There?s a big difference between being reasonably fast on a trackday and being ready to win races. I?ve lost count of the amount of times I?ve heard people say, ?that so-and-so on the R1 in the fast group should definitely be racing; he?d clean up!? or words to that effect. But the truth of the matter is, it?s not quite as easy as that. And here?s why?

First of all, when you go racing there?ll be a bunch of people that are as fast as mister R1 from the trackday. But there?ll also be a bunch of them that are a lot faster. And you?ll soon realise that he only looked so fast because he was so much faster than the other trackday riders; but that?s because they were trackday riders. Not racers.

He?ll soon blend into the mass of fast lads because race meetings are top-heavy with them. These days, all the clubs have fast riders at them. Some though, have very, very fast ones. Most club meetings throughout the racing calendar will have ex-BSB spec riders keeping their hand in from time to time. In fact the ones that don?t clash with BSB rounds will quite often attract current Superstock level riders; and you?ll be doing well to beat one of them, fresh from trackday glory.
But it?s not just the front runners that are fast when you go racing. At any racing club, 99% of the grid would be fast-group-pace trackday riders. And most of them would be at the front of the fast group too. So rather than everyone lapping within 30 seconds a lap of each other, you?ll probably f...