Track Day Novice
Author
Discussion

petkar

Original Poster:

79 posts

193 months

Tuesday 5th August 2014
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Apologies if this has been asked before, but after how many track days are you no longer considered a novice?
Thanks
Pete

Ian_sUK

733 posts

202 months

Tuesday 5th August 2014
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laugh

Sorry, its not like racing where you have to get signatures. You're not a novice as soon as you feel like it. Probably half a day for most people.

petkar

Original Poster:

79 posts

193 months

Tuesday 5th August 2014
quotequote all
Ian_sUK said:
laugh

Sorry, its not like racing where you have to get signatures. You're not a novice as soon as you feel like it. Probably half a day for most people.
oh ok in that case why do MSV do novice only track days? i have done 7 track days and just wondered what the old hands would consider as being no longer a novice.

Samjeev

759 posts

143 months

Wednesday 6th August 2014
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According to MSV this would be 3 but they have no record of how many you've done so there's nothing stopping you from bending the truth a bit. They're not even that strict on it, i remember on my own first novice day there was a biker who when asked "have you done a track day before" he responded "yeaaaah Loads!" but they simply reminded him that novice days are mainly for people which have done 3 or less track days and let him continue his track day.

As said above you're a novice as long as you feel like an novice. Novice days are great for getting a gentle crash course in to track days but they are cheaper for the customer however offer less track time (15 minutes sessions every hour usually) but for MSV Its safe to say they get more money from this as they can easily get more people in to the day when they split it down to 2 car group and 2 bike groups which go out in intervals.

Edited by Samjeev on Wednesday 6th August 09:31

PhillippeDuLait

32 posts

159 months

Thursday 7th August 2014
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I used to use novice days as a cheap track-day, as they were often half price. I have done a few where they weren't sessioned, so you got as much track time as you like. When I look now they all seem to be sessioned. I wouldn't bother with a sessioned track day as I like to be out on track as much as possible. If I do less than 200 miles in a day I feel I haven't made the most of it.

I would say the main benefit of the novice days is that there are unlikely to be any race cars out, just road cars. Once you are confident, this isn't an issue as long as you can get out of the way of them. Other road cars are rarely a problem but I have found over the years that some race cars doing testing will overtake in stupid places, which can be un-nerving.

My advice: just pick a track day that suits you for date/price/location and don't worry if it is a novice day or a general day, then enjoy yourself.

petkar

Original Poster:

79 posts

193 months

Thursday 7th August 2014
quotequote all
PhillippeDuLait said:
I used to use novice days as a cheap track-day, as they were often half price. I have done a few where they weren't sessioned, so you got as much track time as you like. When I look now they all seem to be sessioned. I wouldn't bother with a sessioned track day as I like to be out on track as much as possible. If I do less than 200 miles in a day I feel I haven't made the most of it.

I would say the main benefit of the novice days is that there are unlikely to be any race cars out, just road cars. Once you are confident, this isn't an issue as long as you can get out of the way of them. Other road cars are rarely a problem but I have found over the years that some race cars doing testing will overtake in stupid places, which can be un-nerving.

My advice: just pick a track day that suits you for date/price/location and don't worry if it is a novice day or a general day, then enjoy yourself.
i would like to think im no longer a novice as i have done a good few track days now and on different tracks .....i asked the question as one of the lads at work asked me the same question and it made me think as to how many you need to do before the old hands at track days would say your no longer a novice so thanks for all your replies.


pete