Road Racing

What is your opinion about moto road racing such as Isle of Man TT or
300 curves of Gustav Havel ( * w w w .300zatacek.cz) ?

Are there any similar popular and famous road races in US or somewhere
else (except Ireland/Northern Ireland where the road racing's pretty
popular, as far as I know).

Btw. here are some onboard videos:

* w w w .300zatacek.cz/2008/02/video-z-biku-kamila-holane.html

or the winner

* w w w .300zatacek.cz/2008/02/video-vitez-winner-2007.html

Let me know, thanks!

On Mar 18, 1:05 pm, "w w w .300zatacek.cz" <300zata...@gmail . com > wrote:
> What is your opinion about moto road racing such as Isle of Man TT or
> 300 curves of Gustav Havel ( * w w w .300zatacek.cz) ?
>
> Are there any similar popular and famous road races in US or somewhere
> else (except Ireland/Northern Ireland where the road racing's pretty
> popular, as far as I know).
>
> Btw. here are some onboard videos:
>
> * w w w .300zatacek.cz/2008/02/video-z-biku-kamila-holane.html
>
> or the winner
>
> * w w w .300zatacek.cz/2008/02/video-vitez-winner-2007.html
>
> Let me know, thanks!

Cool videos. As far as I know, there is nothing like this or the Isle
of Mann in the North America. My understanding is that the main
reason is insurance, in no small part because of fear of lawsuits. A
couple of years ago there was an attempt to organize a road race in
Nova Scotia, which fell through at the last minute because the
organizers were unable to secure insurance.

A friend of mine, who races vintage bikes, did participate in what was
advertised as a vintage road race, but in reality it was more of an
exhibition run. It was part of a big bike rally and was conducted the
day before the real vintage races were held at the local closed
circuit. You still got to go fast through closed public roads, but it
wasn't like anybody was dicing for the win pushing it to the limit.

Personally, I think road races like this look fantastic, but I don't
know that I'd ever do it as part of a serious race. An exhibition
run, sure. Signing up to do one event, surviving it, and then getting
back to do my normal closed circuit thing, maybe. But pushing a
modern bike to the limit on such a course half a dozen times a year,
no freaking way. Best of luck to you guys! Have fun and stay safe.

> Personally, I think road races like this look fantastic, but I don't
> know that I'd ever do it as part of a serious race. An exhibition
> run, sure. Signing up to do one event, surviving it, and then getting
> back to do my normal closed circuit thing, maybe. But pushing a
> modern bike to the limit on such a course half a dozen times a year,
> no freaking way. Best of luck to you guys! Have fun and stay safe.

There may well be, but I don't know of a more lethal event than the IoM.
Historically, there's been a 1% fatality rate at IoM. Each year they
lose 1-2 people. Not just injured, mind, but fatalities. And not just
the little guys, they lost top riders there as well.

Now perhaps motorsports in the past were as, or perhaps even more,
lethal, than IoM today, but I dunno. GP has, now, two fatalities in its
entire history. But IoM loses 1-2 a year. Dakar doesn't even have that
kind of record.

But IoM is certainly exciting. Love to see them run there.

On Mar 20, 10:44 am, Will Hartung <redro...@sbcglobal . net > wrote:
> Now perhaps motorsports in the past were as, or perhaps even more,
> lethal, than IoM today, but I dunno. GP has, now, two fatalities in its
> entire history. But IoM loses 1-2 a year. Dakar doesn't even have that
> kind of record.

I'm not sure about that. It's all but shut down for good now, but as
I recall, they have lost several motorcyclists in the last couple of
years.

[Dangerous TT]

I have a feeling that more spectators* are killed on the Isle of Man
roads during TT week than racers are killed during the acutal racing
and practice.

* That'll be spectators attempting to emulate their heroes on the TT
course, sometimes after a couple of pints of local beer and
occasionally on the wrong side of the road, rather than spectators
just sitting watching the racing.

[Wonderful TT]

But every motorcyclist who thinks he or she is a bit quick on the road
should visit there at least once and see the experts demonstrating how
it's done. I don't know how relevant it is to any other form of
motorcycle racing, but it's a true test of balls and judgement. Or
something...

RealMart <RedLegMedia@googlemail . com > Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:21:41
>[Dangerous TT]

>* That'll be spectators attempting to emulate their heroes on the TT
>course, sometimes after a couple of pints of local beer and
>occasionally on the wrong side of the road

- Europeans having a brain fade and forgetting to ride on the left
- People going the right way round the course and running wide.
- People *Going the wrong way round the course* and running wide. This
one is so dumb. There's really no particular need to ride the wrong way.
Just take the long way home. Or take the short cut across the middle of
the island. There's some stretches in the middle third of the track
where you really don't want to arrive round a blind bend on the wrong
side of the road.
- People driving cars. Over the mountain on Mad Sunday. Why? I mean
really, why?

But mostly going to the IoM is an exercise in holding your breath for a
week and aiming for zero f*ckups. I guess that probably goes for the
racers too.

--
Julian Bond E&MSN: julian_bond at voidstar . com M: +44 (0)77 5907 2173
Webmaster: * w w w .ecademy . com / T: +44 (0)192 0412 433
Personal WebLog: * w w w .voidstar . com / skype:julian.bond?chat
Web 3.14159 compatible

On Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:52:03 GMT, Julian Bond <julian_bond@voidstar . com >
wrote in <gx$Ml9TxJq4HFAQi@jblaptop.voidstar . com >:

> But mostly going to the IoM is an exercise in holding your breath for a
> week and aiming for zero f*ckups. I guess that probably goes for the
> racers too.

Well, I'll be holding my breath for Neal this year. I doubt I can
get across to help him, and he's certainly got people at least as experienced
as I for pit crew already. So bonne chance and all that for everyone involved!

--
Ivan Reid, School of Engineering & Design, _____________ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

On Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:32:16 +0000 (UTC), "Dr Ivan D. Reid"
<Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk> wrote:

>On Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:52:03 GMT, Julian Bond <julian_bond@voidstar . com >
> wrote in <gx$Ml9TxJq4HFAQi@jblaptop.voidstar . com >:
>
>> But mostly going to the IoM is an exercise in holding your breath for a
>> week and aiming for zero f*ckups. I guess that probably goes for the
>> racers too.
>
> Well, I'll be holding my breath for Neal this year. I doubt I can
>get across to help him, and he's certainly got people at least as experienced
>as I for pit crew already. So bonne chance and all that for everyone involved!

Cheers Ivan.

I guess I've not announced it in this forum, and this is as good a
time as any - I intend to race at the TT this year, after three
successful and improving runs in the Manx GP.
--
Champ

Champ wrote:

> I guess I've not announced it in this forum, and this is as good a
> time as any - I intend to race at the TT this year, after three
> successful and improving runs in the Manx GP.

How do you learn this circuit? All of the corners, nuances, and hazards.
In the Jefferies TT video posted in this thread, he comments "this
corner you can take very fast, and the next corner looks like you can do
the same, but you can't".

Considering the margin of error (i.e. zip), I'm just curious how you
learn this circuit. How many laps does it take before you pick it up.

Do you just drive it in a normal car several times to get the ordering
down, or what.

If you were to race the TT, including practice and your race, how many
laps at speed would you get around the circuit in an event?

On Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:46:56 -0700, Will Hartung
<redrocks@sbcglobal . net > wrote:

>Champ wrote:
>
>> I guess I've not announced it in this forum, and this is as good a
>> time as any - I intend to race at the TT this year, after three
>> successful and improving runs in the Manx GP.
>
>How do you learn this circuit? All of the corners, nuances, and hazards.
>In the Jefferies TT video posted in this thread, he comments "this
>corner you can take very fast, and the next corner looks like you can do
>the same, but you can't".
>
>Considering the margin of error (i.e. zip), I'm just curious how you
>learn this circuit. How many laps does it take before you pick it up.

I think that you never really stop learning it.

I started visiting the TT as a spectator in 1984, and went for 10
straight years. In that time I did a lot of laps on open roads, and
generally learnt to some degree the parts of the circuit which don't
have speed limits (which, in those days, was a good 2/3rds).

When I first raced there, in 2004, I prepared by watching a lot of
videos, and doing 3 laps in a car with 3 different experienced racers,
making notes as we went.

Still, that very first lap of practice was still quite, er,
"demanding" :-)

But it's interesting - even with a year between events, when you go
back on closed roads, you pretty quickly pick up from where you left
off. In my 3 years at the Manx, my fastest laps went 105, 112, 115.
Each of these was party due to being on a better bike, but my circuit
knowledge definitely improved too.

>Do you just drive it in a normal car several times to get the ordering
>down, or what.

Yeah, that works too. The Irish lads racing for the first time come
over and do lap after lap in a car, with an experienced racer pointing
things out.

>If you were to race the TT, including practice and your race, how many
>laps at speed would you get around the circuit in an event?

In the TT if you're very well organised, and there's no issues with
the weather, you'll probably get 3 laps per evening practice session.
(on two different bikes). There's 6 practice sessions, so that's 18
laps.

This year I plan to be riding in every solo race, as follows:
Superbike - 6 laps
Supersport (600) - two races, at 4 laps each
Superstock (1000) - 4 laps
Senior - 6 laps

So, that's 24 laps of racing, which is just over 900 miles!
--
Champ
neal at champ dot org dot uk

Champ wrote:
>>> I guess I've not announced it in this forum, and this is as good a
>>> time as any - I intend to race at the TT this year, after three
>>> successful and improving runs in the Manx GP.

> In the TT if you're very well organised, and there's no issues with
> the weather, you'll probably get 3 laps per evening practice session.
> (on two different bikes). There's 6 practice sessions, so that's 18
> laps.
>
> This year I plan to be riding in every solo race, as follows:
> Superbike - 6 laps
> Supersport (600) - two races, at 4 laps each
> Superstock (1000) - 4 laps
> Senior - 6 laps
>
> So, that's 24 laps of racing, which is just over 900 miles!

I wanted to add my well wishes also. I hope you do well, have a great
time and have a safe event. I look forward to reading your blog and
hearing of your adventure.

Mick
--
Mick aka MotoMania
motomick at sbcgobal dot net

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving
safely in a pretty and well preserved body -- but rather to skid in
broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
-- WOW, WHAT A RIDE!!" - Author : Unknown

Champ (Ivan) lets slip:

> I intend to race at the TT this year, after three
> successful and improving runs in the Manx GP.

Go Neal!

Come back in one piece.


Go fast. Take chances.
Mike S.

On 2008-03-25 15:39:35 -0400, sturd <mikesturdevant127@hotmail . com > said:

> Champ (Ivan) lets slip:
>
>> I intend to race at the TT this year, after three
>> successful and improving runs in the Manx GP.
>
> Go Neal!
>
> Come back in one piece.
>
>
> Go fast. Take chances.
> Mike S.

My sentiments as well! Kick ass Champ!

Very interesting video. I know of no similar road race for motorcycles on a
public highway in the USA. Exactly where is this race held?

YTKinWI at * sportbikeroads . com

"w w w .300zatacek.cz" <300zatacek@gmail . com > wrote in message
news:b9d64635-ed6d-4ca6-8d2d-e503ac04b3b3@i29g2000prf.googlegroups . com ...
> What is your opinion about moto road racing such as Isle of Man TT or
> 300 curves of Gustav Havel ( * w w w .300zatacek.cz) ?
>
> Are there any similar popular and famous road races in US or somewhere
> else (except Ireland/Northern Ireland where the road racing's pretty
> popular, as far as I know).
>
> Btw. here are some onboard videos:
>
> * w w w .300zatacek.cz/2008/02/video-z-biku-kamila-holane.html
>
> or the winner
>
> * w w w .300zatacek.cz/2008/02/video-vitez-winner-2007.html
>
> Let me know, thanks!

YTKinWI <ytk@wi.rr . com > Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:54:01
>Very interesting video. I know of no similar road race for motorcycles
>on a public highway in the USA. Exactly where is this race held?

zatacek says (on the PB forum)

the circuit is in Horice, Czech Republic, about 100km NE from Prague.
One round is 3.4miles, 50:50 town and forrest ;-)

17-18/05/2008 - 46th year of 300 curves of Gustav Havel (incl. 125ccm,
Supersport, Superbike, Supermono). 300+ riders.

21-22/06/2008 - 17th year of Czech Tourist Trophy (classical bikes incl.
sidecars). 300+ riders too.

Another cool video:

* w w w .300zatacek.cz/2008/03/horice-real-road-races.html

--
Julian Bond E&MSN: julian_bond at voidstar . com M: +44 (0)77 5907 2173
Webmaster: * w w w .ecademy . com / T: +44 (0)192 0412 433
Personal WebLog: * w w w .voidstar . com / skype:julian.bond?chat
Regional Office Use Only