Newbie to Track Racing

[Row]

Hi guys, I've been shadowing this forum for the last few weeks so I thought I would sign up and say hello.

I am currently riding an 899 for the street, and researching and hunting for a track bike project to help develop my riding skills further.

My goal is to do all the track and coaching days over 2015 at my local racing club at Morgan Park, Qld. Then step into racing in the rookies category in 2016. I've done most of the sportbike schools and my riding is always improving. Plenty of things still to learn.

My question to you guys is; What is a good starter project bike to cut my teeth on?

I'm looking at a 600cc so I can race it but open to suggestions?

I've been hunting for repairable write offs at auctions, looking at the R6, ZX6R, or 675R's. How did you guys source your bikes?

Anyway, that's me.

Thanks.

[senator8]

Hey mate - Welcome.
There are a lot of good bikes around for sale. On here regularly, facebook sale pages, FX classifieds etc. Unless you want to build the bike yourself from scratch, buying a race bike that's already set up reasonably well is often but not always a better proposition. I personally wouldn't start form scratch again unless I really had to.

[chubb]

Hey welcome.

600 is a good platform to start and oodles and oodles of fun.

By the way... I do have one fully setup ready to go.

http://tarmactalk.com/forum/showthread.php?859-2008-Yamaha-supersport-R6&p=14773#post14773

[WETTY]

here ya go , plenty here to choose from
http://www.wet4uracing.com.au/index.php?cPath=171&osCsid=1cc5dfe15636b18c780c1e125aef649a

[Turbo]

:welcome: Row

Buying a bike already done or partly done is deff the cheapest and easiest way to go.
Depends what you're after from the process tho. There are lots of build threads on here that'll give you an idea of what can be involved in starting from scratch.

[Marshy]

Welcome mate! Good choice - a 600 too start is ideal. A lot of guys make the mistake of trying to track/race a litre-bike first up, don't learn racecraft and bike setup etc etc, and get disillusioned.

If you really know what you're doing (and you need a fair bit of mechanical knowledge), you can build a bike from the auctions. It's fairly risky, as you don't know for sure what the damage will be. It will also be LOTS more expensive than buying one already done. And I mean HEAPS more exxy! If you're ok with that, it can be a very enjoyable process. And you know the engine will (normally) be low kms and not thrashed to within an inch of its life on a racetrack for years.

The flip side is buying a track or racebike gets you a lot more bike for your money. You will know it's good (except engine wear), and it'll usually have lots of goodies on it already that cost heaps to buy new (full exhaust, Ohlins suspension, steering damper etc etc), and will be lockwired and have engine covers and shark fin etc. Perfect if you don't want to tinker.

I would steer clear of the 675 unless you specifically want to do BEARs. They are fairly unreliable, and parts are expensive and hard to get. The R6 and ZX6 are the racebike of choice. The CBR600 is a better trackbike for newcomers to learn their craft on, so don't count them out either. Having owned two gixxer 600 racebikes, I cannot recommend them for anything.....

[shippy__]

R6 08 onwards hands down........08 to 14 are pretty much exactly the same and are extremely competitive, As every man and his dog have one spares and set up help is everywhere

[Negrogrande]

Having owned two gixxer 600 racebikes, I cannot recommend them for anything.....

they go fast on the trailer...

[Marshy]

they go fast on the trailer...

Yep. 110 on the freeway, on the trailer behind the car on the way home, is the fastest they have been all weekend. :rofl:

[dan]

Yep. 110 on the freeway, on the trailer behind the car on the way home, is the fastest they have been all weekend. :rofl:

:(

[Row]

Thanks everyone for the comments, given me plenty to think about and a few pitfalls to avoid. Much thanks :)

[James_]

:(

LOL



Welcome Row!