Motorcycle Racing
Joyce Kang English 314 Section 4 Many young people, nowadays, enjoy thrilling adventures, such as bungee jumping, skate boarding and racing. Two of the big components of the thrilling adventure are speed and stunts. There are a variety of sports involving speed and stunts, such as motorcycle racing. The Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) is the governing body of motorcycle racing, which represents 90 national motorcycle federations that are divided into six regional continental unions. FIM covers five motorcycle racing disciplines: road racing, motocross, This paper discusses these five racing disciplines.
motorcycle trials, enduro, and track racing.
Road racing: MotoGP Road racing in its purest form is racing on public roads. temporarily closed off to the public for the purpose of conducting a race. include the Monaco Grand Prix and the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy. The public roads are The examples of this Alternatively, the road
races can be conducted on purpose-built race tracks, constructed with irregular shapes and many turns and curves to resemble the public road courses. Although there was a long tradition of
road racing on real streets in United State, now the most famous American road courses are all purpose-built. Some of the examples for this include Watkins Glen International, Road
America and Infineon Raceway.
The most famous road racing is the World Championship Grand Prix series, more popularly referred to as MotoGP, which has been running since 1949. MotoGP motorcycles are There are several Additionally, a
purpose-built racing machines that are not available for general purchase.
engine formula competitions which include 125cc, 250cc, 500cc, and 990cc.
350cc category ran until 1982, while smaller bikes of 50cc and 80cc have also been part of the Grand Prix package. The track is composed of 3 columns and contains about 20 racers. The
races take about 45 minutes long, and as a result, it is a sprint without pitting for fuel or tires.
Motocross The world’s most popular form of motorcycle racing is motocross, which is often abbreviated as MX. It is a form of racing held on enclosed off-road circuits, which features large jumps. Motocross is one of the most visually appealing forms of motor-sport, with riders It is derived
performing seemingly death-defying leaps, turns visibly at the edge of traction.
from the French, and was originally called “Scrambling” when the sport was invented in the United Kingdom. “Motocross” is a contraction derived from the words “Motorcycle” and “Cross Country.” The motocross tracks are often large, around 1 to 2 miles, and incorporate
natural terrain features with varying amounts of man made jumps and other features. Due to the size of the track, motocross races typically include 40 racers. Races vary in length of
duration, usually measured in times elapsed plus one or two laps. GP or Pro AMA races tend to be long, around 30 minutes plus 2 laps. In contrast, the amateur races tend to be sort, around 10
minutes or shorter.
Races are run in sessions called motos.
There are two motos in a race and Unusual for
the riders place in those heats are averaged together to get their overall finish.
racing machines, motocross bikes can be purchase in a ready-to-race or nearly ready-to-race conditions at moderate prices from major motorcycle manufactures, such as Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha and KTM; however, many riders modify their machines further, both for outright performance and to have the bike’s behavior more in tune with their own preferences or just for enjoyment. The world is dominated by two main motocross series; one in America, the AMA Motocross Championship, also known as “the nationals” or the “outdoors,” and the other series is World Motocross Championship. The AMA Motocross Championship season begins in early
May and continues until mid-August. The World Motocross Championship is predominately held in Europe. The World series is longer, generally incorporating around 16 or more rounds. Both series are united with the annual Motocross Des Nations, which the location of the event changes from year to year.. The teams of three represent their nation and they each represent a There are three motos with two classes challenging the other.
class, MX1, MX2, and “Open.”
Motorcycle trial Motorcycle trial, also known as Observed Trials, is a non-speed event on specialized motorcycles. It is the most popular sport in the United Kingdom and Spain. Trial motorcycles
are extremely light weighted, lack seating and have suspension travel that is short, relative to a
motocross motorcycle.
The event is split into “sections” where the competitor rides through a
natural obstacle course while attempting to avoid touching the ground with his feet. The sections are divided into separate courses to accommodate the different skill level of riders, who complete in skill-rated classes. In every section, the competitor is scored by an observer who
counts how many times the competitor touches the ground with his foot or any other part of his body. Each time a competitor touches the ground, he is penalized one point. The possible
scores in each section consist of 0, 1, 2, 3, or 5. Zero being “cleaning the section” means that the competitor did not touch the ground in that section. The competitor is given the score of 3,
as long as he completes the section without stalling the motor, dismounting, going out of bounds or going backward. “a fiasco.” event. There is a world indoor and outdoor championship, as well as indoor and outdoor “world cups” called Trials des Nations. In addition to the world championship events, there are other major events, such as the Scottish Six Day trial and the Scott Trials. If the competitor fails the section, he is given a score of 5, which is called
The winner of the event is the competitor with the least points at the end of the
Enduro Enduro is a form of motorcycle racing run on courses that are predominately off-road. The main type of enduro event, and the format to which the world enduro championship is run, is a time-card enduro, whereby a number of stages are raced in a time trial against the clock. The
object of the time-keeping enduro is to arrive at certain pre-defined locations exactly per the defined schedule, with early or late arrivals resulting in penalties to the riders’ scores. In this
event, riders leave together in groups called “rows,” which usually contains 4 riders. There are about 20 rows in each event leaving every 20 minutes after the first row. To be “on his minute,”
a rider must arrive at certain non-disclosed locations called checkpoint along the route at the prescribed time. There are different types of checkpoints, such as known checks, secret checks,
emergency chests, start checks, and finish checks, and points are calculated differently depending on how late or early a rider arrives at each type of checkpoints. An enduro motorcycle is specialized for nature of the sport, with the deep suspension of a motocross bike combined with the features required to make it legal for the public road portions of the course. Engines are generally single-cylinder two-stroke between 125cc and Other significant differences between enduro
300cc, or four-stroke between 250cc and 650cc.
motorcycles and other off-road motorcycles include the presence of a headlight and taillight, protective hardware, an exhaust system that meets local regulations for noise and spark arresting capability, “wide” gear ratios, narrower handlebars, a suspension with enough travel and the ability to be set for pre-load, compression or rebound dampening, and a roll-chart holder or enduro computer. The major events in the enduro are the World Enduro Championships and the AMA National and Regional Enduro Events. The World Enduro Championship (WEC) course must
be at least 200km and a maximum of 30 percent of its length can be on asphalt roads. It consists of around 8 or 92 day events spread around the globe. The American Motorcyclist
Association (AMA), which is the primary sanctioning body for motorcycle races of all types in America, rules governing course length and other course variables.
Track racing: Speedway
The track racing consists of Grass Track and Speedway, which is held on oval tracks usually 400m or longer. Speedway takes place on short dirt tracks, which riders use specially made motor bikes that have no brakes, run on methanol, uses only one gear, and must weigh a minimum of 80kg. Since there are no brakes, there is a fence on the outside in case a rider falls The race takes about a minute to complete four laps,
off and to stop them going into the fans. each 250 to 400m long.
One form of track racing is Speedway Grand Prix (SGP) championship which uses a scoring system based on overall final position. The rider who has gained the most points at the Also, a World Cup event is held each
end of the tournament is declared the World Champion. year featuring teams form the major speedway countries.
This paper only discussed the motorcycle races that are governed by FIM, which involves the speed and stunts such as jumping, the two major components of the exciting adventures. Even though these are professional motorcycle racing, one can enjoy watching and experience the thrill of riding motorcycle. Also, there are a lot more motorcycle racing other
than the ones discussed above such as street racings and video games, which one can enjoy without being professional.
Resources: http://www.sportnetwork.net/main/s180.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorcycle_racing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9d%C3%A9ration_Internationale_de_Motocyclisme http://www.fim.ch/en/default.asp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_racing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Prix_motorcycle_racing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motocross http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observed_Trials http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enduro http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorcycle_speedway http://www.tibromk-enduro.nu/.../ 206-01-10-stangebr.jpg http://www.trymysport.co.uk/.../ road_racing_motogp.jpg http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/.../ conway/Mx/LCRacing%20m.jpg http://www.texasoffroad.net/.../ Bob_Duval_003.jpg http://www.aftonbladet.se/sport/0501/01/SPORT-01s99-speedway-85_368.jpg