Looking to get into racing

[sl8er4lyf]

Hey all you racers, This may not be the spot to post this, but i'm looking to get into some competitive racing, i dont have a huge amount of funding and zero track experience; I am looking to know how all of you got into the sport and any tips or routes for me to take to become a part of it?

I live in Auckland if thats any assistance and i'm 18

Cheers

[Motoracer]

- Go to AMCC (Auckland Motor Cycle Club)
- Become a member and apply for the race licence.
- Once you have membership and licence, ask some experienced people about how to prep your bike for a race meet. Its easy peasy.
- Get on the track, race in "club mans" class.

[p.dath]

Have you thought about starting with bucket racing? It's relatively cheap ...

[slowpoke]

There's lotsa good info here: http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=3032

Get a few trackdays under your belt, see how it feels, and reassess. Start to get along at a good clip, passing more people than pass you then have a think about actually racing.

[fatbastd]

Get involvd, but just don't try to set the world on fire right away.

Focus on being smooth and in control. Speed will follow.

Be careful who you listen to - gauge their experience (i.e. if they have sod-all, their opinion is worth a LOT less)

[owner]

Make sure your bike is sweet, Get ya bum down to Pukekohe on a friday which is a controlled test day most fridays are
Pay the grumpy man 90$ and hoon around for the day no race pressure just pure track time
Talk to who ever is around about what to do next

Or tie your sump plug up, change the coolant for tap water
and turn up at a race meeting say you want to race in clubmans purchase a day license and when the lights go out drop the clutch easy

[Sidewinder]

Hey all you racers, This may not be the spot to post this, but i'm looking to get into some competitive racing, i dont have a huge amount of funding and zero track experience; I am looking to know how all of you got into the sport and any tips or routes for me to take to become a part of it?

I live in Auckland if thats any assistance and i'm 18

Cheers

oh sweet race ya hyobag. theres the new 250 tiwns class that there start me thinks, and snice your in auckland it wont be a problem for ya. best of luck dude

[dpex]

- Go to AMCC (Auckland Motor Cycle Club)
- Become a member and apply for the race licence.
- Once you have membership and licence, ask some experienced people about how to prep your bike for a race meet. Its easy peasy.
- Get on the track, race in "club mans" class.

Haha. That's rich...Get into Clubmans....like all the other guys and gals will be newbies or slowbies. At Taupo last weekend (PMCC) Team Merkel and four others did lap times, during the practice, within about ten seconds of Craig Shirrifs, yet they stayed in Clubmans for the day. No self-respect, I reckon.

Anyway. I don't care. So long as they stay out of my face.

But the important part, re your reply to SL8 is, Clubmans is no guarantee of a safe and serene billet. It probably should be, but it ain't.

Sure, SL8. You can jump in the deep end and go from road to racing with no track experience in between, and you may well get away with it. But I think I'd recommend a bit of time working your way through the speed groups till you can happily ride with the almost (happily) insane (that's the second fastest group on any track day) before you get to racing.

Remember, you'll be pushing you and your bike well beyond anything you imagined was pushing on the highways, and often you'll be in contact (or every near contact) with other bike parts and biker limbs while in the 200Kph+ range. Doesn't seem like much till you experience it. And when you do a whole new set of possibilities open up, like, 'Fuck! Maybe I should do some track days first".

And just remember, the race-rules are fairly stringent, except there's never anyone around to police them just as you roll into a sweeper, thinking your hell-on-wheels only to find the guy right behind actually wants a bit of your line an is prepared to take it.

The rule being: Passing rider must keep clear. Yeah, Right!

You thought you were down and dirty, only to find you're way off the pace. He cuts in front leaving about enough space to get a tissue between your front wheel and his rear. He didn't keep clear, he forced you out of his way.

It's pretty exciting stuff, but for a chap with zero experience such an event is an open invitation to hit the front brake. And we know what happens when we do that, at speed, while down and dirty in a corner. :--))

But hey, don't let me put you off. You're 18 and bullet-proof. Damned fine attitude. Umm. Can I have your tyres after you won't need them anymore?

[dpex]

Make sure your bike is sweet, Get ya bum down to Pukekohe on a friday which is a controlled test day most fridays are
Pay the grumpy man 90$ and hoon around for the day no race pressure just pure track time
Talk to who ever is around about what to do next

Or tie your sump plug up, change the coolant for tap water
and turn up at a race meeting say you want to race in clubmans purchase a day license and when the lights go out drop the clutch easy

Almost good advice, except for one thing. You need to add something like WaterWetter to the tap water, or risk a melt-down.

[dpex]

Get involvd, but just don't try to set the world on fire right away.

Focus on being smooth and in control. Speed will follow.

Be careful who you listen to - gauge their experience (i.e. if they have sod-all, their opinion is worth a LOT less)

Now here is a seriously good bit of advice.

Personally, I'm a mechanical dummy who has made the mistake of taking advice from all manner of well-meaning person. I have acted on much of this advice, much to my misery.

Now I have just one source. Gav, from Henderson Yamaha. Gav says! I do. Any other advice which is different from Gav's, I don't take. I smile, say thank you, and move on.

Gav is not just the foreman at Henderson Yami. He races his arse off in amongst those totally fucked up Super Motard riders. Most always comes in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. His mates, Steve and Al...equally insane Motarders...racing with and against Gav, never err from his advice.

When Gav says....Then that's good enough for those who know that well-meaning advice is often devoid of substance.

So. If you want advice on anything to do with mechanical, then go see Gav. Tyre pressure, head tension, suspension settings, tuning, you name it. And if you produce a tray of beers he'll probably tell you a whole lot more upon which you can utterly rely.

BTW: This is no ad for Henderson Yami. If he moves, I'll move with him.

[puddytat]

Id tape up your lights, remove your blinkers,dump your antifreeze & replace with water wetter, wire up your sump plug & filter, sort out some numbers, get a day license & race yer Hyobag.......
Its the next big thing in racing.....250 twins
Clubmans would be a start, but you can have a huge speed differance with bikes & it give you a bit of a fright when you get passed by someone doing 200 plus, when seconds before there was no one behind you.
Dunno what classe you'd run in up there, but down here the 250 twins race in streetstock & its close racing.Those midgets on the 150 rgs etc are damn quick.
I did Clubmans on me R6 last year & felt like I was trying to run before I'd learned to walk, so I dropped down into streetstock & as a consequence Im learning more about corner speeds & entry/exit etc with the close racing.
Go hard man...

[ajw_888]

My 2c worth, my path was:

I had dabled in bikes for years, farm, with brother, cousins and dad etc. When I had a real job I looked at a new 250 proddy but never did buy it, eventually (after a couple of bikes) brought a 900 Duc (owing the bank heaps).
A mate and I popped to Manfield for a open test day, paid my money and road the track, there was no one there and I didn't have a clue. The track is so different to the road first time out with no one to follow. Did this a couple of times and then entered clubmans in a bears meeting.

I got the bug as the was always someone I could play with, I was never really at the front, I loved it. I have never really figured how to go fast at Manifield but the other tracks I would hook up with a fast bike and follow then as long as I could and learn there lines. I have fallen off a few time too when I got a bit excited and out paced myself.

Good luck mate...

[dpex]

Id tape up your lights, remove your blinkers,dump your antifreeze & replace with water wetter, wire up your sump plug & filter, sort out some numbers, get a day license & race yer Hyobag.......
Its the next big thing in racing.....250 twins
Clubmans would be a start, but you can have a huge speed differance with bikes & it give you a bit of a fright when you get passed by someone doing 200 plus, when seconds before there was no one behind you.
Dunno what classe you'd run in up there, but down here the 250 twins race in streetstock & its close racing.Those midgets on the 150 rgs etc are damn quick.
I did Clubmans on me R6 last year & felt like I was trying to run before I'd learned to walk, so I dropped down into streetstock & as a consequence Im learning more about corner speeds & entry/exit etc with the close racing.
Go hard man...

Running before walking is always a great option when a rather large tiger is on your case, or you just need to stretch your limits a bit. :--))

As I see it, the main prob with 'normal' bike racing is three-fold. First, the events are few and far between. Second, you have to get into essential Nomad mode to get to the meets which are spread far and wide. Third, when you get there, due to the number of classes, you get one warm-up and two races.

Me mate Big Al (Motard maniac) made a good point at Taupo a few weeks ago. He asserted, 'This racing's all very well, but at a track day at least you get four runs.'

I couldn't fault his logic except for one matter. Track-days aren't 'real' racing. Yeah, I know, in fast and nearly-fast it really is racing, but there's no feed-back.

But there is an answer to all these issues. It's called Bucket Racing. Once a month, and for Jaffas it's less than an hour from everywhere. Hugely competitive and it's real close-up and in your face.

Max speed? I reckon about 100, and that for only about one eighth of the track. The rest is hugely technical and 'very' close.

On Sunday I watched a bit of the three-hour enduro. I still can't see how it is possible to keep a motorbike going forward when more or less laying on the ground. But this lot did it, 195 times through the tight turns. This I have got to learn.

So after the Tri-series, ending at the Cemetery, I'm going to return old Zimmer Frame to being a road-bike only (except for Paeroa) and get stuck into buckets. Cheap, regular, frequent, and lots of riding.

All I need now is a 125 2-stroke, or a 150 four and I'm off like a robber's dog.

It's well organised in Aucks, too. Run by an extremely laconic John Connor who is as friendly and helpful as all get-out and takes absolutely zero shit from anyone, and just happens to be Avalon Biddle's personal mechanic.

That's where I'm going, Bucket racing.

[NOID]

Yes buckets are great, iv just started and love it... have fun and learn lots its what its all about