How Fast Do You Go on a Racetrack With a Motorcycle

Whenever I tell friends and family about my hobby therapy of riding a motorcycle on the track, the first question is typical, “How fast are you going?” 🤷‍♂️

The length of the straightaway and the size of your motorcycle are key factors on how fast you can go in a straight line, though diving into speed further there are a few more variables to consider. On my 2017 Yamaha R6, I’ll typically achieve speeds of 120mph on smaller tracks, while topping out at ~146mph at larger tracks such as Road America. The fun part is seeing how fast you can go in turns, let’s dive in further.  

How fast are motorcycles? 

The typical, “Well it depends”, applies here. To keep things simple I’m going to break it down roughly by the size of the engine, with approximate ranges. There are so many other variables to consider outside the scope of this article, so treat this as if you and I were simply talking in my driveway. 

🏍️ A 250CC bike at the track will typically get up to speeds between 70-95MPH. 

Don’t let the lack of top-end speed fool you into thinking these are lacking fun. They’re an incredible fundamentals-building machine, a blast to take around a turn and to pass riders on a liter bike in a corner at lean. 

A lot of professional riders will use lower CC bikes to train on smaller tracks. 

🏍️ 600CC - 750CC is the middle of the road for motorcycle engine displacement(size)

Often referred to as great starter bikes, these are still incredibly powerful machines that can see top-end speeds of 140mph to 170mph with some 750’s squeezing out even more than that. 

You’ll need to keep 600’s strangled at 13,000rpm + to keep the power, but are very fun to ride. It also brings joy when passing larger bikes in corners… I’ve heard… :) 

🏍️ 1000CC bikes or liter bikes own the straightaways with speeds between 170-200MPH

The trick with these beasts is they do typically weigh more than the smaller bikes and you still have to stop them to make the inevitable turn at the end of the straight. ← that’s what we 600CC riders tell ourselves anyways. 😅

Having said that, if the rider is skilled, it’s a tough weapon to beat, and they get the enjoyment of passing us little guys on the straights and pulling away in the corners. 

How about those MotoGP bikes? These multi-million dollar missiles can reach speeds above 210mph with a mind-blowing horsepower north of 240HP, you’ll get there quickly. 

Any rider can go fast on a straight piece of tarmac. My four-year-old son, can twist his wrist and hang on. Race tracks are typically not all straight lines. They have curves and elevation changes to consider that require the rider to gain the experience necessary to navigate it at speed.

So let’s talk turns. 

How fast can you take turns on a motorcycle?

Unlike cars that have four points of contact to the ground and advanced aerodynamics that pin them to the track, motorcycles do need to slow down significantly compared to say an F1 car. 

The 2nd implementation of, “It depends”, in this article applies here; how tight of a radius of a turn is it, are there any elevation changes, on or off-camber? 

I’ve watched MotoGP riders take turns at over 100MPH on wide radius turns, to the Mugello kink at speeds 210mph+, all the way down to my local tracks turns of ~30mph requires full lean. 

It all depends on the characteristics of the turn, the state of your tires, the machine, the environment, and the skill of the rider. 

I love navigating turns. 

For me, this is where the joy of riding on the race track is unlocked. It’s the challenge of it all to increase corner speed, lean farther and break the barrier of what I thought was possible.

Throwing out an anchor (slowly way down for turns) is something all new riders battle. Though piecing together multiple turns at speed is poetry in motion. If I could do a track with just all turns, sign me up! 

How do you know how fast you're going?

The truth is I really don’t know how fast I’m going while out on track. There just isn’t much time to look down and be curious. My field of vision will include my shift light and the top of the RPM gauge, but the rest is a sense of speed and audio input from the engine. 

At a quick glance, I can gleam the dash, but mostly my eyes are out on the track and the line I’m about to take. 

There are some tools you can use to help measure how fast you’re going as a learning tool or lie detector. I will typically always run a GoPro mounted to my steering column showing the dash, and run a GPS lap timer (Aim Solo 2) that will also show my top and low speeds for any given session. 

In the end, while it’s fun to tell friends and family that my little 600 tops out at 146mph, as liter bikes blow my doors off down the front straight of Road America.

For me, it’s less about the speed, it’s feeling alive doing the closest thing to flying without leaving the ground. ❤️