Premier classes to allow fewer modifications?

[slowpoke]

I've been seriously investigating some racebike options after one too many niggling problems with my 'ol' girl. From one of NZ's most respected road racers I received the comment that from mid next year there are likely to be "more standard" specifications in place for NZ's premier classes.

Does anybody know any more about this? Any idea how standard "more standard" is likely to be?

[Tony.OK]

Any 600's or 250's for that matter caught going too fast for a SBK will be black flagged:bleh:

[slowpoke]

Any 600's or 250's for that matter caught going too fast for a SBK will be black flagged:bleh:

Couldn't agree more...failing that they'll be black booted by my size 9 as they attempt to go by!

[Burrt Badger]

Instead of speculating here, why dont you contact the Road Race Commissioner and ask him direct?????? E-mail thru MNZ

[wharfy]

Are you trying to take the fun out of this ? ;)

[Robert Taylor]

I've been seriously investigating some racebike options after one too many niggling problems with my 'ol' girl. From one of NZ's most respected road racers I received the comment that from mid next year there are likely to be "more standard" specifications in place for NZ's premier classes.

Does anybody know any more about this? Any idea how standard "more standard" is likely to be?

Whilst there is scope for some cost reductions with engine spec common sense absolutely needs to be paramount re the chassis and suspension spec allowable. A return to the past ( as advocated by only one of the major distributors and one key member of MNZ ) would impact detrimentally with respect to tyre life and markedly increasing everyones tyre bill. And then there is the absolute given that there will be more crashes and injury.
Unfortunately the advocates of this have not considered the technical causes of such changes. As MNZ is a democracy and not an autocracy common sense should prevail.
Administrative bodies of sport have a moral, if not a legal obligation for the sport to be as safe as possible. I wonder aloud if negligence in providing same is challengable in a court of law?
I have notified in another thread about a letter I circulated re the suspension regulations, this can be found on the home page of www.brm.co.nz 3 of the 4 main distributors support my base arguments.

[Sketchy_Racer]

Any 600's or 250's for that matter caught going too fast for a SBK will be black flagged:bleh:

Don't be hating the little fella! :lol:

[Tony.OK]

Don't be hating the little fella! :lol:

:bleh::bleh::bleh::bleh::msn-wink::niceone:

[speedracerjimmy]

i have heard this rumour aswell.
the way sbk is now is to expensive and there is no way i could afford to move up even tho i would love to.if they go more towards standard im sure the class would grow for sure.
but as robert says there will be issues with the stock suspension etc.
tough call for mnz i guess.they do run a class in oz called formula extreme they run pretty stock thousands and it looks pretty popular.
maybe mnz could look at how that class is going over there and get some feedback from them.

[slowpoke]

Instead of speculating here, why dont you contact the Road Race Commissioner and ask him direct?????? E-mail thru MNZ

Yep, good point, and I've fired something off. It'll be interesting what response I get. There is actually a section on the MNZ website about proposed rule changes but nothing is listed there.

[enigma51]

Whilst there is scope for some cost reductions with engine spec common sense absolutely needs to be paramount re the chassis and suspension spec allowable. A return to the past ( as advocated by only one of the major distributors and one key member of MNZ ) would impact detrimentally with respect to tyre life and markedly increasing everyones tyre bill. And then there is the absolute given that there will be more crashes and injury.
Unfortunately the advocates of this have not considered the technical causes of such changes. As MNZ is a democracy and not an autocracy common sense should prevail.
Administrative bodies of sport have a moral, if not a legal obligation for the sport to be as safe as possible. I wonder aloud if negligence in providing same is challengable in a court of law?
I have notified in another thread about a letter I circulated re the suspension regulations, this can be found on the home page of www.brm.co.nz 3 of the 4 main distributors support my base arguments.

Isnt the reason all of them agree is due to the fact that if they dont allow aftermarket equipment it will hurt there pockets?


I can believe that standard shock etc are considered that dangerous

[enigma51]

I should add i do agree with Roberts "burning" of the rear (and front for that matter) and that only allowing oem shock is not the way forward

I believe we should keep the engines and look stock but other than that knock yourself out!

[Robert Taylor]

Isnt the reason all of them agree is due to the fact that if they dont allow aftermarket equipment it will hurt there pockets?


I can believe that standard shock etc are considered that dangerous

If all of the distributors that actually support road racing pulled out they would actually save heaps of money and it would positively reflect in their balance sheets at the end of the financial year. It would also mean that road racing in NZ would be little better than club racing ( sorry, but that is the cold hard truth ) Thank god there is distributor support and industry support.

[slowpoke]

You are absolutely right, Robert.

It's been funny spending many years in Oz where the dominant manufacturer is Honda, with CBR's being the popular weapon of choice for the average club racer and road rider. Honda were easily the biggest supporter of roadracing when I was there.
Now being back in NZ it's Gixxer's which are everywhere and I wonder if it's the fantastic support of Suzuki, the success of Stroud/Shirriff's/Bugden or the bikes themselves which have made it this way.
Yamaha too seem to have a high racing/road profile, but is it the great bikes, Bernard's Yamaha backed race team or a combination of the two?
Honda's certainly don't seem quite as popular here, on road or track as they are in Oz, but is this a reflection of their smaller racing program?

Looking at what it muxt cost to field a top level superbike or supersport machine and team it's hard to see this cost ever being recouped through bike sales in our tiney market. Say $50,000 per bike/team/spares per season (conservative), defray that cost at say $1000 per bike sold then you've gotta sell 5000 Gixxers etc before you are in front.

I reckon that's a fuggin' big ask in tiny NZ

[Robert Taylor]

You are absolutely right, Robert.

It's been funny spending many years in Oz where the dominant manufacturer is Honda, with CBR's being the popular weapon of choice for the average club racer and road rider. Honda were easily the biggest supporter of roadracing when I was there.
Now being back in NZ it's Gixxer's which are everywhere and I wonder if it's the fantastic support of Suzuki, the success of Stroud/Shirriff's/Bugden or the bikes themselves which have made it this way.
Yamaha too seem to have a high racing/road profile, but is it the great bikes, Bernard's Yamaha backed race team or a combination of the two?
Honda's certainly don't seem quite as popular here, on road or track as they are in Oz, but is this a reflection of their smaller racing program?

Looking at what it muxt cost to field a top level superbike or supersport machine and team it's hard to see this cost ever being recouped through bike sales in our tiney market. Say $50,000 per bike/team/spares per season (conservative), defray that cost at say $1000 per bike sold then you've gotta sell 5000 Gixxers etc before you are in front.

I reckon that's a fuggin' big ask in tiny NZ

Yep, and they dont need to be scared off by those hellbent on ''turning the clock back'' in an ill informed notion that doing so will bolster grid numbers significantly.

[slowpoke]

Well, I got a very prompt reply to my MNZ email enquiry. Paul Stewart, the Road Racing Commissioner gave a very helpful reply and basically said:

1/ A review is in progress but no rule changes will be taking place for the 2009 series.
2/ Proposed rule changes for 2010 will initially be sent out in draft form for comment
3/ He is aware of the need for the proposed rules to cater for existing bikes competing slongside the new bikes

Considering that I initially contacted the wrong person I'm pretty impressed with MNZ's response.:niceone: