Do you guys who do track days take out separate insurance for the track days you do? I want to do one but the only thing off putting is the thought of sliding off my bike and not having the money to fix it or writing it off. If you do have insurance then who with.
I never bother with track insurance. I think it can be costly to get fairing covered, i think there an extra. I repair the fairings myself and replace any damaged bits so only pay for parts.
No insurance here or any of my mates either. Get yourself a cheap trackbike if you want to race round a track. You can buy a trackbike for less than it would cost you to repair your roadbike if you had an off. Also, no good saying I'll ride carefully 'cos it may not even be your fault. The difference is, when riding on the road you ride at a certain pace you're happy with and can enjoy but on track you're always looking to get round that bit quicker and so you're always pushing the boundaries of yourself and your bike, therefore probably more chance of coming off.
I had an off with 3 other bikes when an oil filter picked up a stone and sprayed oil all over track - 1 of the other bikes was a road bike, was not good and no cover / able to claim off the 'at fault' bike like there would be on the road. My track bike was not damaged at all bar some extra scrapes on the fairings and crash bung damage
Swings & Roundabouts! Riding a Sports Bike on the road just for fun and with limited free time tends to lead to Speeds and Cornering angles that can well lead to a major off due to the unpredictability of other road users, Farmers and differing road surfaces. Track day riding is far more predictable IMHO and like 4 like, is less likely to lead to an 'off' on the balance of probability.
I totally disagree Sinewave, in the nicest possible way of course! Riding safely on the road has a lot to do with experience, right place, right time. I tend not to ride near to my limits on the road for reasons you stated.....farmers, road surfaces, dickheads etc. This gives me certain amount of leeway if I find myself in a compromising situation, however, I find I ride on the track very close to my limits (not the bikes) and therefore much more likely to have an off. It's very rare I feel the back end go on the road but on track this regularly happens and so I know I'm riding on the edge of the conditions. Only last Wednesday at Oulton in the rain I had numerous slides but carried on regardless with the threat of an off at any moment. Almost all the other riders on track were doing the same. Eventually the weather closed in so much that I came in because I knew an off was inevitable given the tyres I was on and the conditions.
I'm in a bit of bind as far as this goes as I can't currently afford a track only bike so I am having to take my road bike on track to have some fun with. I have insurance with MCE for road use so could certainly give their track cover a go. Only done 3 track days so far so I am still down the complete noob end of ability so I'm still learning with each track day. When it comes to foreign tracks though does anybody know if track day insurance would cover these type of days?
I remember looking at MCE a few years back before I took mine off the road and put it on the track, the cover was £99 but excess was half the value of the bike! So seems pretty pointless unless you right it off. Better off with track fairings, crash protection etc you'll get the bug and probably spend more time on track anyway. May have changed since?
