Cal Club Autocross Forums

Have we ever had a bike go trough one of our courses?
I'm curious if there is any chance for the cars (meaning the things with 4 wheels that still remind cars - not formula F etc) to be faster than a 600cc bike.
All these assuming a tight track - like the ones we have in local events.

doubt it, they would have a hell of a time with the radius corners we typically have. plus they don't corner worth crap. they'd kill us in slaloms though.

not to mention bikes aren't allowed to autox.

IMO the bike would be so much faster on the straights and slaloms it would be quicker than a car. Of course if where just corners and sweepers a car would be quicker. I think a super motard would be quicker than a 600 on a typical AX course.

I had a very good rider on a bike try to keep up with my on Tail of the Dragon. I was in the Lotus. He could not. Not enough contact patch for the bike and the road is all turns.

Straights? They would have killed me.

As with cars, tires make a difference. Bike would have a better chance on racing slicks. But in general I say no. I'm generally faster on Ortega Hwy than the cars I encounter, but couldn't keep up with an Evo one evening, though I'm not willing to go more than 85% generally. I could catch up a bit on a couple of the small straights.

A sport bike laid it down pretty hard once on a tight canyon road.
He was trying to keep up with my dad.

Dad was driving a 1967 Dodge D200 Sweptline regular cab longbed pick-up on hard truck tires. ;)

I was about 7yo and thought it was pretty cool. Dr. Conemangler is all his fault.

I'm hazy on the particulars, but Top Gear ran a bike against a car on their track (I think the car was an Ariel Atom...not sure). Anyway, the bike destroyed the car on the front straight, until the first turn, then it never caught up again.

Having flagged a MotoGP event I can say those bikes get through the corkscrew quicker then anything I've seen, short of an Indy car. Many times on one wheel.

I was on the roads to Half Moon Bay (92, skyline, La Honda) and I couldnt lose a ninja 250 haha

very unlikely.. I don't claim to be a great rider, but the physics of the contact patch greatly favors a car, both in braking, and cornering.

i remember once upon a time, when i rode a GSXR 1000 behind someone driving an EVO who knew what they were doing, through some mountain roads. While i could close the gap on the straight, the later braking, the better grip, would always have the car exiting with a lead.

John Coffey wrote:Having flagged a MotoGP event I can say those bikes get through the corkscrew quicker then anything I've seen, short of an Indy car. Many times on one wheel.

being 1/3 (or 2/3 when leaned over) the width of a car gives you a lot more give on how you set up for the corkscrew, which is part of the difficulty for cars. kinda like the difference between a car and a F125 through slalom

4 wheel grip > 2 wheel grip

Final gear tested a bike(forget which one) against a Westfield(think DSR). they overlaid the videos and it was obvious the Westfield was quicker thru the corners. Straights belonged to the bike.