Hey all, I have recently started to sign up for some track days at my local course (Mid Ohio).

http://www.midohioschool.com/

I was in the process of attempting to sign up for differant levels of training and noticed a phrase that I didn't understand. They have postings for "Performance Track Riding-Intermediate Level", and "LED Intermediate Level". Short of calling them up, I was wondering if anyone here knew what this ment, or could expain it to me. I hope to get this in order and actually be able to take some courses this year.

 

Lucky you...living near Mid-Ohio...

I watched many an AMA SBK race on TV there...

 

LED stands for Limited Endurance Day, the cut it down to just one or two classes so you get a LOT of tracktime, if its Intermediate level, I guess its a full day of just Intermediate sessions

not sure exactly what they mean by the other without hearing what context it was used in

 

Sportbike Track Time (STT) and the Performance Driving/Riding School at Mid-Ohio have partnered up so that the office at Mid-Ohio does the registrations for all of the STT events at the track. So all the Mid-Ohio events are referred to Performance Track Riding. In the case of an Limited Endurance Day (LED) there are only two groups, each with 30 minute sessions per hour: Advanced and Intermediate. If this is your first track experience I DO NOT recommend an LED. You should sign up for a normal track day with three 20 minute sessions per hour and select the Novice group, which is not offered on LED days.

While instructors are available during LEDs, the novice riders are pretty much thrown to the wolves. The result (IMO) is a not-so-safe experience for all those on the track. Last year a dude in the intermediate group of an LED was behind a dude that crashed coming onto the front straight at Mid Ohio. People crash all the time, and Mid-Ohio has a fully staffed team of people dedicated to helping crashed riders. However, the inexperienced, first time track rider thought he'd be a good samaritan and parked his bike on the front straight so that he could walk over and help his fallen comrade. The result was about 40 other bikes trying to avoid a parked motorcycle and rider on the front straight while doing 100+ MPH.

Take the novice class first, you'll get a lot out of it. You'll have actual instructor-led classrooms with on-track riding drills. If it were up to me I would require the novice class for everyone before allowing participation in any other group, for your safety and the safety of everyone else. Other track day organizations do this (i.e. Team Promotion) but for some reason STT doesn't.

 

Let me just add one more thing, it's great that you signed up for the track day and I'm sure you'll have a blast. All sport riders should have at least one on-track experience with their bikes so they can fully appreciate the capabilities of these machines. Just be careful, listen very closely to all the information discussed at the rider's meeting, and always remember toput a hand up or stick a leg out if you are going to pit, and never park your bike on the track (although if you didn't know this already you might need to look into basket weaving as a hobby).

I've ridden a half dozen or so tracks in the Midwest, and I can comfortably say that without a doubt Mid-Ohio has the BEST pavement and facilities. It is definitely a treat to ride there, which happens very often for me since I live about an hour from Lexington, Oh.

 

Thanks for the replys and information, espically to kiggy. I was looking to sign up for a Experianced Rider Class for a basic's refresher and overall training. After that I was going to sign up for a novice track day then maybe an intermediate depending on how I felt. Mid-Ohio actually requires that you attend 1-5 of their previous track days to even take the intermediatecourses now, probably due to events like what you just explained.

Now its just a matter of trying to get some days off work and schedule some dates and get some alpinestar bat/track pants to fit my jacket for the 2pc suit.