A few people have asked me about the idea of getting into racing and what is involved, so I thought that I would try to shed some light on the subject. With it being my first year in the sport, it is all still sort of fresh in the old memory and the initial year is probably the most daunting, so hopefully this will assist. Before you get your licence, you need to do a competitor training course with the ACU. This is either done in the ACU headquarters in Rugby or most clubs will run a training course day close to their home circuit. This from memory costs £45 and to be honest with you, you cannot fail this. Next step is to find out what club/clubs to join or series to race in. I decided to join several clubs rather than enter into a championship such as Thundersport, mainly to keep the initial costs down, as with these you have to travel around the UK to whichever circuit they are running at. Most circuits will hold race meets that are hosted by clubs and I would see which circuits are close to you and then which clubs run at them. Once this is decided, join the club for about £25 per annum. Now comes the fun bit, choice of bike. My strong advice is be realistic. You may be a quick rider on the road and fairly handy on a track day on your Blade, but believe me, this is not a class I would personally advise running in for your first year. The guys out there on these know how to ride them at the limit and believe me, that is bloody quick. I opted for the Formula 600 class, as it is probably the most popular of classes, so good choice of bikes, spares and a very mixed level of ability. I run a superstock R6, which around most circuits is as quick as a Blade or the like. I would advise finding a bike that has a stock motor (to avoid even more expensive refresh costs at the end of every year), but one that has got uprated suspension, spare wheels, clip on bars, adjustable rearsets, race bodywork, steering damper and possibly a quick shifter. Basically, buy a bike that has got all the bits on it, as converting a road bike will cost a fortune and you will not recover the costs of selling the old road bodywork etc on ebay. Yes a race bike will have been raced, probably crashed and used well, but it will have been serviced after every meet generally. When you are riding the bike hard and racing, you don't want it going wrong, so most bikes will have been checked over before and after each meeting also. Next up is the financial bit and what you can expect to spend, both to get going and also ongoing costs. First off, you need a bike. Budget between £2,000 and £5,000 for something decent. If it doesn't have spare wheels for wet tyres, these can be bought used for about £500. Tyres: I tend to buy scrub tyres which I generally get a weekend out of (6-8 races). They will generally have done 8-10 laps of Brands Hatch and then get sold on to aftermarket companies, who in turn sell them on. I pay about £120ish for a pair, with a new pair coming in at about £280. Tyre warmers, a must. Budget £250. Generator, for circuits that don't have power points for tyre warmers £400ish. Spare bodywork, race stuff is surprisingly cheap, with a full set coming in at £200-£250 unpainted. There are then useful spares such as bars, bits for rearsets, levers, screen, pads, different sprockets for various circuits all of which I would budget about £500 for. It is also worth looking at a van and caravan for obvious reasons! Once you have got your bike, spares etc., it is time to enter your first race. This is club dependent, but I generally pay about £100 (give or take £20) for a days racing. You will need a transponder, but you can hire this from most clubs on the day for about £10-£20. Fuel costs work out at about £30 for a weekend of racing. If the circuit has garage facilities, it is worth hiring a garage, which costs about £50 per weekend, but you split the costs with other riders. Overall, I guess I spend about £400 per meeting. The costs do mount up, but I would advise buying used where possible and one of the best places I have found is the website motoforum. You can get some great deals on stuff from there. Ebay is also another choice, but prices do tend to be higher. I expect that there are things I have forgotten and I am going to put that down to banging my head at my most recent off at Anglesey. I don't profess to be an expert in this at all, but I have learned from my mistakes and had to start somewhere. Before starting racing, people told me that it would get under my skin; I would spend hours tinkering and fettling and rebuilding; I would make sacrifices to go racing both financially and time wise, BUT it would all be worth it. And guess what, I have done all those things. Racing has proved to be one of the most enjoyable, most rewarding, most satisfying things I have ever done. I have sold my road Blade to help fund the racing, plus road riding has lost its appeal, but do I miss it? No, not a bit. I am racing the weekend of 17th/18th at Anglesey and I am already buzzing. There is quite simply nothing like it on earth in my opinion and I would strongly urge anybody thinking of giving it a go, to grab and do it. If anybody wants to know more or has questions, please fire away!!
Awesome rob. You have covered a lot of my burning questions there and it has just made me want to do it even more! BUT I have to be realistic, at the minute I have no transport so would have to do my car license and get a van over the winter (which I am planning on doing). I am desperate to start next year but I know the following year would be better as I would have a lot more financial relief by then (I finish my apprenticeship and go on proper money). Either way mate please keep us up to date with how you're getting on (any wins yet?? ) and until I join you I'll be rooting for you on here! Awesome mate!
Massive thanks YT!! Being realistic is again another huge part of it and it is worth waiting until you can do it comfortably. The wait makes it even better when you do get out there. No wins as yet, as the Formula 600 class is hugely competitive at the top. They are lapping the coastal circuit at Anglesey in about 1.09 and my best has been a 1.16, with the back of the field doing it in about a 1.23. I would like within 12 months to be doing it in a 1.12. I shall keep things posted up here for sure and thanks again for the support!!
Awesome post Rob!! I also would love to get into racing and the above is very helpful and also would like to be kept updated on your progress! Good luck racing and living the dream so many of us would love to be doing should we have the opportunity
Would happily come along to watch and show some support if you have any races local to my area- Snetty, Silverstone, Rockingham and Bedford Autodrome but I don't think the last one is a race track?
Nice one, it is always good to have support when racing, seems to help. I haven't got anything planned around that area, but it is always one to look at, variety being the spice of life and all that.
Oh the joys of racing! This was captured on my friends iphone and is my last off at Anglesey, resulting in a fractured scaphoid in my wrist. The bike actually came out of it better than I did!
This was done at Anglesey Circuit back in June by a friend of mine and kind of gives a flavour of a days racing.
Awesome write-up and vids Robin! What a thoroughly good read! Your mate's done a brilliant job with that vid and catching the essence of racing!
Was that too much power too early Rob? Hard to see on my iPhone, nothing to do with the quantity of alcohol I am currently consuming...
I honestly don't know. I think that there was too much power too soon, but the stock suspension on this bike, just couldn't cope beyond a certain level. I am kind of glad the new bike has got all the bells and whistles! Drink more, it may become clearer that way.
As Steve said robin, fantastic write up and vidoes! Really enjoyed that.... And a great insight into the world of club racing. Very informative
A typical weekend normally involves heading to the circuit the night before the race meet, regardless of how close it is. Some race meets run a practice and qualifying on the Saturday and then race day on Sunday, but most will do the whole lot in one day and then repeat it on the Sunday, so at least you don't miss out on racing if you can only do one day. Race day itself starts at about 7am with scrutineering, which normally itself lasts about 5 minutes, but the queuing can stretch this to 15 minutes. Once your bike, leathers, helmet, gloves and boots have got through this, it is then heading to sign on and get a transponder (to record lap times). After that it is a question of waiting until the first practice session which normally is about 9.30 for 15 minutes. This will then determine your grid position for your first race. Most race meets will give you 3 or 4 races per day. This doesn't sound like a great deal, but it does fill the day up no end. There is always something to do in between. Personally I find drinking shed loads of tea and having a good natter with others a good way of passing the time. Racing normally finishes at about 5.00 and after that, if it is a saturday night, with racing the following day, we normally have a few beers and a bbq or squeeze into whoever has the biggest caravan for some grub. I can only describe it as a big old family get together with a bit of two wheeled antics thrown in for a laugh.
That sounds awesome rob, right up my street! lol. There's no two ways about it now I'm sold, whether it's next year or the year after I'm deffo giving it a go. Just depends on the money. I thought racing might be quite a nasty environment sometimes having watched it all on the TV but it sounds as though club racing is a different kettle of frogs- everyone is there for a good time. I'm guessing the practice session with the laptimers aims to put you somewhere on the grid where you will start with riders of similar ability? Sorry for all the questions but could you explain the classes to me? A friend has told me that if I started I'd wanna be changing the 750 because it puts me in the thou class? Cheers rob
Your mate is right YT, robin will confirm but usually it's 600 superstock (675 triumph eligible) can change minor things like rear shock and fork internals 600 super sport - can change a few things inc front suspension and tune the motor 1000 stock 1000 SS but your allowed up to 1200 vtwin Normally an open class where you can ride what you like Think most clubs run a sound of thunder type class where you get a bigger variety of bikes and is aimed at v twins up to a 1000cc and 750 IL4's - I think - you'll have to check. But like I say, the others will be able to form that up It does look good though hey! Bit of bed time reading... http://www.thundersportgb.com/index.php/classes-2013
No problems with the questions at all, as I said, if I can help in any way, I will. Timed practice will basically determine your grid position for the first race, so that you are with riders of similar ability. Your result in this would then determine your grid position in race 2 and so on. You will always have somebody to race with, unless you aim for the scenery on the first corner, in which case you can watch everybody else out there having fun, whilst cursing yourself. Club racing is properly friendly stuff, with no negative element to it at all. Even at the front of the pack, it is all good fun. I have made some superb friends from it and there are now a group of 10 of us who attend the meetings, in a few different classes admittedly, but there is a good crowd. In terms of class, Jimbo has hit the nail on the head. YT, your GSXR750 would put you in with the 1000s (powerbikes). I think that for a first year, stick certain parts of your anatomy in a food blender and gently tending to the remains with lemon juice and vinegar would be preferable to running in that class. The 600 class has lots of choice, you can either go for the steel framed class (older CBR600s), pre injection (R6 circa 2000) or the Formula 600 (newer 600s). All of these classes attract a good spread of bikes and riders. Another one that is proving very popular is the mini-twins (SV650 or ER6). These are slightly lower on the old power stakes, (approx 85hp), but they are light and so you can carry a lot of corner speed. My personal advice would be either the pre-injection or the formula 600. Or a C90 and have a proper blast with a group of mates!
