Track Day Groups

[r!der]

Originally Posted by neebelung

I could be wrong on this, but I believe it's actually the control riders and/or track management that determine when you're ready to bump up.

Kinda like that but initially its the rider that makes the decision. But you're right, if you are in the wrong group and its obvious the control riders have the ultimate say and WILL bump riders down or up.

I guess I kinda know the answer but asked anyway. I just have to stop being a pussy and give it a try. I already rode with an instructor that wanted to follow me for a bit to determine whether I should bump up. I lost him for a bit (I gotta say, there was a bit of traffic and he was pretty new to the track) ,when he came back to the pits, he was surprised I had been riding in the intermediate group all day.

I guess my concern is the wide range of laptimes even in the advanced group and people treating it like "raceday". Then again, I think that gap is even bigger in the intermediate group.

[smileyman]

I knew the first time I closed on a "intermediate rider" at twice his speed...J/K

I actually club raced before I started doing track days, just jumped right in with the sharks, and that made track day group selection real easy. You can always fall back a class once you find out where your running at that weekend.

I always go with intermediate class as I usually track day on street tires, no warmers, everything taped and wired up, but I will swap on my race plastics and get serious with tire choices and run race class or "expert" from time to time.