As soon as you are comfortable on the bike at speed and are able to properly apply brakes/clutch and are comfortable shifting. That's a good time to go.

Basic skills should be a requirement. Learning these on the track is a waste of your time and money and a danger to the rest of the riders learning. If you can't properly brake, you could smack someone good.

first timers end up in the beginners class anyway, if that's you in your avatar, I don't think they will be in your class. ;)

hell, the last time I went to the track the intermediates were running so fast that I dropped down to the beginners class so I wouldn't be in their way. I was just out for fun and get some confidence back, not to race.

Well, NESBA kept fucking up my account so that everytime I went there I would have to start out in beginner and waste a whole fucking day trying to get a CR to follow and bump me... So mixing is of course possible.

I totally agree riders should get out to the track early on, once you have a good feel of riding in general.. I may have been mistakenly thinking someone was saying as soon as you pass your msf head to the track.

that sucks they couldn't get you in the right class to begin with. hope you have it straightened out for this year.

Asap!

Depends on the state and track org. Its kinda weird though. The states that you can't ride year long nor have good riding roads have a wide variety of riders. There are people who never got to the edges of the tires AND you have people that ride the track twice a month and are fast. This can be dangerous though, even in the street group.

Being in CA and riding canyons all the time the riders even in the street groups are surprisingly good...moreso on the weekdays.

To answer your question I wouldn't ride the track unless you've had at least 1 year of riding and some good road practice. You should be honing in on your skills on a track, not learning how to ride the bike. Learning how to ride the bike is going to hamper other riders safety IMO.

It was toward the end of my 2nd season of riding when I hit the track. I had my 600 just 6 weeks and barely broke in. It was the best thing I could have done. It helped me gain confidence on my new bike and learn its capabilities in a safer environment.

Don't worry about the speed, just do the drills.

Also, once you go to the track - you WILL BE addicted!

I made this post a while back on the local forum: link. I think there's a copy on here, but I'm too lazy to search for it.

Also, see my big book of links here.

Everything was pretty much covered by the rest of the conversations, I just thought chime in. Now, back to sleep, more racing tomorrow.