track days information from Europe | GTAMotorcycle.com

track days information from Europe

matley

matley

Active member
Hi,

I have just registered and presented to this forum. I'm from Milan but with real possibility to move to Toronto from next year. I'll come for a quick look to the city mid Jan 2015. For sure I would not have the time to capture everything and for sure winter time does not help to me to understand if also my reace bike will like to move from Mugello, Brno, Slovakiaring, Redbullring, Rijeka, Imola, Pannoniaring, etc. to new life.

Is there someone who can give some advises about track days events in Toronto area up to 800 km distance?

thanks to everybody
 
thanks meme I'm going to check it. Which is the normal schedule of track day in Canada? free practice open pitlane or division by group and lap time with official transponder? are races allowed and arranged from starting grid also for non professional riders?
 
in pro6 website I found a price list for Dunlop: set of KR at 425 CAD, which is 300 Euro, is it true!!!!! :p:p:p:p I pay 420 Euro in Europe!!!

Sorry 490 for KR from UK (however now the factory in Birmingham should be closed and production is in france)...... still cheap
 
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matley said:
thanks meme I'm going to check it. Which is the normal schedule of track day in Canada? free practice open pitlane or division by group and lap time with official transponder? are races allowed and arranged from starting grid also for non professional riders?
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Track days generally are:
Rides meeting at 830, open track at 9am separated into 3 groups (Green, Yellow and Red) with red being the faster rides.
15/20 min sessions each group ending around 5pm.


Racing:
There are 2 Regional Series and 1 National series as well a very successful Vintage series.

Regional Racing
2 Organizations (SOAR and Race)
SOAR:
Friday Practice organized the same way as a Track day (See above)
Saturday, Practice from 9am to 11am (Generally organized into 2 groups) Then 6/8 lap qualifying races (Pro and AM Superbike, Pro and AM Sport Bike and many other categories including a female category) ending around 2pm and a 3 hours endurance race from 230 to 530.
Sunday 2 hr practice and then final races by category ending around 5pm.
Unfortunately no timing system (for now)

Race:
Can't comment on Friday practice as I haven't done it but I believe it is organized by race category with official timing
Saturday: Officially timed practice sessions by category during the morning and qualifying 15 min sessions in the afternoon (generally)
Sunday: Morning timed practice with the final races starting around 11.

In My Opinion:
We have 2 excellent track (Tier 1):
Calabogy - Fast, long and with elevation
Mosport: Very fast, long and also with elevation

Then we have Shannonville (Tier 2) Host of the RACE series - no elevation and the surface is not as great but a technical and fun track.

Then we have 2 other tracks (Tier 3)
Grand Bend: (Host of the SOAR series) Short but technical in some of the 6 configurations, very well maintained
TMP: Short, in my opinion not really technical but the surface is pretty good.
 
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thanks ZX, it sounds very very good like the best events in Europe. The partecipation to the races is free or you are obliged to be a professional riders and pay for yearly registration to the federation?
 
Are you interested in roadracing, or track days? You can't race at a track day, and on a race weekend, you have to follow the schedule.

There are only two tracks in Ontario that are even remotely like the European tracks that you mention, and those are Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (CTMP) which was formerly known as Mosport - that name should be at least somewhat known worldwide, and Calabogie. These are not FIM approved tracks and both have fairly major problems with lack of run-off.

There are some smaller, tighter tracks: Shannonville, Cayuga (also called Toronto Motorsports Park or TMP), Grand Bend. At CTMP there is the "big track" and there is the "rider development track" on the same property.

The following roadracing organizations are available.

RACE operates at Shannonville only. www.shannonville.com (website is not very good)
SOAR operates at Grand Bend only. www.soaracing.ca
VRRA operates at various tracks but those letters stand for Vintage RoadRacing Association - your bike has to be 1989 or before. www.vrra.ca
CSBK is Canadian Superbike, the national series. www.csbk.ca In order to participate in this, you have to prove your worth at one of the regional organizations first.

Out of these, VRRA is the most successful in terms of number of riders participating, and size of grids (in the "period 3" and "period 4" classes for 1970s and 1980s bikes). You just need to have an older bike to participate.

For track days, Pro 6 Cycle is arguably the best organization, the link was given before. This coming year, they are operating mostly at Calabogie. As with most track day providers, they have three groups.
 
matley said:
thanks ZX, it sounds very very good like the best events in Europe. The partecipation to the races is free or you are obliged to be a professional riders and pay for yearly registration to the federation?
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You have to pay a yearly membership fee (around 150 canadian)
Then you pay a registration fee for each category you want to enter for the weekend.
You don't have to be a Pro - there are amateur/novice classes but you have to take a course and prove you are a proficient rider in order to obtain your license.

Definitely you won't find the same size grids you will find in Europe and definitely the attendance from the general public is at best very low.
 
matley said:
thanks ZX, it sounds very very good like the best events in Europe. The partecipation to the races is free or you are obliged to be a professional riders and pay for yearly registration to the federation?
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Looks like a few of us are typing at the same time.

For a track day, there are (unfortunately) no qualifications needed. Anyone can sign up. Usually it is $150 give or take per day. Calabogie or Mosport will be more, TMP will be less. The reason that I say "unfortunately" is that a lot of riders are out there without the proper training or who sign up for the wrong group.

For roadracing, you have to purchase an annual license, and in order to obtain that license for the first time, you have to go through a one-day school. The school is not needed for renewing the license in subsequent years, and the various organizations recognize each other's license to some extent (e.g. you still have to buy a license for RACE, but if you already have a SOAR license, RACE recognizes that you are a qualified rider). Entry fees per weekend are on top of that.
 
thanks to everybody!!!
I'm not a professional rider, I partecipate to open to everybody track days events. In Europe (Italy, Austria, Germany) you have different types of events whose level is basically different from organizer to organizer. In Italy only official championships of federation allow to do races from the grid, so in the event I partecipate the organizer arranges the last session where all riders are aligned according to best lasps of the day and after a first lap behind the "safety bike", you do a kind of race and at the end the sum of laps is made.
Our of Italy (east europe, austria and germani) even if you are not part of federation there are organizers which arrange a kind of championship with race from starting grid and endurance 2.5 hours le mans start. I usually take part of these events..... let's say 2.12 in Brno, 2.02 Pannonia, 2.02 Mugello.... nothing special around first half the starters of the fastest race. In these races there are non professionals and sometimes few professional riders of low-mid level national championships, let's say first in Mugello 1.57 and Brno 2.08

Year after year I still share with friends a kind of competition between us, but I'm more part of the group I like to call "the racers of the sandwich with sausage"... 150 canadian are not a lot..... it may be interesting.... let's see what 2015 brings to me...

if for road race you mean on street (UK-Irland style or italian CIVS) I never did them.... not for me :)
 
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No, there are not "road races" on the streets here ... not for me, either. "Roadrace" here means a closed-circuit event on a track.
 
Stay in Europe if you can! Canada especially ontario sucks in comparison to the lifestyle and motorsports activity of where you are now.
 
sonnythebull said:
Stay in Europe if you can! Canada especially ontario sucks in comparison to the lifestyle and motorsports activity of where you are now.
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from what I have seen on web in 1 day you may be right about motorsport activity, but on the contrary for working opportunities Europe does not offer a lot..... I'm part of an international french based group and there is an interesting position in Toronto... way back remains possible, but for sure not before than 1 year.
Do you mean that also lifestyle is not good? I travelled a lot, including working experience in Sydney, but never in North America.... in principle I believe that at first riends and people make the difference... you can be in a wonderful place, but if you do not build good connections it sucks even more than an alleged better place..... mid of Jan I'll be in Toronto to have a look around :)
 
Ciao Milanese...fatti sentire quando arrivi ha Toronto. Opps sorry guy's for my italian here.lol
 
sempre1 said:
Ciao Milanese...fatti sentire quando arrivi ha Toronto. Opps sorry guy's for my italian here.lol
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azzzzzz...... so I can be more precise...... Bergamasco please :) That's great, I really would like to meet you in Toronto. I need to ask you many things, be prepared! I send you my mail and mobile.

Give me your point of view....
 
matley said:
from what I have seen on web in 1 day you may be right about motorsport activity, but on the contrary for working opportunities Europe does not offer a lot..... I'm part of an international french based group and there is an interesting position in Toronto... way back remains possible, but for sure not before than 1 year.
Do you mean that also lifestyle is not good? I travelled a lot, including working experience in Sydney, but never in North America.... in principle I believe that at first riends and people make the difference... you can be in a wonderful place, but if you do not build good connections it sucks even more than an alleged better place..... mid of Jan I'll be in Toronto to have a look around :)
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i mean lifestyle and people too. Move to California if you can or stay in Europe if possible. I hope you prove me wrong but if my business wasn't here I would live in the US or Europe. If you need any help while here Message me.
 
California may have a good climate and scenery, but it's a terrible place to do business.
 
thanks sonny, no options for the moment in California, may be Richmond..... but it does not seem such good place. I guess that the first impression will be very important, Jan should not be the best month
 
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