Advice on starting out on the roads

[tom22]

Hi Everybody, I have joined your good forum to find out about competing in road racing and hope to get some advice.

I am currently racing an SV650 Minitwin in short circuit series (BEMSEE) and i am currently in my rookie year, i am about to collect my last ACU signature to gain a clubman license. I understand that i will need a national in order to race in most real road racing meetings is this correct?.

I am hoping to get opinions on which road race would be the best to start out on as a novice to the roads so any advice is gratefully received

Thanks
Tom

[theboon89]

Not speaking from my own experiance but i have heard fromthe paddock as my friend has been thinking about it the past few years and has been asking similar questions. The cookstown 100 is supposed to be a good starter and relitivly easy to learn

[stewj]

hi tom,firstly you need a completely different attitude to be a roadracer.its a long process and is all about improving year after year.top guys like joey and ryan ,took their time to learn the basics like track knowlege,suspension,preperation before the results follow.its no coincedence that most top road racers are a little older than their short circuit brothers.good luck

[Baylon McCaughey]

the last two posts are correct, cookstown is realtively easy to learn, good starting circuit, biggest prob, is, cos its the first race of the season, entries fill up quite quickly!, roads are a different ball game from circuits, but a great expirience

[The Pipe Sniffer]

Tom22 good luck in your quest but take note of Baylon's point as he's the been there many many times and knows the pros and cons of irish roadracing.

[tom22]

Thank you all for your advice!

I gather this is going to be a very steep learning curve! Im going to start myself off at cookstown and go back to basics and take this one step at a time as advised.

I wont be expecting big results against other riders since a) have a great deal of learning to do and b) my bike is a minitwin as opposed to a supertwin so i have a totally stock 72 BHP engine and damper rod forks up front but for now this is all about personal best and racing the circuit!

Im going to try my level best to get over on a plane to watch some meetings this year in between my short circuit championship so perhaps ill post on here nearer to when i do.

Thanks again

[ste24white]

I would advise not starting out at mid-antrim, scarborough or bush.
Cookstown could be good as its easy too learn there's also a park land circuit in south wales called aberdare.

[Oli]

Hi Tom

I used to race with Bemsee from 2005-2008 and started real road racing this year. I did Cookstown and Tandragee in April / May and just did the Cock O'The North meeting at Scarborough this weekend gone.

It is way better than short circuit racing, the paddock is 100x more friendly and relaxed and the racing is much more enjoyable for it. Everyone leaves their ego at home and the racing is to be done for the enjoyment, unlike BSB, where everyone is just convinced they're the next Rossi. I don't know if it's the danger aspect of RR that brings everyone together, but there is a commeraderie in the road racing paddock that draws you in and makes you want to be a part of it, far more so than on short circuits.

As for riding styles, yes, it is SO different from short circuit, but a lot of fun. You just need to take your time and build up your speed. The most important thing is to be in the right place on the circuit, doing the right thing, e.g. on the throttle over a jump, pointing to where you want to be going. Only when you are getting that bit right do you start to add more speed, a little at a time.

I would totally agree that Cookstown is a great little place to get started and although Tandragee is a bit quicker and a lot more technical, I also loved the place.

I would not however recommend Scarborough as somewhere to go until you have experience. It is much more like a short cicuit but with jumps and no run off! Very very technically demanding and IMHO the most dangerous of the three.

The only issue with racing in Ireland is the ferry costs, it is expensive to get over the Irish sea. But totally worth it.

Oli

[tom22]

Thanks again, some really useful advice here !