After 6 weeks of sitting on the fence, I've decided to take the plunge and move east to the Philadelphia area. I've checked the schedule, and it seems that Monte and Bonnie don't have too many dates on the calendar for the eastern section, at least not as many as we in the midwest have been accustomed to. While I intend to remain loyal to STT, as they've taken good care of me for the past two seasons, invariably I'll need more than what they're offering this season; hopefully next year, they'll secure more dates. My question to you all out East, then, is who do you ride with, when you're not riding with STT? Why? it looks like the main players are NESBA and Team ProMotion... is there anything else that I've missed? what in your opinion, are the pros and cons of each org? I guess for me, safety is my primary concern, what are the other riders like? how are the rules enforced? where do the squids go? (that's where I don't want to be....) :roll: Cheers, Lance my apologies to the management, if this post is over the line or too blasphemous.
I dont know how NESBA is now, but when I use to ride with Reduc, which was the BEST club, NESBA was no doubt the worst. Good people but not organized enough, nor responsible enough with safety. I have no problems with TPM, but it is a business unlike what Reduc was. Also, I dont think TPM's principles are really about safety. All though they will say it is time and again in the riders meeting. They have the most track time (dates) I would definatly go with TPM over NESBA.
TPM has a higher squid factor than any other area club. Recently, NESBA has a few 'clubs' that have joined, but by far TPM is the worst.
As a certain some has said "They seem to be filled with wannabe racers and Reduc has usetobe racers." It all comes down to attitude. If the 'clubs' attitude is to allow stuffing, stunting etc..., well, I believe you know what follows. Ultimately you need to determine what works for you. One of the TPM guys, and a name you might know, Mike Himmelsbach, tried starting another club called Champion some thing or other. I don't if its still going nor do I know anything about it. I rode with Reduc for years for a reason as you've already read. Try checking the track day list in RoadRacingWorld.
I'll probably try both to see what I like bes, but the memberships are gonna be $$$... my employer works for TPM, but I've also heard (from a few reduc peeps that I met at BeaverRun, last fall) about the squid Factor being higher there. In the Midwest, the NESBA die-hards just seem so eliteist and snooty, and that has put me off from running with them (and the membership fee that is twice STT'S)
Himmelsbach's racing the Triumph 675 in CSS nationals this year. Don't think he has much time for the track day thing. I heard they had trouble getting filling dates and ended up piggy-backing a school with NESBA.
No real complaints about TPM. I haven't run with Nesba to comment. Champion's days were very well run though as I look forward to those Martins Moto days.
hmmm.... You guys are SOL, unless Monte offers me a full time job as STT Chef.... :roll: , I'm already in Philly, so no G-man for me this weekend. I might be at the pocono date next month & definitely wanna do the beaver in october, again. other than that, it looks like TPM & Nesba for the rest of the year for me... Cheers, Lance
Damn Lance......I still never got to try those ribs that I heard about. :x :x . Come on Monte.....a track riding chef could be good. :wink:
NESBA seems a little corporate, if you know what that means...they have regionl managers and you need to fill out a form for everything, seems impersonal. I had an issue with my STT membership and Bonnie called me personally - I had an issue with a credit from NESBA and it took 2 weekd=s of emails to get it straight. On the track though, I thought NESBA was well run too. I also did a day with PrivateTrackTime.com - very small and kinda loosly run, but had a good day. If you wanna maxin=mize your time on track, you'll become a tracktime whore like me and ride with anybody... My #1 choice is def. STT tho...
I am usually riding with US Desmo. Never riden with STT but plan on doing the CMP schedule Thanksgiving weekend.
After having done quite a few days with STT, I did my first NESBA date at VIR a couple weeks ago, and honestly, the major difference is that NESBA is... different than STT. Seriously, it seemed pretty well-run, and I didn't notice anything dramatic about safety. I will say this - for a novice rider, STT wins, hands down. Since this was my first date with NESBA, I had to ride beginner, and their novice thing consists of a second riders' meeting shortly after the first, which if you've ever been on the track before, they excuse you from. The effects of this show up pretty quickly, as I don't think we had any session that wasn't red flagged. The other thing that I noticed was this - their rain insurance isn't quite as valuable as you'd think. I was there for Sunday to run the Patriot course, and Monday for the full course day. Sunday it started raining about 8:30, and just kept going, but they decided to hold off on making a decision until about 1:00PM. Well, by noon I had pretty much had enough, so I packed my crap and boogied out of there, but they did eventually decide to run. I don't think I missed much, but I was disappointed in their much-advertised "rain policy." Do I blame them? No. Do I think it's the best way to run it? No. So basically, the scoop is this - I've got nothing against NESBA, but if STT has all the tracks and dates that I want, I'll probably not join NESBA again next year.
I am a Reduc refugee and am curious about something with the STT organization... do people need to be checked-out by a Control Rider (or 2) before being bumped to the next group? I find the STT A-level group to have a very 'broad range of skill' compared to the A-level at NESBA or TPM's Blue group.
The difference that I know is that NESBA seems to be heavily populated with no-shit racers that are usuing the track day as a practice session. Nothing wrong with that, but it can take away from non racers that enjoy the passing rules but then get stuffed by someone taking that last 2 inches of pavement on the inside. Like I said, nothing really wrong with it, but for me, a track day event also is about being safe and providing some give and take. There ain't no purse at the end. Being as this next track day is my first with STT, I hope the atmoshpere is similar to what I am use to with US Desmo.