Girl racers

[bikegirl]

[Ste]

How do you class a potential recruit? Someone who is able to ride faster than most of the fast group in track days, as those are the only people who are actually potential racers. Or is it 25 people who have said they might be interested?

[Kris]

The impression I get from 'fastbird' is that she has a chip on her shoulder about blokes. Not just male bikers, just men in general Something to prove maybe? By beating the men with her team of women, she would be effectively rubbing their noses in it "Ha ha you got beaten by a girl" etc etc. I thought this was the sort of thing most sensible bikers cringe at. By bringing up the issue of the sex of riders/team you're effectively putting the idea of women racing into question again. I fail to see what that will achieve

If a woman wants to race then she should be able to do it without using the whole 'girlie' team tactic. Purlease...
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[Steve H]

I'm impressed that bikegirl hasn't risen to the baiting by some of you regarding the whole ethical issue.

She's come on to the website and given those female members the opportunity to put their name forward and then along comes the customary criticising of what could possibly be a very good proposition for those that wish to take it further.

It seems indicative of this website lately for some to find a chink in the armour of any poster/thread and then scrutinise said poster on the subject to the Nth degree.

Whilst I realise that 'it's a chat forum' and 'we're all entitled to voice our opinion' these types of posts are becoming predictable and (in some cases) tiresome.

Time to duck I s'pose!

SteveH
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The BCF Top TEN - 2010, 2009, 2008, The Original.

[Bendy]

[Kris]

[Tarmacsurfer]

[Kris]

So spectators have to be female as well?

News to me.
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[Ste]

No one is being "oh you're female you're crap so no point" it is people trying to understand the reasons behind it, as it is sexually dicriminating. And trying to find out if it is actually people who would be at least average at racing, or just people who have done the odd trackday and are female.

No one is baiting her, it is simply a discussion about the idea of a puely female race team. It could be a good future for those involved, but I believe (as do others) that it is not a good move at all.

Bike Girl, you say you're after people to do the mechanics. Surely that should only be females as well as it is an all girls team, and girls are just as capable at mechanics as males so surely using females would be showing further that females are just as capable?

[Tarmacsurfer]

Came across as your not being interested in riding for them, not watching them
I can see the point myself. Both from a publicity stand point and also from a way to get women more active in the race scene. Proof is the pudding though, as they say. Either it will work, and I'll be writing begging letters to Bikegirl in a few years time, or it won't. And she'll be doing whatever it is she does now. At a guess.
And now I'm rambling.
Painkillers, wonderful things.

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I'm immortal. Well, so far.

[Frost]

I think it more of a:
"yey, racing looks fun, we want to do that!"

"hmm, we cant afford it, and cant pull it off on our own, so lets do what women allways do in that situation and use the fact were female to enlist blokes to do stuff for us!"

*posts thread*

*guys help out*

*girlies get to go racing*


As far as i'm concern nothing will be 'proved' by a few girls having a go at racing, even if they are fairly successful. But they will get to do some races, have some fun, and may be able to attract more help and sponsership as they are female and can use this to their advantage in a male dominated sport.


In 20 years time i dont seriously expect there to be as many women in bike racing, or racing in general as there are men. However i expect stunts like "Formula woman" to be a thing of the past, with fast women racing with men.

[Kris]

I'm just left wondering why it's so important to 'beat the boys' in a race? I doubt many people in a race care if the person in front is male or female - I bet they want to overtake just as much either way. If women in racing is such an issue then stop making it one. By doing an 'all-girls' team I believe they are opening themselves up to more criticism than they would have got if they raced in a mixed sex team.

I'm against it because I can see the disadvantages far, far outweighing the advantages. That is all.
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www.prisonplanet.com

[RiderOfTheSto...]

I can’t see what the problem is here. Someone wants to start a team for women. So what? Why shouldn’t they? If they can find enough women who can race then what’s the problem?

[Bendy]

It's not a 'problem'. We're just having a discussion about what we think.

[Ste]

Surely the most important thing when running a race team is the racers riding ability? If they're male or females doesn't come into it, if they can race well then they'd get into a race team. Starting your own race team because no other race teams are interested in you is slightly daft, there is a reason why they don't want you to race, and that's because in their views your riding and racing is not up to a high enough standard. So go ahead and waste time and money on your own race team, but it would surely be a better start to do at least a seasons racing as a private entry and then once you have shown the world that you can do well teams will be interested in you. Starting a team when the only entry requirement is being female sounds like a good way to ensure you have a team which can't perform well compared to the other teams.

[bikegirl]

[Ste]

[hellkat]

I go along with the comments made by RideroftheStorm. This is about how I would see it - predominantly because I come from a fairly male-dominant sort of biker background, and if I wanted to do something like that, I would have no clue where to start, or who to ask. In general I think its a good idea, hardly "sexist", and not really even open to criticism if it "fails". After all, women's rugby continues on, has its own leagues, etc., its just not as Big as men's rugby.

And bollocks to the "girls only" spectator remark as well. That appears to me to be simply facetious.
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[bikegirl]

[Frost]

[Bendy]

[Sparks!]

An all girls league is a stupid idea, your asking anyone and everyone, your only team criteria is that they have to be female

You'd be much better off running girl only track days, you'd get more respect that way and it's a better idea in general.

If you want people to race then you want people who are FAST in the FAST group doing REGULAR track days, have competitive bikes and willing to spend time/money on it.

There is no easy short cut to racing, I can't see how anyone would want to race "just because they can" if they haven't the ability.. they'd just make a fool of themselves!!

A couple of mates of mine who race supermoto are hassling me to go racing now, I've only done a few track days and I've a lot to learn so keep telling them no... this is similar to what your doing, your trying to get people to race just because they can, and not necessarily because they are good enough!
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[Dusty]

I don't really see what the problem is, getting sponsors really isn't easy, so by making a team stand out, you increase your chances.

However, I can kind of see what people are saying, in that if I started a football team and declared that only men could join regardless of ability, I would no doubt take a lot of stick from various women.

Having said that I don't really think it is a bad idea, as long as you don't compile a team of women with no ability just for the sake of making the team a bit of a novelty. Getting into racing is hard, it costs a lot of money, but in a way I think this is a good thing because only people who are really serious about it are going to end up being involved. In my opinion trying to get girls who have only done a couple of track days to start racing, just because they are girls, is foolish at best.


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[Ste]

Bike Girl, did get the idea that you were asking for people to mechanic for you, but was wrong it seems. Nowt wrong with having more mechanically minded people able to help when stuff gets complicated and is a good idea really, just got the wrong idea about it. Do agree with there being no point in people helping if the people being helped aren't interested in learning how to do it themselves.

Will be fine if it all works well, but think it would be a good idea to do some racing privately before joining a team, and there should be some riding skill level and racing experience needed to be able to join the team as otherwise it could well just fall flat on it's face and just be a glorified track day group.

[hellkat]