take it from another newb.. don't ride to track.. rent a haul trailer with tax and insurance its $25/day.... you will thank yourself at the end of the day.. plus you can carry food/spare parts/friends/family with you in the car in case something happens to the bike on track.. someone goes down every track day.. often a newb... at least you won't have to worry about how to take a non-operational bike home.... doesn't have to be accident damage.. could simply be a mechanical failure...i was at TMP track day just yesterday.. my friend sprung a leak in his rad... how would you get home if you ride the bike to track and that happens to you..
TMP cayuga(toronto motorsports park) is the closest distance wise from the west end.. from east end i guess shannonville motorsports park is the same distance towards the east.. maybe a lil more give or take 30 mins.
+1 for this guy Faisal ^
I used to ride to track and I ignored the same warning he has relayed above. I went down and found myself scrambling for a ride back to the city where everyone was heading home in different directions with full trailers! Not pleasant. Just this past weekend I went to Cayuga with our boiiiiii Faisal ^ and wanted to re-live that rebel experience of riding to the track, setting a hot pace then riding home like a bauws!!! But in reality I dropped off a minimal kit (cameras, back up clothes, tie down straps) at Faisal's the night before and made sure he had spare room for me on the way home in case I went down. That is the very least you need to ensure, a space on someone's trailer on the ride home, in case you're exhausted or have fallen.
Some other reasons why a trailer is preferred:
1) It get's hot! You will likely be mooching shade off someone else's canopy and you will be tired and mooch off someone else's folding chair. This gets old being the mooch and as a minimum you want a place to sit and rest between sessions in some shade. As a basic recourse a car can provide that. When you step up your track game some, you'll want to invest in chairs and a canopy.
2) With all the gadgets people bring to the track, including tire warmers (which you will not need until you're in red group quite frankly and even then that is debateable), you will be mooching charging ports off people's cars and / or generators. So back to point one about being a mooch! Things to charge on a basic level: your phone, possibly your lap timer devices (GPS, blue tooth, whatever, camera kit, go pros. New GoPros rarely run more than an hour. Older one's can't quite pull through a full day).
3) You will need a basic set of tools, at the very least zip ties, a blade, tape, and as you advance a full range of alan keys, sockets, drivers, tire pressure gauge, perhaps heat sensor (for your tires) and so on.
4) You will need to bring plenty of fluids, either in a cooler or frozen the night before. I recommend no less than 3L of water, gator-aid, coconut water, whatever. Track days can easily deplete you of 3 to 5L of fluids. I have had days where I have consumed 4L of fluids, not gone for a wiz once, and still come home 2lbs lighter.
5) If you ride there you will need to tape your lights, and all mirrors, license plates etc. This is a time consuming pain when you have other things on your mind, especially your nerves and jitters. Better to prep the night before. An option to taping to save money in case of a daily-street-bike track fall, is to remove parts that are non essential, such as mirrors, plate, turn signals. They can be an added cost and deprive you of street legal riding the next day if they are not functional due to a minor crash. Again a pain to remove once you get to the track in the morning.
6) Far away track require over-nighting it...i.e. tents or sleeping in your ride, or even costlier not so local hotels.
a) more than 1 hr ride to the track will be exhausting on the way home and leave you fatigued on the way there, sapping vital mental concentration and physical energy required for a track day. Cayuga is one of the closest and if you're coming from the west of the GTA it is still 1.5 hrs out, unless you wanna break laws on the way there. Shannonville is 2.5 hours out, Grand Bend is 2.5 hrs out. Mosport is about 1.25 hrs out. Calabogie is 5 hrs out. NYST is about 6 hours out.
7) And by the way the trailer is a low as $17 per day...well worth it!
