Racing

Couger · Trackday Trickster Joined: 01 May 2002 Karma :

Hiya,

Was thinking the other day, how would one go about getting into racing? I noticed the other day that most MotoGP 125 guys are 16/17. Im 18 now, I reckon im probably to old to start now, but if I were going to, or try to, how would I go about it?

Cheers,
Couger
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TiN · Pocket Tin Joined: 14 Feb 2002 Karma :

I thought that there were quite a few 14/15 year olds!?...that's what makes the 125s so much more entertaining...kids on rockets...prime time entertainment waiting to happen!

...stars like Rossi started on stuff like mini-moto, and worked their way up...

Tin

Jon W. · Two Stroke Sniffer Joined: 19 Apr 2002 Karma :

If you are very serious about racing get intouch with Ian Wiltshire;

ian@tw-racing.co.uk

he will tell you everything you need to know as he used to race 125's etc.

Be warned though, it is very expensive, a full season you are looking at £15-20,000 Evil or Very Mad

if you manage to drop your bike often!

You also need riding experience because these 125's weigh 69KG's and have 45bhp and a top speed of 135-140mph!

G · The Voice of Reason Joined: 02 Feb 2002 Karma :

Plenty of older people get into racing... but generally just to it for fun... don't expect to become the next Rossi/Fogarty/Bayliss/etc.

First yuo want to go to a few track days... well a *lot* of track days. Get something like a 400cc * track bike maybe, do more track days. Once you've got to the point you can do well in the fast groups you can probably start as a rookie in club racing... and realise you're actually pretty shit Smile

.
Once you've got that far you can work your way up through different classes if you're *really really* good.

* A friend of mine races (not this year though) MZs... these are the old one's so they're not that fast about 25hp & 100kg. There are various details at https://www.bmzrc.org.uk . As the bikes are pretty simple you can do pretty much all the maintenance and tuning yourself. He reckons it's about £3000 for a season and you should be able to get a bike in the £50 - £500 range, then probably upto £1000 to do it up (though you should be able to do it for a fair bit less.
I've had a sit on a couple of race-series MZs bikes and they're pretty damn compact with a pretty commited racing stance.