Fridays with 3:16 Trackdays

[Ignacio Pedregon]

Hello Everyone,

The format will be changed for Fridays, we consulted with our Mentors (many are racers) and JC Camacho has prepared a description video to go over it.

https://youtu.be/5vYcSVO2g-0

Summary

$150 - Pre Registration
$185 - 10 Days Before

4 Groups with LOWER lap times for "advanced" Groups ... more info in the video

Beginner
Experienced (Min Lap times) 2:17 MSRH , 1:37 MSRC
Advanced Lightweight 1:57 MSRH , 1:37 MSRC
Advanced Big Bike 1:53 MSRH, 1:28 MSRC

Minimum lap times taken from "lapper" paces during 2 wave races

We know this is a "CHANGE" and won't be for everyone but will fit more people than less.

God Bless,

Ignacio and May

[Josh Henke]

Thanks for the info. I’ll have to watch the vid, but I do wonder what will be considered a big bike. And those minimum lap times are surely going to have to come down. A 1:53 at MSRH is crazy slow for even an “advanced” lightweight bike (e.g SV650).

[Steven Smith]

Based on the video, doesn't seem practical to have a 1/2 day practice since the slow groups are 3/2 (morning/afternoon) and the fast group(s) are 2/3.

Thanks for the info. I’ll have to watch the vid, but I do wonder what will be considered a big bike. And those minimum lap times are surely going to have to come down. A 1:53 at MSRH is crazy slow for even an “advanced” lightweight bike (e.g SV650).

For reference, Trey ran a 1:41 on his SV this past weekend

[Kyle Coles]

Those lap times have to be adjusted down. Those times for the "advanced big bikes" would encompass almost every single big bike novice and expert racer.

[Michael Klesel]

They way Cmra Friday practices were ran were fine. Especially when they removed the novices from the expert practices.

The way this is setup now is going to be a cluster. Ignacio, is there a way to get this as close as possible to the Cmra practice?

The lack of good track time will just have me doing practice on Thursdays under my memberships and saving my time/$ on Friday to work in my trailer.

[Brandie Cox]

Hi Everyone,

I usually stay quiet unless someone has an old GSXR that I like ;) But I feel I should speak today. Mixing racers and track day persons is not a good idea for safety reasons. Our goals and, most importantly, race craft skill set are very different. I am by no means fast and the minimum lap times for the advanced group will create potential hazards for everyone. As Mike stated above, there should be a format for racers and a format for track or street group as LSTD did in the past. I have re-evaluated my participation for next year based on this change because safety is my number one concern for everyone. This is a very dangerous sport and everything should be done to mitigate issues. I feel the CMRA format of novice and expert sessions has done an excellent job mitigating issues. Lap times are not the sole data point that should be considered- race craft is a major consideration. Race craft takes time to develop. The novice expert sessions help group us appropriately based on this. Having a school track day organization run our practice day actually has health insurance benefits as I learned the hard way in the past. Most health insurance companies will not pay claims for persons injured in competition sport (my hard lesson) BUT if a learning organization or licensed school is holding the event, that usually could help one's cause with the health insurance company. So this could work for the members of this club and for the club, but the format needs to change. The previously used and recommended CMRA format should be followed. Sincerely, Brandie Cox

[Kasey Lewis]

Feel free to double check me on this, but historically at MSRH 40-50% of the "fast group" practice at 43s and below, the other half are 46-51 on average. Going through the data on race monitor for practice. And as i understand it, 3:16 is doing trackdays, not race practice. Track time will be available for racers, but much like any member day or trackday you do, you'll need to play nice with the other riders. That's what i've gathered from Ignacio and the video posted. Trackday. I'll be riding and watching the format to see how things go.

[Walter Walker]

And as i understand it, 3:16 is doing trackdays, not race practice. Track time will be available for racers, but much like any member day or trackday you do, you'll need to play nice with the other riders. That's what i've gathered from Ignacio and the video posted. Trackday. I'll be riding and watching the format to see how things go.

This is exactly right.

The simple truth is that not enough racers are signing up for Friday racer practice. We’ve only managed a break even at a few events this season for Friday practice. This is not sustainable so obviously a change had to be made. The CMRA is not in the trackday business. We are not set up to offer track time to trackday only riders and this is what makes trackdays financially viable. 3:16 is and hopefully they will be able to make it work for all involved.

As Kasey noted racers will have to learn to play nice with the non racers. This will help grow the sport by exposing these folks to racing. Bring in new racers is a key part of this format.

[Michael Roden]

In my opinion this is the worst thing that could happen for new racers who need quality track time before a race. For myself I will now be much less likely to spend the money to race on Saturday where I have to spend a lot of money to get one 15 minute practice session and then one 6 lap race. At least on Sunday there are 2 practice sessions.

I've done quite a few 3:16 track days and they do a great job of limiting the number of entries per group. But they usually fill those slots very quickly. That's great for the track day riders but now how do we, CMRA racers, squeeze in? If I can't get descent track time on Friday I'm not going to spend the money to race on Saturday. At least not in Texas. All those extra trips to Hallet are looking better all the time.

[Josh Henke]

It’s a Friday, so I think the track day guys will be limited. I like the idea we could introduce more people to racing, which we need. The plan seems fine, but I suspect it will need tuning. With the lap time limit (though it probably needs to come down), and that street guys will (should) be scared, I doubt there will be much issue there.

Walter basically said this, but I thought it worth repeating. Trashing the concept before even trying it doesn’t do anyone good. Think happy thoughts.