British bike racing?

Question

Do you think that the 250 two stroke class of gp type bikes should be started again ,in order to make a stepping point to the world gp scene , i know its emmisions and all that stuff but how do we get good riders who deserve a chance there instead of the likes of supersport and superbkes. why do our lads eg smith have to go to Spain in order to get where they are know

Answer 1

With the 250 cc 2 Strokes getting fazed out out the next couple of years, i would now say no.

The big problem I have with Dorna's choice of making the 250 strokers into 600cc inline 4 blowers is the 600's are to big and too close to the current 800's.

I could never understand why the 250 strokers were not replaced with somthing like 450 cc Singles or at worst may be 650 Twins. This would have made them o par  / per power to cc ratio.

The easy thing to do is to half the engine, to keep cost down aswell. So and 800cc V4 ( ala GSV-R ) could be made into a thumping little 400cc V - Twin. These bikes could be made by all the top makers and sold / leased to smaller based teams world wide.

Peter Paggets of Batley ( Leeds ) has been a factory HRC and Yamaha dealer for 20 years. He told me a while back he would never to sell and RS 250 or for real rich and NSR250 GP bike. The Latest TZ 250 Yamaha are been leased for £90.000 per year. With out parts. Lots of hassle for the dealer.

A good small CC 4 stroke " GP " bike would be the best thing on earth.

I know what your saying about us ( the UK ) needing a stepping stone to the bigger classes. We do. The only trouble is at the moment, things are so messed up on the world stage at the moment it would be hard to sett something up.

I still like the idea of a one make learning curve ( like the Red Bull Rookies ) to give the best start. It never did Brad Smith or Scott Reeding any harm !

Answer 2

250s? Bring back the 80cc bikes,they were more mental than 125s!

Answer 3

Hi Stozzer. I think the move to go to 600s is a bit of a jump, but its about selling bikes and the 600 class is as big a market as the 1000cc flagships. I would have liked to keep the 250 2strokes or the 450 sounded interesting. Its going to be a big step up from 125 to 600 maybe the future GP riders will come from superbikes.

Or the future May be Superbikes. As Neilggti pointed out to me recently.

the way TV rights are being pushed around maybe GP will go the same way as the AMA and die a slow death.  all this in the middle of one of the best seasons I can remember.