Motorcycle racing

Motorcycle racing is an activity that involves competitively speed-driving motorcycles on roads, tracks, or natural terrain. Motorcycle racing can be divided into two broad categories: road racing and off-road racing. Road races take place on paved surfaces, either on specially designed courses or temporarily closed public roads. Off-road races take place on natural terrain or courses manufactured to simulate natural terrain. Within these categories, different types of motorcycle racing include motocross, track racing, enduro, cross-country rallies, hill climbs, and drag races. Some of these disciplines have their own subgroups.

Each discipline often includes different classes of competitions based on the motorcycles' engine displacement or engine type, as well as the age, gender, and experience of the competitors.

The Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM), based in Switzerland, is the governing body for motorcycle racing around the world. The FIM has 112 national motorcycle federations as affiliates.

Early History

Motorcycle racing began soon after the first motorcycles were built in the late nineteenth century. Early motorcycle races were held as on- and off-road matches of speed and endurance, often to test the capabilities of newly manufactured motorcycles.

The Federation of American Motorcyclists (FAM) formed in 1903 and developed competition rules and rider classifications for motorcycle racing in the United States. The FAM shut down in 1919 but was replaced by the American Motorcycle Association (AMA), which was founded in 1924. The AMA continues to sanction and promote motorcycle races in the United States.

The first International Cup of motorcycle racing was held in France in 1904 with participants from Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, and Great Britain. This event led to the formation later that year of the Fédération Internationale des Clubs Motocyclistes, which later became the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM).

In 1907, the first Tourist Trophy (TT) motorcycle road race was held on the Isle of Man, located in the Irish Sea. The annual TT race remained the most famous and challenging motorcycle road race in Europe for several decades. More than two-hundred-and-fifty competitors, race officials, and spectators have lost their lives in the history of the TT race.

Early motorcycle track races were often held on horse-racing tracks and bicycle velodromes. By 1910, though, banked tracks made of wood, known as "board tracks," were being built across the United States specifically for car and motorcycle races. Board-track motorcycle racing became a popular spectator sport in the United States during the 1910s and 1920s but was dangerous and deadly, with crashes killing many riders and sometimes spectators. The activity fell out of favor in the 1930s.

Motocross racing got its start as off-road, non-timed "trials" competitions in the United Kingdom (UK). The governing body of motorcycle sports in the UK, the Auto-Cycle Union (founded in 1903 as the Auto-Cycle Club), held its first quarterly motorcycle trials in 1909. The first timed off-road events in the UK were called "scrambles," with the first known scramble event held in Camberley, Surrey, in 1924. The sport grew in popularity in the 1930s and became known as motocross in international competitions.

Overview

Motorcycle racing covers a wide range of sporting competitions using motorcycles on a variety of road, track, and off-road courses. The Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM), the global organization governing motorcycle racing, awards world championships in the following racing disciplines: road racing, motocross, track racing, enduro, and cross-country rallies.

Road racing takes place on hard, paved surfaces, usually public roads or specially constructed courses. Different types of road races include Grand Prix, Superbike, sidecar, and endurance races. Grand Prix races use custom-built racing motorcycles that are not street legal, while Superbike and Supersport races use modified production motorcycles. Sidecar racing uses motorcycles with a sidecar that have both a rider and a passenger. Endurance races are designed to test the durability of the motorcycles and the stamina of the riders and involve teams of alternating riders covering long distances. Major international road race competitions include the FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix, the Isle of Man TT race, the Supersport World Championship, the Superbike World Championship, the FIM Sidecar World Championship, and the FIM Endurance World Championship.

Motocross is an off-road discipline, with races run over natural or manufactured terrain that typically include hills, jumps, inclines, and tight turns. Supercross and Arenacross are indoor versions of motocross. SuperMoto is another form that uses modified motocross motorcycles that run on courses with both dirt and paved sections. Major motocross competitions include the FIM Motocross World Championship, the FIM Supercross World Championship, the AMA Motocross Championship, British Motocross Championship, and the Motocross des Nations.

Track racing involves competitors racing their motorcycles around a closed (usually oval) track. Tracks can have a variety of surface types, such as dirt, sand, granite, shale, grass, brick, or ice. Speedway is a popular form of track racing in which competitors riding motorcycles with only one gear and no brakes race around a short, oval track, sliding the back halves of their motorcycles around the turns. Long track (or "grasstrack" when on a grass surface) is similar to speedway but takes place on a longer oval track. Major track racing competitions include the FIM Speedway Grand Prix, the FIM Long Track World Championship, and the American Flat Track Series.

Enduro races are off-road competitions that challenge the endurance of the motorcycle riders. They are typically run on challenging courses through forested terrain. Endurocross combines the obstacles of enduro with the racing format of motocross, staged in an arena. Major enduro competitions include the FIM World Enduro Championship, the International Six Days Enduro, and the AMA Endurocross Championship.

Cross-country motorcycle rallies are off-road endurance races that cover large distances (hundreds of miles each day) and last several days. The major international competition in cross-country rallies is the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship.

Other types of motorcycle racing include hill climbs (in which motorcyclists travel up the side of a hill), drag races (in which pairs of motorcyclists race along a straightaway to a finish line), land speed racing (in which racers try to beat a previously set record), and vintage racing (in which riders race classic motorcycles no longer in production).

Bibliography

"About the AMA." American Motorcyclist Association, 2016, americanmotorcyclist.com/About-The-AMA/Story/about-the-ama. Accessed 22 Nov. 2016.

"About the FIM." Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, 2015, www.fim-live.com/en/fim/the-federation/about-the-fim. Accessed 22 Nov. 2016.

Bennett, Jay. "What It Takes To Turn an Ordinary Motorcycle Into a Racing Superbike." Popular Mechanics, 3 May 2016, www.popularmechanics.com/cars/motorcycles/a20664/technology-superbike-racing. Accessed 22 Nov. 2016.

"Racing." American Motorcyclist Association, 2016, americanmotorcyclist.com/Racing. Accessed 22 Nov. 2016.

Schonauer, David. "The Early, Deadly Days of Motorcycle Racing." Smithsonian Magazine, April 2011, www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-early-deadly-days-of-motorcycle-racing-787614. Accessed 22 Nov. 2016.

Sievert, Terri. Motocross Racing. Capstone Press, 2004.

Tooth, Phillip. The Art of the Racing Motorcycle: 100 Years of Designing for Speed. Universe Publishing, 2011.