinda deal? (I have a job that requires me to work fri and sat during the weekends I can get some off though)

What would be a bench mark of being competitive in the SOAR rookie or RACE novice class?

Will they keep me from getting a licence in school if I don't meet the standards?
 
The general idea is Friday practice, Saturday qualifying (this sets the starting order for the next day), then Sunday finals (this is what counts).

You don't need to do Friday practice. But if it's a track configuration that you have not ridden before ... it's a good idea. There are practice sessions on both Saturday and Sunday mornings, but time is limited in those cases, and if you need to sort out stuff with the bike or with your knowledge of the track, Friday is the time to do it. Friday is a separate entry fee. Your entry fee for the weekend itself includes both Saturday and Sunday. Missing a Saturday and just riding Sunday is not a good plan ... you'll be starting at the back, and there's no rebate on entry fees just because you didn't show up until Sunday morning. Your entry fee is your entry fee for the weekend. No credit for skipping Saturday.

And you don't sign up for a whole season at a time ... it goes one event at a time, no need to go to all of them. If you turn out to be good, and you find yourself in a championship points race ... skipping a round is a good way to throw away season points. But you don't HAVE to go to all rounds.

As for how competitive ... it's all about lap times for bikes relative to your class. Suffice it to say that proper race pace is beyond "red group" track day pace. But certainly not everyone starts at that level - in fact, almost no one does! That's why there are "novice" (RACE) or "rookie" (SOAR) classes - precisely to get riders up to speed. Even then ... Reality check. Fastest in the fast group at a track day, excluding roadracers playing around, is middle of the novice/rookie pack at best. BUT ... the riding tends to be a lot cleaner.

The roadracing schools are more about making sure you understand the procedures, and the flags, and that you are capable of riding in a responsible manner on the track, than about how fast you are. Yes, if you don't pay attention in class, and you are a complete idiot on the track, they can deny giving you a license. When the instructor says "thou shalt not cross this painted line when entering the track", then don't cross the painted line when entering the track! When the instructor says "thou shalt not overtake any other bike upon passing a waving yellow flag until you are past the incident", then you had better not pass other bikes if you see a waving yellow. If you can handle stuff like that, as opposed to being an idiot, you'll do okay.
 
I only know of 1 person who didn't pass the SOAR race school, and that was because he crashed his bike during the school.

If you don't crash you should be just fine. If you plan to race with SOAR, here is a link to their rule book, it will have a wealth of info...

http://www.soaracing.ca/html/2011_rulebook.htm

For your first race weekend, it would be a good idea for you to plan to be there for all 3 days, you will have school on Friday, Saturday will be your Qualifying race.

How you finish in the qualifier determines your starting position on the grid for Sunday's race.

You don't have to participate in every race weekend, you can pick the one that you'll be able to be there for all 3 days.

After your first race weekend you won't need to do the Fridays anymore, unless you wanted to, it's a practice day but not mandatory.

Normally, you want to be there for Saturday unless you're okay with showing up on Sunday and starting from the back of the grid with little or no seat time prior to your race.

I could give you some Rookie class lap-times at TMP and GBM, but unless you know what your own lap-times are, it wont do you any good.

You'll be fine, just go out and have some fun!!
 
Just wanted to fire off a quick thanks to those ppl posting. I'm in the same boat as the op. Just got the bike and jumped in both feet. I'm sure a lot of the stuff being written is old hat but speaking for myself, its great reading.
 
If you've never been to a race weekend before it's a good idea to come out and spectate.. feel free to ask questions about how stuff works.
 
As to the point of whether the bike is competitive- you'd be shocked at the pace a good racer can achieve on a small bike, or old bike, or non-racebike altogether; plenty of examples of this in both RACE and SOAR
 
Yeah sorry I let this lull for a while guys, I can't thank you enough for you input and advice. I plan on getting 2 or 3 track days under my belt in the spring then going all in at RACE. (If anyone wants to join me on a spring track day and take me under their wing a little I wouldn't be opposed hahaha) On that note, does anyone know of a race coach looking for a student?
 
Unless you're financially gifted, you don't need a race coach. I don't know of any Mr. Miyagi's that will do it for free.

seat time. seat time. seat time is all you need.

And a bonus is the track-side buddy that actually knows what they're doing and how to convey it to others clearly and effectively (ie; Hawkeye). Seeing him ride makes you wonder why God/Evolution gave humans two eyes.
 
Yeah I have a couple track side guys who can give me tips, but by their own words they "aren't that fast" they're "fast just not that fast." But yeah I'm not financially gifted. : (
 
Aspiring_Racer said:
Yeah I have a couple track side guys who can give me tips, but by their own words they "aren't that fast" they're "fast just not that fast." But yeah I'm not financially gifted. : (
Click to expand...
There are ways to get good instruction without being financially gifted. e.g. Be strategic about the trackdays that you do, latch on to a good instructor and feed him/her beer :D or coffee or whatever vice they have. Figuring out who, when and how is part of your journey, if I give you all the answers I'll be instructing you for free, and I work for beer.
 
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