St George 2014 calendar

[CLIFFY]

Craig told me that it's up somewhere and that he was handing the calendar out at the show but didn't get one.

Anyone know where I can find it?

Title should be St George.......stoopid autocollect.

[Mr.Ed]

Just checked their website... nothing there.

And I read St.George on the title anyway... lol

[chubb]

I didn't think they were so organised to get it up already!

[Nelso]

Feb 1-2 SMSP
Aug 2-3 Wakefield
Sept 6-7 Broadford
Nov 8-9 SMSP

[CLIFFY]

Thanks bud

[chubb]

Cheers Nelso.

Wonder if they are gonna call it two separate rounds at SMP using north and GP circuit or both days on GP circuit.

[Nelso]

Cheers Nelso.

Wonder if they are gonna call it two separate rounds at SMP using north and GP circuit or both days on GP circuit.

Yes, apparently they are going with the same format as the last round with the first day split between the two tracks and the second day on the GP circuit.

[Marshy]

Wonder if they are gonna call it two separate rounds at SMP using north and GP circuit.

I heard this one, but it remains to be seen. Because of the crap turnout for the round just gone, I'd be surprised if they dedicated the whole south circuit to only a few bikes/sidecars and just one junior.

[Mstevo]

I heard this one, but it remains to be seen. Because of the crap turnout for the round just gone, I'd be surprised if they dedicated the whole south circuit to only a few bikes/sidecars and just one junior.

I was surprised to see the 400's on the north circuit, I thought they would have been on the south they might include them next time
I could be wrong but I would have thought the 400's would prefer the south circuit

[Mstevo]

Feb 1-2 SMSP
Aug 2-3 Wakefield
Sept 6-7 Broadford
Nov 8-9 SMSP

are you sure Broadford is in September and not over the NSW long weekend(4-6) in October?

[Marshy]

Broady was supposed to be much earlier in the year, but the date was unavailable. Come to think of it, aren't we missing a round? I thought there were gonna be 2 Wakey rounds, but I guess not.

[Little Mick]

6 mnths between rnd 1 and 2? thats a whole off season!

[chubb]

It would have been nice if they slotted an extra round between feb and aug.

Say maybe in May

[Mstevo]

Broady was supposed to be much earlier in the year, but the date was unavailable. Come to think of it, aren't we missing a round? I thought there were gonna be 2 Wakey rounds, but I guess not.

as per this year
7 Rounds
1..North or South Circuit SMSP
2..GP circuit SMSP
3..Sprint round WP
4..4hr WP
5..Double header Brfd
6..North or South Circuit SMSP
7..Gp circuit SMSP

[Marshy]

Yeah, but that's just cheating, counting one weekend as two rounds. A la FX. It's a gyp!

[Mstevo]

It would have been nice if they slotted an extra round between feb and aug.

Say maybe in May

that time of the year is pretty thin for Club Racing, however I'm sure TON will have one his FXRRC dates in there, I'll probably do a few more RYM events for sh-ts and giggles

[Marshy]

It would have been nice if they slotted an extra round between feb and aug.

Say maybe in May

Virtually the whole committee/officials/race control etc are going to the Isle of Man around then, for a month. So there will be nobody here to run the meeting. Unless we wanna do it

[Little Mick]

that time of the year is pretty thin for Club Racing, however I'm sure TON will have one his FXRRC dates in there, I'll probably do a few more RYM events for sh-ts and giggles

For public interest, TON is looking at running a 3hr (maybe 3.5 hr) relay (similar to what we run in St George - everyone can run their own bike to class) in March / April, most likely as part of FXRRC... early indicators will be 2 races for the day, once for the uber faster guys, one for the not so uber fast... still early days but if you have some opinions / thoughts/ ideas and possibly suggestions, direct them to TON for consideration.

(note- I don't know what the criteria is for deciding between uber and non uber, but the intent is to make it safer on the track, so Im sure he will welcome constructive comments).

[Mstevo]

Yeah, but that's just cheating, counting one weekend as two rounds. A la FX. It's a gyp!

yep sort of
although same venue 2 different tracks, I wouldn't call the sprint + 4hr weekend races 1 round

I'd like to see the broadford weekend split between sprint races(5laps) on Saturday and two TT races(15laps) on Sunday ;-)

[Little Mick]

Virtually the whole committee/officials/race control etc are going to the Isle of Man around then, for a month. So there will be nobody here to run the meeting. Unless we wanna do it

When the cats away Marshy

[Little Mick]

yep sort of
although same venue 2 different tracks, I wouldn't call the sprint + 4hr weekend races 1 round

I'd like to see the broadfodr weekend split between sprint races(5laps) on Saturday and two TT races(15laps) on Sunday ;-)

Were the 4hr points tallied in the overall championship points? or were they kept separate? I looked at the points on the website and if I saw correctly, it shows they werent for the round 6 results?

edit- or just excluded from the class points? eg it only shows 5 rounds for each class on the round 6 championship results, (this includes results from Rnds 1,2,3,5,6). assume the the 4hr results dont directly relate to the class championships as they arent classed accordingly? do they just add them in at the end for the overall championship points?

[Mstevo]

For public interest, TON is looking at running a 3hr (maybe 3.5 hr) relay (similar to what we run in St George - everyone can run their own bike to class) in March / April, most likely as part of FXRRC... early indicators will be 2 races for the day, once for the uber faster guys, one for the not so uber fast... still early days but if you have some opinions / thoughts/ ideas and possibly suggestions, direct them to TON for consideration.

(note- I don't know what the criteria is for deciding between uber and non uber, but the intent is to make it safer on the track, so Im sure he will welcome constructive comments).

I'm conflicted
He didn't think about the 100K winner take all race, and buggar all people were interested
and now he's heading towards the St George 4hr concept...which all the fast guys hate due to them thinking it's too dangerous so he splits the field, has 2 races and allows people to ride their own bikes....his a slow learner but at least he is learning


now lets see the debacle in grading or qualifying times as far as team entries goes

The problem with promoters who try and make a living out of an amateur sport is they are always thinking about making money first and not what is good for the sport or what will encourage riders to participate.

85-90% of riders only last 3 years before they realise they can't afford to keep raceing.
A St George round costs me about 2K and according to TON an FX round cost is 5K and a ASBK round 20K and that's with out crash repairs

[chubb]

yep sort of
although same venue 2 different tracks, I wouldn't call the sprint + 4hr weekend races 1 round

I'd like to see the broadford weekend split between sprint races(5laps) on Saturday and two TT races(15laps) on Sunday ;-)

Now that's an idea

[Mstevo]

Now that's an idea

and be worth double points ;-)

[Little Mick]

...
A St George round costs me about 2K and according to TON an FX round cost is 5K and a ASBK round 20K and that's with out crash repairs

FX Oz costs around $2k per round including travel, accomodation, maintenance (but no crash repairs) etc... at least thats my experience this year.. No control tyres so that helps a bit as you can run for as long as you are comfortable on a set (no different to st George)..

Control tyres on the Superbike class would be somewhere around $1600 (2 fronts + 2 Rears (@$630/set) + 1 extra tyre($300-330)) and there probably isnt anything left on the for track days etc after the weekend... so, depending on how big your crew is, and how all out you go, $3-5k for a privateer in superbike class seems about right...

1 extra bit of context tho.... 3 days of track time with FX.... (Assuming ASBK is the same as this or maybe 4 days? - sorry havent really followed asbk)

[Mr.Ed]

I reckon what gets ppl in the end, is that they don't take the 'little things' into consideration when thinking about the costs of racing... Most ppl I ask will say "Tires, entry fee and food" some will go as far as 'fuel' but very few will actually account for the rest which may be small per round but once you do a full year of racing it's not so little anymore.

Little things* for the ZX6R

Brake pads: $180-220
Oil: $720 (6x $120 per oil change)
Oil filter: $150 (6x $25 per filter)
Brake fluid: $100

That's around $1200/season and I'm not even taking stuff like clutch, sprockets, chain and other stuff that will wear out as you go 'cause they tend to at least last over one season... add that to accommodation, tire changes, crash repairs, engine refresh, God-knows-how-many-bolts/Dzus fasterners/etc and the known costs and things can ramp up very fast.


*That's with the stuff that I like to run on my bike. It will obviously vary from bike to bike/rider to rider.

[chubb]

Let's stop talking about how much it costs.

[Marshy]

Let's stop talking about how much it costs.

Amen, brother. If the costs bother you, you could always take up golf......

Seriously though, it's not that hard to make it less expensive for privateers in either of the main series. Both promoters are frankly as bad as each other, and neither cares about the privateers - they pander to the couple of factory teams (or in FX, just one team), and ignore the privateers that make up 90% of the grid and thus provide 90% of the revenue. If I ran a business where I ignored what 90% of my customers wanted, I'd be out of business. Except we have a duopoly situation, so they have been able to get away with it for so long they think it's accepted by everyone. I've heard one of the promoters bragging that they've been running race meet for years so they must know what privateers want, but it's a flawed argument because they are only still in business as there's no alternative. It's not that they are right, it's just simply a lack of options! If you want to race, that is.

People burn out so quickly because of this. Some better known examples of this kind of behaviour are Telstra, the big banks, and even ECRD. None are providing what their customer wants, particularly, at an affordable price; they are maximising their profit because they can. What the promoters don't realise is that short-term benefit comes at a cost of long-term viability.

Take the example mentioned earlier, the FX500. Any right-minded person would immediately realise that by only offering one prize, and limiting the class of motorcycle to one class (and cutting out virtually all privateers by not allowing people to ride their own bikes), AND allowing overseas professional ring-in riders, you would get a maximum of 3 entries because that would be the limit of the people that would think they might have a chance to win it. If you know you have no chance of winning the single prize AND you know that the cost of entry is very, very high with no way to minimise the cost - specific homologated refuelling rigs, DOT road tyres that nobody has ever raced on before, single shared bike, etc etc etc - why would anyone else enter? And they didn't enter. In droves. Tells you that they didn't know what the racers want.

Ditto the piss-poor grid sizes in the premiere classes of both series. If you supply a rubbish control tyre, with fronts that don't last 8 laps, then you need the allocated 2.5 sets per 6 races. If you had a decent front tyre and a rear that wasn't so damn sensitive to pressure and temperature, and could mix and match as many of us do, then you'd be like most people and only use one front and maybe two rears - maybe. For the whole weekend. And have plenty left over for all the track days in between. But who benefits from forcing a control tyre and providing crappy tyres that you are forced to use? There are only two people that benefit - the promoter (upfront fee to appoint the exclusive supplier, plus a cut of every tyre sold) and the tyre company they are in bed with (selling crap-loads of rubbish tyres). People are voting with their wallets, and the grids are empty. Except club racing, and F-Oz (same rules as club racing). What else do you need to know, guys? We are not, and are never gonna be another BSB, so get over it. The glory days of the Australian Superbikes being as big as the V8s has long since passed, and wishing isn't going to bring it back.

[Marty]

^ well said Nick!

They need to fill grids up before they try and price everyone out of it. At least thats what ECRD managed to do.

[Marshy]

Thanks Marty; I thought I might have gone too far

Forgot to mention the difference between amateur racing and the big banks/telcos - we don't need to go racing! If it sucks too badly in the cost/benefit analysis, we simply do something else with our leisure time and disposable income.