Minitwins or Thunderbikes?

[Jester666]

As a novice rider where do I start if I want to have a go at club racing?

Do I go MT or TB?

How do I get an ACU licence?

Cheers.

[MiniMatt]

Minitwins would be my vote. Simpler regs, well, kinda, wheras TB has a power weight ratio thing that can get expensive quick. Minitwins can get expensive quick too but I see more restrictions on MT. Both will work out at least twice as expensive as you budget for tho :D

ACU licence process is walked through by your club, you choose a club first, download an ACU licence application, your club will need to sign it off and will generally send your licence app to the ACU on your behalf and send you your club membership details back at the same time. As such, you want to choose a club that does the class you're interested in. There are definitely more Minitwins clubs around these days, but the ones I know of are North Glos, MRO & Bemsee. Personally, I'd always recommend North Glos, but your geographical location is something to consider - ie. North Glos spend a lot of time at Pembrey.

Another cheap class to look as is SS400 - someone with money to burn will often blow this class away (or more realistic, has the potential to blow the class away) as the regs allow for more bling, but equally there are plenty of people in SS400 that are on a tight budget, so you'll be up against similar pockets. Getting hard to find bikes for 400 now tho.
Or, perhaps cheaper still - a lot of clubs run streetstock classes - the regs for this are pretty much as you'd expect, road legal, must have (daytime at least) MOT etc. Different CC capacities are generally run dependent upon club.

Blue may disagree with me here, but I'd say avoid any 600 class (and bear in mind that dependent on club, you may have two classes running in one race - you don't want to be anywhere near the 600 boys). They're lunatics, the lot of them :D

[MiniMatt]

Oh yeah, you'll need to do an ACU course as well, it's just a classroom thing which basically tests whether you know what a red flag means - nobody ever fails this. You *might*, can't remember, need an eye sight/medical thingy signed off by your GP/Optician (who will doubtless charge you for the priviledge).

Download the current form and advisories at acu.org.uk, find a club, find a bike, find the bike's a dog, find several thousand pounds, find a few more, fix the bike, track day it a bit, fix what falls off, turn up to a club race and loiter round the paddock, turn up to the next club race, PARK NEXT TO A TANNOY, get scroot'ed, wait to be called, HAVE A BLAST, get your signature. Repeat :D

[MiniMatt]

Oh, and aquire a pair of LUCKY UNDERPANTS.

[MiniMatt]

ACU course application form (http://www.acu.org.uk/uploaded/documents/CTC%20BOOKING%20FORM1.pdf) - ?50, every Monday at Rugby, may as well do this first
ACU licence app (http://www.acu.org.uk/uploaded/documents/2008%20ACU%20License%20Application%20Form.pdf) - you complete this then send it to your club along with your club joining fee/app form
ACU licence app notes (http://www.acu.org.uk/uploaded/documents/2008%20ACU%20Competition%20License%20Notes.pdf) - explanations, confirmed, you will need an eye exam done, probably won't need a medical unless you're extra wrinkley or if you've got bits missing.
Next (http://www.next.co.uk/) - purveyors of lucky underpants

[Alpinestarhero]

Paul, if you go racing, I might be able to lend something of a hand, or at least shout encouraging words and be ready with big man hugs, warm milk and a blankey when things go wrong :D

[flymo]

Oh, and aquire a pair of LUCKY UNDERPANTS.

I switched class to minitwins this year so I may have an old spare pare of these somewhere. Let me know if you're interested :rolleyes:

[Jester666]

Excellent replies! :thumbsup: Cheers guys!

[metalmonkey]

Just to add mate you don't drive do you? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Becasue you will need to beable to get to the tracks with the bikes ect, plus most people sleep in their vans.

Thunderbikes will cost a lot more money for sure, than mini twins so I guess it depends on how rich you are, I can just about get by maybe:rolleyes:

Also have you though about the cost as well? The bike, van, paddock gear, riding gear, looking after bike (cost more when you crash) insurance, entry fees, praticse day, tyres, fuel well you get the idea. You won't have a spare penny at all!

Also I don't how it works with your job, but what if you have an off and can't work for a month, do you get sick pay? But you want to make sure that is covered for sure, someone/something has to pay the bills if your not working. Oh I have been told medical insurance is a good idea.

Good luck what ever you decided:thumbsup:

[jambo]

Ah Paul, excellent, you've come into a large sum of money, have I told you lately that I love you?:D

[tranx]

MRO no longer run a minitwins class, only the Bemsee Clubman Minitwins now.

Minitwins will be cheaper by far than thunderbikes and plenty fast enough for a rookie. I'm racing my rookie season in minitwins currently, scoring points in the main clubman championship and getting top 5 finishes amongst the rookies.

The bike is more than competitive and cost me just ?1750 + ?200 for wets on wheels. I have not needed to spend a penny more doing the bike up, total spares cost to date comes in at a set of sintered brake pads for the front at ?33 and a couple of sprockets for another ?30.

Thunderbikes runs to more expense as the rules allow for greater suspension and brake upgrades as well as tuned engines. The only advantage is if you really like tinkering and building your bike then thunderbikes may prove more fun as your allowed to do more with the bike.

[chunkytfg]

lets put it this way.

What can you afford? 10k for a season or 20k? If it's the latter then go for thunderbikes as it's a good laugh being out there iwth such a variety of bikes but if it's the former mintwins it is.

I run in thunderbikes and the cost of getting nyour bike to the kg/bhp limit is mind boggling. I run a SV700 with an absolute fortune spent on it and i'm actually quite a way off the limit.

I love the thunderbikes due to the freeness of the regs allowing you to do whatever you want pretty much to the bike whereas for a beginner the mintwins doesnt allow that free reign so the cost of getting a competetive bike can be pretty much nothing.

at the end of the day though it's up to you so just do what you want;)

[Robw#70]

it doesnt have to be huge expense to run thunderbikes, start with a minitwin and do stuff when you can, if you look at the times there not a million miles apart and it is a different type of riding when your racing against a bike that makes power differently you have to think alot more and get the most out of what your on, when theyre all the same its just down to commitment.

there have been a few minitwins get up the front so dont let the possible costs put you off, it just means when you come to do work on the bike you have a larger choice of mods without rule restrictions.

[Lozzo]

Danny was saying he might nick my CBR600 and do some Thunderbikes rounds if his RGV proves to be crap.

[Sideshow#36]

I'll be racing in the thunderbikes this weekend at snett. My entries got lost in the post en-route to BEMSEE and there are no spaces in the Minitwins left. :rolleyes:

[Blue_SV650S]

As a novice rider where do I start if I want to have a go at club racing?

Do I go MT or TB?
Cheers.

I am not sure you are asking the right questions.

First of all - what do you WANT to race? ? what gives you wood to think you would be a xxxx-racer??
Secondly - why do you want to race?
Thirdly - how tough do you want the competition?
Finally - What can you realistically raise budget wise for the first season?Answering these questions honestly makes the answer drop out pretty easy ;)

[MiniMatt]

I am not sure you are asking the right questions.

First of all - what do you WANT to race? ? what gives you wood to think you would be a xxxx-racer?? Moto-GP please. Or WSB.
Secondly - why do you want to race? Constant supply of brolly dollies, fame, fortune etc
Thirdly - how tough do you want the competition? Stoner, Rossi - you call that competition?! I'd take them all :D
Finally - What can you realistically raise budget wise for the first season? About a fiver.Answering these questions honestly makes the answer drop out pretty easy ;)

Hmm, not sure what answer just dropped out, but I don't think I'm going to like it this season :D

[Blue_SV650S]

Hmm, not sure what answer just dropped out, but I don't think I'm going to like it this season :D


So hows about now answering the questions seriously/realistically :rolleyes:

[MiniMatt]

So hows about now answering the questions seriously/realistically :rolleyes:

Teehee :D

Ahh, well serious and realistic are two different things. Purely seriously then I think my original answers still stand :D
Seriously, I'd love to do GP or WSB - realistically, well, it's not going to happen is it :D
Seriously, brolly dollies, fame and fortune are still perfectly good answers, realistically I've only achieved the first :D
Seriously, every race I went out thinking, no, knowing, I had the potential to beat everyone there; if I didn't then it was just a case of not yet reaching potential, so long as I learnt a little bit I'm happy - if you don't go out intending to win then there's not point going out in my opinion :D Realistically, I've found competition is as much budget as skill, realistically I'm middle ranking skill at clubman level.
Seriously, my budget this year is about a fiver. Realistically my budget is also a fiver :D

I might knock something together to squeeze a couple of meets at the end of the year, more likely looking at '09 now.

[metalmonkey]

Matt I take it you race in mini twins then? How many season did you do?

[MiniMatt]

Nah, two seasons on MZs is all I got. Took a break as my bank account was emptying faster than I could fill it :D Finances recovered a little, was all set for a banger season on an FZR400 in SS400 but saw a friend die at Pembrey and that knocked me for six. Kinda bought the SV with an eye on minitwins as I'm getting less and less keen on road riding nowadays but hell, it's never happened and finances again are looking iffy at the moment.

[Blue_SV650S]

I see, so this was never a serious question at all!! :rolleyes:

In that case I think you should race sidecars, it is your calling!! :rambo:

[MiniMatt]

Wasn't my question to begin with :D

But sidecars ain't a bad call for anyone interested in a taster - there are always armchair riders looking for a passenger. You've just got to put to the back of your mind the question of why they're always looking for a passenger :D

[Blue_SV650S]

Wasn't my question to begin with :D


Ah yes, it was :jocolor:

:oops:

[flymo]

sidecars......no way those guys are crazy! No way my life is going to be entrusted to 2 door handles and 8 philips screws (no offence on use of screws intended there Blue ;-) )

I'll stick to 'safe' single seater racing thanks :-)