Bucket racing

[F5 Dave]

Can put you up either at my place or somewhere.

[Kickaha]

It appears Vic club have rangled 6 Kiatoke meetings for next year. First one will likely be a 2hr or something special & we'll try to invite as many out of towners as poss.

Well at least a couple of the Southern lads will come up to to give some North Island butt a kicking at one of them ,or more likely piss about at the back of the field and finish last

[toads]

thanks for enlightening us frosty, but can you tell me why it's called bucket racing, these are normal two wheeler bikes aren't they?, how do you convert a normal road bike into a bucket racer?, ie what changes/modifications are nessecery, not that it really matters to me one way or t'other cos we don't have any kind of track here in Gisborne anyway.If there was my son would be into this!!
Also how many casulaties have you witnessed in this sport as opposed to say speedway?
Do you think it's safer or better regulated?

[Eddieb]

but can you tell me why it's called bucket racing, these are normal two wheeler bikes aren't they?

Well they were once upon a time

how do you convert a normal road bike into a bucket racer?, ie what changes/modifications are nessecery

Find the cheapest piece of c**p you can find, take off anything not absolutely essential to make the wheels go round, crash it a few times, paint it several different colours, throw half of the remaining bits away and replace them with parts off other makes & models so it's true parentage is as hard as possible to recognise

Do you think it's safer or better regulated?

From the (very) small amount of experience i've had I would say yes and no, you need all the usual safety equipment as with any other race class, but it seems fairly relaxed and unofficial beyond meeting standard Motorcycle NZ regulations. ACcidents I have seen have been lucky to have been over 20-30km/h

[SPORK]

thanks for enlightening us frosty, but can you tell me why it's called bucket racing, these are normal two wheeler bikes aren't they?, how do you convert a normal road bike into a bucket racer?, ie what changes/modifications are nessecery, not that it really matters to me one way or t'other cos we don't have any kind of track here in Gisborne anyway.If there was my son would be into this!!
Also how many casulaties have you witnessed in this sport as opposed to say speedway?
Do you think it's safer or better regulated?

I think the reason they are called bucket racers is that they are buckets of shit.

From what I have heard anyway

[FROSTY:Me]

thanks for enlightening us frosty, but can you tell me why it's called bucket racing, these are normal two wheeler bikes aren't they?, how do you convert a normal road bike into a bucket racer?, ie what changes/modifications are nessecery, not that it really matters to me one way or t'other cos we don't have any kind of track here in Gisborne anyway.If there was my son would be into this!!
Also how many casulaties have you witnessed in this sport as opposed to say speedway?
Do you think it's safer or better regulated?

Holey cow lady thats a nest of worms.
1) buckets came from the airforce days when buckets were the old buckets of shit the guys had as hanger hacks (transport from hanger to hanger)
Then they marked out a track at Whenuapai and started to improve the bikes.
2) Look at the wanna go racing thread -and a bucket racer must meet all those rules Other than that i wouldnt bother for a novice racer.
It looks complicated but its real easy if ya follow the setup rules I gave in wanna go racing.
With a bucket I always suggest get the best tyres money can buy and I prefer reliable over performance.
3)Reality toads any form of motor sport is dangerous.
On the carpark and go cart tracks the speeds are relatively slow-60-70km/h are the top speeds so even though you crash a lot the damage is usually limited to a few bruised and scrapes.
I hurt my neck quite badly and a bloke busted his shoulder blade but that was over a period of 4 years -so pretty low risk.
I would suggest it is "safer " than speedway and you sure learn a lot of racecraft.
On the big tracks a bucket is getting up to some pretty fast speeds so its as dangerous as any other class of road racing.
In short-as far as bang for your buck goes bucket racing is a lot of racing for your dollar.

[Kickaha]

I think the reason they are called bucket racers is that they are buckets of shit.

From what I have heard anyway

Yep,Buckets have always had bad press,we run at the local BEARs days here and we're not allowed to run any other class(even pre 82) but our own as our riding is "too agressive" I think thats just an excuse to stop the bigger bikes being done over by the buckets

They have evolved (in some cases anyway) from being truly "buckets of shit" to pretty much purpose built race bikes with some interesting engines and good handling frames

At the moment here we have a CB100 turbo being built,once that is done there are two GP100/RG400 reverse cylinder motors on the drawing board and I've seen a GP100/NSR250 hybrid engine as well

Frames,anything from Rods RS125/MB100 to bog stock AX100,CB125,GN125 with at least one purpose built tube framed CB125 and a custom built Alloy frame being planned for next season

[Kickaha]

3)Reality toads any form of motor sport is dangerous.
On the carpark and go cart tracks the speeds are relatively slow-60-70km/h are the top speeds so even though you crash a lot the damage is usually limited to a few bruised and scrapes.
I hurt my neck quite badly and a bloke busted his shoulder blade but that was over a period of 4 years -so pretty low risk.
I would suggest it is "safer " than speedway and you sure learn a lot of racecraft.
On the big tracks a bucket is getting up to some pretty fast speeds so its as dangerous as any other class of road racing.
.

Well in the last two seasons Daryll broke his collarbone,I broke my schapoid and Neil broke his collarbone,now thats over about 24 events totaling about 70 individual races,safe as house really

[toads]

well thanks guys for giving me some idea of what it's' all about, I saw those crash photos and thought of my son out there hooning on his cbr with the notion he's invincible and thought I'd love to see some safer way for him to get good racing experience with less risk than out on the open road. The cheaper and easier that a motorsport is to get into the better, the competitive and highly regulated nature of speedway has pretty much put it beyond the reach of the average Joe with no money. We have a heap of old wrecks here that could all be resurrected for this purpose. I know the council have had talks of making a boyracer track somewhere here to try and encourage them to get off the road and flex their muscles and ooze testosterone in a regulated area, the main problem with this is that they won't be interested in being regulated. So there may well be some sort of track facility built here and never utilised.!! I may write to the GDC and suggest this as an alternative.

[FROSTY:Me]

Well in the last two seasons Daryll broke his collarbone,I broke my schapoid and Neil broke his collarbone,now thats over about 24 events totaling about 70 individual races,safe as house really

Putting that in prospective though kick--dont you race on the big tracks--as in full sized tracks not carparks n stuff

[Eddieb]

Putting that in prospective though kick--dont you race on the big tracks--as in full sized tracks not carparks n stuff

Oh I wish I wish I wish

[F5 Dave]

Big ccts are boring, but the back bit of Ruapuna & Manfield are ok for variety. Taupo is quite good too, but I prefer it when they put in a couple of chicanes.

Go kart tracks are the best without a doubt & Kiatoke is one of the best. The best IMHO is Blenheim. Stella fun.

Carrs rd I only rode in the rain & it was too slippery to be any fun. Mt Wgtn is ok but getting bumpier. Tauramanui is great fun if a little short. Palmerston is good too.

[FROSTY:Me]

Hey dave did you make it up to the meeting held in the freezing works carpark just north of hamilton.
Well remembered if you did -leathers stunk of watered down cow shit for months afterwards.

[F5 Dave]

urrr, no I don't think I would have travelled so far for that.

We used to race at the Longburn freezing works in Palmerston north, but it wasn't whiffy at all.

Bring back Ohakea airforce base! the tarmac was real grippy & you had enough space to lay out some real hella tracks.

Raced the last meeting at chch airbase (starting with B something?) & that was similar, but not as good tarmac.

Frosty, so you've raced Mt Wgtn a ways back from the sounds, just trying to place you, what bike did you have?

[Pickle]

Shit Dave Longburn was shocking, really slippery if it got wet, so bad you couldnt race cause of all the grease & shit from the works.
Ohakea was the buisness, as you say real grippy and some good tracks laid out. great when the Bucket GPs were held there.