Be very, very quiet. 4/4/2005
Racing season has started again. After the F1 circus came and went, and all the rubbish was cleared up, they’ve reopened the track to the local heroes. And we went, to renew our acquaintance with the tarmac, and renew friendships, reopen old wounds, reactivate old feuds.
This year’s contest is going to be a 3 way fight, between ‘Big’ Keith Perkins, Erik the Viking and Panjang Lee. Keith will be riding an ‘05 GSXR 1000, Erik on an ‘04 R1 and Panjang on an ‘03 R1. The level of sophistication has gone up as well, with dynos, dataloggers and the such being brought into play.
Erik has a complete telemetry system on his R1. I had a gander at it last year, and came away suitably impressed. The amount of money these 3 guys are throwing for the glamour of winning a $500 trophy and $3000 in prize money is a little lop sided. Erik used to run an 02 GSXR1000, converted to full SBK spec. Which basically meant he had a $40,000 bike, and threw another $100,000 at it.
And that’s the thing about racing. You never make a profit from it. If you ever intend taking motorcycle racing, and think it’s going to make you rich, think again. In the meantime, be very, very quiet, racing season has started.