Why Do You Test?
MX Performance Magazine has an article in the May, 2010 edition comparing the Canadian Tire Nascar Series, the Parts Canada Superbike Series and CMRC Motocross. The thing that struck me from it was not the actual series differences (which is outwardly pretty obvious), but the why the pro teams do it.
- Nascar – act as a feeder series to the main Nascar series
- Superbike – says one insider – ‘These sports are stupidly expensive at this level, and we do what we do strictly for the tertiary benefits’
- Motocross – to move product for the sponsors; what wins on Sunday sells on Monday (incidentally, my bike will be orange for that reason)
Understand why a team exists will put all of its activities in to their proper scope and priority. Misunderstanding it will result in (potentially lots) of wasted money.
The same thing with testing. If you don’t know the why of what you doing, then you are not testing, you are just flipping switches.