I haven't really much experience in autox as there basically isn't any that I've seen here in WV. But can motorcycles run in any of the classes?
If not, are there any cone dodging type events for motorcycles?
Would a sportbike be faster on a typical autocross track than a fast car?
discuss?
I think they are called time trials, I seem to recall my old man running them on his old 750SS when I was a kid. He used to be a AMA motorcycle safety instructor, I think those events might have been put on by GWRRA (gold wing road riders assoc. ), but they don't seem to care if you don't ride a wing, just that you ride and enjoy having a good time.
Short answer - I have never seen an autocross which allowed motorcycles to compete. When a driver pushes too hard in an autocross, he buldozes some cones or spins. When a rider pushes too hard on a bike, damage to bike and rider pretty much always ensues. Getting event insurance is hard for timed car events, so I can't imagine what it's like for timed bike events.
Motorcycles are not legal for SCCA autox.
Buell used to do some Battletrax series I think that is somewhat like autox.
There is motorcycle gymkhana, but that said, I don't know anywhere in the eastern half of the US that runs them.
Towards the end, he seems to bring the bike to a halt while leaned over in a turn, between the cones.
I did my MSF class on a 125 eliminator. at the end when you do the riding test, I drug peg the whole way through. lol.
I don't want to do a real fast track event but it seems like an autox for bikes would be fun...
RealMiniDriver wrote:Towards the end, he seems to bring the bike to a halt while leaned over in a turn, between the cones.
I've seen that a million times and it still amazes me. That's unreal control.
Even a top-tier sportbike would be killed in an autocross by a mid-pack car. Cars have too much contact patch to be overcome by the bike's braking and acceleration advantage, even at low speeds.
Your average mid-pack regional driver versus the national supermoto champ? In that case, the two wheeler wins. Otherwise, advantage 4 wheels.
alex wrote:Even a top-tier sportbike would be killed in an autocross by a mid-pack car. Cars have too much contact patch to be overcome by the bike's braking and acceleration advantage, even at low speeds.
Your average mid-pack regional driver versus the national supermoto champ? In that case, the two wheeler wins. Otherwise, advantage 4 wheels.
You beat me to it... sport bike at auto-x = fail. super moto bike with capable rider= a whole different story, actualy I'd like to see that.
I think it would depend a lot on the course. I know some of the slaloms at events I've run would probably be significantly faster on a bike than in a car. The bike would practically be straight-lining them. The last event we did, however, could have been deadly on a bike... fast course with a touchy surface grip-wise... losing control in a car is one thing, but a bike is a whole different can of worms.
Notice how slow the overall speed was in that video. That would be the trick to making a bike-auto-x safe.
I ran my 500cc cruise frame at an autox. It wasn't fun, and was hard on the pegs.
