[Scuba]

Well, I'm just getting into this whole thing, but I can speak to almost everything you're talking about from a motorcycle racing perspective:

1. The difference between track days and racing motorcycles was like the difference between riding on the street and riding on the track. As exhilarating as it was to learn what you can do in the controlled environment of the track, you make the same jump when you learn what you can do just to try and beat the guy next to you for 18th place.

Maybe a more universal way to explain it is that track day vs. racing is like "manual stimulation" vs. "the real thing". You can still have a lot of fun with it, but it just ain't the same thing.

2. As far as instructing goes - it got me a lot of free track time. However, it was mostly track time at half speed that just ate up my tires - so it can get boring and repetitive. On the other hand, when you've got a good student - one that actually listens to what you say, and at the end of the day is much faster for it (and recognizes that fact and thanks you profusely for it), it can be VERY rewarding.


Now, all this said, motorcycle racing is more like a kilo every two weeks habit, instead of the kilo a week habit of car racing - you just tend to be buying stuff that's cut more pure and leaves you ten times more addicted.

But sometimes you gotta realize your addiction isn't healthy: