licence for thrills

DIY
Racing
A beginner’s guide
licence
for
thrills
You’ve proved your mettle
on trackdays, but you’re not
getting the same buzz you
used to. It’s time to go racing.
But where do you start?
Words: John Hogan & Rob Hoyles
Pics: Chris Brown, Si Robinson & Raing Line photography
R
acing a motorcycle sets you
apart from the average biker
in the same way that racing a
car distances you from decrepit
pensioners bending Corollas
outside Lidl. It wasn’t long ago that you had
to be blisteringly fast to make it on to the
average club-racing grid. Now, thanks to
the rise in trackday participation, racing at
club level has never been so popular. More
trackdayers than ever are having a go. That
means more normal people – people like you
and (hopefully) me.
The path to racing is a reasonably simple
one. You need a bike and you need a licence.
In the UK, your licence is supplied by the Auto
Cycle Union, the ACU, which is like a racing
version of the DVLA. Until now, getting an
ACU licence involved spending a day at their
home in Rugby – not very handy if you lived in
Cornwall or Aberdeen. By all accounts, it was
a death-by-PowerPoint-style bombardment
of the senses. Once finished – bizarrely,
without having done any assessed riding –
you gained the necessary paperwork to go
racing.
For 2011, the ACU has teamed up with
Motorsport Vision (MSV), which owns and
runs trackdays at Brands Hatch, Cadwell
Park, Outlon Park, Snetterton and Bedford
Autodrome. The ACU has allowed MSV to
incorporate classroom training, an on-track
riding assessment and the ACU training
course test into a regular bike trackday. This
means that you now have some options if
you’re thinking of going racing. You can either
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“
You can book a trackday near your house,
miss one session due to being in a classroom
and finish the day clutching the paperwork
required to scratch your racing itch.
”
take a day off, travel to Rugby, where you’ll
get the chance to sit in a stuffy classroom
all day. Or, you could book a day off for a
trackday near your home, miss one session
to attend the classroom, and finish the day
clutching the paperwork required to scratch
your racing itch. Surely, that’s a no-brainer?
So, I took the latter option, heading to
an MSV trackday at Brands Hatch on a
freezing cold November’s day. It runs exactly
like a regular trackday, because that’s
exactly what it is. When the track closes
for lunch, a couple of others and I head
for the classroom to begin our training.
Under the guidance of instructing stalwart
and all-round good guy, Stuart Stevenson,
we go through everything that you need to
know about racing, from registering as a
racer with your chosen race club, to the
preparation required to get you to the circuit
on time, let alone to the grid.
The flag system was explained in detail,
and so was what happens when (not if) you
crash. Stuart positively encouraged stupid
questions (I have a God-given talent at
asking them), and the fact that there were
only a few us in the room made sticking my
hand up an easy thing to do.
By the end of the hour-long lesson, I
definitely understood what was expected
of me from the moment of entering a
circuit until the race start. This was
confirmed when we sat a multiple-choice
www.superbike.co.uk MARCH 2011
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licence for thrills
Instructor Stuart Stevenson
questionnaire, all finished within five
minutes. After this, we kitted-up and waited
for our next available track session – in which
Stuart assessed our riding. Not being at the
front of the fast group on a trackday doesn’t
mean you’re not ready to go racing; two of
the guys I did the course with were happy in
the middle of the Intermediate group, and I
wobbled round in the middle of the fast group.
The assessment isn’t
something to worry about.
Stuart’s advice to me as
“Taking the
we went out were to ride
exactly as I normally do.
first step
I could feel him riding
towards
life
closer to me than a
normal trackday coach
as a skintdoes. I put this down to
but-happy
him testing my ability to
ride in close proximity to
racer is
others, as would be the
now
much
case in a race. I followed
easier.”
him for a while, then we
swapped places. When
he’d seen enough (or
finished laughing), he
waved me in for a debrief
on both my riding, and the
tick test. I hold my hand
up to getting one of the questions wrong (Q:
How many races do you have to do to lose the
orange ‘nobber’ bib? A: 10, not 15). We went
over it until I understood the error of my ways,
and that was that.
All that’s left for me to do now is have a
sporty eye test (available at any high street
opticians), find my nearest racing club, sign
up and start racing. Better still, before I do go
racing, I’m now able to ride on ACU test days,
which means I’m allowed to time my laps
(something you’re definitely not allowed to do
on a trackday). The extra cost for the course,
on top of the trackday fee, is just £99, or you
can pay £150 and just do the course rather
than a whole trackday. I think it’s a fantastic
idea. There are dates available at circuits
around the country, so taking that first step
towards life as a skint-but-happy racer is now
much easier. Check out www.clubmsv.co.uk/
acu for dates and details of available dates in
2011.
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You’ve filled out all the forms, completed the CTC
course and have been granted your ACU licence...
What next?
T
he sound of the letterbox flapping
signals its arrival. You rush to the
door, excitedly tear open the envelope,
laugh at the fuzzy picture on the front
and flip it over to read the words that
should make your heart skip at least a
couple of beats.
Road Race Rider: Yes, that’s you, that
is. But what next? Well, because you
live in the UK, you’re in luck and, more
to the point, spoiled for choice, with a
number of well-run clubs to pick from.
There’s a vast array of classes, too, to
suit you, your location, your machine
and, ultimately, your ability.
Classes range from 250 MZs to
full-on superbikes, so finding a class
to race in, to suit you and your budget,
shouldn’t be too difficult. Many clubs
have cottoned on to the fact that, as
much as we’d like to race sportsbikes,
the huge cost (if you want to be
competitive) can be prohibitive. But
with such a choice of clubs, thankfully
there’s nearly always an answer.
Some clubs run pre-injection classes
in which older bikes rein supreme and
early R6s and R1s are the weapons of
choice. Similarly, old CBR600s can find
their place at the front of the grid in
the steel-frame class. I’ve even found
the perfect class for the SuperBike R1 –
Derby Phoenix’s new-for-2011 pre-‘04
early injection class. The bottom line
is, if you want to race a sportsbike,
you can – you just need to investigate
all the options as to how you can be
competitive on your budget. Whatever
your level of ability, simply knowing that
you’re on a bike that isn’t capable of
winning can be pretty soul-destroying,
so pick a class in which you can afford to
compete on a level footing with others.
Of course, there’s more than the
initial purchase price to consider. There
are the running costs to bear in mind,
too. The further up the ladder you
climb, the more frequent the need for
fresh tyres, and the stronger the desire
for engine-tuning, lightweight parts,
top-of-the-range suspension, etc.
In the higher club classes (arguably
licence for thrills
the most respected is Thundersport
GP1, closely followed by MRO
Powerbike), don’t be surprised to see
ex-BSB machinery being pampered by
professional mechanics and new tyres
being fitted for every session. Success
in any unlimited class which doesn’t
have a tyre limit will often come down
to who has the biggest chequebook – so
be careful!
Further down the ranks, there’s often
more fun to be had, especially while
you’re learning track management
and race-craft. Go to any club meeting
and quite often the most packed grids
consist of CB500s or SV650s.
Running these smaller bikes costs
a lot less. Not only will they use fewer
tyres per meeting, they will cost less
to fix after a crash and tend to be
reliable over a whole season, thanks to
rules that dictate a horsepower limit
to eliminate excessive tuning and the
associated costs.
Regional racing
Where you live might also dictate which
club you decide to join. Northern clubs
such as Auto 66 and Derby Phoenix
tend to venture no further south than
Snetterton, favouring Cadwell Park and
Elvington Airfield as regular venues,
along with numerous real road-racing
events at Oliver’s Mount. Southernbased clubs tend to be more national,
mainly due to the limited number of
available circuits in the south.
Outside of the ultra-professional
BSB paddock, Bemsee/MRO and
Thundersport GB offer the widest range
of circuits on their calendar and from
experience also offer the highest level of
safety and professionalism.
While a large choice of circuits will
suit the more ambitious racer, there’s
still a place for clubs that use only one
or two circuits. Keeping things local
also keeps the hidden costs down,
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The
main
clubs…
Auto 66
Northern club racing mostly at
Cadwell Park and Elvington Airfield.
Reasonable range of classes
makes it a good entry-level club for
northern novices.
www.auto66.com
BMCRC (Bemsee)
Big fields and camaraderie is the nature of a good club series.
Be prepared, though, some riders are more serious than Max Biaggi and
throw plenty of money at it
Professionally run with a myriad
of classes run over several
choice venues. While the fast and
furious MRO classes are for more
experienced racers, the club also
runs various rookie championships
for newbies.
www.bemsee.net
travel costs being the biggest, along
with the length of time you’ll need to
take off work. This prospect may seem
unappealing: set up on Thursday for
Friday test-day; head home at 6pm on
Sunday night, after a hard day’s racing
– with a 300-mile trip ahead of you. So
you might want to work out which club
offers one-day meetings at venues
within reasonable reach.
Accommodation ranges from a car,
trailer and tent, right through to a
full-on race transporter. A generator is
a must; everything else is a luxury and
can be picked up along the way (a tea
urn is a godsend, mind…)
The club paddock is a friendly place,
and you’ll find most people helpful and
enthusiastic to welcome you into the
world of racing. So, if you want to go
racing, there’s something for everyone
in the UK and it’s really not very hard to
get started. In fact it’s stopping that’s
the difficult part… SB
Derby Phoenix
Racing mostly in the midlands and the north, Derby Phoenix has
some cracking classes for riders who want big bike action on a
budget. A wide range of abilities makes it great for new racers.
www.derby-phoenix.co.uk
Hottrax
Hottrax are fairly new to the scene but have done a good job of
replacing KRC as the UK’s only endurance racing club. Hottrax also
run races to the usual club format – the level is very much aimed
at those stepping up from trackdays, so ideal for novices.
www.hottrax-motorsport.co.uk
North Gloucester
Friendly, well-run club that, perhaps unsurprisingly, does most
of its racing in the south-west, so expect a few trips to Pembrey
along with Thruxton, Brands Hatch and a couple of other top
tracks.
www.ngroadracing.org
Thundersport GB
The newest, and arguably fastest, club in the UK is Thundersport.
Its meetings are professionally run and well-attended. Novices are
welcomed, although there are no specific novice classes.
www.thundersportgb.com