How To Start Road Racing in the UK

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I hope to answer all your questions in this guide (I know I had a lot before I started), if you have a question not covered by this site, please feel free to email me (Similarly if you consider any of the information inaccurate!).

Firstly let me say this, to start racing isn't that difficult, if it was, I would never have started (Thanks again Steve Lincoln, who answered all my questions when I first started)

Now lets get some truths out of the way:
1. Racing CAN BE expensive:
This all depends on how you look at it, and is all relative anyway (I'm sure Richard Branson would consider it a minor expense!). When you start looking into the cost of racing, consider the cost of riding a bike on the road. Lets do a direct comparison:
Riding on the road: (Prices quoted are for me in 1998)

Item	Cost
Bike (GSXR750WT)	200 per month
Road Tax	6 per month
Insurance	100 per month
Total for Year	3672

Prices in UK Pounds! - Wish I'd never worked it out!

Racing on the track: (Prices quoted are for me in 1998)

Item	Cost
Bike (CBR600FT)	100 per month
Licence & Club Fees	60 per year
Race Fees	1050 per year
Total for Year	2310

Race fees based on 15 meeting averaging 70 pounds each.

Now admittedly the price of the bike is the major difference in price between the two, but this is real figures the I have paid and shown so that you can see the comparison. And yes there are other considerations such as running costs.
And this really depends on how much you use your road bike. I used to do about 12,000 miles a year on my GSXR, so my running costs for it where almost exactly the same, if not more, than running the race bike.

OK so some of you are saying "Yeah but you have to take into the consideration of the travelling costs etc to the meetings!", OK true enough, but consider this, tracks for me are, on average 100 miles away. All tracks I have visited let the camp in or around the paddock for no cost. So whats your cost, maybe 20 quids worth of petrol! Less than a night on the beer at the weekends!

So racing isn't as expensive as it may seem, it all depends on how often you crash (We'll get to that in a minute!)

2. I'm fast a F@*K on the road, I'm gonna win everything!:
Well this is what I thought too! The answer I'm afraid is no your not, not in this game matey! So don't set your heights to high.
I considered myself the fastest barstard on the road, nobody beat me, I'd race anyone and anything and thought I was god, UNTIL I started racing!

Its another world altogether, and it doesn't hit you until your 23 out of 25 on your first race!

Except that you are entering a totally new arena and concentrate on getting better and be prepared to come last, unless you are some kind of genius!

3. Your gonna come off and hurt yourself:
Oh yes you are. I think on average most people come of atleast once a year if not more. This season I came off three times, twice hurting myself (Once quite badly, visit my race homepage to find out more!)
So accept it, don't be afraid of it, otherwise you might as well not start racing!
The good news is, your way better off falling off on the track than on the road!

4. Racing is the coolest thing ever!:
YES YES YES!! After all the above, racing is the best thing I have ever done. Riding on the road seems like riding one of those kiddie battery powered motor bikes compared to racing. All I can say is, if you like riding fast (100mph down country lanes) do it on the track! For more reasons than just the legal ones!

Now just follow my guide and you could be racing next season!
If you've never ridden on a track before go to both my documents on Race Schools and Track days, if you've ridden on a track before and are sure you want to start racing move straight onto Joining a Club