Track Sense, Do They Make Sense?

Ducati Pete is going to Jerez with Track Sense in early May. I was going to go with him but am increasingly getting cold feet about the idea.

Track Sense are charging 750 quid for 3 days on track, plus bike transport, plus hotel. Usual package. They are offering a free upgrade to 5* accom if you book before end of Feb. This is about 100 quid more than Focused charge for 3 days on same circuit but that isnt a deal breaker.....

Track Sense price their transport from Bristol. If I want to load the bike in Lightwater, which is presumably en route to the ferry at Portsmouth it is another 64 quid. Why?

Included accomodation is two sharing. I snore and DP is a sado masochist so better get single rooms, another 84 quid please.

Plus a 1.5% surcharge for credit card payment. No charge for debit card but I want to put it on credit card incase TDO goes skint.

Flights via Ryanair are 159 quid rtn.

Shared hire car, bit of food and fuel for the bike = 1500 quid weekend.

Factor in a new set of Supercorsas on the bike plus another set travelling with it and you are up to 2 grand for 3 days on track.

Now I do about 10 UK trackdays per year but I am no Scott Redding. I would love to do Jerez but I would be equally happy with Motorland Aragon which FE are doing for 599 quid 3 weeks later, no charge for drop off at Horsham and 45 quid ish for single room.

Using FE as a comparrison although I have never been a fan of their days in the UK. But whichever way you look at it the Track Sense trip has gone from 749 to 1500 quid ish!!!! For 3 trackdays in Spain.

I am not saying Track Sense are adding in hidden costs, everything is explained on their website. What I do think is they are getting hammered by their suppliers (track hire, current exchange rate, hotel, haulier etc etc) and passing these costs on. No business can afford to do that these days, my business cvertainly cant and we have to be ruthless with out suppliers as our customers will not pay any more.

It is a bonus that I have a mate going to Jerez as I wont know anyone on the FE trip but that is pure coincidence and nothing that Track Sense arranged.

I just want to ride my bike on track in decent weather, 2 grand for a long weekend seems a bit too much though.

Anyone been away with Track Sense/ Are they 2-300 quid better than FE? Are there any value addeds; decent instruction, fluffers in the garage? Or do you agree they are pricing themselves out of a leisure pursuit?

Finally I am pretty sure this is the first sensible arguement I have ever had with myself when a hedonistic pursuit was on offer. Am I getting old/ I dont want you lot calling me Sensiboring Luke

Enduroland £40....

Don't be a Jessie...mud can be a whole load of fun and it forces you to learn...So you coming to the one at the end of the month then?

As they say Luke, you pays your money you take your choice!

As you stated, we have to be ruthless with our suppliers also, our customers dont let us pass on additional costs and im not in business to go broke! (the government could acheive that for me quite easily )

I would love to do a foreign TD but if thats the sort of end cost to expect i would rather stump up a grand for 7-10 UK TDs and spend the rest of the cash on wet race tyres and an umbrella (i have a gazebo )

All this talk of enduro days, isnt half the fun getting wet and dirty

It's as much if not more fun.. For that sort of money you could do 3 trips to Torotrail in Spain, beer included..

I'd love to do Motorland, I think I'll just wait till next January when the prices are better..

You are right Luke, they cost more than FE - but you're not entirely fair.

Fair play, the additional fee for a SE drop off and collection is a pain and extra cost - I've always said how handy FE's depot was.

£84 for single room, FE will charge £45 PER NIGHT.
FE have the same credit card surcharge.

No matter who you go with you will still spend on flights, hire car, tyres and food.

Unless you fancy going 2000 miles to ride the Spanish Mallory park, they are not cheap events. (Almeria being the possible exception) The shite pound vs euro rate put the mockers on the bargain events a few years ago.

I wanted to ride at Jerez or Parc Algar in the dry this spring, and this date suited me - as much as I'd like to save £150 quid or so I don't think it will make much difference to the final bill and I'm willing to stump up as it suits me time wise.

I understand why you question the costs and can see why you fancy something different though.

PS, if you want do motorland in Jan, budget for a set of wets!

I do feel bad about missing out and FE didnt mention that the 45 extra single suppliment was per night, cheeky bitch

However I still feel that extra costs for loading en route to the port should be waived. and there is still a largish saving going with FE to Aragon

Track Sense = 902 plus flights, fuel, food, hire car, tyres, hookers, souvenir sombrero and stuffed donkey
FE = 750 at worst plus all the above. (Havent checked flights for Zaragoza (sp) but suspect they are similar to Seville)

Sue is paying for the trip but I have led her to believe the cost will be 500 quid ish plus a bit of spending. She would have a fit if I landed her with a 2 grand bill. Especially, as I have just booked an April week away for the 4 of us and kept it down to a grand (mind you, no visits to the Penelope Cruz lapdancing bar on that trip )

As Motoronin says 1 euro trackday = 3 Torotrails and I quite fancy an off road trip, especially if I go as billy no mates and little and large of SD Net arent there to film my mishaps on their GoPros. Mind you, I spoke to a rival firm at the Excel show and he was touting that Torotrail dont have comp cover or medivac insurance. So if you break a leg up the mountain they have to dig a hole and bury you May just be a sales pitch though.

I think a realistic budget for me this year will be 3 grand on domestic trackdays and about 2 grand on euro jaunts I dont want to blow the lot on a pilgrimage to Jerez where it may rain anyway.

Frankly Luke, if you are even in a position to consider spending over a grand on a TD weekend then you are lucky imho mate. Not that this is a bad thing of course....just saying.

If it were me and i really wanted to do it, id get my own sorry arse down there by either riding or driving there myself and having an adventure along the way Youve got a van havent you? Just ferry it down to Santander or even drive throu France. Book a week off (might be tough for a self employed boss like yerself though) and enjoy the journey too. Take a mate and bam all your costs are almost halved for the trip.

And yeah, i have to agree that 3 weekends with Torotrail in Spain would deffo outrank one on a track for me in terms of VFM!!!

Yeah I have to agree. Given the choice between 3 days on track and 6 days trail riding I'd go for the 6 days off road every time. Perhaps didn't have the adrenaline from sheer speed and pace but more than made up for it in fear and crashing

I'd have to almost disagree there mate, I've never had such a rush as i did on that first day with Torotrail. I know i was a newb but it really was stunning stuff. Better than my first TD i ever did. I was buzzing for hours after the TD but it took me weeks to come down from Torotrail and whenever i think about i get really excited about going back!

Luke, mate i know what you mean about deep mud, im not a massive fan but then ive only had it once and it was fuggin bad. If i knew it was gonna be like that id maybe not bother as it wasnt as much fun as it could have been....but i learned a shit load that day that i didnt even realise at the time. I am really looking forward to some laning with you guys asap and a coupla dry days off road though.

Luke, did you book that trip with FE in the end?

No, still havent been. Plan now is to do UK trackdays / enduro days whilst the summer lasts and do a foreign trackday about Oct / Nov when the UK weather is less predictable. Then do the Spain off road trip next year with Klincky and co.

This year though, I am just not so bothered about trackdays this year. I like the sound of the easy track mob but the preaching briefings (2 per day) noise testing and constant red flags plus any excuse to nick track time from you have put me off the other TDO's.

I may do a the next Lydden but for me, Saturdays are as busy as a weekday now the kids are doing stuff and a weekday now means a lost days earnings on top of the trackday cost.

Since you did the expensive Jerez trip and only got half a day tracktime I am even less inclined to do a foreign 3 dayer. Before your latest incident I was only concerned about about the weather, mechanical breakdown and my own risk of crashing to worry about. Now I have to worry about being rear ended by a rich jock Which frankly wasnt in my holiday plans.

I'm not sure if that needs a LOL or a "Oh dear"